[robbiechick]

i need some advice please ive grown some cucumbers and melons from seed to put in the green house but ive just been reading Alan titchmarsh the kitchen gardener book and he says that you cant grow them together as cucumbers must not be pollinated and melons will cross pollinate the cucumbers leaving them bitter ive never read this before anywhere why doesent it tell you this on the packets or in other books.Has anyone grown them in the same greenhouse or polytunnel and were they ok.
   
Thanks
RC

[mumofstig]

I've never heard of it but if you bought an f1 all female cucumber you should be ok anyway

[richyrich7]

I've never heard of it but if you bought an f1 all female cucumber you should be ok anyway

Nope the cukes will still have female flowers and the melon will still have male ones  only thing you could try is removing all male flowers before they open  and  hand pollinating the melons with those males you have removed.

[mumofstig]

googled it and found this

Banana Melon-cross pollinate with cucumber?

In two words: im possible.
They belong to different species. The melons are Cucumis melo while the cukes are Cucumis sativus.

Despite a common myth to the contrary, melons and true cukes cannot cross with each other.

and this

Even if they could, the cross wouldn't show up in the fruit, but rather in the seed, and in the next generation grown from that seed. For instance, when a red tomato variety crosses with a yellow tomato variety, there is no sign in the fruit that this cross has occurred (I wish there was!). Instead, when seed is saved and replanted the resulting plants (at least those which are from crossed seed) will show it in their fruit.

and

but cukes and melons do cross once in a while. Look it up on the web.
Ok, so it is only in a lab when treated with colchicine, but still, it has been done. Search for kirkbride cucumber melon and you should find the articles.
 

so looks to me like they're ok they're plenty of articles with people growing both in same house

[richyrich7]

looks like it's a try it and see, job then

[Stripey_cat]

Hmm.  Whoever is talking about the cross-pollination only showing up in the next generation is talking out of their hat - the whole point of the female-only varieties is that they mustn't be pollinated or the fruit responds to a different set of hormones and you get a bitter taste.  Even if melons and cukes aren't close enough to produce viable offspring without colchine treatment, they may be close enough to trick the fruiting system.  Controlled test time?

[little sweetpeas]

I've emailed realseeds for info on this they sould know

They normally tell you if there is an issue with crossing or growing different veg in the same growing space. They don't mention crossing bewtween melons and cuc's at all.

[Kristen]

I don't suppose it amounts to a bag-of-bans, but I've grown F1 "Female" cucumbers and Melons in the same greenhouse for years and never had a problem with bitter fruit.

[richyrich7]

I don't suppose it amounts to a bag-of-bans, but I've grown F1 "Female" cucumbers and Melons in the same greenhouse for years and never had a problem with bitter fruit.

Sounds good to me! experience counts in this game   

[cAnAry53]

Had both in my greenhouse last year,i pollinated the melons by hand and left the cucumbers to themselves,both did ok

[strangerachael]

Me too, had to hand polinate my melons - the only cukes that were bitter were the outdoor ones.

[robbiechick]

 :)Thanks to everyone who replied ill grow them both in the greenhouse and see what happens
RC

[little sweetpeas]

reply from realseeds

"That's a very interesting question.  I'm pretty sure they will not cross in the sense of giving you some sort of 'mucumber'.

But off the top of my head, I guess it is perhaps POSSIBLE that the foreign but closely-related pollen could start to grow and perhaps trigger some form of bitterness IN SOME CASES and IN SOME CIRCUMSTANCES.  I seem to recall it is all very complicated the thing with bitterness in cucumbers.

try "Cucurbits" (ISBN 085100 133 5 or 0851991335??)   by CABI - it is 
THE BOOK on the whole family.  perhaps someone can get a copy from the library?