Avoiding Cucumber Cross Polination

16 years ago

Hi All,

I have two types of cucumber, Armenian and Lemon, and I want to plant both in my small backyard, but I don't want them to cross-pollinate. Any ideas, tips?

I am bad at estimating distances, but my backyard is roughly the size of a small/ corner gas station. I read somewhere that ideally two varieties should be planted 200 ft apart, and I don't have this luxury.

Thanks for any advice!!

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Comments (6)

Belgianpup
16 years ago
That rule only applies if you are planning to save the seeds from one or both of them.

If you are planning to save the seeds, you can hand-pollinate the female flowers, then carefully tape them closed with masking tape to make sure no insects can get inside.

The site below tells you how to do it.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Hand-pollinating squashes
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blue_ivy
Original Author
16 years ago
Sue,

Thanks for the response - that is extremely helpful information! I appreciate you taking the time!
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debwhite0215- Are you talking about simply having your plants get pollinated or are you trying to prevent cross pollination? These are two very different things. Cross pollination is when two varieties of the same type of plants pollinate each other. Like if one variety of eggplant pollinated a different variety of eggplant, that would be cross pollination. If you saved the seeds from a cross and planted them you wouldn't know what to expect from the resulting plants. If you are just talking about making sure your plants get pollinated, most veggies are self pollinating but obviously it's always better to plant more than one. Not only for pollination reasons but also because you just aren't going to get much from only one plant (tomatoes and zucchini being exceptions). little_minnie- The misinformation in gardening does bug me a bit. There is a ton of very persistent misinformation that surrounds heirloom, open pollinated, hybrid, and GMO seeds. Everybody wants heirloom, non-hybrid, and non-GMO seeds (not that home gardeners can get GMO seeds) because they want to save their own seeds. And I'm always telling people they don't have to stick with just heirlooms, they can save open pollinated seeds as well and that if they don't prevent cross pollination it won't matter if something is non-hybrid because they'll end up with hybrids in the end. Needless to say, that farmer saying that hybrids are sterile and not able to cross with heirlooms would have frustrated the hell out of me if I saw it. :) A little off-topic but still somewhat relevant. Rodney
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It's kind of tricky. You can grow a single plant intended for seed saving in a container and then bag the entire container. Then hand pollinate. If you do this with a plant you want to produce a lot of cukes you have to leave the cuke on the plant until the seeds are ripe and that takes a long time and will slow/stop further cuke production. To each their own, but for me the seeds of the variety would have to be really hard to get or expensive to bother. Also if you have a hybrid variety you may not get the same plant even with pure seed.
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Yes, poppies (pollinated by insects) will cross quite readily. I wish I had more information for you about the distance required, but I can tell you that it would be several hundred feet. Even more than that! But since you are growing multiple colors....why do you want to avoid cross pollination?
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First-off, impressive as ALWAYS, Kiwifruit! I should have thought to drop you an email. Btw, I think you said you were looking into picking-up a certain book (forgot the subject matter) a few months back that I should drop you an email for your review of it - maybe that wasn't you? I didn't know that chokeberries, pears, and mountain ash could cross with serviceberries (just knew that serviceberries chould be used as rootstock for them). What I gather from what you've written, even if hybridization occurred between the various native hawthorns, various native blueberries, between pear-serviceberry-[some]chokeberries, etc. these would likely be infertile donkies. I guess that apple orchards have made it impossible to know if your average crab apple (such as Malus coronaria) doesn't have some Malus x domestica in their lineage since they hybridize, or would the union between M. coronaria nad M. x domestica result in a sterile hybrid? Kiwifruit, I don't want to do embryonic rescue, since I don't want any native/non-native hybrids. As for sterile hybrids, I can deal with that; i.e. say if my Sorbus americana (American mountain ash) hybridized with my pears - at least the offspring would be sterile and I will not risk diluting the gene-pool of my native Aronia spp. and Sorbus americana plants. I don't mind non-natives crossing with non-natives, such as with pear types, as I will not be breeding non-natives, just having them for fruit. You say that different chromosome numbers and sterile hybrids would be the biggest problem - well, I would not mind sterile hybrids that are easily identifiable as hybrids (since they will not be mistaken for a distinctive native, but rather a hybridization between native/non-native), but I don't know what is meant by different chromosomes counts? John & theloud, Well, although I will be doing controlled (amateur-level breeding), I wouldn't exclude the benefit of having random chance seedlings pop-up in the woods and meadow should the fruits be superior. So, in this case, I would highly prefer to KNOW that there is not ANY realistic chance that native/non-native hybridization has occurred. theloud, Although Fragaria virginiana is a parent of the common garden strawberry, that doesn't mean that this was a natural union, etc. Thanks, Steve
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farmerdilla
16 years ago
If they were both cucumbers, it would take a lot more than 200 feet of seperation. In your case the Armenian cucumber is actually a melon (Cucumis melo) which does not cross with cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) Be careful tho, The Armenian will cross with cantaloupes, honeydews and the like within the flight pattern of a bee. If you have other gardeners nearby growing either melons or other cultivars of cucumbers, than follow Sues instructions for hand pollination.
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digdirt2
16 years ago
You do understand tho that as Sue pointed out, crossing is only a concern if you wish to save the seeds to plant next year, right? That none of the crops this year will affected in any way?

Reason I ask is that we often get questions about crossing where the gardener assumes this year's fruit are immediately affected if crossing occurs.

Dave
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blue_ivy
Original Author
16 years ago
You are all so kind to post responses.

Farmerdilla, I had no idea that Armenian cucumbers are not actually cucumbers! Thanks for pointing that out! This small fact has really caused me to re-plan my garden lay-out!

Dave (and Sue), thanks also. I do hope to save seeds, so Sue's link will be helpful. No need to respond to this, but it is interesting that the fruits of a cross-pollinated plant are mostly unaffected, but it seems they are not wholly so, if there is a difference in the seeds. I assume a difference in the seeds can affect the taste of the seeds, even if its appearance is the same. Maybe I will check out an intro botany book and try to learn about plant growth to have more than a "layman's" perspective. : ) That is, when I find a suitable break from my regular studies (i.e., late ancient history). : )
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calliope
16 years ago
The only plant I am aware of where taste is affected (enough to notice) in seeds are when sweet and hot peppers are grown in proximity. Seeds from hot peppers are hot. Seeds from sweet peppers aren't. Seeds inside a green pepper fruit, pollinated by a hot pepper plant may be hot.
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Avoiding Cucumber Cross Polination

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Belgianpup

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Avoiding Cucumber Cross Polination

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Belgianpup

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