Vegetables
Are you implicated about cross pollinating different type of cucumber vine in your garden this season ? Maybe you are just curious if this is something that can even happen ? In this clause , gardening expert and former organic Fannie Farmer Sarah Hyde examines if cross pollinating cucumber vine is something you need to be disturbed about .
Contents
Cucumbers are a popular garden crop and have been arise by humans for G of old age . Firstcultivated in India , cucumbers are now grown worldwide in a encompassing reach of shapes , sizing , and dissimilar culinary uses . One trait that probably has impart to cucumber ’s long - run presencein our garden bedsis that cucumber are easy to bring through seminal fluid from . But that begs the question – can cuke cross cross-pollinate in your garden ?
If you grow more than one character of cucumber , you may be disquieted about cross pollination . Or , perhaps you ’d like to hear this on your own and see if you’re able to get cucumbers to cross pollinate to create a new cultivar . Every gardener and garden is different . Some gardener want to do this intentionally , while other nurseryman want to quash any type of hybridization pollenation .
So , can cucumber cross cross-pollinate ? The result isboth simple and complex . Below you ’ll find the short answer , follow by the long solution when it make out cross pollenation ! Let ’s poke in !
The Short Answer
Any straight cucumber ( Cucumis sativus)will get over with the same species of cucumbereven if it is a dissimilar diversity or type . For example , the variety “ Marketmore 76 , ” an American Slicing type , will cross with the variety “ National , ” a pickle cucumber vine since they both areC. sativus . English cucumbers , Japanese , and Persian cucumbers are allC. sativus , and will also foil with each other . AnyC. sativustype will not cross with other cucumber look - alikes , othercucumisspecies , melons , or squash if they are notC. sativus .
The Long Answer & Cucumber Overview
Let ’s have a abbreviated skill refresher course that is helpful withunderstanding cross pollination . Genus and species are how plant scientist sort plants at the most specific level . For cucumbers , the genus isCucumis , the species issativus . You may see them referred to asC. sativus , an abbreviation of the genus .
Cucumis sativusare botanic members of the cucurbit family , along with melon vine , zucchini , wintertime squash and pumpkins . All cucurbit category plant have similar vining growth , deeply lobate leaf , and tendrils for rise .
Almost all cucurbits are not frost - tolerant . They have yellow to orange flowers that grow as both male and distaff bloom on the same plant . The distaff flush finally ferment into the fruit if pollinated by the male flower ’s pollen .
Genus and species are always write in italic and in Latin , based on the binomial nomenclature ( aka dual naming ) systemestablished by botanist Carl Linnaeusin the 1700s . For flowering plants , families are established by plants that share similar flower structures . Cucurbitacae is the broader categorisation of the cucumber folk , one level up from genus .
How They Grow
Ifyou grow cucumbers , you may have observed a flush ofyellow flowers adorning the vines . change by reversal your back and a few days by and by petite baby cuke have assume their place ! The cucumber flowers were beneficiaries of insects ’ hard employment transferring pollen from other nearby cucumber flower . Honey bees are known to be grievous - lifters ascucumber pollinator .
Cucumbers grow both male and female flowers on the same industrial plant . This mean they are referred to as “ ego - pollinate ” even though insects are the ones transfer pollen from flower to blossom . The female bloom are the one that become cuke yield . Careful observation uncover a thin difference in male and distaff flowers at the shape of the root at the ending of the heyday .
All member of the cucurbit kinfolk have the same blossoming traits . Although , squash blossoms are elephantine compared to the lowly cuke blooms . If your blossoms are not setting much yield , crushed pollinator count could be the reason . Planting extra flowers to boost pollinatorswill help promote the fruit set ( and for other insect pollenate crops ) .
What is Cross Pollination?
crown of thorns pollenation is when pollen of two or more mintage premix during pollination . get over pollenation occurs naturally via insectsor wind , or deliberately by humans for come breeding purposes .
Pollen transference is nature ’s brainy method acting to ensure hereditary diversity in future generations . This diversity is changes in the plant ’s genes that will aid the metal money conform to Modern growing condition , defend young disease , and stand up to Modern pest press .
the great unwashed carefully prize cucumbers for important beneficial traits such as resistance to powdery mildew , low bitterness , or early harvest . designed mark pollination for upbringing is a highly laborious process . It involves reconnoiter for flowers on the leaflet of scuttle , deal transferring pollen between peak , and tap blossoms shut to prevent further pollen from get into the flower .
Which Varieties Can Cross Pollinate
Any cucumber that is botanicallyCucumis sativuswill hybridizing with all otherC. sativus , but not with any otherCucumisspecies . For good example , Cucumis . melo , which include cantaloupeand sweet melon , will not hybridise with a slice Cucumis sativus that isC. sativus . That means you’re able to originate both cucumber and melons side by side and not have cross pollenation occur .
Two closely related plants that are often included with cucumbers are the Armenian cucumber and Gherkins . Gherkins and Armenian cucumber vine will not cross with true cucumber ( C. sativus ) since they are dissimilar species .
Armenian cucumber ( aka Painted Serpent ) is actuallyCucumis melo , and is more closely related to melons than true cucumbers . Armenian cucumbers are very similar in growth , coming into court , and flavor to cucumbers . They fly high in hot weather and can grow magnanimous and stay non - bitter .
Gherkins are modest , oval fruit barely larger than kumquats . Gherkin ’s prickly hide helps themstand out from other cucumbers . They are not members of theCucumisgenus and are actuallyMelothria scabra . However , they are still part of the Cucurbit family and are usually grouped with cucumber for their similar flavor and function . Gherkins are popular pickled and in traditional dishes .
Why Cross Pollinate?
Why would you require to designedly cross pollinate cucumbers ? just put , crisscross pollenation is how new varieties are bred . Cross pollinating isnext - level cum deliverance .
However , for the gardener who bid to save up seed on only one open pollinate cucumber vine , it is still important to lie with which types of cucumber will cross with others . If a cucumber admixture with another type , it will not grow lawful to the older case during the following season .
To save cum that is true to type , the gardener ’s job is to preclude cross pollination of their hope Cucumis sativus with other mixture .
How to Cross Pollinate or Prevent it
If you want to spare seed and have them growtrue to their variety , design to arise only onevariety ofC. sativusto prevent cross pollination . Open - cross-pollinate variety will have the same tone year after year if there is no cross pollination . Hybrid F1 cuke varieties will not raise reliable to type if seeded player is write , even if hybridization pollination does not come .
Consider if there are any other Cucumis sativus originate within a half Swedish mile of yours . A neighbour ’s cucumbers can be crossed with yours ! Isolation by distance is not foolproof . So , to secure the seed will arrive true you have to pass on pollinate and omit insect pollinator .
When you are cross pollenate tobreed newfangled varietiesor to save pure source on one multifariousness , it is substantive to isolate pollinator insects from the plants . Some seed saver use isolation boxes or cloches that await like little wire or wood frames cut across in insect netting . For a sprawling Cucumis sativus plant , these closing off cage may be too small to cover the full plant life .
The most reliable , time - tested method that many professional seed savers still apply is to scout for female flush before possible action , hand pollenate them with male blossoms aright when they open , and then tape the female blossoms shut out after pollenation to prevent other insect from pollinating the prime .
Flagging , marking , and recordkeepingare also part of this process . ( For in astuteness guidance on how to engender cucumbers , have-to doe with to Suzanne Ashworth ’s bookSeed to Seed , an all-important extension for source savers . )
Final Thoughts
Cucumbers are a widely fuck garden crop around the populace . Seeds have been saved for chiliad of years . Knowing which types will cut through pollenate with each other is important to know for saving seeds on open pollenate variety . It ’s also important for breeding new miscellanea . With a fleck of cognition ofcucumber pollenation habitsand how to isolate their flowers , any gardener can start saving seed that over clip will become well - suited for their own microclimate .
