I’ve never heard of a watermelon plant throwing off a sport. I’m curious
to see what the inside looks and tastes like.
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The Bradfords are at it again. Another new video of their Bradford watermelon continuing to make a comeback from the brink of extinction.
Now they are expanding their business into making watermelon brandy and other treats, including reductions for creating the Red Molasses of 1800s America. Look at the beautiful red color!
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Here’s the watermelon plot this year:
14 mounds with mostly 11 different yellow/orange fleshed variety melons and some other red/white ones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoEmzDLEONA
Doing great, first time I can’t walk really around in the community plot (especially w/ 40 hot pepper plants on the outside edge of the plot)!
Had to remove my hose because no space to move around with it and just now handwater with watering can this year (might get a long PVC pipe to direct water into the mounds as a fun experiment hehe… but the rain downpours have been so crazy this year I may not even need to water again).
Think I saw 50+ melons so far.
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Hey Matt- I’m just curious and couldn’t tell from your comments if you are saying “they are at it again” meaning “they are again creating an exaggeration and marketing ploy and stretching the truth about the quality of this melon” (which a lot of people believe) or if you were saying “they are at it again” meaning they are again working hard to save a threatened, high quality watermelon and improving their legitimate and quality products made from a good melon worth preserving"? In other words, just curious if you are pro-bradford or are dubious of the Bradfords and their business strategy. I promise I don’t mind either way and won’t try to convince you of either position. I’m not taking the cowards way out by not taking sides, its just that I honestly am not sure myself and that’s why I’m curious about your position. As you may know, there is quite a bit of disagreement in the watermelon growing community over this. Some say there is no real proof that this was ever as famous or revered or sought after as they claim, and even if it had been there is no real proof that this is the same melon. The brix rate everyone by the Bradfords is getting hasn’t been anything special, and a lot of reports are that there is just nothing special about this watermelon at all and that there are many better ones. But there are also a lot of people who say the story they tell about its past is true and it was a famous melon in its day and that the Bradford’s should be applauded for saving an almost-lost variety of melons and finding/creating a market for it by creating products containing it. One thing everyone agrees with is they have done an incredible job marketing this melon and creating an amazing amount of interest in following. I’m just not sure if its all a bunch of false and exaggerated hype over an average melon or just clever marketing used to save a truly special melon that deserved preserving and its newfound reputation as “the sweetest melon in the south”. What were you saying and what do others here think? Thanks!
I wish I could taste the Bradford melon so I could form an opinion of it. It certainly looks good.
I enjoy the heritage hype if the melon is good.
I also wish I had land in the family like these guys. I’ll be working my whole life to pay down the mortgage on the 7 acres I did buy.
I might buy Bradford seeds someday, if I could increase my confidence in growing melons.
My plantings this year have not been very successful (not enough sun; not enough water: not enough fert).
Next year I will improve my efforts, but should probably stick to early melons (like the 70-day Blacktail Mountain) before I fool around again with other varieties.
I understand! Hey…for a shorter season melon you should consider Charleston grey. It is not all known for being a short season melon for some reasons, and most seed companies seem to list its days to maturity as being similar to average melons. But for me and others right here on GF (just a few posts up someone said this and I agreed), it is the first melon to ripen. And if its even close to Blacktail or sugar baby, I’d pick it because for me its a better tasting melon with far less seeds than the other two, which are very seedy in my experience. Just something to consider. On the slightly down side, the color of Charleston Grey is pink and not deep red, so its flesh sort of looks like its not ripe especially to those who don’t know its color. @rayrose recommends something that he says is very similar to CG only better, but I forget the name. Maybe he’ll chime in. If so, Ray, do you find that one to also be a fairly early ripening melon (even if not the first)?
@rayrose has recommended the Greystone melon of Hollar Seeds.
Ray- Do you find Greystone to be as early-ripening as Charleston Grey?
Blacktail Mountain is listed at 73.
Greystone is listed at 84.
Charleston Grey is listed at 87.
Has anyone ever tried growing Katanya? It is listed at 65.
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It is a CG type, and ripens in the same time frame, but it’s the best CG
type I’ve ever grown. But you can’t really go by dates on a seed package.
Every year is different, especially this year. All of my melons are a month
later than usual, and are ripening at the same time. I’ve got melons coming
out of my ears. I wish some of you guys lived close to me. This is not supposed to be happening.
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I wish I lived close to you, too. I’d gladly take a couple dozen off your hands!
We’ve now eaten five Blacktail Mountains, three of which were perfect, while the other two were underripe. But I’ve got five OrangeGlo melons all about the same size, over 10 lbs a piece now, so I hope we can eat them all around Labor Day. I don’t exactly know when they’ll be ripe.
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Using my hand to show the size of my Orangeglo
Blacktail Mountain.
@thecityman, Kevin, you are so right about sunlight and watermelon. I planted a few plants on each berm. One got half sun, the plants do not grow much.
The second one has about 8 hours of sun, the plants manage to grow and projduce a few melons.
@rayrose, thank you for your recommendations esp. For short season watermelon.
@Matt_in_Maryland, I think I chose a wrong year to start planting wm. The first set of seedings died while waiting for cool spring rain to stop. These second batch was planted late. It produces a few but only these two get bigger. I hope BM will ripen in time. I do not think OG would ripen in time, unfortunately.
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A good sign of ripeness is when the melons start turning a paler
shade of green and the under side start showing some orange.
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I just happened upon a farmer’s market in Shamokin Dam, Pennsylvania. My family is on a mini-vacation. There I purchased several watermelons:
-Sangria
-Revolution
-Yellow Doll
-Crimson Sweet
-unknown orange type
-an unusually large Sugar Baby
This will be my first taste of all of these.
This summer, I took the “Rayrose Challenge” and have been eating watermelon every night for weeks.
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I’m happy for you and wouldn’t want to dampen your enthusiasm in any way, but don’t be surprised if your melon stops growing at about the size of a baseball or softball. I’ve never got a potted watermelon to reach any size at all. Also, and I doubt you’d be too upset if I’m right about this, but I don’t think that is a sugar baby. It’s been a couple years since I’ve grown them so its possible they start off looking like that, but I don’t much think so. Sugar babies are a very dark green and solid (sometimes with a barely discernible striping)- at least as an adult and I THINK they mostly start of dark green and solid. The yellow color (and size) of the leaves also worries me…that is often indicative of not enough sunlight or too MUCH water. What say you, @rayrose? You have any concerns about the look of the leaves and plant? Do u think its a sugar baby?,
Oh well…the important thing is this is your first melon and the last thing I need to do is take away from your enjoyment, especially when you didn’t even ask for input,. Just wanted prepare you in case it doesn’t go well so you’d know it isn’t your fault.
After hearing from you all and Fruitnut, explaining that Sugar baby is not the best melon to grow, I went ahead and planted the seeds anyway. 
They were All I had. It is a joke, but fun to watch grow. Now I find out that it is not a SB !!! There are three of those melons on the tiny vines! Aren’t they funny? 
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Mrs.G.,
I still have a couple that are as small as yours. I think if it lasts until Halloween, I could them for decorations. Others use pumpkins or gourd, we use unripe watermelon 
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Whether or not it’s Sugar Baby is not that important. What’s important is that
what you see is about all you’re going to see,
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