My lemon cucumbers are growing like crazy. I actually thought the vines were squash. Yesterday I noticed these round green fruits, some were 5" in diameter. They were green not yellow. I do have a green cuke nearby. Can I still eat them? The seeds are getting big, like a squash. I was thinking I could peel and de-seed them for salads or pickles.
Yes, you can eat them. There are several things that may have happened to make your lemon cucumbers not grow lemon yellow (e.g. it is a sport, it was a seed from a cross pollinated plant, etc) and none of them are harmful to you.
Both last year and this year my cucumber and cantaloupe plants developed brown spots on the leaves, which eventually lead to both dying prematurely. I changed the location of where they were in my garden. I sprayed them once with a sulfer lime solution, but I really didn't know what I was doing. What's going on? Help!
The only thing I can think of is a fungal or bacterial leaf spot problem, most likely from water on the leaves. Humid conditions, overcrowding, and poor circulation can also contribute to leaf spot. Remove and destroy all the affected foliage. All leaf spot diseases can be controlled by decreasing or eliminating overhead irrigation, minimizing leaf wetness periods, discarding heavily infested plants, and applying preventive fungicide applications.
My cucumbers are very bitter. Can I still use them for pickles?
You could try it, though I am not sure how well they will turn out. If they are already bitter tasting, this may not be improved with the pickling process. Here is an article that you may find helpful for future reference with bitter cukes: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/cucumber/what-causes-bitter-cucumber.htm
After reading the article about squash pollinating with cucumber being totally untrue, I have to strongly disagree. I have squash-cumbers in my garden. My yellow squash plants have cross pollinated with my cucumber and the other way around. My squash on the squash plant started turning green with yellow bumps. I had a cucumber on a cucumber plant that was half yellow and half green. I broke it apart and the half that was yellow was a squash with squash seeds and the half that was green was cucumber with cucumber seeds. I have pictures of the squash cucumber, so just maybe this wives' tale of cross pollination is true--I have proof.
Cucumbers and squash are in the curcubit family, but they cannot cross pollinate. It is like humans and monkeys. Same basic family, but not compatible. Here is an article from the Iowa Extension Service on why it can't happen: https://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/node/981
There are cucumbers that look as you describe. You may have a mislabled plant or seed in your garden that was mislabled by the company that sold it to you.
Why do some cucumbers turn bitter?
This article should help: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/cucumber/what-causes-bitter-cucumber.htm
This article should help with that: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/seeds/what-is-damping-off.htm
I have a cucumber vine growing on my back fence, and I have a few cukes! My question is, I have a HUGE cuke growing, it is light green with a hairy down on it. I have a few more coming. I believe it is a cuke as I cut one open and ate it, and it is a cuke, but my husband does not believe me and says, 'I don't know what it is, but it is not a cuke. ' I looked at other sites but cannot find a picture of it, can you help me?
If any of the others look the same, snap a picture and send it in. We can better determine what you have or what is going on this way.