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Hybrid Cucumber? #887085
Asked October 03, 2024, 3:58 PM EDT
So I wanted to do an ultracross of several varieties of corn and cucumbers this year, and since I'm just starting out I wasn't expecting hybrids. However, I got this unusual vine growing beside the garden (I just assumed one of the other vines was just trying to beat the competition) but I checked to see if it had fruited and it didn't look like any of the cucumber varieties I planted this year that came up: Richmond Green Apple, White Wonder, Poona Kheena, or Lemon. Maybe it's another variety that didn't survive but the only one which looks close at all is the West India Burr, but I don't think that's it.
Union County Mississippi
Expert Response
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Hi. I think those are Richmond Green Apple cucumbers. I did a reverse image search, and that was the variety that came up most frequently among the first hits. Since that is one of the varieties you planted and none of the other varieties are similar, I think that identification is highly likely. The shape and color of cucs can vary depending on the growing conditions, including pollination, so I think that accounts for the differences among them you are seeing.
I can guarantee it isn't purely Richmond green. For starts the Richmond green is very fuzzy, and this is spiny. Secondly the Richmond green tastes like a watermelon or apple and this one tastes like a cucumber.
Right but the Richmond Apple Cucumbers that I know I grew didn't have spines. They were fuzzy and spineless. And they don't taste the same as the ones I know were Richmond Apple Cucumbers, which had a fruity taste rather than a Cucumbery taste. If these are traits which are recessive, then the original seeds wouldn't have had them, and any self fertile offspring would be homozygous for those traits. And maybe they aren't but it seems weird that the characteristic traits of a Richmond Apple Cucumber would be absent.