This thread is meant to share anything melon in 2026.
I bought some seeds of quite uncommon melon varieties I found, which I am very excited about. I had heat and drought tolerance in mind when choosing the varieties.
What I have sown so far:
Bateekh Samara
Cucumis melo
An over 1000 years old heirloom honeydew from northern Iraq. Flesh is bright green, with a unique citrusy flavour.
A unique white-fleshed heirloom from the dry Zapotillo region in Ecuador. Some claim this variety is endangered or almost extinct. There is very little information about it on the internet. Fruits are smooth and deeply ribbed, white on the inside, and weigh up to 5 kg.
Do watermelons count? I got some black fabric stuff waiting and am hoping to have a better melon/watermelon year this year than last year, which was pretty awful.
Anyone have experience with Bush Sugar Baby? Is it seedy for its size? I’m fine with a normal amount of seeds in watermelons, but when I’ve had one that didn’t size up well they seem to still produce about the same about of seed with less than half the normal amount of flesh.
My plans for regular melons are to trellis them and grow a bunch I haven’t had before:
Piel de Sapo, Green Flesh Honeydew, Prescott Fond Blanc, Hannah’s Choice F1 (I got one last year, it was pretty good), as well as some seeds I imported from Ukraine: Galilei F1, Karamel, Zolotistaya, and Pineapple. The names of the UA ones might be butchered re-Englishing of melons with English names.
Watermelons I’m planning on planting: A seed from a seedless one from the store (to see what happens), Cream of Saskatchewan (white), Mountain Sweet Yellow, Moon & Stars Yellow, Orangeglo, Orange Crisp F1 (seedless), and Saniara F1 (seedless). Not sure if I should plant the Ace pollinator or not, there should be plenty of flowers from the others?
man i want to grow some sort of musk melon next year, but i get overwhelmed by the options lol.
Just doing watermelon this year again. Sugar baby. Ive only successfully grown watermelon once (last year, I got TWO MELONS) and it was a sugar baby so I am not messing with a good thing.
I grew desert king last year. It grew with good vigor, produced at least two large melons per plant. The melons have good storage. I did have difficulty telling when it was ripe, and I’d recommend picking them at sunrise for best sweetness. It did not develop a yellow ground spot for me.
I’m mostly only growing tried and true melons this year, no more messing around with the allure of Bakers Creek varieties and the magnitude of disease they brought. I’ll never plant another honeydew type melon again. Crimson sweet, sugar baby, early moonbeam, Charentais. New, I’m trying Charleston grey and seeds we scavenged from grocery store phenomenal seedless ones. I might throw a sugar baby bush in the ground in a tight spot- I haven’t tried it and don’t know if it truly has the same fruit as sugar baby.
Everything. They hate humid summers. I got fruit before the vines were totally dead or I pulled them, but it was all devoid of sweetness- I assume because the leaves/vines were so diseases. I tried 4 types and bought a lot more than that. My cousin in RI can grow them well. I’m sending her all of my seeds.
Happy to mail you some as well if you want to try. I bought nearly every one bakers creek offers with their alluring descriptions and beautiful pictures.
Very cool!
Lophophora mini melons are a solid choice as well, very few people ever mention this unique variety that is extremely drought tolerant. If you guys are looking for a melon that will blow your mind, check out the lophophora variety.
Snarfing, Not sure if this is close enough to an actual honeydew(no honeydew has done exceptionally good for me) but here is my suggestion…from True Leaf Market. Try “Branco De Ribatejo” which is similar to honeydew. After having grown it several years here in Georgia zone 7B/8A in my opinion its a winner. Great growing 2026! Randy/GA
If I have time and space I’ll plant some of my remaining “Torpeda" seeds that I got from someone in Ukraine a few years ago. I’ve found that most of the seeds are actually the wrong variety unfortunately but a few of them are the real deal.
I am trying Kajari, Kiku Chrysanthemum and Mango melon this year. Will also try Namib Tsamma and Ki Karasu-Uri and maybe Egusi melon again as well. Egusi did very well, but they are kinda a pain to clean for seeds to eat. They are a beautiful melon though, perfectly spherical.
This is either a misspelling or a joke, as a search for “lophophora mini melon” only returns results for peyote. Given the phrasing of “extremely drought tolerant” and “blow your mind”, I’m guessing joke.
about the best i get here is the Minnesota midgets, they are going in. also blacktail mt, wisconsin pride, desert King, and I’m trying kazakh and canary melons this year too.
it gets very hot and very dry here but the season is short, plant mid May harvest early October. they need the warm ground and we just don’t get it until almost June some years.
Bateekh Samara was the first to germinate, soon followed by Desert King. Zapotillo took a bit longer, last week finally one of my five seeds germinated. I think the cold nights were the culprit for the long germination time.
During days temperatures are between 20 and 27 C / 68 and 80 F (I put them under glass so it’s warmer). At night it cools down to 6 C / 43 F, so every night I take all my warmth loving seeds inside where it stays 14 C / 57 F, but that is still a bit cold for melons and hot peppers. But it worked, I was very happy to finally see one of my Zapotillo’s starting to grow.
