And here in California we have the man root, a cucurbit (Marah) that grows a perennial tuber to larger than 100 kilos. Although I suppose, if you had a big one in your garden, the distinctive foliage and fruits might tip you off...and the tuber doesn't much look like any potato. They are mildly hardy, but would require a lot of work to breed them away from toxicity and towards being g a productive crop. On Sun, Mar 20, 2022, 6:37 AM David Schaeffer via pbs < pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > Idk...have to take this kind of popular "science" reporting with a grain of > salt. I mean if the guy's really a gardner he should have been able to spot > that it's not a potato. Where are the eyes? And a tuberous cucurbit in the > UK is nothing odd - my knowledge of European plants is PATHETIC, but I > still know about white bryony, and I'll bet it's not the only tuberous cuke > native to the area. > > As to whether cold-hardy cukes could be created through hybridization, > sure, probably. But it would be a fairly major undertaking. You'd be > starting from the ground up (groan. Look, you want Steve Hammer-level > jokes? Go get Steve Hammer). I would think Mexico would be a good starting > point, finding something close enough to mouse melon to begin breeding. > There's ulluco, too, but it's no hardier than a potato. It'd be interesting > to try. And probably an interesting way to introduce some new viruses to > cultivation... > > > - Dave > > On Sun, Mar 20, 2022, 9:12 AM Carl Frederick via pbs < > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > > > https://apple.news/AHcZImHfDTQmDO0nxfsOsTQ/ > > > > As a gardener wouldn’t you think he would try to grow it as opposed to > > freeze it? Also, does this mean we can make more temperate mega-tubers > by > > hybridization (which is not really hybridization as such since we’re > > talking about a single species I assume)? > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > _______________________________________________ > > pbs mailing list > > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>