2018 Orangeglo

Tony,
I am growing Black Diamond this year, too.

@ztom - do you have a method of telling when your meloms are ripe. I like hearing how everyone does it.

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Well, cityman, there’s good news and bad news. You’re right about this being a perfectly ripe melon, but upon further review I think it is actually a perfectly ripe Gold Flower watermelon. Sorry about the mix up. I started wondering about the black seeds, since other Orangeglos seem to have white seeds. Then I compared the outside pattern on this melon to the other Orangeglos I’m growing and it was different. Also, I checked the ground spot on the other OGs, and they are still very white. So I think that this is a Gold Flower and I still have up to 2 weeks before the Orangeglos are ready. The good news is I’m happy with the Gold Flower, which is much earlier and productive in the north. Win-win!

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Waiting until the ground spot turned from white to yellow worked this time, and has worked for me in the past as well. Sometimes I grow melons on a trellis, so there is no ground spot. If so, I usually look for the outside to lose its bloom and get a little shinier.

Sounds like a perfect accident. I’m in CT, zone 6. I’ve got several Crimson Sweets ripening, plus a surprise/volunteer melon and a Congo that haven’t set fruit (both probably shaded too much by butternut squash). I’ll go ahead and add Gold Flower to my list for next year instead of Orangeglo.

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I don’t let watermelon sit in the ground. The idae of melons sitting on wet ground concerns me. I put a piece of styrofoam under each melon. I can’t use a yellow bottom method.

I will use @SpokanePeach’s and @Mountain_Donkey’s method of counting days after fruit set and see how it will work for me.

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There are 7 methods of telling how a watermelon is ripe. Here are the best to use.

  1. The tendril near the stem of the melon will turn brown to dark brown.
  2. The bottom of the melon will change color, usually from green to white or green to yellow.
  3. The outside of the melon will get a lumpy/bumpy feel that is not present when under ripe. This is a variable trait with some varieties that are always smooth. Dixielee is an example of smooth while Orangeglo gets bumpy. If you see me rubbing watermelons in the patch… I promise I’m just checking for ripeness.
  4. Thump the melon and listen for a dull thud. Ripe watermelons propagate sound at lower frequencies which can easily be heard.
  5. Gently lift the melon and see if it has a “lead heavy” feel. Unripe watermelons feel distinctly lighter than ripe melons.
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The watermelons seem to grow better in pots for me this year in my location. The ones that I put in ground are not as vigorous.

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Fedco has them, but they’re hard to find elsewhere.

How big are your pots?

Yep, it came up immediately on Google.

as a long term grower of Orangeglo I really should have noticed the black seeds. I actually did notice the thin rind and thought it looked odd but didn’t say anything. But yea, both of those things are signs you have something other than OG! Oh well…it still looked great and hopefully it tasted as good as it looked.

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Varying sizes…10 gal, 5 gal, 3 gal, and 1 gal (ran out of big pots!:wink:)The vines took over 1/3 of my deck. I put them out the same time as the inground ones but as I noticed how wild they grew, i just left them on the deck…we shall see! The inground ones are catching up now but my season is almost over here.

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It helps to have a lemon plant next to this to help attract pollinators. As the fragrances are so strong, there are bees covering my deck every morning. Of course, no one wants to sit out there now but I got to do what to got to do to grow those melons!!!:joy:

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Courtney, I hate to rain on your parade, but I doubt seriously, if your
melons will grow to maturity and ripen. Watermelons don’t do well in pots. The root systems grow horizontally, not vertically. I’m sure all of us have tried to grow them in pots, and it just doesn’t work. They aren’t like cucumbers, which WILL grow in pots. I hope you prove me wrong.

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I had 1 ripe last year! It was dwarf sized but nevertheless, delicious!

As usual when it comes to watermelons, I agree with Ray! I’ve tried several times purely for fun, but I have never got a watermelon grown in a pot to produce anything close to full size. Even very small watermelons like sugar baby and blacktail mountain don’t reach their full size or close to in when grown in a pot, in my experience. But also as Ray said, I’d love for you to prove us wrong. And if the one you got was still good even though t was a dwarf, then maybe that is a form of success. Mine have never got much bigger than a softball and didn’t even ripen fully.

Maybe 1 out of all of them (maybe 10)this year! There is one dark colored one that has been nice and healthy, in the back…that might be the one for this experience. They have grown so fast in the last week or so…90’s temp help…yes, always dwarf sizes in pots.

I just cut up a large Black Diamond and it fit the bill for a great watermelon. Crisp and real sweet tasting.

Tony

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BD is one of my favorites, but they’re hard to grow, unless you
lots of room, which I don’t have.

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Not knowing BD needs a lot of room, I planted mine in a very small area. Sofar it set one large fruit. Better than nothing :smile:

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