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Post by oldmobie on Jun 28, 2014 2:09:26 GMT -5
I grew ornamental gourds last year. (Not this particular one, but mine looked like this. This picture is from Wikipedia.) The table where I got this image indicates this "gourd" isn't edible. Is it tough? Does it taste bad? Is it poisonous? I'm growing it again, as well as assorted pumpkins, and it looks as though most pumpkins are pepo, too? I'm trying to start landrace gardening, so I have zero concern regarding purity in taste or appearance. (I want to grow things that are tasty, but if next year's tastes a little different, that's fine.) However, I want to share my harvest, and don't want to poison anyone. If these are poisonous, and they cross with my pumpkins or squash, will this generation's fruit be affeced, or am I alright, provided I don't save the seed?
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Post by rowan on Jun 28, 2014 3:24:11 GMT -5
I have grown them in the past for decorative purposes but they are not edible at all, very bitter. I stopped growing them due to the risk of crossing with my edible cucurbits which they do easily. If they cross with your current crop they will not be affected but don't save the seeds or let them rot on the ground and the seeds grow next season.
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Post by flowerweaver on Jun 28, 2014 10:52:24 GMT -5
Once I started getting serious about creating landraces of my edible squashes and pumpkins I gave up growing ornamental gourds for the very reason Rowan mentions. Living in rural Texas with plenty of native gourds around I still end up with a few interesting yet unpalatable crosses from time to time.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 28, 2014 16:14:25 GMT -5
Is it tough? Usually. Does it taste bad? Occacionally. Is it poisonous? From time to time. Bad taste ==> poisonous. The poison isn't highly toxic so I haven't died from tasting lots of bad squash.
I've grown lots of pepo gourds. They tend to be smaller as mature fruits, so they have to be picked smaller to be tender.
The offspring of crossed varieties might pick up the bad taste but this year's crop will not be affected. If I were growing these to incorporate into a landrace contemplated for use as food I would let a fruit form on every plant, then taste it and then chop out any plants with bad tasting fruit, then pick every squash and female blossom in the patch. Then anything that grew after that would be decent tasting.
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Post by petitvilaincanard on Jun 28, 2014 16:36:14 GMT -5
As "ornamental" I grow gourds from the lagenaria genus.The fruits get a skin hard as wood,no flesh,extremely vigorous. You can make many things,musical instruments funnels bottels scales and many more,if you're creatif. And,great advantage,it can not cross with species from the squashes(cucurbita) As for crosses with edible squashes I'm very conservative.I only grow variations of one variety.
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Post by oldmobie on Jun 28, 2014 23:36:55 GMT -5
Is it tough? Usually. Does it taste bad? Occacionally. Is it poisonous? From time to time. Bad taste ==> poisonous. The poison isn't highly toxic so I haven't died from tasting lots of bad squash. I've grown lots of pepo gourds. They tend to be smaller as mature fruits, so they have to be picked smaller to be tender. The offspring of crossed varieties might pick up the bad taste but this year's crop will not be affected. If I were growing these to incorporate into a landrace contemplated for use as food I would let a fruit form on every plant, then taste it and then chop out any plants with bad tasting fruit, then pick every squash and female blossom in the patch. Then anything that grew after that would be decent tasting. Sounds like the "well behaved" poison you're up against in your perennial watermelon project. Unfortunately, breeding that out requires more control than I'm looking to excersize. I'm hoping to just use whatever I want for our own purposes, and donate the extra to a local pantry. If my sloppy methods let a poisonous fruit into the hands of someone who didn't understand the situation... I think I'll dispose of the seeds I produce this year, and try again next year, without the pepo gourds.
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Post by oldmobie on Jun 28, 2014 23:46:09 GMT -5
As "ornamental" I grow gourds from the lagenaria genus.The fruits get a skin hard as wood,no flesh,extremely vigorous. You can make many things,musical instruments funnels bottels scales and many more,if you're creatif. And,great advantage,it can not cross with species from the squashes(cucurbita) As for crosses with edible squashes I'm very conservative.I only grow variations of one variety. I googled that genus. They look like gourds I've grown in the past. Some of them had a very distinctive looking seed. Do they all look like that? That should make it easy to identify among my assorted gourd seeds. Thank you for the tip!
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Post by rowan on Jun 29, 2014 0:13:33 GMT -5
Yes, that is what all the Lagenaria seeds look like. I like to grow some every year. Even this year when I had a bad season and only had a few plants make it I have enough gourds to make my stall tables look interesting and then I make ornamental vases and bowls out of them. I love growing hard shelled gourds.
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Post by ilex on Jul 17, 2014 15:56:06 GMT -5
As "ornamental" I grow gourds from the lagenaria genus.The fruits get a skin hard as wood,no flesh,extremely vigorous. You can make many things,musical instruments funnels bottels scales and many more,if you're creatif. And,great advantage,it can not cross with species from the squashes(cucurbita) As for crosses with edible squashes I'm very conservative.I only grow variations of one variety. Another advantage is that those are very edible. Some better than others with strong taste, but not bitter. In fact, they can be very good when small. They also make good rootstock.
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Post by haslamhulme on Oct 27, 2015 16:24:10 GMT -5
Interested to hear how this all turned out oldmobie,did you eat it?, I grew ornamental squash this year,ended up with 3 types ,bi coloured yellow/green warty egg shaped ones with rock hard skin, it looked very much like your one pictured early on.I ate one,it was ok,bland,like eating an over sized courgette,some extremely round thin vined rock hard ones,all dark green with some stripes,haven't eaten one of those but get the impression there won't be much flesh,and some egg shaped rock solid beige warty ones,I ate one,it was HORRIBLE and made me Sick,poisoned me,not enough to hospitalise me but I am young.I have heard cases of people on Europe (I think Germany ) dying due to curcubitacin poisoning from a cross with courgette.The beige ones I had are OUT of my garden,they don't go in the compost,unusually for me they went out with the household waste,I just want them away from me.
I am planning to save seeds from my F2 grow out a delicata X sweet dumpling cross(The F1 was commercial variety called Harlequin here in the UK) and from my F1 marrow,I think it is called Sunbeam(I like to see the unraveling of those genes in the 2nd generation)all of which are pepo,so who knows what havoc the nasty bitter gourds are going to play on my seed saving( I am rather hoping the non bitter warty squash will cross with my marrow to create a warty harder skinned marrow which will keep longer-just think that would be cool,you don't see warty courgettes!) l,will have to wait until next year to find out,how did yours wok out?
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Post by oldmobie on Oct 27, 2015 21:38:14 GMT -5
Interested to hear how this all turned out oldmobie,did you eat it?, I grew ornamental squash this year,ended up with 3 types ,bi coloured yellow/green warty egg shaped ones with rock hard skin, it looked very much like your one pictured early on.I ate one,it was ok,bland,like eating an over sized courgette,some extremely round thin vined rock hard ones,all dark green with some stripes,haven't eaten one of those but get the impression there won't be much flesh,and some egg shaped rock solid beige warty ones,I ate one,it was HORRIBLE and made me Sick,poisoned me,not enough to hospitalise me but I am young.I have heard cases of people on Europe (I think Germany ) dying due to curcubitacin poisoning from a cross with courgette.The beige ones I had are OUT of my garden,they don't go in the compost,unusually for me they went out with the household waste,I just want them away from me. I am planning to save seeds from my F2 grow out a delicata X sweet dumpling cross(The F1 was commercial variety called Harlequin here in the UK) and from my F1 marrow,I think it is called Sunbeam(I like to see the unraveling of those genes in the 2nd generation)all of which are pepo,so who knows what havoc the nasty bitter gourds are going to play on my seed saving( I am rather hoping the non bitter warty squash will cross with my marrow to create a warty harder skinned marrow which will keep longer-just think that would be cool,you don't see warty courgettes!) l,will have to wait until next year to find out,how did yours wok out? I gave away all the pepo gourd seeds. My zuchini (my only other pepo) died without maturing any fruit, so those genes are gone. I've switched to lageneria for my gourds. I haven't tasted them, but Joseph Lofthouse has, as well as a few of the other members. As far as pepos, I still plant zucchini, (lost to vine borers again) and this year we grew some yellow straight-necks. I'm afraid that I'm just not vigilant enough as a gardener to risk crossing with the pepo gourds and trust that I get all of the poisonous genes eliminated.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 27, 2015 23:34:12 GMT -5
I really like the lagenaria snake gourds for ease of cooking... They are long and skinny like a thin zucchini, so very easy to slice and use. Seems like they provide more food than the birdhouse shaped gourds.
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