first time cukes. what is this?!?

rtvvvv · August 24, 2022

i bought some small plants that from the photo looked like regular cucumbers.
I got this!!! whats going on? at first i figured the plants were mislabeled

but in a nearby garden i saw another plant producing the same thing..no chance of mislabeling on both. any info would be appreciated. can we eat these? do we want to?

KarenO · August 24, 2022

They look like mature / overripe cucumbers.
Cucumbers are picked immature, any time before this stage really.
There are a lot of varieties, some are whitish, dome are quite round. Are there other fruit on the plants?

Tormato · August 25, 2022

Starting to turn yellow means overripe, which usually means mushy texture and poor flavor, along with hardening seeds.

ddsack · August 25, 2022

I would cut the palest, greenest one open, see what they look like inside and give it a brief taste. If you bought them as cucumbers, they probably are in the cucumber family, even if they are some kind of cross. They do look somewhat too smooth and non-warty to be a common cucumber at that size. But there are many kinds, maybe you got something more exotic. Can you ask the place you bought them? Not saying you should eat them not knowing for sure what they are, but a taste and spit would tell whether they had the cucumber flavor.

rtvvvv · August 25, 2022

the little label stakes in all the planter showed a picture of a "normal" green cuke
like you get at the store. if these are"over ripe" they never hit ripe at all.
also never were they green or long. they started as yellow spheres and just got bigger till they are as you see them. another thing i noticed was (and i dont know if this is normal or not) the plant itself just died all at once and virtually disappeared overnight. this happened in two different locations one in the ground and another in a large pot

agee12 · August 26, 2022

Quote:

Originally Posted by rtvvvv

the little label stakes in all the planter showed a picture of a "normal" green cuke
like you get at the store. if these are"over ripe" they never hit ripe at all.
also never were they green or long. they started as yellow spheres and just got bigger till they are as you see them. another thing i noticed was (and i dont know if this is normal or not) the plant itself just died all at once and virtually disappeared overnight. this happened in two different locations one in the ground and another in a large pot

Yellow spheres sound like the lemon cucumber variety - the cuke at 9:00 fits that bill especially if it was yellow at an earlier stage. There are other yellow and pale cucumber varieties like Boothby Blonde, Apple and Dragon Egg, https://www.gardeningchores.com/types-of-cucumbers/ .

Like others have said they look like overripe cucumbers and you were thrown off by them not being green. It's a shame that the plant went kaput before you were able to harvest a cucumber at it's peak. I personally fresh eat overripe cucumbers, the overripes, flesh and seeds, tend to be tougher but I still like them. Some of my gardening friends mention that they are good candidates for homemade relish - either canned or refrigerator.

rtvvvv · August 26, 2022

thanks for the suggestion..i took a look at lemon type..i dont think so these look quite different. I followed the link you sent and it seems like they might have the answer:
lack of nutrition from the soil, it would explain why the other cukes grown by other people turned out the same.

KarenO · August 26, 2022

White wonder perhaps

August 25, 2022	#4
ddsack Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3 Posts: 3,231	I would cut the palest, greenest one open, see what they look like inside and give it a brief taste. If you bought them as cucumbers, they probably are in the cucumber family, even if they are some kind of cross. They do look somewhat too smooth and non-warty to be a common cucumber at that size. But there are many kinds, maybe you got something more exotic. Can you ask the place you bought them? Not saying you should eat them not knowing for sure what they are, but a taste and spit would tell whether they had the cucumber flavor. __________________ Dee ************** Last edited by ddsack; August 25, 2022 at 04:31 PM.

August 24, 2022	#2
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,931	They look like mature / overripe cucumbers. Cucumbers are picked immature, any time before this stage really. There are a lot of varieties, some are whitish, dome are quite round. Are there other fruit on the plants?

August 25, 2022	#3
Tormato Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MA Posts: 4,971	Starting to turn yellow means overripe, which usually means mushy texture and poor flavor, along with hardening seeds.

August 25, 2022	#5
rtvvvv Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: mi Posts: 80	the little label stakes in all the planter showed a picture of a "normal" green cuke like you get at the store. if these are"over ripe" they never hit ripe at all. also never were they green or long. they started as yellow spheres and just got bigger till they are as you see them. another thing i noticed was (and i dont know if this is normal or not) the plant itself just died all at once and virtually disappeared overnight. this happened in two different locations one in the ground and another in a large pot

August 26, 2022	#7
rtvvvv Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: mi Posts: 80	thanks for the suggestion..i took a look at lemon type..i dont think so these look quite different. I followed the link you sent and it seems like they might have the answer: lack of nutrition from the soil, it would explain why the other cukes grown by other people turned out the same.