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I turned my soil recently and this huge plant started to grow. I have put my hand there to show the size. It does not seem to be a weed so I would really want to know if this is some kind of vegetable or fruit plant. Can someone help me identify? Thanks.

plant with big round leave

Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
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user9782
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  • If you rub a leaf and smell it, you should be able to tell if it's a squash (at least, if you know what squash smell like). I don't think it's a hollyhock, but I've seen another plant (I think a flower) that looks a lot like a squash. How big were the seed leaves? Do you see a seed shell anywhere? – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Apr 30 '16 at 04:38

7 Answers7

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That looks like a squash of some kind. It will probably send out runners and spread quite a bit. The fruit should be edible, but I can't really tell what it will look like. It may be more like a pumpkin (it resembles Cucurbita maxima).

J. Musser
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It looks like Hollyhock. The stems will grow tall with beautiful flowers

Dinakar Jayarajan
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  • I thought about hollyhock too. –  Apr 30 '16 at 07:51
  • Leaves seem a little smooth for that: https://www.google.com/search?q=hollyhock&biw=971&bih=526&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiE6e611bbMAhUBMz4KHVeSCdgQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=hollyhock+sprout – Wayfaring Stranger Apr 30 '16 at 15:25
  • Well it could be a pumpkin or hollyhock. If it is the former it will spread on the ground or climb up a wall and in the case of the latter it will just grow tall. – Dinakar Jayarajan May 02 '16 at 12:47
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Do you eat cantaloupe or muskmelon at your house?

muskmelon aka cantaloupe

A few years ago I used some compost in my flower garden and surprise! I had a plant similar to yours growing amongst my marigolds. I let it keep growing, very sure it wasn't a weed. Like others have mentioned I thought it was a squash or cucumbers. It ended up being a muskmelon. We eat it for breakfast a lot and so some seeds had ended up in the compost, then my garden.

Unfortunately they require quite a long time to grow (80-90 days above 70 degrees F or something like that) so I never got to eat one of them. (I live in New England, so I would have had to start them much sooner and kept them warm)

Let it grow and see what you've got. If it is a muskmelon, and you're in a more friendly zone for melons than I, pinch off all but one or two fruits so they are nice and sweet, and keep them on pea gravel or elevate them off the ground some other way so they don't rot on the soil. Once they start to ripen (you will see the flesh beneath the web-like texture start to turn orange) only water enough to prevent wilting, to further increase the sweetness.

Jax
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It could be a pumpkin plant or some kind of squash, but to me it looks a lot like a pumpkin plant that sprouted a little while back.

Nick
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Called velvetleaf in the west, but in the midwest, we call it a butterprint plant. Typical farming weed. Will eventually get yellow flowers under the leaves that will turn into quarter sized seed cups with a spoked type flat top.

T Packard
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It's a pumpkin plant I have the exact same thing growing but I planted the seeds

Gannon
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I have one like this in my front garden that popped up. I looked it up on the Plantnet app and it came up with Velvetleaf - a wildflower that will have yellow/orange flowers.

April
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