Rayrose,
Does it require long summer heat?
It looks delicious, must tastes delicious! I’m envious!
Tom
It depends on where you are. I planted my seeds on May 3, and have been harvesting for the past 2 weeks,
but I’m in zone 8 and we’ve been having 100 degree weather every day for the whole month of July. That’s
unusual for us, but this would be considered to be a long season melon, as are most large varieties.
If you get a good spring, not to much rain, and plant in a timely fashion, Z5 should easily get orangeglo ripe. Weather problems can derail that. I always try to start mine in 4" peat pot in April and transplant when I see the first roots through the pot. Our frostfree date is May 15. and that is a target for transplanting. They also do well on black plastic to control weeds and warm the soil. Garbage bags will work for plastic and if the soil is damp in April you can start warming the soil before you transplant in May and not have to water until August.
Rayrose…do you or any others have a good recommendation for a sweet red melon good for Z6? Now what I mean is, a variety that will produce reliably, good melons. I’m always late getting them out, and then last year the summer was cool and they had problems ripening. I think last year and this year I planted Crimson Sweet and another variety, maybe Sugar Baby…can’t remember.
I tried Sugar Baby last year and got 3 melons. None were ripe probably due to my starting late and coupled with cool summer weather last year! It was a failure…
I grew sugar baby this year and ate one the other day that was just perfect to me. Crisp and sweet , not over ripe. I picked another one off of the same hill and it was super green, bearly pink inside
Apple, how late are in getting them out? No variety is going to ripen, if you plant them too late for your zone.
I’ve had good luck with Blacktail Mountain in Z5 (Ohio). They are crisp and sweet, but not very big and they have seeds.
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Well it depends. I’ve held off on getting them in the ground when the weather is cold because when cold it seems like they just sit there and do nothing. Inside in pots they at least put on a bit of growth. Once sufficiently warm and in the ground they really take off though, but I’m certain they’d do better if get them planted sooner. Procrastinating a bit I suppose.
I’ve only grown them the last 2 years and the weather in both of those 2 years was probably the least conducive to melon growing in perhaps my lifetime.
You need to follow Chikn’s regimen
Chikn,
I’ll try to remember that. The problem is, in early spring, I have a millions things to prep for so something must be put into a back burner. It always happened to me like that!
Last year was my first time growing watermelons. I had one puny seedling of Charleston Grey, which I planted in the corner of the garden and forgot about it. It grew without care and I was surprised when I found 3 huge watermelons later in August in the weeds. They were very tasty melons.
This year I planted three different varieties of watermelons: Crimson sweet, New Queen (orange) and Charleston Grey. I wanted to plant Orangeglo but it did not sprout for me. I sowed them in the middle of May and planted out in the beginning of June. I have about 5-6 fruits about the size of volleyball now, there probably will be more. I’ll make update if they’ll ripe properly and how they’ll taste.
Me too, always something that comes up that’s important or critical,the reason I lose my winter fat in April-Aug.
Tonight is the night I get to check out the orangeglo, thanks to Rayrose, (who has a VERY impressive suburban orchard, by the way). 
We had to eat one of the Big Stripes that he sent home with me, followed by a cantaloupe I had that would have gone to waste if not quickly consumed.
The rind on the Big Stripe was tender and thin. Definitely not a variety that could be taken to market by the truckload. The flesh was dense and juicy. It was delicious cool and even better well chilled. Six people had healthy sized portions and all six gave it a thumbs up.
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That’s new to me. I didn’t know there was such a melon. It looks good. I wish I could grow them here. I have tried but they don’t get big. They don’t sell those in the stores by me. If they are that good soon they will be selling them. Then I will get to try a slice.
I went to the fig fest and I can attest that those Orangeglos are awesome!! Kicking myself for not remembering to pick some of the seeds out of my slice and save them!
I grew out the Bradford watermelons this year (from the Npr article someone posted on here). They are very very sweet and I like them, but the Orangeglos give them a run for their money. They were pretty easy to grow (in my climate at least), but were not that productive. I did plant them late though, and the weather has been horrendous for growing anything this year, so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. They also didn’t split nearly as much as the other variety I grew.
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Kate,
I hate to burst your bubble, but the melon you ate was not Orangeglo. I was out of them, so I brought
Gold Strike instead. But I’m glad you enjoyed it. You can buy the seeds at Willhite’s
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Haha, no problemo! Thanks for letting me know the variety. I will definitely try growing that one next year.
I’m guessing that was the orange one, what was the red one?
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The red one was Big Stripe. Willhite’s sells it also.
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I’m glad this thread is back up here.
The orangeglo was delicious. I wish the grandkids could have been here to see it when it was cut open. I would have enjoyed seeing their faces when they saw the inside. The flesh was more orange than the pic at the top of the thread. It was the color of cantaloupe. Dense, sweet, and juicy. The rind was like that of the Big Stripe - tender and effortless to slice through. Another unanimous thumbs up from around the table. Thanks again, Ray, for the unexpected surprise.
The tenderness, unfortunately for those hoping to see these at the market, makes them too easily injured the way melons are trucked. It also gives them a shorter “shelf life” than the hard rinded melons. They would be unlikely to be a commercial variety.
@Kate You’re in luck. Everyone here knew they’d better save the seeds if they wanted more next year. 
I’d have more, except that when my son brought his new daughter over to meet her aunts, he scooped up a handful from the bowl where I had set them to dry, and popped them in his mouth and chomped down. 
No, they were not the sunflower seeds he was expecting. I’ll send you some unchomped ones as partial return for your generosity and kindness.
Ray and Kate, I’m hoping for a play by play recounting of the fig fest from both of you. Since I couldn’t be there, I’d like to enjoy it vicariously.