Pepino Melon
 

does anyone know anything about growing these?

I was given one as a present

have watered it and its had a lot of son,, keeps producing yellow flowers with a small acorn sized fruit appearing behind them

Days later the fruit turns yellow and falls off

How big is the fruit?

maybe its full grown

I have had troub le locating an image of the plant

any ideas will gratefully be recieved

Thought it might help if I added a few pictures of the plant

The fruit are still green in the picture

http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/P1140364.jpg

another picture

this time you can see the plant in the far right of my greenhouse area

http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/s...e/P1140361.jpg

It is growing EXACTLY the same style as an F1 Cucumber

The leaves etc

The cucumber has produced good fruit, sadly I aint sure what fruit this is supposed to give

I was expecting at least cricket ball size

Growing Roses from seeds
 

On 24/08/2010 17:42, kay wrote:
Jimgentracer;898341 Wrote:
Can anyone help me?

I am looking for a simple user friendly guide to growing some roses from
seeds of the plants I already have in my garden

Is this possible for someone as new to gardening as I am?

only had a greenhouse since July this year and so far Ive produced a
fair amount of growth

Forgive me if I'm asking silly questions. Why do you want to grow roses
from seed - for fun, to produce new varieties, or just to get more
roses? If you just want to propagate more roses, taking cuttings is
easier and quicker.

If the rose seeds you're planning to grow are from hybrid roses, or from
a species rose growing near enough to another species rose for
pollinating insects to visit both, then the roses you grow from seed
won't necessarily be like the parent. But this may be what you're
after!

It certainly should be possible - dog roses, Rosa rugosa and Rosa glauca
all self seed readily.





I've grown a number of Rosa ruggosa from seed. Interestingly there is
some variation of flower form and colour - purple vs pure white. It just
adds to the interest value of growing your own from seed.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

Pepino "melons", Solanum muricatum (so actually a member of the tomato/potato/chilli family) that I have bought in shops in Chile are about 6-8"/15-20cm long, and oval in end-to-end cross-section. So a bit bigger than an aubergine, but rather smaller than most melons. But there is a picture of one on the Wikipedia page, described as ripe, not much larger than a hen's egg, so they can be rather smaller than that.

Their origin is, like many of the cultivated solanums, in the Andes. The original wild plant has not been found. They are cultivated at around 2000m to 3000m in the tropical Andes, and in the mediterranean climate area of Chile. I came across them being grown at around 1500m in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia, but they weren't very good, perhaps too warm. I believe they are also grown in the northern parts of New Zealand.

They are known to be trickier than chillis to grow. But in general, I would say that if you have the conditions right to grow aubergines without any trouble, or tamarillos (tree tomatoes), then you should have the conditions about right for these.

Growing Roses from seeds
 

Kay wrote:
Then I'd plant them straight away, with just a fine scattering of soil
on top ...
- SNIP -
If nothing happened in the first 3 weeks ...

Even seeds of most rose species that have passed through the gut of
birds need a period of chilling before they will germinate, so washing
the seed will not make much difference in this respect. However,
cleaning the seed to remove hairs and remnants of the husk will reduce
the risks to the embryo that are presented by moulds and bacteria,
which gain a foothold on decaying remnants. Rose seeds are best
cleaned and sown immediately after harvesting and then covered with a
5mm layer of fine grit or coarse sand. They should be placed in a
cold frame or outside where they will be exposed to several months of
cold or even frost. In spring, they can be brought into the warmth
where they will germinate within a week or two. Watch out for mice,
they are very fond of rose 'nutlets' and will devastate pots or trays
of seed in no time at all.

This process can be accelerated with the use of a domestic fridge set
to maximum. The cleaned seeds are mixed with barely moist sand or
grit, sealed in a plastic bag and subjected to approximately 0 to 3C
for 6 weeks. The seeds are then sown just below the surface of
sterilised compost and maintained at 21 - 23C. Germination usually
occurs within 7 - 10 days. However, very poor winter light intensity
in this country means that any resultant seedlings will be weak and
etiolated so there's little or no advantage for the average gardener.
Even growing under lights results in atypical soft growth.

Most species roses will produce their first flowers in the second year
from sowing, but hybrids from 'garden roses' can produce the first
flower in as little as 3 months from seed. However, the chances of
such plants going on to produce worthwhile flowers on a strong healthy
plant are exceptionally remote. Even when parents are carefully
selected and cross pollinated, it's a lottery and more often than not,
the progeny of a 'good' pairing will result in duds. There's an
entire industry devoted to this and millions of rose seedlings are
destroyed annually because the vast majority are just not worth
growing on. That said, it's quite fun raising roses from seed
collected in the garden. They will show considerable variation and
none will be the same as the parent plant. You never know what might
crop up. It will probably be rubbish, but it will be your rubbish and
unique.