Hi there. Im new here. 1 of this years watermelons was a little deformed.(Others on vine,are,regularly shaped) I picked it,and,cut it open. It was completly white,and,smelled exactly pumpkin/squash.I have never had this happen in my 42 years.lol. Only thing I have planted near,are,canteloupe,and,cucumber. Does this mean ALL the melons left on vine will be like this? Any feedback would be great!Thanks,Bill in NY
Great question Bill – I’d love to hear what happens with your melon plant. It could be that the one that you picked wasn’t ripe yet. Let me know if the other ones turn out the same!
Great observation Vernon! Sorry about your strange results – although as far as I know cucumbers and melons can’t cross pollinate – but, you never know… 😉
I know what science say about Cucumbers and Cantaloupe crossing. The State Ext scientist became very short with me when i told her what i had. She stated that it is not possible for them to cross. I saved the seeds every year (5th year seed 6th season) and they have come out the same for the past 6 years. It has the skin of a cucumber and the first quarter to 1/2 in on the outside taste like cucumber. The inside is the color and taste of cantaloupe when ripe. Surprisingly it is very tasty and have many family and friends asking if i have any and if they are ready. Took one in to the local Ext. office last week and he stated that had he not seen it, He would not have believed it. I have a Hybrid Cucaloupe.
Hi Doran – that’s crazy! I’d love to see it for myself. Send me a pic sometime if you can. Sounds really interesting. I’m game for learning new things if they’re true!
The exact same thing happened to us this year. They are cucumber plants producing cantaloupe shaped fruit. Skin is green and cucumber texture on outside but the inside is definitely a cantaloupe and very delicious. Maybe I’ll
Save the seeds. Thanks for the info!
I have the same things growing this year. Mine tasted like more like a cucumber with a hint of melon. but it had all characteristics you described. Maybe I picked it too early, but the skin was cracking from weird weather. I treated it like a cucumber and made a cucumber salad it was amazing.
Thank you for developing and sharing these very interesting and helpful gardening videos. Wishing you much success in continued teaching on line. I hope you’ll gain access to classrooms across the nation and inspire many young people to become gardeners. The planet needs people to return to family gardening.
We planted our heirloom cantaloupe & honeydew fairly close together this year & when a few of the cantaloupe ripened they were green inside and looked & tasted more like honeydew.
Great to hear your experience Vicky! Yes… from what I understand, melons can do that. You might have to grow one at a time or space them quite a ways apart…
Hi, Paul,
Thanks for the explanation on cross-polination.
Concerning companion planting, for several years, we’ve seen our neighbor planting red beans in between the rolls of corn, and do very well with both.
You are welcome Waleria! And thanks for your little note. Yes, I have heard of native Americans growing corn and beans together in the past but have never done it myself. Interesting.
Hi Paul: Thanks for the science explanation on cross-pollination. I have been gardening for almost 30 years, but hadn’t studied that aspect of genus and species (wasn’t paying attention during biology). Praise the Lord, I have only had one unusual specimen over the years. It was a watermelon that tasted like it had crossed with zucchini somehow.
Last summer we ended up with “spachini”! We planted zucchini and spaghetti squash together. They weren’t the seeds from previous year either. Had to cut into them to discover if were more zucchini like or squash like to know how to prepare them. Ha
I like to plant cucumbers, melons and squash all in the same plot with the plans of not saving seeds. However,i like to plant parsley, marigolds, and nasturiums in between to ward off the bugs. I am of the opinion that they help in the growing process. Companion planting is not a problem fo me. My issue is crop rotation.
In my 40 years experience, close planting of plant families, ex. Cucurbits, will and does affect the flavors in the current year’s crop. I can testify of some real disappointing results I have had to dispose of. The best policy, as you have said, is to use judicious spacing of simular crop families. I have had hot sweet peppers, nasty cucumber-tasting watermelons and even more disgusting squash-tasting watermelons. I have learned well to spread them out, and not just for seed saving.
Just wanted to chime in about the video because it’s straight up wrong within the first 2 minutes. (I stopped watching at that point.)
I use to be big on growing cantaloupe, cucumbers, and a large variety of onions, peppers, etc… Every year I planted cucumbers near cantaloupe was a year that I got cross pollination and cucumbers shaped irregularly; These things tasted disgusting and always occurred within the 1st generation of planting.
2nd, almost all these plants can cross pollinate and produce some very nasty fruits as they’re not that dissimilar. Please change the title as it’s misleading. He’s also talking about squash, something I know nothing about but stating that cucumbers cross pollinating with melons is a myth is garbage.
Mix a bag of cucumber seeds and cantaloupe seeds together and then try to separate them back. Can you by hand and eye alone? No. No one can as there isn’t even a difference when the two plants first begin to sprout. In fact, if you actually taste a cantaloupe or cucumber you can taste hints of each fruit in both. The best test is to grow cantaloupe with no cucumbers in the vicinity and pick one early to eat. It tastes an awful lot like a cucumber and for good reason.
Sorry that I can’t be more specific as this isn’t a job, just something I did to eat.
Also you may want to consider if there is another factor involved in your garden – hence the irregular shaped cucumbers. Otherwise thanks for sharing your experience!
A second point that needed to be made is that the cross pollinated plants can’t generally produce viable seed and most these plants die off after the 1st year.
This is the second garden we ever had and my husband planted cantaloupe and cucumber close together because of a lack of knowledge and we got many hybrids.The taste was not ,but you could taste both of the fruit.My husband pull all of the cucumbers out of the garden and now on the lower end we have cantaloupe.So it can happen we are living prove.
Strange Barbara – science says no, but still people claim that it happens. Of course there could be other factors involved. I’ll have to try it out myself to have personal experience. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Paul, thanks for the finer distinctions being simplified to species. Its harder for me when I have limited sun exposure and want to crowd as much squash as I can. I want the variety too, which has turned out ok so far…but one year I grew cucumbers in teh greenhouse, and with the door open, they were cross pollinated with squash. I saved the seed, a big thing with me, and the next year they had an orange hew, were bigger and didn’t really seem like cucumbers anymore. The reason I am researching cross pollination is to save the seeds to eat as well as grow from my Hull-less pumpkin species I found online. They have great green seeds, and this year, though I planted further away, I’m not sure what I’ll get next year as far as the seeds themselves and what characteristics will cross over or not. I have some methods of planting earlier (before flowering of other species), or some distance, but I heard that bees can travel 10 miles and cross pollinate within the species. So I’m considering planting ONLY the hullless species but don’t know what I’ll get. I won’t have the variety unless I wait or isolate the hullless pumpkins in a cold frame or something–I have a long one that may work along the side of the greenhouse. I really want those hullless seeds to eat and grow.. may have to co-op with someone nearby but far enough to avoid the cross pollination. Sigh, can’t always have my seeds and pumpkins too! : ) Thanks for your tips. We all must grow as much of our food as possible. Say, did you see the Urban Farming Guys on YouTube? OM Goodness! Check out what they are doing– real magic and right in the inner city of Kansas City. Lets do that too!
I know for a fact that cucumbers and canteloupes can cross-pollinate as well. When I was a kid in elementary school, our cucumbers and canteloupes cross-pollinated. The fruits were all unique–sometimes they even looked like a cucumber on one end and a canteloupe on the other! Often they were about fist-sized. Mostly what we ended up with were small canteloupe-ish fruits that fit well into our lunch boxes and tasted something between the two. We thought they were hilarious! I didn’t even like cucumbers, but I liked canteloupes, and these fruits tasted good to me! It was the only time I ever saw that happen.
Hi Paul Thanks for keeping us informed. Particularly at this time of COVID, your story on the 100 days of prayer and your gardening site has been beneficial. May the Lord bless you and family and keep everyone else in the family safe.
I hear this all the time. I have grown squash, cucumbers, melons and cucamelons together and never had them cross. The majority of melons I grow are C. melo (cucumbers). However, people continue to believe that they have some kind of first generation cross from fruit from an unripe or stressed plant. Or they grow Armenian cucumbers and say that they magically crossed melons with cucumbers.
In any case, thank you for your support in this area.
Hi I Have been growing marrows, cougeates and pumpkins side by side. In the following year I grew from seeds collected from previous year’s harvest. The seeds produce cougeates and marrows of different kinds, from this hybrid. Some of the produce,look like cougeates whilst others like marrows. I do not collect seeds from recurring crops, for fear of hybridisation and detrimental outcomes.
Both previously mentioned crops are very tasty- either in soups or cooked as vegetables.
I plant these between other flowering plants all over the garden.
43 Comments
Paul Reid
July 11, 2013Interesting. Thanks for sharing, Paul.
Bill
August 11, 2019Hi there. Im new here. 1 of this years watermelons was a little deformed.(Others on vine,are,regularly shaped) I picked it,and,cut it open. It was completly white,and,smelled exactly pumpkin/squash.I have never had this happen in my 42 years.lol. Only thing I have planted near,are,canteloupe,and,cucumber. Does this mean ALL the melons left on vine will be like this? Any feedback would be great!Thanks,Bill in NY
Paul
August 13, 2019Great question Bill – I’d love to hear what happens with your melon plant. It could be that the one that you picked wasn’t ripe yet. Let me know if the other ones turn out the same!
Vernon
July 11, 2013I have planted cucumbers and cantaloupes near each other and the next year had a mixed up plant come up and produce a strange cucaloupe!
Paul
July 11, 2013Great observation Vernon! Sorry about your strange results – although as far as I know cucumbers and melons can’t cross pollinate – but, you never know… 😉
Here’s a little write up specifically on cucaloups… 😉
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/can-cantaloupe-cucumber-crosspollinate-67362.html
Doran Swartwood
September 26, 2016I know what science say about Cucumbers and Cantaloupe crossing. The State Ext scientist became very short with me when i told her what i had. She stated that it is not possible for them to cross. I saved the seeds every year (5th year seed 6th season) and they have come out the same for the past 6 years. It has the skin of a cucumber and the first quarter to 1/2 in on the outside taste like cucumber. The inside is the color and taste of cantaloupe when ripe. Surprisingly it is very tasty and have many family and friends asking if i have any and if they are ready. Took one in to the local Ext. office last week and he stated that had he not seen it, He would not have believed it. I have a Hybrid Cucaloupe.
Paul
September 26, 2016Hi Doran – that’s crazy! I’d love to see it for myself. Send me a pic sometime if you can. Sounds really interesting. I’m game for learning new things if they’re true!
Marlena
September 20, 2017The exact same thing happened to us this year. They are cucumber plants producing cantaloupe shaped fruit. Skin is green and cucumber texture on outside but the inside is definitely a cantaloupe and very delicious. Maybe I’ll
Save the seeds. Thanks for the info!
Tomas
August 23, 2024I have the same things growing this year. Mine tasted like more like a cucumber with a hint of melon. but it had all characteristics you described. Maybe I picked it too early, but the skin was cracking from weird weather. I treated it like a cucumber and made a cucumber salad it was amazing.
Evie
July 11, 2013Great video, Paul! Very informative.
Paul
July 11, 2013Thanks Evs! 🙂
Brian
July 11, 2013I did have a problem with cross pollination when I planted hot and mild peppers. My hot peppers were not hot at all. I should have spaced them better.
Paul
July 12, 2013Yes… peppers can do that! I believe we ended up with some hot bell peppers a while ago… 😉
Connard Rasmussen
July 11, 2013Thank you for developing and sharing these very interesting and helpful gardening videos. Wishing you much success in continued teaching on line. I hope you’ll gain access to classrooms across the nation and inspire many young people to become gardeners. The planet needs people to return to family gardening.
Paul
July 12, 2013Thanks for your kind words Connard.
Lynn Hoag
July 11, 2013Thanks. Moses’s instruction to the Isralites seems to forbid companion planting.
Lynn My phone in California is 530 622 4967 if you are intrested.
Chelsea
April 20, 2015In God’s book of nature, I see companion planting being the example for success given to us.
Shreron
July 14, 2013Very helpful information. Thanks
Vicky
September 30, 2013We planted our heirloom cantaloupe & honeydew fairly close together this year & when a few of the cantaloupe ripened they were green inside and looked & tasted more like honeydew.
Paul
October 2, 2013Great to hear your experience Vicky! Yes… from what I understand, melons can do that. You might have to grow one at a time or space them quite a ways apart…
Waleria Ribeiro
November 11, 2014Hi, Paul,
Thanks for the explanation on cross-polination.
Concerning companion planting, for several years, we’ve seen our neighbor planting red beans in between the rolls of corn, and do very well with both.
Paul
November 18, 2014You are welcome Waleria! And thanks for your little note. Yes, I have heard of native Americans growing corn and beans together in the past but have never done it myself. Interesting.
Pam
November 17, 2014Hi Paul: Thanks for the science explanation on cross-pollination. I have been gardening for almost 30 years, but hadn’t studied that aspect of genus and species (wasn’t paying attention during biology). Praise the Lord, I have only had one unusual specimen over the years. It was a watermelon that tasted like it had crossed with zucchini somehow.
Keep up the good work.
Paul
November 18, 2014Oh wow Pam! Your comment made me laugh. A zucchini tasting watermelon would really be a little bit of a let down I’ll have to admit…
You are welcome and keep up the good work in your garden as well!
Kathy
November 24, 2014Wonderful, thanks a lot paul, i liked your fb page 🙂
Paul
May 27, 2015Thanks Kathy!
Nancy Bengtson
May 26, 2015Last summer we ended up with “spachini”! We planted zucchini and spaghetti squash together. They weren’t the seeds from previous year either. Had to cut into them to discover if were more zucchini like or squash like to know how to prepare them. Ha
Paul
May 27, 2015Wow! That sounds crazy!
C
May 31, 2015I like to plant cucumbers, melons and squash all in the same plot with the plans of not saving seeds. However,i like to plant parsley, marigolds, and nasturiums in between to ward off the bugs. I am of the opinion that they help in the growing process. Companion planting is not a problem fo me. My issue is crop rotation.
SC Justus
June 1, 2015In my 40 years experience, close planting of plant families, ex. Cucurbits, will and does affect the flavors in the current year’s crop. I can testify of some real disappointing results I have had to dispose of. The best policy, as you have said, is to use judicious spacing of simular crop families. I have had hot sweet peppers, nasty cucumber-tasting watermelons and even more disgusting squash-tasting watermelons. I have learned well to spread them out, and not just for seed saving.
Richard Bowen
July 15, 2015Just wanted to chime in about the video because it’s straight up wrong within the first 2 minutes. (I stopped watching at that point.)
I use to be big on growing cantaloupe, cucumbers, and a large variety of onions, peppers, etc… Every year I planted cucumbers near cantaloupe was a year that I got cross pollination and cucumbers shaped irregularly; These things tasted disgusting and always occurred within the 1st generation of planting.
2nd, almost all these plants can cross pollinate and produce some very nasty fruits as they’re not that dissimilar. Please change the title as it’s misleading. He’s also talking about squash, something I know nothing about but stating that cucumbers cross pollinating with melons is a myth is garbage.
Mix a bag of cucumber seeds and cantaloupe seeds together and then try to separate them back. Can you by hand and eye alone? No. No one can as there isn’t even a difference when the two plants first begin to sprout. In fact, if you actually taste a cantaloupe or cucumber you can taste hints of each fruit in both. The best test is to grow cantaloupe with no cucumbers in the vicinity and pick one early to eat. It tastes an awful lot like a cucumber and for good reason.
Sorry that I can’t be more specific as this isn’t a job, just something I did to eat.
Paul
July 16, 2015Hi Richard,
Thanks for joining the conversation. I’m sorry to hear about your sad experience with your cucumbers.
As far as the cross pollination issue you may want to check out these two articles:
Cross-pollination Between Vine Crops – Iowa State University
Cucumbers and melons too close in the garden? – New Mexico State University
Also you may want to consider if there is another factor involved in your garden – hence the irregular shaped cucumbers. Otherwise thanks for sharing your experience!
Nawaz
December 14, 2020Honeydew cross candaloupe result white melon??? Sir plZ hlp me what’sapp no 00923454563547
Richard Bowen
July 15, 2015A second point that needed to be made is that the cross pollinated plants can’t generally produce viable seed and most these plants die off after the 1st year.
Nawaz
December 14, 2020Honeydew cross candaloupe result white melon??? Sir plZ hlp me what’sapp no 00923454563547
Barbara Polk
August 13, 2015This is the second garden we ever had and my husband planted cantaloupe and cucumber close together because of a lack of knowledge and we got many hybrids.The taste was not ,but you could taste both of the fruit.My husband pull all of the cucumbers out of the garden and now on the lower end we have cantaloupe.So it can happen we are living prove.
Paul
August 13, 2015Strange Barbara – science says no, but still people claim that it happens. Of course there could be other factors involved. I’ll have to try it out myself to have personal experience. Thanks for sharing!
Ronni
November 6, 2015Hi Paul, thanks for the finer distinctions being simplified to species. Its harder for me when I have limited sun exposure and want to crowd as much squash as I can. I want the variety too, which has turned out ok so far…but one year I grew cucumbers in teh greenhouse, and with the door open, they were cross pollinated with squash. I saved the seed, a big thing with me, and the next year they had an orange hew, were bigger and didn’t really seem like cucumbers anymore. The reason I am researching cross pollination is to save the seeds to eat as well as grow from my Hull-less pumpkin species I found online. They have great green seeds, and this year, though I planted further away, I’m not sure what I’ll get next year as far as the seeds themselves and what characteristics will cross over or not. I have some methods of planting earlier (before flowering of other species), or some distance, but I heard that bees can travel 10 miles and cross pollinate within the species. So I’m considering planting ONLY the hullless species but don’t know what I’ll get. I won’t have the variety unless I wait or isolate the hullless pumpkins in a cold frame or something–I have a long one that may work along the side of the greenhouse. I really want those hullless seeds to eat and grow.. may have to co-op with someone nearby but far enough to avoid the cross pollination. Sigh, can’t always have my seeds and pumpkins too! : ) Thanks for your tips. We all must grow as much of our food as possible. Say, did you see the Urban Farming Guys on YouTube? OM Goodness! Check out what they are doing– real magic and right in the inner city of Kansas City. Lets do that too!
Nicole Parker
April 2, 2018I know for a fact that cucumbers and canteloupes can cross-pollinate as well. When I was a kid in elementary school, our cucumbers and canteloupes cross-pollinated. The fruits were all unique–sometimes they even looked like a cucumber on one end and a canteloupe on the other! Often they were about fist-sized. Mostly what we ended up with were small canteloupe-ish fruits that fit well into our lunch boxes and tasted something between the two. We thought they were hilarious! I didn’t even like cucumbers, but I liked canteloupes, and these fruits tasted good to me! It was the only time I ever saw that happen.
Lyn
June 21, 2020Hi Paul Thanks for keeping us informed. Particularly at this time of COVID, your story on the 100 days of prayer and your gardening site has been beneficial. May the Lord bless you and family and keep everyone else in the family safe.
Jay
September 17, 2020Dear Paul,
I hear this all the time. I have grown squash, cucumbers, melons and cucamelons together and never had them cross. The majority of melons I grow are C. melo (cucumbers). However, people continue to believe that they have some kind of first generation cross from fruit from an unripe or stressed plant. Or they grow Armenian cucumbers and say that they magically crossed melons with cucumbers.
In any case, thank you for your support in this area.
Logan
September 26, 2020Hi I Have been growing marrows, cougeates and pumpkins side by side. In the following year I grew from seeds collected from previous year’s harvest. The seeds produce cougeates and marrows of different kinds, from this hybrid. Some of the produce,look like cougeates whilst others like marrows. I do not collect seeds from recurring crops, for fear of hybridisation and detrimental outcomes.
Both previously mentioned crops are very tasty- either in soups or cooked as vegetables.
I plant these between other flowering plants all over the garden.
Nawaz
December 14, 2020Honeydew cross candaloupe result white melon??? Sir plZ hlp me what’sapp no 00923454563547
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