Russian cucumber 'Rytova'

[orflo]

There used to be a Russian cucumber bred for 'living room growing', it was created in 1895 by a Russian botanist Rytov. It grew well in pots in a sunny living room ,and was offered a lot in Germany in the beginning of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, this variety seems to have disappeared. Does anybody know something on this variety (Andrey or others???),
Frank

[Andrey_BY]

Yes, Frank, I know about Mikhail Vasilievich Rytov (1846-1920) and his famous indoor cucumber.
Actually he had been a professor in our Belarusian Agricultural Academy in the town Gorky (near Russia) for so many years (1879-1920) and bred a lot of different vegetable varieties (cukes were his speciality). He was among the first Russian biologists who dealt with scientific vegetable gardening. Recently I managed to buy an old book written by him (published in 1915 - just before our Revolution). There are a lot of interesting info about how our grand-parents grew vegetables and also there is a photo of "Komnatnyi ogurets Rytova" (Rytov's Home-Grown cucumber) + "Zimniy Ogurets Rytova" (Rytov's Winter cucumber). Would be glad to scan its picture, but have no a scanner at home...
The first was well-known in Russian Empire and in some European countries in the first half of 1900s. It had a extremely short vines and elongated cukes (a bit shorter than greenhouse long cukes today). It was rather shadow tolerant and gave a reliable yield. Very famous Klinskiy (Russian heirloom) cucumber variety was the original sourse for it.
Unfortunately we lost seeds of the original Komnatnyi ogurets Rytova. And now you can't find it here anymore.
But probably should search it in Gatersleben or other old seedbanks across the Europe... And I gonna do my best to try to find its seeds here in former Soviet Union. I've found some links to people who used to grow it (or believe to grow it)

[orflo]

Hi Andrey,
you gave me a good hint there, I searched the Gatersleben catalogue and I did find :Rytowsche Zimmergurke, Rytow is quite comprehensible, Zimmer is room and gurke is cucumber, so it's still over there. Now I will try to obtain it, and thanks for all the extra info, the link, but I don't know if you speak any German:http://gbis.ipk-gatersleben.de/gbis_...utoScroll=0,81


Frank

[DeanRIowa]

orflo,

If you click the "Sprache" button, you can change the website to English.

Dean

[Andrey_BY]

Frank,

as many other sources they probably maintain non-original Rytov's cuke. But that is the chance anyway.
I can understand German a bit (but can't speak ) because I had been living in East Germany for 3.5 years

P.S. There is alos a Swiss source for what they call Zimmergurke Rytow'sche:
http://www.bdn.ch/siteData/taxonomic...ucumis/sativus

[orflo]

I did discover the Swiss link also, based on the German name (being part of a minority, Flemish, we learn some languages at school, so German isn't that difficult for me). And I also contacted someone who tried the Gatersleben Rytova. He said it was no good, fat and tasteless cukes, certainly not the original variety,
Frank

[Andrey_BY]

Would be better to try Swiss version indeed...

[Andrey_BY]

This is a scanned photo of Komnatnyi Ogurets Rytova from that old book written by Mr. Rytov himself:

[orflo]

I just love these old drawings , they can be far more expressive than a modern-day picture. As a coincidence, I contacted the swiss gene bankand and they replied to me yesterday. They only list the cucumber for historical purposes, they don't actually have the seeds, which is a pity. The search continues....
Frank

[Andrey_BY]

Yes, I like such drawnings too. And will go on my local searches for the real Komnatnyi Ogurets Rytova seeds in CIS...