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Has now grown to a length of about thirty feet. And it keeps going and going and going. It has many flowers (photos in the thread above), and the bees have done their thing. So now we have fruit (or should I call it a vegie?)
The prior thoughts was that this was a pumpkin, zucchini or squash. Now that you can see the shape and size of the fruit (this one is about 4 days old), what do you think?
Squash, zukes and melons can fertilize one another and provide "mixed" plants from seed the next season. My neighbor had a cross between some sort of squash and a watermelon one year, and I had a cross between butternut and zucchini last year from saved seeds. I ate mine before they got hard, but I wouldn't recommend eating the ones you have if you didn't plant them.
I am going with watermelon. Strangely shaped, but the stripes sure look similar. The leaves are definitely pumpkin, but is there such a thing as a watermelon pumpkin? With all the rain on the east coast lately, I have a feeling that whatever it ends up being, right now it is happy with all the added moisture!
Some call those "pumpkin" and some call them a "squash" (they are closely related and have similar leaves, flowers and growth habits) but either way it looks most like a Cushaw, most likely the one called Hopi Green Striped Cushaw. It is also called the Tennessee Sweet Potato Squash, an older southern heirloom variety.
Some call those "pumpkin" and some call them a "squash" (they are closely related and have similar leaves, flowers and growth habits) but either way it looks most like a Cushaw, most likely the one called Hopi Green Striped Cushaw. It is also called the Tennessee Sweet Potato Squash, an older southern heirloom variety.
We are from Phoenix - our garden has always been cactus! So this thing popping up from the mulch has really been a huge amount of fun for us.
Thanks to all who have helped with the ID, making it all the more fun for us.
J&Em, thanks for those links. Assuming you are correct (and I suspect you are), would you eat these things (remember, please, that we didn't plant it)?
Haha yes I could still be wrong and it could be a mutant of one of those adorable round zucchini squashes. That's always the risk with plant ID from photos. You should see the bitterness between real experts on nonpublic horticulture sites on very, very tiny differences that may, or may not, be the same species all based on 3 not to clear photos.
I can't tell what kind of soil you have, what it has been treated with in the recent past and what you may have put down in the last year or two. Unless is has been dosed in pesticides for termites, or animal pests in that time it is more than likely safe to eat. It can't hurt to try a little bit. If it has a pretty good taste save the seeds and prepare a bed with organic soils, grow it how you feel safe next year and enjoy a bumper crop. Oh... and keep taking pictures since this has been a more fun thread than others here have been recently! The mystery vine that took over Jkgourmet's yard!!
What you have looks like some sort of gourd. And yes, it is a fruit. Anything that has seeds and fleshy body is a fruit, even those things we know as vegitables like squash, tomatoes, etc. vegitables are leaves, stalks and roots.
To give it a full chance to mature and protect it from rot and disease I'd place some cardboard under it. And when it is mature fry it up with some bacon---bacon makes everything taste great!
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