The Monster Mystery plant has been harvested - still can't figure out what these are (flowers, growing)
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Well, we harvested it a few days ago, throwing away about a dozen more that had started to rot on the vine. The vine was STILL putting out new flowers and fruit. Any idea what this is????
They are gourds.
People use them for Halloween and Fall decorations, they make ornaments from them
look online under Gourd Decorations and see what they do with them.
It's interesting to me (an gardening super idiot - remember, I didn't even plant the seeds for these things!) that all three of the earlier threads thought these things were some kind of winter squash. I was encouraged to eat them as I would a butternut squash or pumpkin.
Now that they are fully grown, they are being identified as gourds. Which, evidently, are inedible.
At this point, I think I'm relieved that I've never been a squash or pumpkin fan. . .
I'll have to look at some gourd decoration sites. Though, frankly, these things don't look all that 'pretty' to me. Maybe hollowed out, a cut out face and a candle. Anorexic Jack O'Lantern.
Neat!
Ahh, jkgourmet, you just missed the NC Gourd festival back in September. (I did too)
My grandparents used to grow gourds for birdhouses. I love them!
squash and guards are very similar. And nothing is prettier for a decoration than something in its natural state. Every fall I display Indian corn and mini guards in a large wooden bowl and it is beautiful. You don't have to do anything to them except put them in a bowl or basket and be glad you have something so pretty. And the price was certainly right!
It's interesting to me (an gardening super idiot - remember, I didn't even plant the seeds for these things!) that all three of the earlier threads thought these things were some kind of winter squash. I was encouraged to eat them as I would a butternut squash or pumpkin.
Now that they are fully grown, they are being identified as gourds. Which, evidently, are inedible.
At this point, I think I'm relieved that I've never been a squash or pumpkin fan. . .
I'll have to look at some gourd decoration sites. Though, frankly, these things don't look all that 'pretty' to me. Maybe hollowed out, a cut out face and a candle. Anorexic Jack O'Lantern.
Not necessarily inedible. Maybe just beyond the stage where they could have been edible. They may not be as tasty as butternut or pumpkin, but they'd have to be at peak ripeness, rather than overripe and hard, to be edible.
It's interesting to me (an gardening super idiot - remember, I didn't even plant the seeds for these things!) that all three of the earlier threads thought these things were some kind of winter squash. I was encouraged to eat them as I would a butternut squash or pumpkin.
Now that they are fully grown, they are being identified as gourds. Which, evidently, are inedible.
At this point, I think I'm relieved that I've never been a squash or pumpkin fan. . .
I'll have to look at some gourd decoration sites. Though, frankly, these things don't look all that 'pretty' to me. Maybe hollowed out, a cut out face and a candle. Anorexic Jack O'Lantern.
Thats because I didn't weigh in on the subject. Well other than taking the opportunity to practice your marksmanship.
I was puposely waiting beause aint no way in heck anyone was going to identify it before the fruit was fairly mature other than a lucky guess.
I agree these arnt the prettiest of the field pumpkins.
It's interesting to me (an gardening super idiot - remember, I didn't even plant the seeds for these things!) that all three of the earlier threads thought these things were some kind of winter squash. I was encouraged to eat them as I would a butternut squash or pumpkin.
Now that they are fully grown, they are being identified as gourds. Which, evidently, are inedible.
At this point, I think I'm relieved that I've never been a squash or pumpkin fan. . .
I'll have to look at some gourd decoration sites. Though, frankly, these things don't look all that 'pretty' to me. Maybe hollowed out, a cut out face and a candle. Anorexic Jack O'Lantern.
Many of the Cucurbita pepo are edible and quite a few are summer squashes and winter squashes (just google the Latin term and add recipes to see). Only the tiniest fraction are not edible when grown to the correct harvest time or are gourds.
That is, however, beside the point as the leaves in your earliest pictures do not match C pepo when making an ID and the fruits can easily be mutts (no clear match to named varieties) and effected by the higher than average rainfall we experienced in the southeast. Many of the fruits of cucurbits vines will change color as the get close to being ripe and change color and shape some more as they over ripen, making ID by fruit even more precarious and next to impossible. The four main categories of cucurbita are shown in the following drawing that appears in various forms on at several university websites that shows an average or representative fruit with a leaf shape for the purposes of Identifying where a squash/pumpkin falls in the family tree. This one is from Missouri state:
The "A" is Cucurbita argyrosperma and both your "fruit" and your vine leaf fit the growth pattern and appearance of this species. The vine and fruit labeled with "B" is the typical leaf and fruit form of Cucurbita pepo and the leaves of your plant did not look like that leaf. It had a much more heart shaped indentation at the stem and no visible serrations along the edge if I recall correctly.
The C. argyrosperma is further divided into types; one is edible and is commonly called cushaws in English speaking countries and the other is "silver seed" because it is not very edible but the seeds are, and have a silver-ish edge. The following has both mentioned on the dame page but unfortunately seems to disagree withitself in one place. I'm sure the author meant to repeat what was said earlier about the cushaw types being edible and the silver seed being good for decorative use. Cucurbita argyrosperma - Plant Finder
If you follow up with cushaws you'll see some very similar but not identical "fruit" and recipes for cooking them. I have been searching for, but could not find, a very detailed list that I know exists somewhere, for how many days on average to harvest for the different types, since overgrown squash tends to not taste as good as that harvested at the right time. If I find the list again I'll post it. I hope you saved some of the seed and see what they look like as well.
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Thanks for following through with you mystery plant. It has been fun to watch.
(I did too)
