Odd Poona Kheera
 

Harvested my 30th cuke today from my Poona Kheera plants and noticed that this was the second one with an odd shape for the variety. I have grown it several times now and have never seen this regular cuke shape with raised dimples like other cukes have. Didnt think much about the first one but this one is already 7 inches long and is not smoothly round like PK always is for me. Possible cross?

On the outside, it doesn't look right. What does the inside look like and how did it taste?

I occasionally get some elongated and/or larger Poona Kheeras - and as far as I know it's not due to crossing, because I'll mostly get "normal" looking ones for that variety off of the same plant.

I have 5 plants total and the two odd ones came off of the same plant I believe. I have never had one that had the bumps on it as these two had, nor the squared type of shape from this variety. All have been round and smooth in shape.
No big deal, I just had not seen this before and was wondering. The first one was smaller and about the size of a good sized pickling cuke, so I added it to a batch of pickles I made. But noticed no difference in color or seed cavity when I cut it up.
I will cut this one for fresh eating next to a normal one and see if there is any difference.
I just found it odd that I had never experienced this in previous growouts. I dont save seed so I guess it doesnt matter


Edit to add: Thanks for the responses. I know you have experience with the variety Suze and was hoping you would chime in. Dustdevil, I dont know what your experience with the variety is but appreciate the response as well. I personally dont have a ton of experience with it but this is definitely a different experience with the variety for me.
Still a great variety for fresh eating and we will see how well it pickles soon

Duane, let us know how it turns out. I'm a bit curious about this 'variation' as well.

I will say that I do not recall that degree of dimpling / spines / bumps on the ones I've picked that had the different, more elongated shape. And of course, if that one plant continues to consistently give you only that result, then it could very well be a cross or off-type.

I have another variation off of the same plant and am thinking about saving seed. As I mentioned, PK is always smooth with no dimpling and as you can see here, this one has those traits plus it should have more russet color by this stage.

Normal
[IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e374/duajones/Spring%202010/normalpk.jpg[/IMG]

Variation

[IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e374/duajones/Spring%202010/oddPK.jpg[/IMG]

Not sure what to expect from saved seed

Hmm, now I'm wondering about mine from last summer .... I just rubbed off the black bits ....

[U][COLOR=#0000cc][URL]http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/File:Poona_Kheera1.jpg[/URL][/COLOR][/U][URL="http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/File:Poona_Kheera1.jpg"][/URL]

I've noticed similar variation from my plants last year too - while most fruits were smooth, there were couple of weeks were "bumpy" guys were appearing on all 4 plants:

[IMG]http://drphotography.smugmug.com/Other/2009-Garden/072009cukesharvest/626173241_Amk6A-L.jpg[/IMG]

Boston Pickling in the background. Just before the pickling.

Despite the bumps - all tasted the same, and interior looked the same as the smooth fruits as well.

Regards,
D

Always been some black bits for me but always round and smooth versus the bumpy characteristic. I have grown it since 07 both spring and fall and have never seen this.
But like D, the interior color and the taste did not change.
I plan to save seeds from the one pictured and have never done so. My seed source was Johnnys by the way.

Any seed saving secrets for cukes?

I personally never saved my own seeds for cukes - since there is usually so many seeds in the packets, but, from what I remember, my grandmother used to let one cuke of her favorite varieties grow, and grow and grow...

They grew to the point were they were huge, yellow, and kind of ugly monsters. Then split in half, scooped the seeds, rinsed and let dried on a plate.

Regards,
D

I went ahead and pulled it today as it was almost orange in color and pretty soft. Will let it sit for a few days and then attempt to successfully save seeds.

I hope it was "old" enough - look at the seeds inside to make sure they are full size and stay full as you let them dry. If I remember correctly, the reason for keeping the cukes on the vine (the one for seed saving) as long as possible, is because the seeds don't mature as quickly as some other fruits.

Good luck, let me know how it works out for you!

Regards,
D

Duh Vinci, nice cucumber picture. Are you a photographer? I remember
your other pictures were quite nice too... My Bull's heart has a few small
tomatoes. I started seeing a little bit of early blight on my tomatoes, so
I sprayed them yesterday. I think they will be ok.. Looking forward to the
Bull's Heart, it's right across from a Anna Russian.

I have a seedling phoona kheera coming up, never tried the cucumber before.
After I was done planting them I put the extra seeds in my pocket. They got
washed and dried with my clothes. Hope they are still viable, need to try
and sprout some....I have some straight eight cucumbers that came up by
themselves this spring. Some got really big and yellow, so I would just throw
them back on the ground. I think as long as you let it mature and yellow, just
throw it where you want it to come up next year. Little seedlings might come up
next spring.

Looks like I may have failed at saving seed. I have the seeds and pulp in a jar and as of this morning, everything is floating. I read that the nonviable seed will float but all of the seeds are floating at this point

[quote=duajones;170782]Looks like I may have failed at saving seed. I have the seeds and pulp in a jar and as of this morning, everything is floating. I read that the nonviable seed will float but all of the seeds are floating at this point[/quote]

Can't answer your question about floating seeds with any certainty, as I've found if there is still some pulp attached they will tend to float.

I've found that to get a good seed save from cucumbers, I need to leave those fruits for seed saving on the plant at least a month and a half.