Anguria or Antillean cucumber: cultivation, reviews

Anguria can be used as an ornamental or vegetable crop. It is most often grown by exotic lovers, since the Antillean cucumber successfully replaces the ordinary cucumber on the dining table, and gardeners prefer to plant perennials to decorate pergolas and arbors.

However, some gourmets consider the fruits of anguria a delicacy, they are tasty and healthy, and the plant itself rarely gets sick and is affected by pests. The agrotechnics of the Antillean cucumber is simple, seedlings can be grown independently, the seeds are inexpensive. Why not plant?

What is anguria

Anguria (Cucumis anguria) is called watermelon, horned or Antillean cucumber. Indeed, it is a species belonging to the genus Cucumber (Cucumis) from the Cucurbitaceae family.

Anything is written about the origin of anguria. Some sources even “settled” the culture in Central and South America, India and the Far East. But this is not a genus, but a species. It does not happen that it simultaneously appeared on different continents. One species cannot appear even in such remote points of Asia. Some authors generally argue that anguria is unknown in the wild, but came into culture thanks to the Indians.

In fact, everything is not so confusing. Wild Cucumis anguria grows in eastern and southern Africa, in Madagascar, and produces bitter fruits. When slaves were brought to America from the black continent, anguria seeds also got there. By selection, fruits devoid of bitterness were obtained, the plant ran wild and spread throughout the Caribbean, Latin America and the southern United States.

Over time, anguria has become so accustomed that in some regions it is considered a weed. It is unsuccessfully fought in Australia, and in the North American peanut fields, the culture has become a real problem.

Antillean Cucumber (Cucumis anguria) is often voluntarily or involuntarily confused with Kiwano (Cucumis metulifer). They especially like to insert more impressive and vivid photographs of the second culture where they do not belong.

Photo of Anguria (Cucumis anguria)

Photo of Kiwano (Cucumis metulifer)

It’s not that hard to notice the difference. Not only the fruits are different, but also the leaves.

Description and varieties of anguria

Anguria is an annual vine that can reach a height of 5-6 m under favorable conditions, and has a creeping stem covered with fine hairs. In Our Country, it rarely grows more than 3-4 m.

If anguria is used as an ornamental plant or planted in a greenhouse, the young shoot is sent to a support. When he is a little older, he will put out numerous tendrils, and will wrap around arbors, trellises, pergolas, or climb any established structure.

Unlike most representatives of the genus kukumis, anguria is edible and decorative at the same time. She rarely gets sick, carved, watermelon-like leaves remain beautiful all season.

Yellow dioecious flowers are inconspicuous, but the fruits of the Antillean cucumber look attractive – oval, up to 8 cm long, 4 cm in cross section, weighing from 35 to 50 g. Anguria greens are covered with rather soft spikes that harden as the seeds ripen. The fruits become more beautiful with time – yellow or orange, the skin hardens, and they can be stored for a long time.

Only green angurias are suitable for food – they are eaten fresh, salted, canned, pickled. The taste of raw fruits is a bit like cucumber, but astringent and sweetish.

If greens are not picked on time, they will become inedible. Biological ripeness usually occurs 70 days after germination, technical – after 45-55, depending on the growing conditions and variety. Anguria juice is red.

Fruiting is plentiful, on one vine per season it can grow up to 200 greens. If harvested, they will appear almost until frost.

When growing anguria as an ornamental annual, the fruits will ripen, become more beautiful and inedible, acquire a strong skin, prickly thorns. At this stage, the greens will stop tying. The seeds ripen, which means that the plant has fulfilled its task, laid the foundation for the emergence of a new generation of anguria.

There are few varieties and varieties of Antillean cucumber in Our Country. Anguria Dietary is even included in the State Register (2013). It reaches removable maturity in 48-50 days, has beautiful striped greens up to 6,5 cm long and weighing no more than 50 g, greenish-yellow juicy flesh. Shoots of Anguria Dietary are fragile, branch well. Up to 50 greens are harvested from one plant per season.

Anguria variety Gourmet produces light green fruits with large spikes. It grows up to 3 m and is grown to decorate the garden and produce greens.

Anguria Syrian can bear fruit until frost. It is distinguished by abundant lateral branching and sweetish light green fruits 7-8 cm long. As an ornamental and vegetable crop, anguria of this variety is grown on a trellis.

The benefits and harms of anguria

100 g of Antillean cucumber contains 44 kcal. Zelentsy are valued for their high content of B vitamins and potassium. Anguria contains iron, copper, zinc, manganese, vitamin P.

Useful properties of Antillean cucumber:

• seeds are a proven anthelmintic – they are dried, ground, diluted to an emulsion state with water and eaten;
• it is believed that anguria alleviates the condition with jaundice;
• raw greens help to remove sand and stones from the kidneys;
• Antillean cucumber juice mixed with oil is used in the treatment of bruises;
• fruits treat hemorrhoids;
• vinegar-infused anguria leaves are used for ringworm;
• freckles are removed with juice;
• a decoction of the roots relieves swelling;
• fresh Antillean cucumber greens contribute to weight loss.

It is believed that anguria is a safe product, except for individual intolerance. But, using it for treatment, it is better to consult a doctor, and know when to stop, without eating greens in kilograms.

Uses of Antillean Cucumber

Anguria is used in cooking. The Antillean cucumber is most popular in Brazil, which is perhaps why many consider it the birthplace of the plant. Zelentsy is eaten raw, fried, stewed, salted, marinated. By and large, they are used in cooking in the same way as cucumber.

Ripe anguria fruits look beautiful and are stored for a long time. They are used in the manufacture of crafts, decoration of premises, and even as Christmas decorations.

The bitter forms of Antillean cucumber are sometimes used as a natural pesticide in granaries.

Features of growing anguria

Antillean cucumber is a thermophilic culture. It grows best in the tropics and subtropics, although it can bear fruit and decorate the site in a temperate climate.

It prefers temperatures from 21 to 28 ° C. The lower critical mark is 8 ° C, the upper – 32 ° C.

Anguria requires fertile, well-retaining, loose, well-drained soil with a neutral to slightly alkaline reaction and maximum sun exposure. He likes frequent watering with warm water, does not tolerate cold weather and acidic soils at all.

If the Antillean cucumber is tied to a trellis, it is better to place it on the south side of the buildings and protect it from the wind.

Planting and caring for anguria

By and large, you need to grow anguria in the same way as cucumbers. Their agricultural technology is similar, but the exotic culture in the middle zone did not have time to acquire a large number of diseases and pests.

Site preparation

Legumes, any greens and root crops will be good predecessors for anguria. The soil needs to be dug up, weeds removed along with the root, if necessary, add humus, peat and sand. If the soil has an acidic reaction, before loosening the surface is covered with lime or dolomite flour, depending on the pH level – from 0,5 to 1 liter per 1 sq. m.

It is best to dig up the site in the fall, and before planting the Antillean cucumber, simply loosen it with a rake. In any case, the operation is carried out no later than 2 weeks before sowing anguria seeds, or moving seedlings into open ground.

Seed preparation

In the southern regions, anguria can be sown directly into the ground. In the north, it is better to first grow seedlings in peat cups – the Antillean cucumber, like the usual one, does not like to be disturbed by its roots. Consequently, there can be no talk of any pick or transplant from common boxes.

Anguria seeds are prepared in the same way as ordinary cucumbers – they are heated or soaked. Planted in a nutrient mixture to a depth of 1 cm and watered abundantly with warm water. Keep at a temperature close to 22 ° C, high humidity and good lighting. The best place for Antillean cucumbers is the southern window sill.

Before moving into the ground, anguria seedlings must be hardened off. In 10 days, they begin to take it out into the street – at first for 2 hours, but every day the time spent in the fresh air is increased. For the last 2 days, Antillean cucumbers have not been brought into the room even at night.

Growing anguria from seeds by sowing them directly into the ground is not difficult, it just takes more time, and in the northern regions the first harvest will be received late. And the culture will not last long as a decoration for arbors – even with a short-term decrease in temperature to 8 °, the Antillean cucumber may die.

Rules of landing

When the seedlings have 2 pairs of true leaves, and the soil temperature is 10 ° C or more, the threat of return frosts has passed, anguria can be planted in open ground. Weather permitting, it is best to work on a warm overcast day.

Holes for Antillean cucumber are made at a distance of 50 cm from each other, in one row. A handful of rotted humus and ash is poured into each, thoroughly mixed with fertile soil. You can replace organics with mineral fertilizers, for example, a tablespoon of nitroammophoska.

The wells are well watered, when the water is absorbed, seedlings of the Antillean cucumber are planted. It is better to put the support right away – in the open field, anguria can grow by 20 cm in a week, and she needs to cling to something. The recommended height of the trellis is 120-150 cm.

Watering and top dressing

Anguria needs frequent abundant watering. The water should be warm, or the same temperature as the outdoor thermometer shows. The cold is very likely to cause illness, and possibly the death of the Antillean cucumber.

The soil must be constantly moist. In hot, dry summers, anguria will have to be watered daily, at first spending 2 liters per root. A month after planting seedlings in open ground, the need for water will double.

It is impossible to grow anguria without regular top dressing – the liana grows large, gives a lot of greens, and fertilization gives it all the substances necessary for life. If the Antillean cucumber decorates the site, there should be no problems. But supporters of organic farming should think in advance how they will feed the crop, prepare ash, mullein, or ferment green manure.

Angurias are fed every 2 weeks, ideally alternating organic and mineral preparations. If you dilute purchased fertilizers according to the instructions, mullein infusion 1:10, and herbs – 1:5, it is enough to pour 0,5 liters under the root.

Antillean cucumber has a delicate root system, so dressings should be diluted with water. Dry ones should not be applied, even if they are well embedded in the ground.

Anguria is very fond of foliar top dressing, but if greens are eaten, they can only be done before flowering. To do this, you can use special fertilizers, or dilute 2 teaspoons of nitroammophoska in 10 liters of water.

Topping

Grown as an ornamental culture, anguria is often not pinched at all. Here the task of the liana is to braid the support as thickly as possible to create maximum decorativeness.

Another thing is when they want to get a good harvest of Antillean cucumber greens. Then the main shoot is pinched, 3-4 of the lowest lateral ones are completely removed – they practically do not produce a crop, as they are in the shade, and only take nutrients.

The remaining side shoots are shortened as soon as they grow a little. When the main shoot is thrown over a horizontally stretched wire, pinching is stopped. This is how anguria will give a full harvest. Perhaps it will not be as plentiful as in the wild, and the owners will receive half or three times less greens. But they will be large, beautiful and tasty.

Diseases and pests

Anguria gets sick and is not affected by pests as often as ordinary cucumbers, but you should not forget that these are species belonging to the same genus. How to plant crops nearby. Then no resistance will help the Antillean cucumber – both pests and diseases will move to it from an “ordinary” relative.

At the first sign of damage, you need to use chemicals, strictly following the recommendations on the package, or folk remedies. Processing must be completed (unless the instructions specify a different period) no later than 20 days before the start of harvest.

Most often, anguria is affected:

• powdery mildew;
• rots;
• anthracnose.

Potential pests include:

• aphids;
• pincers;
• slugs (if Antillean cucumber is grown without support).

Harvesting

Only the Antillean cucumbers growing in natural conditions, or rather, the Antillean cucumbers that have become accustomed and run wild in Central and South America, produce 200 fruits per vine. In Our Country, southerners can collect 100 high-quality greens, northerners – half as much, because the growing season of anguria is much shorter there.

Unlike ordinary cucumbers, Antilles are edible only when young, they begin to collect them when the skin is easily pierced with a fingernail, and the size has reached 5 cm. days.

Conclusion

Anguria is unlikely to replace ordinary cucumbers on our table, but as an exotic culture it has the right to exist. Pickled or salted greens can decorate the festive table, and their taste is pleasant and unusual. In addition, the Antillean cucumber can be grown simply to decorate the site.

Anguria reviews (Antilles cucumber)