Mission Impossible : They will not cross ! Save the seeds friom this mutant pumpkin and start a new strain ; others may like it to ! pumpkins can be crossed with some : gourds , squashes . Watermelons can be crossed only with other watermelons . Cantalopes and cucumbers can sometimes be crossed but rarely.

hi
looks like a type of cow pumpkin.

Whatever it is save the seeds you may start a new strain .
looks to me like a Portugese tendrefer squash crossed with a pumpkin judging by thev leaves .

If you got your seeds from Burpee and sowed them and that is what produced this "odd" vine and fruit, there is no way it is the result of a cross-pollination from that season's pollens anyway. Any cross-pollination that might have transpired would not be evident until growing out the seeds from that crop of fruit.

It is however possible that there was an oops in packaging and a seed was from some other variety that it wasn't labeled for OR if it is a hybrid variety the seed that produced the "odd" vine/fruit did not adhere to the expected/typical rules for F1s or their breeding program OR if a hybrid, that seed's genetics had reverted to traits of one or both parent plants different from what was expected OR if not a hybrid, Nature had simply stepped in to alter the genetics and provide a "new strain". Nature is very good about messing with us. :) But these "flukes" are often the beginning of new varieties that are much loved. It happens not only with seeds, but also one will hear of "sports" from mother-plants with variations off of the expected.

The only "catch" with saving seeds from the "odd" one would be what it cross-pollinated with. If you only grew the one type of melon and no one else within a certain radius grew melons, you can feel relatively safe in knowing it crossed with just the one variety you were growing. Keep that DOCUMENTED. If others were growing melons, find out what kinds so you can keep documentation/notes of the *possible* cross(es) made with other varieties. Do grow out the seeds it produced if it was a good melon in your opinion. If you are lacking enough space to grow all of the seeds in the next season, ask other reliable gardeners to trial the seeds with you. This "testing" is common, gardeners helping each other out by growing things, documenting relevant information not just on form but also habit, flavour or scent, etc. AND saving seed while insuring it is "pure"/not crossed with other varieties. It also allows you to find out how a variety or strain does in different climates and conditions, which reliable/reputable gardeners will additionally keep documentation on for you.

If it was a hybrid strain to begin with, try to find out what varieties were used to create it. Most seed companies guard their hybrid "recipes" to prevent anyone else from profiting off of them, but it never hurts to ask.

I am trying to plan my garden layout and some sites say not to plant pumpkins and watermelon's in the same area is this true? I also have corn, is there some way to have one garden with this?

YES you can grow the corn in hills 6 feet apart 6 seeds to a hill. then grow the pumpkins 2 to a hill 8 feet between hills for big max pumpkins or six feet apart for smaller types and watermelons space 6 to 8 feet from pumpkins . So the vines of pumpkins and watermelons will cover the ground and the corn will grow up through it . You could even grow pole beans near the corn so that they would climb the stalks like bean poles .

You'll get something like this

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Just for the record, it's a myth that hybridizing *never* shows changes in the same generation, although that may be the case most of the time. Often, though, I think there are changes, but they're usually rather subtle, if present.

It's also a myth that plants have to be the same species to hybridize--however, it is easier within the same species, usually, but it happens sometimes. The same is true for animals (sheep and goats can cross, but it's quite rare; llamas and camels can cross; cats and servals can cross; horses and donkeys can, and that last one is common). There are several species of wild tomatoes, and they can cross with the only domestic tomato species (although some wild species are a lot easier to cross than others).

I've heard of spicy hot tomatoes from two different sources. Perhaps they were part pepper.

I see a pumpkin watermelon hybrid as possible, but likely extraordinary. What are the seeds like, and how are they distributed? What about the flesh? How thick is the skin?

A lot of people think cucumbers and cantaloupes can't cross, but I know someone who got a rather obvious and cool cross. So, that is possible, at least.

Your picture looks like a pumpkin to me, but you should taste it and/or grow another generation and see the results.

Another interesting phenomenon separate from hybridization is that plants that grow next to each other sometimes look more similar than they otherwise would, for whatever reason (probably for camouflage). For instance, catnip in the middle of a thick strawberry patch can look very strawberry-like while other catnip of the same species nearby is rather distinct. I don't know if those changes are heritable, however. Epigenetics is pretty interesting.

This post was edited by Shule on Sat, Nov 22, 14 at 19:11

Just to correct the record I stated earlier, the changes in the fruit in the generation of pollination I mentioned earlier could have nothing at all to do with cross-pollination, but changes in fruit that generation do seem to happen sometimes, whatever the cause. I don't claim to know the cause (and I don't know that cross-pollination is a factor). I don't claim whether these changes are heritable (or even that the seeds are necessarily viable). However, the changes in some cases could just be mutations (which are known to happen); if they're mutations, they should be heritable, though (although the mutation might just be on one allele; so it could potentially take growing multiple plants to see it again).