Topic: Cyclanthera pedata

[ladycosmos]

Is it possible to grow these plants outside? Seeds come from Mexico. It is a sort of cucumber.

[galina]

Is it possible to grow these plants outside? Seeds come from Mexico. It is a sort of cucumber.

Ladycosmos,   Probably not for seeds bought from Mexico.  But you can get pretty well adapted seeds from Real Seeds and other seed companies.  Achocha Fat Baby is very easy to grow outdoors in UK, although all achocha flower and produce fairly late.  I love them because they really get going when cucumbers are stopping with mildew.   They are usually referred to as achocha. 

But do try your seeds.  Do you know which variety it is you have?  We tried Giant Bolivian Achocha last year and that still needs a bit of adjusting to our climate, the long summer days especially.  But Lady's Slippers and Fat Baby are easier to grow. 

I find that they are always better outside, especially because they can literally overrun a greenhouse.  Once they get going they scramble over fences, hedges etc and make huge plants. 

[ladycosmos]

The seeds, called also Caihua or Kaywa,   I have got are from the UK saying that originally they come from Mexico. Because |I have no greenhouse anymore I am a bit afraid those plant grow only inside. They need about 100 days of sunshine.... but I will give it a try. The fruit looks very nice, pearshape with a beautifull lightgreen colour.

[galina]

Ladycosmos,

In order to answer your question, coming from UK does not mean they were grown there.  For example from Ebay they could be imports into the UK grown elsewhere.

The hundred days of sunshine is not quite right either.  They are daylight sensitive plants, like many that originate from South America.  Which means they grow perfectly well and rampant too, but they will only flower and produce around and after the autumn equinox.  Because they are used to flower when the days and nights are of similar length.  Our 15-16hr daylight summer days stop them from fruiting unless they are adapted.  And it takes several generations to do so.  If your seeds came from a UK source and were grown in UK and seed saved in UK, then adaptation will have already started.

They do very well outside apart from the daylight problem.  If they start producing at the equinox and we get an early frost (which kills them) there won't be much fruit, if we get a long autumn and a late first frost, then they will produce much better.  Obviously if they are in a greenhouse, you can keep them frost free for longer and this is where the greenhouse recommendation comes from.

But as I said before, I always grow them outside because they are rampant.  For someone who has a large polytunnel, then growing inside makes sense, if you don't know whether they were from UK grown seeds.

Hope this helps.  More to read here:
https://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,79048.0.html