Parthenocarpic veggies

jillian · November 4, 2015

I swore after this year I would never grow squash or zucchini again. Poor pollination, tons of male flowers but very few female, and then the powdery mildew. I read a very brief article about parthenocarpic zucchini touting the production and high resistance to diseases. I found a couple varieties of seeds offered, they are pretty expensive for 10 seeds. Though I would gladly pay if indeed I was able to actually have a harvest of zucchini. There were no reviews however and I would love to know if any of you have grown the parthenocarpic zucchini or squash and if so what results were.
Thanks in advance!

greenthumbomaha · November 4, 2015

My problem was squash bugs so I bought a package from Burpee but didn't get my area set up in time to grow under cover. It turned out this was the best in many years for growing zucchini. I grew black night for the first time and it did very well for me.

- Lisa

bower · November 5, 2015

Haven't heard of the zukes yet, but I have grown cucumbers that are parthenocarpic - expensive seed I got 5 for $5, but they produced without pollinators, even indoors in winter.

Parthenocarpic cukes are more and more common it seems, but still very expensive seeds:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/c-936-gre...cucumbers.aspx

But I see there are some parthenocarpic zukes which are not so expensive:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8311-partenon.aspx
Partenon F1 30 seeds for $5.10
Also research at Cornell reported that "Golden Glory" F1 is parthenocarpic and had 100% fruit set from bagged flowers - best of all they tested. These are even a bit less expensive:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8576-golden-glory.aspx

What other varieties did you hear about? I'd love to find a parthenocarpic kousa, we can do an early crop in the greenhouse but as you say, the parade of male-only (and/or then female only!) flowers can be disheartening.

Ricky Shaw · November 5, 2015

I like this kind of stuff, pollination is a real problem here some years. We have swaths, often large of bee die off, some say pesticides or that hive disease.

I'd be game for buying a couple types and swapping around to defer costs. I never looked, if there's a cuke/zuch swap. Parthenocarpic's would make a good category.

greenthumbomaha · November 5, 2015

Growing cucumbers indoors in winter is impressive, Bower. Was the production worth the time and effort? Burpee has Sweet Success cucumber seed which they claim is parthenocarpic.. something to think about when they offer free shipping again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bower

Haven't heard of the zukes yet, but I have grown cucumbers that are parthenocarpic - expensive seed I got 5 for $5, but they produced without pollinators, even indoors in winter.

Parthenocarpic cukes are more and more common it seems, but still very expensive seeds:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/c-936-gre...cucumbers.aspx

But I see there are some parthenocarpic zukes which are not so expensive:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8311-partenon.aspx
Partenon F1 30 seeds for $5.10
Also research at Cornell reported that "Golden Glory" F1 is parthenocarpic and had 100% fruit set from bagged flowers - best of all they tested. These are even a bit less expensive:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8576-golden-glory.aspx

What other varieties did you hear about? I'd love to find a parthenocarpic kousa, we can do an early crop in the greenhouse but as you say, the parade of male-only (and/or then female only!) flowers can be disheartening.

bower · November 5, 2015

Great idea, Ricky.

We could try out some different types in different conditions and report back on how they did. I read that low light and low temperature can be a cause of the "all male" flower thing. But low temps can also cause parthenocarpy if the gene is there for it.

There are a couple of OP zukes reported with over 70% parthenocarpic fruit set in this test:
http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/cgc/cgc16/cgc16-20.html
Gold Strike and Black Beauty.
Black Beauty is easy to find, I'm not seeing Gold Strike listed anywhere though.

Here is a pale green one called Cavili. A hybrid.
http://www.territorialseed.com/produ...ll_squash_seed

bower · November 5, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

Growing cucumbers indoors in winter is impressive, Bower. Was the production worth the time and effort? Burpee has Sweet Success cucumber seed which they claim is parthenocarpic.. something to think about when they offer free shipping again.

The production for that variety indoors - it was "Passandra" F1 iirc - was pretty low, but it kept the cukes coming one at a time over a period of several months... they were super tasty and really welcome. Seriously, the quality of produce sold here in the north would make you gag... especially in winter.

Homegrown indoor things are way better, even if they're not much.

As for the squash, well they have to wait until late winter and the greenhouse - but it would help to have varieties that set all female parthenocarpic fruit, for sure. (We did batter and fry the endless male blossoms, which tasted great - like batter, basically.

There's not much to em.

)

jillian · November 5, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by bower

Haven't heard of the zukes yet, but I have grown cucumbers that are parthenocarpic - expensive seed I got 5 for $5, but they produced without pollinators, even indoors in winter.

Parthenocarpic cukes are more and more common it seems, but still very expensive seeds:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/c-936-gre...cucumbers.aspx

But I see there are some parthenocarpic zukes which are not so expensive:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8311-partenon.aspx
Partenon F1 30 seeds for $5.10
Also research at Cornell reported that "Golden Glory" F1 is parthenocarpic and had 100% fruit set from bagged flowers - best of all they tested. These are even a bit less expensive:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8576-golden-glory.aspx

What other varieties did you hear about? I'd love to find a parthenocarpic kousa, we can do an early crop in the greenhouse but as you say, the parade of male-only (and/or then female only!) flowers can be disheartening.

Bower, that golden glory is very pretty and I like the open growth characteristic, but it does not say specifically "parthenocarpic"......here is another that i read somewhere was parthenocarpic but description on seed site does not specify so.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organ...er-squash.html I like ordering from them, organic and free shipping! They have only one variety listed as parthenocarpic http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organ...-zuchinni.html
I noticed they have several types of parthenocarpic cukes, which look very interesting!

bower · November 5, 2015

Jillian, oh wow the Segev kousa is parthenocarpic... yes!!!!

I love High Mowing site... I always end up reading their seed saving advice.
Those cukes look right too!

bower · November 5, 2015

About Golden Glory, let me try to link the pdf from Cornell.

If that link doesn't work, try a google for "parthenocarpic squash Cornell". It should come up first. Dunja was in the same trial too, and rated second after Golden Glory with 83% successful fruit parthenocarpy.

Ricky Shaw · November 5, 2015

Safari, sixth on that Cornell list was one I grew 2 years ago and was a huge producer.

jillian · November 5, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by bower

About Golden Glory, let me try to link the pdf from Cornell.

If that link doesn't work, try a google for "parthenocarpic squash Cornell". It should come up first. Dunja was in the same trial too, and rated second after Golden Glory with 83% successful fruit parthenocarpy.

Thanks for the link, great information! I think I will try the Dunja since that is what HMS offers. I would be ecstatic with 83%!
Also may order some of the picolino cukes, I have better luck with cucumbers than zucchini but that really isn't saying alot!

Cole_Robbie · November 12, 2015

Sweet Success is my favorite cuke, both to grow and to eat. I don't even like cucumbers, but I like Sweet Success.

Bipetual · November 13, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by jillian

Thanks for the link, great information! I think I will try the Dunja since that is what HMS offers. I would be ecstatic with 83%!
Also may order some of the picolino cukes, I have better luck with cucumbers than zucchini but that really isn't saying alot!

I grew Dunja this year and I was really happy with it. I didn't even realize it was pathenocarpic. But it was early, productive, and took a while to succumb to powdery mildew. By then we'd had the fried zucchini, zucchini bread, and given some away, so we were content.

Cole_Robbie · November 15, 2015

I just squeezed out a pile of huge Sweet Success seeds from the last cuke of the year that I let get too big.

It's a hybrid, but also parthenocarpic, which makes dehybridization not possible? Is that right? Will these seeds germinate? What will they make?

edit: Reading into it a little further, parthenocarpic seeds are not viable. Funny, they look really nice.

November 4, 2015	#1
jillian Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: North Carolina Posts: 880	Parthenocarpic veggies I swore after this year I would never grow squash or zucchini again. Poor pollination, tons of male flowers but very few female, and then the powdery mildew. I read a very brief article about parthenocarpic zucchini touting the production and high resistance to diseases. I found a couple varieties of seeds offered, they are pretty expensive for 10 seeds. Though I would gladly pay if indeed I was able to actually have a harvest of zucchini. There were no reviews however and I would love to know if any of you have grown the parthenocarpic zucchini or squash and if so what results were. Thanks in advance!

November 15, 2015	#15
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	I just squeezed out a pile of huge Sweet Success seeds from the last cuke of the year that I let get too big. It's a hybrid, but also parthenocarpic, which makes dehybridization not possible? Is that right? Will these seeds germinate? What will they make? edit: Reading into it a little further, parthenocarpic seeds are not viable. Funny, they look really nice. Last edited by Cole_Robbie; November 15, 2015 at 05:22 PM.

November 4, 2015	#2
greenthumbomaha Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Omaha Zone 5 Posts: 2,514	My problem was squash bugs so I bought a package from Burpee but didn't get my area set up in time to grow under cover. It turned out this was the best in many years for growing zucchini. I grew black night for the first time and it did very well for me. - Lisa

November 5, 2015	#3
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Haven't heard of the zukes yet, but I have grown cucumbers that are parthenocarpic - expensive seed I got 5 for $5, but they produced without pollinators, even indoors in winter. Parthenocarpic cukes are more and more common it seems, but still very expensive seeds: http://www.johnnyseeds.com/c-936-gre...cucumbers.aspx But I see there are some parthenocarpic zukes which are not so expensive: http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8311-partenon.aspx Partenon F1 30 seeds for $5.10 Also research at Cornell reported that "Golden Glory" F1 is parthenocarpic and had 100% fruit set from bagged flowers - best of all they tested. These are even a bit less expensive: http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8576-golden-glory.aspx What other varieties did you hear about? I'd love to find a parthenocarpic kousa, we can do an early crop in the greenhouse but as you say, the parade of male-only (and/or then female only!) flowers can be disheartening.

November 5, 2015	#4
Ricky Shaw Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Zone 6a Denver North Metro Posts: 1,910	I like this kind of stuff, pollination is a real problem here some years. We have swaths, often large of bee die off, some say pesticides or that hive disease. I'd be game for buying a couple types and swapping around to defer costs. I never looked, if there's a cuke/zuch swap. Parthenocarpic's would make a good category.

November 5, 2015	#6
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Great idea, Ricky. We could try out some different types in different conditions and report back on how they did. I read that low light and low temperature can be a cause of the "all male" flower thing. But low temps can also cause parthenocarpy if the gene is there for it. There are a couple of OP zukes reported with over 70% parthenocarpic fruit set in this test: http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/cgc/cgc16/cgc16-20.html Gold Strike and Black Beauty. Black Beauty is easy to find, I'm not seeing Gold Strike listed anywhere though. Here is a pale green one called Cavili. A hybrid. http://www.territorialseed.com/produ...ll_squash_seed

November 12, 2015	#13
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Sweet Success is my favorite cuke, both to grow and to eat. I don't even like cucumbers, but I like Sweet Success.