Emanuele Larosa’s primarily Dark Carosello Leccese

There are both positive and negative things to growing in my greenhouse. The main positive thing is that I can grow varieties in isolation to determine their color and, occasionally, their taste. Additionally, I am able to conduct other cucumber trials without concerns about crossing any of my varieties. In 2020 I decided that I needed to know exactly how dark Emanuele Larosa’s Carosello Spuredda Leccese was, so I decided to grow it out in my greenhouse.

To keep things simple, I often grow in my greenhouse in the early spring or late fall. I also utilize 10” hydroponic baskets to ensure that I am able to completely trade out the soil each time I grow in the greenhouse. The downside of 10” hydroponic baskets is that the plants do not have enough room for their roots. Once the plants get to a certain size, they will put on fruit, but will not put on multiple crops similar to what they would do if grown without restriction. Additionally, due to the plant being stressed by lack of space, the vines rarely produce fruit with the same shape as when it is grown in the garden. Because of this, two of the main things that I use the greenhouse for is to check fruit taste and fruit color. Despite a lot of other things suffering as a result of vine stress, the taste and color of C. melo cucumbers remains generally stable.

The purpose of growing out this variety was to determine if the fruit that it set would be completely dark. After the female fruit set, I found that it had some light blotchiness, similar to other dark carosello Leccese varieties I had grown in the past.

The taste and texture were fine, but also not what I was looking for. I was grateful for the experience to help me make sure that this was not a variety that I wanted to pursue.