*SOLVED* UPDATED PICTURES. What Plant Is This?

[feathermaid]

The female blossoms have a small fruit as the base of the blossom. If it does not get fertilized, it turns yellow and whithers away.

Right! I know about the blossoms. I've grown pumpkins somewhat successfully a couple times in the past, though they never produced as much as this plant. The female flowers back then didn't always develop so I pollinated some myself... by picking a thin male flower and peeling the petals back and swirling around the pollen stem inside the bulbed female flower. It was weirdly kinky Those darn bees must not have been doing their job properly!

Anyway, usually my other squash or melon plants themselves --the vines and leaves --just never grew well. Maybe that was before I had good chicken poop compost.

Are you referring to the yellow fruit I pictured? In those cases, they seemed to mature to the size of a cherry tomato or a bit bigger... then they turned yellow. So that seems like something went wrong in the growing process. Not sure.

 

[BreanneRN]

Hey, thanks for the update! It is looking more like a cantaloupe/muskmelon.... And a bumper crop, too! Must be a good variety. Cantaloupes like it hot, so it is a good year for them this year. Watch for the tendril to dry, so you know when it is ripe, and send pics when you cut it open and eat it! We all want the complete review! Looks like it still has a ways to go, I think it is still too green... You will have the worlds only "climbing Cantaloupe"! Anyway, thanks for sharing! I really enjoy mystery plants...

 

[BreanneRN]

The female blossoms have a small fruit as the base of the blossom. If it does not get fertilized, it turns yellow and whithers away.

X's 2, all female blossoms have a fruit and it will stay on the vine and even appear to grow, but no pollination and it withers. My cactus flowers do that, too, some of them. You can pollinate them yourself with a paint brush or something, if you want to. The male blossoms don't have a fruit at the base, like the female flowers do. Here's a link with one way to do it...

 

[BreanneRN]

Sorry, I missed your last post, guess you didn't need that video... Oh well, maybe someone else will like it...

 

[BreanneRN]

We used to pick the male blossoms off the squash plants (after the female blossoms set there fruit) and dip them in pancake batter, fry them, and eat them with syrup... Quite tasty... But here is a more sophisticated recipe where they are using tempura... looks good! If you are tired of picking those giant zucchini, you can make some of these!
https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/fried-squash-blossoms#jump-to-recipe-reviews

 

[BreanneRN]

So how is your "mystery melon" doing? Any pics? Any ripe yet? I'm thinking of buying one of those muskmelons from the store! That plant is very strong growing!

 

[feathermaid]

None ripe yet
I was researching a bit and found out it takes about 35-45 days from pollination to get ripe on the vine, and they won't get any sweeter after you pick them. So I'll probably wait another week or two?

The first one to grow is no longer the biggest one and I've lost track of which order they started getting big so I'm not really sure when to pick them all.

I do have some more pics of the progress.
View from the back side of the plant.


The one in the middle of the 3 is the first biggest one that started growing.


And the chickens still like to dust bathe there. Here's my 14 wk old babies.

 

[BreanneRN]

Wow, they are looking good! Think you're right to wait a few weeks... Don't want to pick a melon too soon! Your chickens are looking good too, dust bathing away... So cute! Guess you can watch those tendrils that are supposed to dry up, too. Don't forget to save some seeds, when the time comes! Or I guess you can feed them to the chickens again since that worked pretty well! Can't argue with success!

 

[feathermaid]

Wow, they are looking good! Think you're right to wait a few weeks... Don't want to pick a melon too soon! Your chickens are looking good too, dust bathing away... So cute! Guess you can watch those tendrils that are supposed to dry up, too. Don't forget to save some seeds, when the time comes! Or I guess you can feed them to the chickens again since that worked pretty well! Can't argue with success!

 

[BreanneRN]

And you know, 35 to 45 days isn't too bad as garden stuff goes... I remember one time when I was in my 20's I got tired of buying celery and decided to plant some... 85 to 120 days after transplant! After I finally got it to the blanching stage, a large (must have been a foot long) gopher came and ate one a day until a neighbor helped me trap him. Unfortunately, he had friends and family... I think I will plant some melons! Although getting to be time to plant winter stuff, soon.