Can you ID This Volunteer??

[TNTreehugger]

Something has sprouted in my yard and it's HUGE

I know it's not a birdhouse gourd and it looks too big to be a zucchini, or yellow squash.
Cantaloupe or watermelon?

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Maybe pumpkin? I'm not sure, haha.
If it isn't in the way I suggest to let it grow and wait and see

 

[TNTreehugger]

Maybe pumpkin? I'm not sure, haha.
If it isn't in the way I suggest to let it grow and wait and see

Yup, that's my plan. I just mowed around it. It looked a little droopy today so I ran the sprinkler on it and gave the area a good soaking - no telling how far it will travel!

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Haha awesome

 

[JP 1983]

I dont think its a melon, they usually have white streaks on the leaves. Probably pumpkin for my mind.

 

[TNTreehugger]

I dont think its a melon, they usually have white streaks on the leaves. Probably pumpkin for my mind.

Thanks, JP.
I can't recall the last time I bought a pumpkin, if that's what it is, no telling where the seed came from.
It's growing like gangbusters though, whatever it is!

 

[nayday]

Something has sprouted in my yard and it's HUGE

I know it's not a birdhouse gourd and it looks too big to be a zucchini, or yellow squash.
Cantaloupe or watermelon?

View attachment 7601View attachment 7602

Looks like a squash???

 

[TNTreehugger]

Two out of three guesses were correct - looks like a pumpkin to me, too!
After 72 days on the vine, I had to harvest today due to the predicted freezing temps for the week ahead... down to 28F tonight
Perfect timing really, as it has very little green left on it and that's what I've been waiting for.

My gift from the gods (I checked my seed stash to be sure - no pumpkin seeds) measures 12" x 10" and weighs in at 15 lbs on the bathroom scale.

Any suggestions for preparing it for the freezer?
I'm thinking cutting it up and baking it in the oven then measuring out 2 cups per zip-lock baggie.

 

[JP 1983]

That looks like a Halloween pumpkin variety.

Don't forget to boil, roast and eat the seeds! Yum!

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Haha that's huge! Awesome.

I completely forgot that seeds were edible, even though every week I see that pumpkin seed bread in the store.

 

[JP 1983]

Haha that's huge! Awesome.

I completely forgot that seeds were edible, even though every week I see that pumpkin seed bread in the store.

Those commercial pumpkin seeds are the husk-less variety (pepitas). Other varieties have the tough husks on the outside, but if you boil then roast them with a drizzle of oil they will split open enough to pick off. Some varieties with smaller seeds (like Kent/Jap) can be eaten whole, husk and all, after roasting with a drizzle of oil. They become crispy and delicious.

 

[KathrynJN]

In regards to freezing pumpkin. I roasted some and froze them and they went white and yuk. I prefer to make pumpkin soup and freeze that instead.

Is the vine sending down roots as it grows? One thing I've noticed is that pumpkin will send down roots, as I don't think melons do. That might narrow down working out what the vine is.

 

[TNTreehugger]

That looks like a Halloween pumpkin variety.

Don't forget to boil, roast and eat the seeds! Yum!

I've cooked those before, bought at the grocery store for Halloween, and they made good pies.
No way on eating the seeds! This is a magical-miracle-mystery pumpkin and I'll be saving (and sharing) every seed I can salvage.
Btw, anyone who would like samples, send me your mailing address in a PM.

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

Haha, surely by the end you'll have seeds coming out of your nose?

I've had a random cucumber vine pop up recently. Now I'm left guessing from which plant it was... Fingers crossed it's off of my long green supermarket, but I deem those chances low, haha.

 

[TNTreehugger]

Those commercial pumpkin seeds are the husk-less variety (pepitas). Other varieties have the tough husks on the outside, but if you boil then roast them with a drizzle of oil they will split open enough to pick off. Some varieties with smaller seeds (like Kent/Jap) can be eaten whole, husk and all, after roasting with a drizzle of oil. They become crispy and delicious.

Since you're an expert on pumpkin/seeds how do you suppose this came to grow in my yard? What kind of animal would eat pumpkin seeds and where would they find them in August?? How long does it take for a seed to pass through the digestive track of said animal and what would be the estimated distance between the source and the "deposit?"

I'm really curious about how this came to grow in my yard.

 

[TNTreehugger]

Technically speaking... "endozoochory"

How plants hitchhike on animal poo | Kew

From plants to poo, Kew Research Fellow Dr Si-Chong Chen reveals how seeds use animals as their free ride for dispersal…

www.kew.org

The Influence of Seed Characteristics on Seed Dispersal Early Stages by Tibetan Macaques

Seed dispersal by frugivores is critical to forest regeneration. However, the Tibetan macaque’s seed dispersal function and the effect of seed physical characteristics on seed dispersal effectiveness need to be confirmed. We not only demonstrated ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[PrairieMom]

What great pumpkins you grew! I love when volunteer stuff produces. ❤

A word of caution though so you're not disappointed - because that appears to be a pumpkin/squash from the cucurbita pepo family, unless you hand pollinated it it's very possible your seeds won't replicate the same plant.

If you or any of your neighbours (within a 1/2 kilometer or roughly 1/3 mile) grew acorn, crookedneck, pattypan or zucchini, at least some of your seeds will be hybrid. This is because of it's pollination habits via insects and that it has distinct male and female flowers (unlike, say a tomato or bean that has a perfect flower and is self-fertile).

I would still try growing them, but plant way more than you think you should. Keep only the plants that look like they're growing true to type and hand pollinate the ones you want to keep for future seed.

I regularly bake then freeze pumpkin flesh to use through the winter. So nutritious and delicious!

As for where it came from, if your yard is anything like mine, it was the squirrels! If they buried it deep, it can take a long time for them to come up. I had cucumber plants popping up early August this past year!

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

That's pretty cool @PrairieMom . I wonder what hybrids might turn into and taste like. If I had the time and resources I'd likely experiment myself. I know I've had some weird looking tomatoes from seed that I'd saved once. They turned out somewhat upside-down teardrop shaped, like it became a hybrid between a chilli and a tomato (though I've not successfully grown any chillies yet).

 

[PrairieMom]

@Mandy Onderwater
oh, that is so interesting! It wouldn't be a tomato/pepper hybrid, but depending on where you got your seeds it might be an F2 hybrid. If the original plant/fruit was an F1 hybrid (many cultivars you get from the nursery are F1 hybrids, as are most supermarket tomatoes), the seeds they produce are F2. While F1 hybrids are usually very uniform and vigorous, F2 hybrids are notoriously unstable and unpredictable. While still perfectly edible, you'll have many generations of unpredictable results before they finally stabilize, perhaps with undesirable traits.

When selecting seeds, it's generally a good idea to stick with heritage/heirloom or antique types. They are sometimes called open pollinated. These are varieties that will grow true-to-type generation after generation. The disadvantage over F1 hybrids is that they can sometimes be more susceptible to disease etc so might require more careful monitoring and remediation.

Peppers are soooooo hard to grow. Every year my husbands asks me, "You're trying those  again?" It's a nut I'm determined to crack. I've had the most success with Hungarian Black Peppers, but it's marginal success at best!

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

We are straying from the original topic (though I do believe it's now resolved).

But that is interesting. I was given the original tomatoes as a gift and the giftee didn't recall what they were to begin with. And they only got weirder looking over time, haha.

Yes, I've heard that before. Perhaps I'm too stubborn though, haha. Or I have the kind of luck where things end up weird anyway.

Supposedly peppers are one of the easiest things to grow in my climate... I just mess up some way or another. So just today I just bought another pack of "Fire & Ice" pepper seeds (the same one Mark uses) and see how I go now. Last time they germinated very poorly and each and every one of them looked sick. So now I've used 2 different bags of soil and fingers crossed.