The Spredda Leccese Scuro in New York

Another grower, from New York State, grew out the Carosello Spuredda Leccese Scuro for me. Instead of attempting to grow them in an open field, Nathaniel grew them in a high tunnel. Other than some confusion near the end of the season over how to properly dry the seeds, Nathaniel did a good job of growing the seed out. While there is a learning curve involved in growing and processing cucumber and melon seed, the grower can greatly increase the quality of the seed, if they just complete some minor winnowing. Taking out the lower quality seed enables the heavier seed to remain dry and viable.

 

 

 

Sacramento’s Palestinian Faqous:

This last year I felt very blessed to be able to work with a Sacramento area grower to produce another crop of the Palestinian Faqous. The grower, Christy, was very teachable and worked hard to produce a fine crop of these cucumbers. Here are a few pictures of the Palestinian Faqous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Jordanian Faqous

While those in the United States may refer to immature melons that are grown as cucumbers as “Armenian” cucumbers, those in the Arabic speaking world often refer to them as Fakkous or Faqous. These melon-cucumbers are generally light in color and can be long, semi-long or slightly short. Depending on where they are grown, they may have some other traits that they are selected for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The germplasm that I received for this specific Faqous was collected by a work colleague who was visiting some friends or family in Jordan. Before leaving on her trip, she promised to pick up some seed for me. I was under the impression that the seed that she had provided me with would be a Palestinian variety called the Beit Sahour Faqous, but it turned out that what I received was a variety that is popular in the markets of Jordan. There, the fruit is picked very young, often with the intention of having locals use it for pickling cucumbers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The plants grew well and were generally problem-free until near the end of the season. That is when every muskmelon tends to succumb to Powdery Mildew. But until then, I was free to hand-pollinate the little female flowers that would develop on the meandering vines without the fear of spreading any disease. Once the fruit had set, it took a while to mature. This would definitely be a good trait for farmers who want to collect the fruit every few days, instead of having to pick all the fruit at once. Fruit that matures quickly results in either a lot of babysitting or a lot of wasted food, as those fruit that are often discarded because they don’t meet the customers’ standards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the season, I was able to harvest enough fruit with good seed that I was able to ensure that I have the seed for another season. Often I am provided with seed that may go bad within the next 12 months. In these cases, it is imperative that I grow out at least a small quantity of the variety to ensure sufficient vigor in the population to keep it going. I look forward to growing the Jordanian faqous another year and hope to be able to provide this small variety on sprawling vines to many others.

 

 

 

 

 

A Second go with the Martina Franca

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trying the Ayra again

Back in 2022 (https://scientificgardener.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-red-sapped-ayra-from-rajasthan.html) I grew the Ayra cucumber, an Indian variety from Rajasthan, in the raised bed garden. While it did very well and had some beautiful coloring, I seemed to have left the fruit out for too long in the heat. Subsequently, the fruit did not produce the most high-quality seeds. They were both smaller than the original and had worse germination. As a result, only a few years later, I felt the need to try growing out the Rajasthan Ayra again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year, it seems like they were once again hit with something. It looked very similar to spider mites. Whatever the case may be, the life of the fruit was cut short. Fortunately, the fruit did produce high-quality seed, though once again small.

 

 

The seedlings were transplanted in late April and were ready to harvest for seed by the end of June. One thing that I really like about this melon variety is the beautiful color near the end of the season.