Melons 2022

Another beautiful delicious Sweetglo.

6 Likes


Another melon from my compost.

3 Likes

Delicious 25 pound Janosik tonight.

4 Likes

My second and final Minnesota Midget fell from the greenhouse vines today. It was the smallest fruit I’ve even gotten from this cultivar. My plants got a slow start because of our cold spring, and never seemed to recover despite a warm summer and ample fertilizer. Everything outside was killed by slugs during the spring and I never replanted.



4 Likes

I got carried away today and planted Star Brite watermelon. It’s 80 by day and 40 at night. That’s too cold really but I’ve done it before with the aid of a mini greenhouse until mid April when we are mostly past freezes.

It really does extend the harvest season by starting early. If I do this right I can have fruit from late June into September.

Anyone else getting antsy like me?

2 Likes

I am, but one step out the door, and I swiftly change plans. It’s been frigid in California this winter! :cold_face:

1 Like

True but you have to take the bad with the good. It should warm up soon in CA. I loved the winter and spring there when I lived near Fresno. It was green and lush. Turning to brown by May or June.

3 Likes

Oh I’m not complaining. Close to 1500 chill hours so far!

4 Likes

my melons are all started. I’ve got like one or two of every variety I could lay hands on. I’ll have to make a list. is about two dozen. I’m seeing aside big full sun space for em this year. I’m determined to get some

reading every melon related thread for help. I usually fail at them

2 Likes

Same! This year I’m only trying the “Small Jadu’i” and only in the greenhouse, last year it did OK outside but didn’t flower until late summer and early fall, so the fruit failed to develop at all. Hopefully with an early start and the greenhouse to extend the season I’ll get some this year.

3 Likes

Yes! I’m jonesin’ for watermelon.

Somebody’s gonna have to get a 2023 thread going pretty soon. I probably won’t have much to contribute, though. I’m (even more) boring and predictable now: I just grow “Strawberry” 'melons! :grin: They work here!

3 Likes

I tried a Kolkhoznitsa melon last year that is probably the same as the Collective Farm Woman you grew. They were earlier than the other melons for the most part. Kind of a white honeydew inside and rather pleasant eating. I have leftover seeds and will plant again and try and save the seeds since it is out of Ukraine.Think I got the seeds from UkraIne (Don’t know if this is in reply to the correct post?)

3 Likes

I have been growing melons for 50 years and these are some of my comments: I started out with Burpee Hybrid (delicious). Then the next year they were pathetic. Started growing the Sunder muskmelon and every year every one was delicious. Then Willhite stopped carrying the variety. Since then I tried various melons. The Minnesota Midget was so sweet, I could hardly eat it. In later years I settled on Savor. Most tasted wonderful but the later melons went rotten real fast. Last year I tried the Anna’s Charentais and every one was delicious and they are supposed to keep a week on the counter.

As for watermelons, 50 years ago most varieties I grew tasted fabulous (Orangeglo, etc.). Since then it has been a big headache. I grew Sweet Favorite and could get two crops in one season (mind you, this is here in Eastern Montana). Now it appears they have dropped the variety. I don’t know why I can’t get the same variety to taste the same two years in a row. So, I’ll just keep growing a mix and hope for the best. A few years ago I planted a Pronto and it kind of got grassed in and I stopped watering it. Man was it sweet. (I do withhold watering the last few weeks). Got some disease now that wipes out my watermelons and cucumbers, so I will spray the heck out of them.

3 Likes

With just a bit of effort my watermelons are up in 4 days. That was done with a mini greenhouse of clear plastic by day and a few layers of blankets over that at night. Now that they are up, I’ll add ventilation to the poly and continue covering at night. By April they can be uncovered except on the rare April freeze. Usually it’s near or below freezing about twice in April.

If everything goes right I’ll have melons in June. Pollination is the biggest issue. Bees don’t find them until June and I need fruit set in April/May.

I interplanted Ledmon and Royal Golden watermelons last year in hopes a bee made cross will show up this year. I have a few hundred seed waiting to be planted. I can tell the hybrids when the plants are about 3 weeks old by the color of the leaves. Why would I cross these two? Ledmon is a very good flavored pink/red flesh wateremelon around 30 pounds average with pale skin color and no stripes. Royal Golden is a bright yellow skin watermelon with red flesh and poor flavor. I want to move the yellow skin trait over into a Ledmon tasting watermelon. I’ll know how successful the cross was in a few weeks. Then I have years of selecting good flavored watermelons with yellow skin.

I maybe should plant a pollinator. The kind that they plant for triploids. I’ll see if I have seed of that.

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this, but there are other plant parasitic nematodes besides root-knot. Might be worth checking.

I thought Star Brite was a diploid seeded variety. If so, no pollinator is needed.

Dark green or dark green striped watermelons often get sunscald which pretty much ruins them for eating. One reason I plant light skinned watermelons is because they don’t get sunscald. There were several available years ago but the number in commercial production has shrunk with the increase in seedless watermelon production.

It is diploid but when by itself fruit set can be difficult until there is a lot of growth and more bloom. I’m thinking of something to attract bees. I’m getting old to be down on the ground pollinating melons.

2023 planting
Watermelon
Quetzali - 5 - 15 lb, round, a notch sweeter than any other variety I’ve grown. Splitting can be a problem.
Summer flavor 720 - first time trying this one

Retiring big stripe, ran out of seed. Always good but not as sweet as quetzali
Dropping jubilee II. Not very sweet. Too late ripening. Plants are in poor shape by the time they ripen up.

Melons
Ambrosia - first try
Sarah’s choice - very sweet great flavor
Hannah’s choice - huge and very good
Sugar cube - small very good
Sugar queen - large very good
All grown on kiwano rootstock due to extremely bad nematode problem