I’m definitely no expert but I’ve had better luck starting them indoors for 3 weeks before planting out. Starting from seed out side has resulted in a thin stand unless I use a lot of seeds. Some of the seedling seem to have problems early on outside even in warm soil. Also I’ve started seeds side by side in peat pots vs plastic and plastic always gives better growth. Not sure why.
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Well, I finished planting my watermelons this year. I planted 3 seeds per Hill, and planted 225 hills of watermelons (675 plants…but I’ll thin down to 1 or 2 plants per hill). I planted my 57th variety ever grown this year, my 32nd year of growing watermelons. Here is a photo of my patch and a list of what I’m growing this year:
Patch is 275 ft by 250 ft. For scale, that tiny white dot in center of screen at far end of patch is my dog.
I’ve planted:
Ali Baba
Bingo
Carolina Cross 180
Crimson Sweet
Charleston Gray
Desert King
Geogia Rattlesnake
Greystone (thanks for idea, Ray!)
Hamby
Jubilee
Orangeglo
Strawberry
Five of these are new to me, the rest are either my “standards” that I grow every year or some that I’ve grown just once and wanted to try again before making a final decision. All are seed planted, which has always worked great for me and in the end ripen the same time as plants which I often do a few of. But this is just what works for me- I’m no expert and can’t tell you what’s best for you. But wish me luck! I’m a little late this year thanks to too many rainy days.
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Wow! What do you do with all that melon? Sell?
No landscape fabric I guess since it’s s huge area.
Believe it or not, I give them all away! For me its only about the fun of growing. I take most of them to our senior citizen center and give them away. I also put a few dozen in front of City Hall for people to take one. I used to put a big pile out by the road at my house, but instead of a lot of people stopping and taking one melon, some guy stopped and took 41 watermelons! No doubt he was going to sell them somewhere. That made me so mad. Amazing how one greedy person can ruin something for everyone else.
I don’t use landcape fabric- mostly for the reason you said (too much land to cover). I plant my hills 7-8 feet apart and my rows are 8-9 feet apart. So what I do is to go between my rows and my plants with my tractor and tiller. I can keep them pretty clean that way. Then as the vines start to grow, it gets a little harder. Eventually, one last time, I actually pick up each vine and move it to the side of a row, then till that row, then move the vine back over the nice clean, weed free soil. Not too long after that, the vines actually get so thick that they completely cover the patch and shade/smoother the weeds out. The only exception is the area right around the plant. I just hoe this area and even with 225 hills, it goes fairly quickly since I can get everything but about a 1 foot circle or less around each plant.
That’s how I do it, and it works pretty well for me.
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I did a trellis last year. I wire-tied 4’x8’ cattle panel sections (oriented 8’ high) to T-posts spaced at 4’ . It was plenty strong enough and easy to take down. I grew Blacktail Mountain watermelon, New Queen watermelon and Honey Blonde and Honey Orange cantaloupes. I grew them in a raised bed 2’ wide and probably 16’ long. I spaced the plants at about a foot or so and mulched to keep weeds down. I harvested a few really good melons of each type. The watermelons were small varieities but they grew about as big as they would have if grown conventionally. The vines weren’t as vigorous as I expected but I just used topsoil for the beds without much amendments. Most of the melons ended up only being about 18" off the ground , but that was fine. In my case, I could have put the panels long ways (4’ high) beacuse the vines didn’t go that high. My reason for trying this was to keep the melons off the ground, make weeding easier, and it was easier to fence around this structure to keep critters out. All melons tasted good. As a side note, those varieties are all very good for the north. Johnny’s seeds sells the Honey Blonde and Honey Orange cantaloupes, the watermelons are available many places. If I try it again this year, the main change will be to put richer soil in the raised beds.
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They do not cross pollinate?
Despite the cool wet spring I’ve had-- the Baker Creek seeds are finally germinating for Blacktail Mtn, Orangeglo, Jubilee, and Moon-and-Stars.
I forgot to see whether Ali Baba woke up yet.
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You know, that is a great question, Mrs.G. Everyone says that they will, but I have a neighbor who grows many varieties all together and he saves his seeds every year and they come back true the next year and he’s been doing this for many years. Of course, its possible that they just look true. They could be crossed but retail the physical characteristics enough to appear to be pure, but if that is the case then who cares (if you are growing to eat and not selling seeds, doing research, etc). I’ve wondered a lot about this. This guy doesn’t even seperate his patch by variety, so certainly if watermelons easily cross his would. I at least keep mine in rows by variety (not that that is a barrier to a bee, etc.
As for me, I buys new seeds every year so cross pollination doesn’t much matter to me. I don’t do that because of fear of pollination…just too much trouble to save, dry, store, label, my own seeds…combined with my desire to make SURE I’m getting true melons the year of planting at least.
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If you are growing watermelons, how far from Pumpkins, and squash do you have to plant them?
I’ve had good luck with mine from Baker Creek also this year. Last year many, many people on here had terrible germination rates with Orangeglo and I personally had almost none of my Carolina Cross seeds come up. But the cool wet spring you speak of has (I think) had an effect on some of my seeds. I was excited to try Greystone recommended by Ray, and was thrilled and shocked to find it at a local store here…but they appear to be a total no-grow. 
Its exciting to see those little guys come up Matt! Hard to believe at first that such a tiny little plant can grow so big and produce such large, wonderful fruits. I can’t remember if you’ve grown watermelons before or not? If not you’re in for a lot of fun! I enjoy eating fresh watermelon more than almost anything else I grow.
BTW…moon and stars are a really fun variety. If ever there was a properly named fruit, it is that one. Very unusual and beautiful.
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It is amazing a seed could produce as such.
Yeah, my first time.
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Of course they cross pollinate and big time whether mixed together or in rows. If he’s been doing this for yrs he’s developed his own line of open pollinated watermelons. If he likes the fruit that’s what counts.
Each seed in any watermelon is pollinated by one pollen grain. So each seed is a cross of the female parent x one of the pollen doners within the bees flight range. He could even have seeds where one of your varieties is the pollen doner. One melon could have a dozen or more distinct hybrids inside.
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Thank-you for that, Steven. I’ve often thought about how he has been saving seeds for 25 years or more and yet each year, he takes seeds from his jubilee (as an example), and next year he plants it and harvests a jubilee (or whatever variety). He grows 4 varieties, they are all distinct looking and quite different, and yet all his melons still look like those 4 after all these years of saving seeds. He doesn’t have any melons in his patch that look like a cross of any two- they retain their original appearance. He has a long stipped one (jubilee), a big round dark solid green one (Black Diamont), a smaller round stripped one (crimson sweet) and a long light green non-stripped one (Charleston Gray). So they all are very distinct. And he doesn’t even put them into rows (not that that would help). The all grow side by side. So I just don’t see why he doesn’t have any watermelons that show characteristics of any 2 melons (lets say, for example, a solid green long one) Even if its one pollen grain per seed, and there are hundreds of seeds per melon, you’d think after 25 or more years he’d have some different looking fruits. I know this is what science would suggest and you seem to say the same. But I know what I’m seeing. This old man isn’t lying or secretly buying new seeds every year, and I’ve seen and tasted his melons every year and they look and taste just like mine (of same variety).
The only thing I can think of is what I said earlier- perhaps a cross that would show up in a DNA test just doesn’t manifest itself in visible ways. I just don’t know exactly how to explain it. But this isn’t something I’m reading in some questionable article…I’ve seen him grow and collect his own seeds for several years and have no reason to believe he hasn’t done it all along. And I’ve seen the melons in his patch very,very often- I walk over all the time. I guess its just one of natures mysteries. If he ever does get some new looking melon that that tastes great I’ll help him market it! ha.
Don’t get me wrong…I’m not suggesting that you are wrong or that biology and science is wrong!!! I’m just reporting what I’ve seen first hand and trying to figure it out. Thanks.
That does seem strange. They have to be cross pollinating. Maybe I’ll save some seed this yr and see what I get. Leave 10 plants in one hill and see what they produce.
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Will a single watermelon plant self pollinate
Yes, if I wanting to save seed, I’d only plant that one variety to assure there is no cross pollination.
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Yes what Ed said. All except the seedless. They need a diploid, normal seeded melon, to provide viable pollen.
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I have one plant that dad planted in his garden , it is the only watermelon so it should make seed true to type
If two different watermelon plants are planted in a way they flower at different times, say planted a month or so apart, would that solve the cross pollination issue?
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No it won’t. Mine bloom from about 30 days after planting until the vines quit growing, here that can be Sept/Oct. You can get a self pollinated fruit by hand pollinating a plant with it’s own male flower. But you would need to protect both the male and female flower from pollinating insects. That won’t be hard since a female flower, and probably the males, are only fertile one day. You’d only need to protect it 2-3 days max. Pollinate the female in early morning about 1 hr after sunrise and cover with something like a cotton rag. The next day it’s past being receptive. You also need to protect the male you use since bees could contaminate it with stray pollen if other varieties are nearby.
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