I could be wrong but i think its all about seed selection if you want one as good as the japanese
an area i dont have too much experience in as i’ve only grown one japanese type succesfully, kaho
it was the best watermelon i have ever grown and is pictured below
You could try to look around and find some japanese seeds
I think you will eventually find one you like
I wish i could help more
Which variety is that? Very thin rind.
kaho, i highly reccomend it, one of the best i ever had if not the best. I’m sure you’ll love it . Hopefully baker creek sells it forever but if not it may be worth making a seed reproduction just in case, deffinately a jewel i wouldn’t want to see lost.
Will keep that in mind.
We found two Hime Kansen hiding under their leaves today. The vine is dying so we picked both. The small one was almost 2 lbs… The bigger ( relatively speaking) was 3 lbs. Both were ripe and tasted good. We gave most to the neighbors’ kids. The kids were excited…
officially the cutest watermelon i have ever seen! so small!
Kevin,
You asked how my watermelon vines look. The one in the front yard, yes front yard, were planted a week after the side yard plants. It took them 2 weeks later to get going.
They have not slow down and still setting more fruit, ha!!
And when we weren’t looking, the front yard vine set fruit right on the front step. By the time we noticed it, it was quite large. Everyone seeing it is amused. We don’t know when to pick it because we did know know when the fruit was set.
We definitely will clean up our front yard before Halloween for those treat-or- treaters.
That is funny about you having them in your front yard-but I think they look very attractive. I can’t tell if that one on the front step is growing there or if you picked it and sat it up there- which is it?
Your vines do look surprisingly well, and they look like they have stayed healthy. What is very common with watermelon vines is that they sort of stall out in late summer and get dead or yellowing leaves, then in early fall with weather cools down they often get a second wind and start growing and getting healthy looking and put out a lot of blooms and small melons. I always get my hopes up at this point but those late blooms and melons never have enough time to mature.
All that being said, I’m not saying that is what is going on with yours. It appears your vines have just stayed healthy the whole time and continued growing and putting on new blooms and melons. However, I doubt those new ones will mature for you either. When do you usually get your first frost up there?
It set fruit on the step. We noticed it when it was a baseball size. We let it be. Not moving it. Not sure when to pick. We have several melins that may ripen in time. The tiny ones in the pics we removed them after the pics were taken.
This is Yellow Buttercup (seedless). Seems almost identical to Amarillo in my opinion. I did not grow this one, my father did. (I have not grown any watermelons in 2 years). Nice varieties. I really like how crisp the flesh is. Tastes great, even though the brix comes in at 11, which seems low.
Many of you showed the pics of your kids with watermelons. This is my version.
@thecityman This Crimson Sweet is the largest we grew this year. It’s 35.1 lbs., very crisp and sweet. It was 114 days from planting. Picked on 9/30. Just got around to cut it up today. Thank you for recommending this variety. Everyone we gave it to, love it.
That’s a real beauty!
I know this variety is easily found in supermarkets. But, one vine gave me 6 large watermelons 20-35 lbs, sweet and crisp. Why not?
I’ve grown 6-7 varieties this year. CS has the best taste and texture.
I will grow it again next year.
I’m just thrilled that you ended up having so much success with watermelons! Once again, the one in the photo was picked at the absolute peak of ripeness and it has the look and texture of a wonderful tasting melon. I’m glad you were happy with CS, but I can’t accept too much credit for recommending it- pretty much everyone knows that is probably the best all around watermelon there is, which is why you do see so many in the store. But they had to prove themselves to me, and you’ve seen my list of melons before and know the Crimson Sweet earned its place on my short list of standard melons- meaning it is one I grow every single year. In fact, it has always been first or second on my list of most dependable melons. I think it is much more forgiving than most melons…it holds at peak ripeness for much longer than others.
I understood your reluctance to grow something that is so readily available in grocery stores, but as you found out, it is still very fun to get so many great melons that taste so good from just a plant or two. As I’ve said for years, watermelons are one of the best ways to get a large quantity of sweet wonderful fruit in a short time without much effort. And like most fruits, I think home-grown Crimson Sweets are better than store bought ones anyway.
In short, the watermelon forum hopefully can look forward to your participation and contributions for years to come! 
Kevin,
We had taste testing today in the front yard. We taste tested 5 apples, 7 plums and several watermelons that we picked today.
These watermelons set fruit a few weeks after the first round. I did not wrote down when fruit were set. Right now, most vines are dyingso we picked them. We cut them up to see how many have ripened.
I forgot to take pics. We had two small Blacktail Mountain, a one and a 3 lbs. the one lb was underripe. The 3 lbs was good. One Orangeglo was underripe. The WW+OG was almost ripe.
We have several more to be trialed. Next year I will try to plant them sooner.
Yep, you’ve got the watermelon bug!!! hahah. That sounds like fun. My vines have been dying for a while. Once the vines start to turn yellow and/or brown, it is the end of ripening for whatever is left on the vine in my experience. Even though the tips of the vines may look good and green and still bloom and even continue to set melons, teh entire plant seems to stop ripening any melons left on the vine, even if they are almost ripe. So the ones you said were just barely short of ripening, they probably would not have ripened any further if most of your vines were dying. So…have you thought about what you’ll trial next year? I recommend you try another extremely popular melon that me and @Mpigg’s wife (and Mark too I believe) think are extremely good- Charleston Grey. The meat is more pink than deep red so I don’t think it is quite as attractive, but they are really good and very dependable and set a LOT per plant. Also, even though the seed suppliers don’t say this, I find them to be one of my fastest melons from seed to ripe. Not much longer than sugar babies and blacktail mnt. They are usually my first melon of the year if I plant everything together (not including sugar babe/BTM). Is that your experience Mark?
Thanks for the info on dying vines. The vines in the front yard are still looking good. Those on the side yard are mostly dead.
Charleston Grey? I’ve to admit, the pics of this variety posted on this thread have not impressed me. They look pale pink. I am so used to good watermelon being red (or orange). I tend to equate pink to unripe melons. I know that’s not true.
Yeah my wife likes them by far the best and they get huge. I don’t eat watermelon even the smell is repulsive to me.
ha. Precisely why I mentioned that the meat is pink and not as attractive. But you’d get over that quickly thanks to them being very sweet, extremely productive/high yielding, and fast to mature.
@Mpigg I’m certain you’ve told us this before, but I missed it…I can’t believe you grow all these great watermelons we see posted and you don’t even like watermelon!!! haha. All those cute photos of your kids and watermelons, at least I suspect they like them too. Anyway, that’s funny. At least you still grow them for the family.
I’ve grown watermelons, picked watermelons and sold them at road side stands. I want to like them but it’s not happening. My kids and wife love them and I love to give them away.
Kevin,
This was the one on the front steps. We picked it on 10/7 and just had time to cut it open today. We did not know the date of fruit set. We guesstimate it at about 37 days after fruit set.
It was ripe. Brix was 9. Good but not great. We think that the lack of hot days and sunlight contributed to lowered sugar.
.
