Kiwano - African Horned Cucumber

Ok first I live up north way up north zone 3 I started a few indoors do to the short growing season but didn't survive the transplant so I dumped the rest of the seeds along the fence by my garden they took off like none other I had no expectations but they not only produced a ton of fruit that I had no idea what to do with. Didn't care for the flavor much and neither did my family so I was stuck with over 120 fruit that I couldn't give away but was interesting to try

I started 2 seeds indoors, transplanted them, and as the summer sun set in, they took off! The vines are extremely vigorous; I had a difficult time controlling them. Trellis them for sure. We tried the fruit when green, tastes just like a cucumber. When they ripened to orange, we tasted again. I was not that impressed. They are so fun, though! I love telling people about them. It is also the end of October and there are still fruits on the vines. I'm using some of them in my Halloween decorations. Unlike other cucurbits, we had ZERO bug problems, so that was awesome. I think they would make a great barrier plant for predation. I would recommend solely based on the fact that they look so cool lol Also, if you enjoy cucumbers, don't mind seeds, and don't want insects eating your crop, these are for you but WEAR GLOVES

Easy to grow here in Southern Norway. Grew 2 plants from seeds indoors and planted them out in May. Slow to germinate, but got about 10 fruits on one plant and a few on the other. Too sour to eat raw but may be good as the sour element in cooking. I will try it in yoghurt. I give it 4 stars because it may be a good sour element in coocking. People that love the taste of lemon and / or lime may love the fruit.

These looked interesting and wanted to give him a try. They were slow to sprout but then took off, everywhere! Certainly easy to grow. The flavo and texture were not for me. I did let one get really orange and the flavor certainly was improved but still not worth it for me. One unexpected bonus is that the plants and fruit are very spiky and I put them around my raised beds to keep the raccoons out and it seems to have worked! And I am now sure to wear shoes in the garden!

I started this plant last January and grew it in the house until it was planted outside when the weather warmed up. I planted it in a large raised bed (about 16 foot by 4). It took off and is pretty much taking over that whole area. The problem is that I cannot reach in and get stuff off the other plants without touching this one. The vines have tiny sharp spines on them that break off into your skin when you touch it. It is almost like a cactus. For as big as it is, it does not have many fruits on it and they are not ripe as of yet (August). If I was to raise this one again i would throw it in the most remote, neglected area of the garden, but never again in a raised bed with more civilized vegetables.