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View Full Version : I has a squashermelon?



aTailOf2Kitties
08-03-2011, 08:36 AM
I am an amateur gardener in every sense of the word. I've had tomatoes and jalepenos in the past but decided to expand the selection this year to include bell peppers, strawberries, watermelons, and squash. My sqash all died a few months back, but the other day I find this on one of my melon vines:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y77/DirtyRat/Photo0091.jpg
Are my melons paying homage to my squash, or is this some type of freak-fruit? I have several melon vines of differing types and they all ended up as a wad o' vines, so I'm not sure which variety of melon this is for sure, but it's probably a jubilee. I had one other oddball of the same type awhile back and it eventually filled out, but then I lost if to blossom end rot :( Maybe this type of melon always grows like this? I know squash and melons will cross-pollinate, but I read that only 2nd generation plants will bear the mixed fruits, which means that this plant would have needed to already have squash genes mixed in.

Anyone know what is up with th is little oddball? It looks healthy enough so far... All of my other melons (another, darker variety) look normal.

dukedogsmom
08-03-2011, 09:16 AM
I have a black thumb so I can't help. But that is really cool!

happylabs
08-03-2011, 09:17 AM
Yes, I no haz a green thumb either. However, it is a very cute squashermelon! :p

smokey the elder
08-03-2011, 09:40 AM
Do you live near a nuclear power plant?;) Cool looking melon!

wombat2u2004
08-03-2011, 11:00 AM
Nice mutation.
Reminds me of that movie "Day of the Triffids" :p

lvpets2002
08-03-2011, 11:25 AM
:) Interesting && I wonder what it will taste like.. Let us know ok..

AdoreMyDogs
08-03-2011, 11:44 AM
Squashermelon! Hahaha! That's hilarious, both the confused fruit, and your name for it!

Freedom
08-03-2011, 11:46 AM
Squasher Melon! YIPPEEE! Save the seeds, you can make a fortune - assuming it tastes good, You must let us know what it tastes like and take photos of the inside when you cut it as well.

Karen
08-03-2011, 12:03 PM
You'll never know until you cut into it! My grandfather once had a pumpkin/butternut squash hybrid decide to grow out of his compost pile. It was huge, orange on the outside, but smooth - not ribbed like a pumpkin. It was also not mostly hollow like a pumpkin would be, it was solid like a butternut squash - and weighed a ton! He had to move it with the tractor when it was ready to be eaten!

happylabs
08-03-2011, 12:22 PM
:) Interesting && I wonder what it will taste like.. Let us know ok..

Yes, let us know what it tastes like. I love both squash and melon.

aTailOf2Kitties
08-03-2011, 12:28 PM
I have seen posts on squash forums saying a watermelon had crossed with their butternut, but I haven't found anything anywhere saying a squash pollinated a melon... and I can't find pictures of either one. Probably tastes pretty gross if it is a hybrid. Right now it's the size of a squash. I wonder if it will round out like the other one did. I cut that one up and it smelled like watermelon but was yellowy green inside. Granted it was still rather small and I don't know what size melons are when they turn pink.

lizbud
08-03-2011, 12:44 PM
I have seen posts on squash forums saying a watermelon had crossed with their butternut, but I haven't found anything anywhere saying a squash pollinated a melon... and I can't find pictures of either one. Probably tastes pretty gross if it is a hybrid. Right now it's the size of a squash. I wonder if it will round out like the other one did. I cut that one up and it smelled like watermelon but was yellowy green inside. Granted it was still rather small and I don't know what size melons are when they turn pink.

That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen .I had no idea two plants could
cross pollinate. How you can baby it along till it ripens & see what you
end up with. Very curious.:)

aTailOf2Kitties
08-03-2011, 12:46 PM
my boss just told me he grows watermelons and they sometimes start off like that, but fill out. So I guess we'll wait and see....