Cyclanthera pedata
Inca cucumber
Common names: horned cucumber, caigua
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 50 cm, rows 80 cm
- Lifespan
- Annual
- Sowing
- Mar–Apr
- Harvest
- Aug–Oct
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below 2 °C
- Water need
- Medium
Photo: Zyance · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The Inca cucumber is a vigorous climbing vine from the Andes whose hollow, cucumber‑like fruits can be eaten raw, stuffed or steamed. It is hardy, vigorous, and quickly covers a trellis or fence with delicately feathered foliage in summer.
Care instructions
Sow warm in March and plant seedlings after the last frost in mid‑May in a sunny spot with strong support. Water evenly and add some compost in summer. Harvest the young, still tender fruits from August onward as long as they are soft; older ones become fibrous and are then suitable for stuffing and braising.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingMar–Apr
HarvestAug–Oct
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 15 °C, ideally 24 °C
- Days to sprout
- 7 to 14 days
- Light
- Sprouts in light or dark
- Sowing depth
- 1 cm
- How to start
- Start indoors, then plant out
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
humus-rich, well-drained, nutrient-rich, loamy
Give the Inca cucumber deep, humus-rich and free-draining soil. It does not tolerate waterlogging. Loamy and sandy soils both work as long as water drains well; work in ripe compost before planting.
Cucurbits (cucumber, squash, courgette) are heavy feeders. Give them plenty of compost and leave about 4 years before growing them in the same bed again.
Feeding
Heavy feeder
Months
Apr–Jul
When planting in spring, work ripe compost shallowly into the soil. In the main growing phase (June to July), when fruit set is heavy, help along organically, for example with horn shavings around the root zone followed by watering; you can meet the high potassium need well with comfrey liquid feed. From August, do not feed any more.
Overwintering
The Inca cucumber is an annual and dies off at the first frost. There is nothing to dig up or store. Harvest ripe fruits before the frost, take out the seeds, let them dry well and keep them dry and cool until sowing in spring; start them on the windowsill from March and plant them outdoors after the Ice Saints (mid-May · week 20).
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
The Inca cucumber is a frost-tender annual and is propagated from seed only. Start sowing indoors from mid-April on a windowsill or in a greenhouse. Earlier makes little sense, because the plant very quickly produces long tendrils and then cannot be planted out until after the Ice Saints. Soak the seeds for 24 to 48 hours in lukewarm water before sowing to soften the hard seed coat and speed up germination. Sow one seed each about 1 to 2 cm deep in individual pots of free-draining compost. Keep the germination temperature at 20 to 25 °C; below 18 °C the Inca cucumber germinates poorly or not at all. Germination takes 10 to 28 days. After the Ice Saints (mid-May · week 20, when no more night frosts are expected), plant the young plants about 90 cm apart in an outdoor bed or in a large pot with a climbing support. You can collect your own seed from ripe fruits: dry the black, fully formed seeds and store them cool and dry. They stay viable for several years.
Companion planting
Good neighbors
legume family (Fabaceae)
Beans and peas enrich the soil with nitrogen, which cucurbits, as heavy feeders, can make good use of.
For example PeaBush beanPole beanBroad beanSnow peaWrinkled pea and 36 more species in the catalogue
Source: classic companion planting (DACH-Gartenpraxis)
Rather not
nightshade family (Solanaceae)
You should avoid planting potato and cucumber together because they share disease pathogens such as leaf and brown rot and stand in each other's way as strong feeders.
For example PotatoTomatoSweet pepperCocktail tomatoEggplantCape gooseberry and 14 more species in the catalogue
Source: basic crop-rotation rule
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
For your garden
Grow Inca cucumber yourself
Gartenkern tells you when frost is coming, when to sow and when to harvest, for your location.
Free, no time limit
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