This is probably a simple question, but I'm a simple gardener.... Will muskmelons cross pollinate with watermelon? How about winter squash with summer squash? Thank you for your help. Stacy in NY
Muskmelons and cucumbers are Cucumis family. Watermelons are Citrullus family. They are NOT Cucurbita and the two families will NOT cross. Summer squash are Cucurbita pepo and will only cross with other Cucurbita pepo varieties. They will NOT cross with Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita moschata, or Cucurbita mixta varieties. Martin
Thank you. I've always grown my winter squash on the manure pile (huge squash and tons of it!), and I ran out of room in the regular garden and wanted to plant the summer squash (zucchini and crooked neck) in the pile as well. The muskmelons and watermelon are planted together in the regular garden, and after I did it I got to wondering about cross pollination. So, when growing cross pollination doesn't effect the current plant but only the seeds that the current plant produces? I did not know that. I thought I had zucchini and yellow squash "mix" a few years back as the zucchini was more yellow and had bumps on the skin. It tasted fine just looked funny. Thank you all for your help. I finally got the entire garden planted yesterday--we've had so much rain that it just couldn't be done. I did get the acorn and carnavale squash in about 2 weeks ago and it's up and looking good already. I planted Delicata winter squash (two weeks ago as well) and out of 15 or so seeds, planted in 5 hills, I only have two plants. Is this common with Delicata? Stacy in NY
