Just curious. @ltilton are you saying watermelons in general are hard to start from seed or are you talking about one of the specific varieties mentioned above. If its watermelons in general, I’d like to hear how you’ve done it. I plant nothing but seeds and just put them in the dirt and cover them and get melons 90 % of the time. Maybe we can help if you want to try again>
I mean the seedless minis are hard to start - very finicky
The seedless need optimum conditions for emergence. Constant even moisture and most importantly constant warmth. The soil temperature should never fall below 70F. I’ve started them several times outdoors early in the season, like March and April, but it takes a warm sun, mini greenhouse, and heavy insulation at night.
The seedless melons in the grocery store taste like red styrofoam
to me. There’s nothing like a properly grown fully ripened open pollinated melon. Along with figs, watermelons are my most favorite fruit. Mine will start to ripen in a few weeks, and I’ll eat a whole one every day into October.
For those of you trying to pick ripe melons in the grocery store, make sure
that the bottoms are golden yellow. Those are the ripest ones.
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I’ve got one seedless set, maybe two. It’s much smaller than Star Brite or Orangeglo. I’ve grown some seedless that were excellent and some not so good. All I’ve grown have been on the small side, about 15 lbs.
I should have known you wouldn’t be a fan of store bought seedless watermelons! I mean, you know your melons and appreciate good watermelon flavor, as do I. I’ve always felt they just taste too plain. Not necessarily bad, but just not really much flavor at all. So I completely agree with your assessment. Also, I eat a watermelon pretty much every morning in the late summer/fall. Nothing is greater to me than walking out in my patch and cutting a melon open while its still cool from the night air (its surprising how long the coolness lasts, really) and just cut big hunks of melon meat out of the heart. MMM…wish I had some now.
Do you mean the blossom end?
I’m going out on a limb here, but thought I’d mention something about seedless watermelons. According to Dr Reams, in order to breed a seedless watermelon the potassium uptake has to be inhibited, and he considered them VERY poor quality food (as in, don’t eat them) Don’t shoot the messenger just wanted my friends to know.
On the other hand, real watermelons are excellent for the kidneys (an organ that loves potassium). Even the seeds are dried and ground and put in herbal formulas to support urinary function. Just sayin’
Think I’ll try to grow them next year.
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The bottom where it laid on the ground. The blossom end has
nothing to do with it.
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Ray,
We let the belly turn yellow also. I also look for at least two tendrils to be dead on the stem that connect to the watermelon. I thump them as well. You guys are better watermelon growers than me but that’s what I do. It works for me I’ve never picked an unripe melon. I learned from my parents and grandparents.
Clark,
You had the best teachers, something I wish I had had. Every year,
I invariably pick the first melon, before it’s truly ripe. Since it’s Sunday,
I guess you could call it the sacrificial melon. Patience is not one of my
better virtues.
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I’m at 250 lbs harvest already. And the Star Brites are excellent. Think I’ll eat some now before I go grocery shopping.
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Do you start yours from seed in the ground or transplant them?
I always start mine in-ground, even seedless. I’ve started them as early as late Febr when nights average in the 30s. That only works with sunny days, a mini greenhouse, and insulation at night to keep soil temperature above 60F. I’m cooler at night than Ray but have more sunny days and use that to my advantage.
I’m also able to carry those same plants into October producing good fruit. Our hottest weather is normally already behind us by now so the plants hold up well into fall if nothing goes wrong. Over the yrs I’ve battled powdery mildew, aphids, spider mites, and squash bugs. So far this looks like a trouble free yr, other than the hail but I survived that, so far.
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I’ve got a question for all you melon-heads:
I know NOTHING about watermelons, except that I like eating them.
Can you recommend some good varieties that are EASY to grow? (Put seeds in the ground and walk away). Most of my land is on heavy clay. Is that a non-starter? I could find a few spots that are more gravely or more loamy. Or I could plant them in a raised hill.
I like sweet juicy watermelons. Seeds are fine. Any color is fine.
Whaddaya think? Which varieties should I look at? Which are the good sources? Which sellers should be avoided? Thanks.
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Matt,
I like dessert king and crimson sweet. I have heavy clay / loam. Do add some sand and cow manure. There are much better watermelon growers than me. Pears are my primary focus with blackberries and aronias being close seconds, cherries, plums and apples third and watermelon 100th or so :0) Like you I do love to eat watermelon!
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In spite of what I hear from a lot of people, I can honestly tell you that I believe watermelons in general ARE quite easy to grow. I might not go so far as to say you could plant seeds and walk away until harvest, but honestly its not far from that and if you wanted to use irrigation and black plastic ground cover you probably could get away that easily, or close to it. I haven’t had any experience with growing them in clay soil, but I think that would certainly be your biggest challenge- not to say its impossible. I actually grow most of mine on hills even though I have fairly loose soil, so you could certainly do that and it probably would help…especially if you added sand. That wouldn’t be hard. When I say “hill” I don’t mean a soild raised row. I simply rake up dirt into “piles” that are round and about 2-2.5 feet diamter and about 1-1.5 feet tall. Then I plant 4 seeds (at 12 o’clock, 3, 6, and 9 on a clock face) and if all 4 come up I thin to 2 plants. Space about 6-8 feet between hills.maybe a little closer.
The one thing that would prevent you (or me) from planting and walking away is weed control. So if you don’t use a soaker hose and plastic ground cover, you will have to find someway to control weeds most of the season. By the end of the year many melon patches are full of tall weeds (not mine usually) but they can’t be that way all season. You can hoe or hand pull weeds within 1 foot of the melon plants and then spray roundup very carefully on the rest of the weeds (I stress very carefully- you can imagine that a tiny bit of drift will kill your plants)
As for variety, for the most part I don’t find one variety to be much harder to grow than another. There are vast differences in taste, size, appearance, etc, but not much difference in growth difficulty (IMHO). There are some varieties that are said to be much more drought tolerant, but I’ve not found that to be very true. So I will just recommend melons that taste great and grow good, healthy vines in general. My favorites are:
- Orangeglo (sweetest, orange flesh, and fruity in taste- a uniquely superior watermelon)
- Crimson Sweet
- Jubilee
- Charleston Gray
- Black Diamond
AS for source, I like Baker Creek but to be honest they are a bit overpriced. Honestly, I see no reason you shouldn’t buy the seeds at wal-mart or hardware store or anywhere else. All the above melons except Orangeglo are very traditional, very popular watermelons and will be available most anywhere. I’d plant directly in dirt.
Good luck, hope this helps. I’m sure Ray may have other thoughts.
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I am still learning to grow watermelons.
This is my watermelon patch. I think they will claim my sidewalk and tomato patch too
This is sugar baby growing in the melon bed. It was planted too early and somehow survived the cold.
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My great grandad was a share cropper in Oklahoma. He farmed with mules and raised cotton. My grannie said when they planted cotton they would occasionally plant some watermelon seeds. Months later when they were picking the cotton they would find the small watermelons and eat them for a quick cool refreshment. Now that is pretty close to a plant it and walk away scenario.
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Thanks everyone for the responses. Keep 'em coming.
Here’s a video about the Hokkaido Black watermelon. Makes me laugh every time I watch it. Anyone growing these?
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I’ve heard lots of stories about those high priced Japanese Melons. However, my sister and her family lived in Japan for 4 years and said there were plenty of watermelons available for under $10. SO I guess its like anything else…there are always some extremes and people willing to pay insane prices just to say they did so. As good as this melon looks, I can’t imagine it being all that much better than others. If it was, surely it would be more famous and surely they would be more popular. ANd surely this guy would charge more than $2 per pack for seeds! haha.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the video, and I would like to try one of these.