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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Feb 4, 2017 0:56:48 GMT -5
Just curious if anyone is growing any exotic cucumbers. Strange and colorful and new combinations are what i'm interested in seeing. They don't even need to be "landrace", but bonus points if they are unique hybrids or part of a breeding project. I also wonder how good pickles these would make taste wise (ignoring the fact that some would need to be bred more for shape and/or size wise to be used as a good pickling cucumber). Anyone who has grown them notice any [good] differences in taste or flavor. Either for salads or pickling? I ask because i was browsing all these unusual cucumbers on the Seed Savers Seed Store this evening and it got me curious. I didn't know there were that many odd cucumbers that seem like they all have the same species name and sound like they all can interbreed with each other with all their strange colors and skins. Anyone planning on breeding any of these interesting things together to get some even more unique combinations?! www.seedsavers.org/category/cucumber/department/vegetable-seedswww.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/cucumbers/        NOTE: For anyone offended by any inferred interpretation about the definition of "landrace" used in this context you hereby are free to replace the word " landrace" with [ grex] or [ gentically diverse hybrids] instead. |
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Post by steev on Feb 4, 2017 1:22:04 GMT -5
Not to displace this thread, but I often buy "Persian" cukes, which I really like, but I don't seem to find seed or references to them; WTF?
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Post by rowan on Feb 4, 2017 2:17:58 GMT -5
The Mexican sour gherkins (mouse melons) are the only ones in your list that will not cross with the others. I grow three of the others as well  I may be wrong but I thought Persian cucumbers was a name for any seedless cuke. |
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Post by steev on Feb 4, 2017 3:13:15 GMT -5
Well. that's not much help; I'd like to know how to grow these things. Asian cukes work for me, but I also like "Persian" cukes.
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Post by blueadzuki on Feb 4, 2017 7:10:15 GMT -5
I have seeds for most of those and at least SOMETHING of them will go into the garden come spring (I'm just not sure which since my space is too limited to put even one of all of them in). You also may want to look a Joe Simcox's site link. He has two odd cucumbers up right now, the Assam Parchment cucumber which is probably a kiva type (brown crackly skin like the Russian Netted and Hmong Red in your pictures.) and the Hepagon a round South East Asian cuke the size of a small melon! You also might want to try and find seed for the Kaiser Alexandre cuke (la boutique du Kokopelli used to sell it but whether they still do or even exist or will send seed to the US I do not know). It's also a kiva type but an unusually cold tolerant one. I got good results from Dragon egg too when I grew it one year. |
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Post by ferdzy on Feb 4, 2017 7:11:30 GMT -5
steevI found this article, which may have some useful info. articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/08/food/la-fo-marketwatch-cucumbers-20110408Looks like Persian is a description of a type, not a variety. I actually know them as Lebanese cucumbers which sounds closer although in their modern form they were apparently developed in Israel. Varieties that are "Persian" that they mention are Beit Alpha, Figaro, Cordito, and Manar. I would add Muncher to that list. I've grown Muncher and it's a great little cuke. The article also says that being grown in a greenhouse is actually part of what makes them so thin skinned and delicate, so there's that. But my Munchers, as I said, were perfectly nice. I do have a somewhat milder climate than you do. Edited to add: also found Picolino, Perseus, Green Fingers, Socrates, Rocky, Unistar, Iznik, Katrina, and Corinto. Some of the varieties listed are f1 hybrids and some are OP. You'll need to research each variety. More notes! They're gynoecious and parthenocarpic.(Which seems redundant, but wev.)
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Post by ferdzy on Feb 4, 2017 7:15:53 GMT -5
Double post! Back to the original topic. We let some cucumbers cross in our garden and started growing them out. We have stopped and are going back to named varieties because the results were so bad.
There were 2 problems: I want to have picklers and I want to have slicers, not some weird in-between thing, and also our crosses were just not productive - 3 cukes all summer! NOPE. Now, we may just have had bad luck. We weren't growing out a large representative sample. But yeah; that happened. Or didn't happen, however you want to put it.
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Post by philagardener on Feb 4, 2017 7:24:02 GMT -5
I grew the lemon cucumber about 10 years ago. Very attractive, quite productive, also easy to find among the foliage. The skin got tough when older but the size was perfect for a single meal use. I took to slicing it for sandwiches. However, one day I bit into one and in a freak event managed to take a chip out of my tooth. No idea how that happened but my dentist said likely just compression stresses and just unlucky. I never grew it again but I think the key is just to pick early. I have some old seed but that may not be viable at this point. Always wanted to try some of the other unusual ones but haven't had the space or time to try.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Feb 4, 2017 22:44:50 GMT -5
Anyone grow the Gele Tros or Large Dutch Yellow Cucumber? That one looks good!
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Post by mskrieger on Feb 6, 2017 15:00:32 GMT -5
Never grown the large dutch yellow. But I am a big fan of the kiva types. I grow Poona Kheera. Extremely productive, delicious, never bitter, nice light flower scent sometimes. They are crunchier than other cukes, especially when large, but never tough. I pickle them and cook the big ones like zucchini. Tasty.
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I may be wrong but I thought Persian cucumbers was a name for any seedless cuke.
