Volunteer Plant

[QueBota]

Not sure if this is Rural or Related.

My neighbor has this growing next to one of his driveways.

Watermelon?

Fall is coming, leaves are not growing anymore.

How do you know when to harvest.

Never raised melons, pretty sure it's not a pumpkin .

Thanks,
Q

 

[duber34]

Looks a bit like a stunted zucchini to me.

Regards,
Duber

 

[LD1]

I am gonna vote that its a pumpkin

 

[Mendonsy]

I would guess that the parent plant was a zucchini hybrid and that thing is something in the squash family that the hybrid was made from.

 

[QueBota]

Plant sprouted after a particularly wet spell towards the end of July. Hasn't been growing long. Was covered in flowers that just dropped. We noticed the "growth" after cutting a field yesterday. I'll try to take a better pic with something in it for scale. It is definitely watermelon/zucchini shaped, more cylindrical than round. It's over a foot long and has some girth to it as well. I don't recognize the leaves.

I had a volunteer heirloom tomato plant last year at the edge of a field/treeline, very beefstake like, large tomatoes, meaty and slightly juicy. I built a cage for it out of scrap field fence, never messed with it except to harvest tomatoes. Made great tomato sandwiches on hard bread with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and leaf lettuce. Some of the best tomatoes I've had in years. Tried to save seeds and cultivate this year, no luck .

Q

 

[QueBota]

More pics, its a little more than 12" long, approx. 25" around an rolled over a little, a bit orange/yellow where resting on the ground. Thanks to my neighbor for talking the pics and sending them to me.

County Fair is this weekend. If we weren't so busy showing my daughters Boer goats, maybe I could enter the mystery vegetable in the produce contest. Strange coincidence, the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", was on Direct TV while we were hanging out waiting for the goat judging this evening. One of my all time favorite 50's SciFi/Horror movies. Maybe we are growing pods . Better check the basement when we get home.

Thanks,
Q

 

[CADplans]

Save the seed,,, pack them 4 per envelope,,
sell them on Amazon as "Grow Your Own Zombie Bombs", $19.50 per pack, free shipping.

then,,, retire 18 months later!! :thumbsup:

 

[2LaneCruzer]

The leaves and stems bespeak a squash of some sort.

 

[MossRoad]

Looks like a pumpkin to me, too.

 

[txdon]

Google "green pumpkin". There are a lot of pics that look just like yours.

 

[CrownHawg]

I'm with Duber, it's definitely a zucchini crossed with something. The leaves are definitely squash like.

 

[QueBota]

Thanks guys, I'm leaning towards pumpkin but it's odd that it is more cylindrical than round. Haven't seen many pumpkins shaped like a cucumber/zucchini/squash also haven't seen many "round" cucumber/zucchini/squash.It's growing on a mildly steep slope if that make a difference. My experience with melons/pumpkins/squash/zucchini is limited. Have grown a few cucumbers in the past, battled with the cucumber beetles. I'll post some pics after harvest, maybe that will help.

Q

 

[CADplans]

Thanks guys, I'm leaning towards pumpkin but it's odd that it is more cylindrical than round. Haven't seen many pumpkins shaped like a cucumber/zucchini/squash also haven't seen many "round" cucumber/zucchini/squash.It's growing on a mildly steep slope if that make a difference. My experience with melons/pumpkins/squash/zucchini is limited. Have grown quite a few cucumbers in the past. I post some pics after harvest, maybe that will help.

Q

These types of "fruit" occur when the PREVIOUS generation was cross pollinated.

That is why corn seed is expensive.
A neighbor used to grow seed corn,
he would de-tassel 5 rows, then the 6th row, a different variety, would pollinate the 5 rows.
During harvest, the 6th row was cut for silage, the 5 rows harvested for seed.

THEN,,, he found there was gravel under the fields,,, the tractors were parked,, and never moved, again!! :thumbsup:

 

[QueBota]

Interesting, it does look like some odd combination of pumpkin and something squashlike. It had lots of flowers for about a month or so, never set any "fruit", they would just drop after a day or so. Never paid much mind to it after that, noticed the "fruit" while cutting some fields a few days ago. We were sitting on the tailgate taking a break when I noticed the fruit.

Q

 

[Buty]

Looks like cantaloupe that I grew this summer.

 

[Taylortractornut]

Pumpkin. Did they have a fall display there. I had one sprout in a flower bed onetime

 

[QueBota]

No, but there are several folks in the area who have good size vegetable gardens and grow pumpkins. Perhaps a racoon, deer, etc. had a pumpkin snack last fall and left a seed deposit. It rooted right next to a small asphalt drive that connects two fields. When it rains water washes everything on that side of the drive towards the swale that runs next to the drive. Most leaves are gone now, waiting to harvest the "fruit". Not sure when the appropriate time is. Don't want to harvest it too early, don't want it to become overripe. Should be tasty whatever it is.

Thanks,
Q