The China Jade Cucumber (with a few twists)

Whether in print or online, perusing colorful garden catalogues in the cold winter is often more exciting than window shopping at a department store. The possibilities of color, taste and variety are almost endless. However, so are the unfounded claims. When the real work starts, those claims of incredible harvests, color, taste, plant vigor and consistency all wrapped into that packet of seeds can turn out to be at least exaggerated, if not outright false.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you happened to catch my post about my trial of greenhouse parthenocarpic cucumbers (cucumbers that produce fruit without pollination), you may already know that not all cucumber varieties that are listed as parthenocarpic by the seedsman are as advertised – especially if the variety is open-pollinated (non-hybrid). There may be a number of reasons for this discrepancy, but because of previous experiences with incorrect descriptions, I decided to take things into my own hands. My choice to not trust the variety description let me to trial a group of open-pollinated cucumbers that had been touted as being parthenocarpic. At the end of the trial, one of the most promising trial varieties that demonstrated a high percentage of parthenocarpic traits was the China Jade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The China Jade is a long dark-green spined Asian cucumber variety that tends to stay on the vine for a long period of time without having fruit abort. While a few fruit may begin to yellow and wither, the China Jade tends to let the female flowers remain on the vine long enough for the majority to set fruit – regardless of whether they have been pollinated or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While China Jade has some very good traits (long fruit, desirable flavor and parthenocarpic fruit set) it also has some challenges. The vines suffer somewhat from brittle stems - a trait that I have seen in some modern Cucumis sativus cultivars. Additionally, the fruit tends to be very flexuous – bending and curving quite a bit. To alleviate the severity of bending, the fruit can be staked or trellised so that the fruit hang down, but this does not completely solve the problem. If allowed to remain on the vine, my experience was that well over 10% of the fruit were so twisted that they would be completely unmarketable. Even after trellising, the gardener may want to walk through the cucumber vines twice each week to snap off all the highly twisted fruit that are beginning to set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, I would say that those hoping to find a long Asian variety that could possibly produce well in the greenhouse, the China Jade may be the variety for you. However, even parthenocarpic varieties are more productive and grow more marketable fruit when pollinated – so growing them in an area with pollinators is still preferred.

The vines of China Jade produce many crops of fruit and the vines could likely be pruned and trellised in greenhouse conditions. Additionally, the fruit is mostly gynoecious, meaning that they produce mostly female flowers. This decreases the amount of energy the plant is putting into producing male flowers and increasing overall yield. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout the course of the season, I was greatly impressed by this variety’s staying power. It kept pumping out the fruit long after other varieties no longer produced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My overall thoughts about the China Jade is that it is fantastic for production, disease and staying power, but has brittle stems, requires trellising and removing of unmarketable fruit.

The Heirloom Tondo Manduria that Wasn’t

Despite how incredibly popular one of my carosello cucumber varieties has been, for years I have struggled with some of its greatest drawbacks. The variety in question is the Tondo Manduria (or Mandurian Round) and the primary concern with the variety has been its inconsistency of color and texture. This incredible cucumber exhibits polymorphic fruit (fruit with various expressions) that are either light, large and firm or light with splotches medium and tender. Additionally, the growth pattern of this variety often varies from compact to sprawling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I am accepting of some differences in growth pattern and size, one of the most difficult issues for me is consistency in texture and color. If I, as a gardener, grew out a variety last year that exhibited a very smooth pleasant texture and when I grew it out again this year found that it had a more crunchy less pleasant texture, then I would have concerns about growing it again. In food, consistency in shape provides the first sale, but enjoyable texture and taste is what keeps them coming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2021, I met up with a farmer named Fabio. Fabio is a native Italian whose family has been farming for generations. Over the course of the year, I found out that he had some Tondo Manduria that appeared very consistent. Based on his pictures and description, it seemed like I had finally found what I was looking for. I was finally going to realize plants that produce round tender light yet splotchy fruit on compact vines. In late 2021 I received the seed and in early May I had planted a large patch of transplants out in the best spot in the most fertile plot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 At first everything went well. The plants grew splendid. The seed germinated strong and once the transplants were in the ground, they took off. I was excited to see the growth. But the vines continued to grow. They grew and grew without producing fruit. So I trained the vines up large tomato cages and let the vines sprawl down the sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the fruit began forming. This was exciting. Soon after setting, I could see slight splotching on the female flowers. But as the fruit began to form, I noticed that a lot of them were darker than I was used to. They had splotching, but the base color was darker than usual. Then I noticed the texture. Instead of being shiny and tender, most of the fruit looked dull and hard. Pressing on the fruit confirmed my concerns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By this point, I was telling myself that everything would be okay. This variety would turn out to be great. So, I found a few cylindrical and oval fruit to rouge from the population. I brought them home and did the taste test. They tasted like a dull, unexciting and not very desirable cucumber. While they were not necessarily terrible or something that I would highly avoid if I were really hungry, they were not anything that I would go seeking after either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So – what should I do now? What can I do once I have a bunch of fruit that I know will produce seed that may be useful later, but that I am not that interested in this year? I pull the males! I rouge out any diseased plants and any of the really small fruit and pull all the male flowers off. The more I pull off the males, the sooner I can begin saving seed from my second carosello crop, which I happened to plant when the fruit of this heirloom Manduria first set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I can get the plants out as soon as possible. As soon as the fruit was at a decent stage for seed saving, I pulled the plants out. I would pull out some plants a little immature, but would save those with the best fruit to mature a little longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a seed-saving gardener, I win some and I lose some. It is definitely frustrating when I invest one of the largest portions of my garden on a variety that has undesirable traits. We learn as we go and the more problems that we experience, the more motivation that compounds within us to figure out what didn’t work and get it right.