Watermelon Growing

We picked our first Orange Glo, the largest one. The tendril was completely dry. It looks interesting inside.

The taste was quite good. It is sweet, but not overly so, with some acidity. I think we’ll finish this one fast, during 24 h period. Janosik watermelon was really bland comparing with Orange Glo.

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Rob,
I am worried about my local cool weather, too. However, I just check the Sept forecast. This streak of cool weather (70 high, 50 low) will last until Sept 12. Then, it will be back to warmer weather ( high 80-90) for the rest of the month.

All I can say is that the second half of Aug felt like the fall while the second half of Sept will feel ilke Aug. at least, it will give me some hope that my wm will ripen later this month.

No kidding this is horrible. I still have tons of green tomatoes and five green peaches!

I try to think positive. I have a whole Autumn Star peach tree full of peaches. They may ripen just in time for warm waether if they survive frequent rain next week :tired_face:

Then, we started late on Tomatoes and peppers. Maybe, the 90 F in late Sept would help them. That is also true with my watermelons. There is hope :smile:

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Tomatoes yes, not sure about watermelons! Most melons for us are over by now!

Not when they started settin fruit the third week of July, ha,ha. Long way to go. Warm in Sept gives me hope.

I picked my first (and most likely the only) watermelon today. It stopped growing weeks ago. So I figured it’s ok to pick now. But not so much. It was light pink inside and not ripe enough. Kids tried one bite and said no thanks :frowning:
Went in the garbage.

What variety? No pic?

It had the label Sangria on it. But looking at pics online of Sangria makes me think this is no sangria. Here’s a picture from earlier today.

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I still have a Orangeglo growing from the seeds you sent. Not sure if it will ripen. It’s smaller than a cantaloupe right now. I’m going to let it grow until frost. Hopefully it’ll ripen by then. Today high is around 60 degrees. No more watermelon if this weather continues. Hopefully September and early October will be warm.

Your melon and butternut looked good. My Blacktail Mountain loos like yours but smaller. The vine is already dying but it will need 3 more weeks per the packet. I’ll leave it there as long as possible.

My orangeglos are bigger than a cantaloupe? I hope they hang around until we get back to 80-90 later this month.

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Have you tried shade cloth yet? Maybe two layers and heavy rocks. I think it may have a chance or seriously what about a donkey? I have always been told the hate canines.

Marie,
Was your Orangeglo overripe?

It has that big crack in the middle, but it had it for the long time. This watermelon and it’s brother, which is not ripe yet always had this hollow sound. The flesh was fine and not overripe. :yum:

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If this is OG, you don’t want to be handling it very much. They have a brittle
rind and will split very easily.

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@thecityman haha, I found a little watermelon I’d missed in the grass, so I set it on the weed fabric and went to get some chicken wire. When I came back the next day the civet had chewed a hole in it!

The kids and I picked a ripe early moonglow after church today

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Shameless pic here. This was the remaining half of our 4th OrangeGlo. I ate half of this half just a bit ago. One more OG in the fridge, and a small one in the garden that might make it. Otherwise, we will be hoping that our second crop of Blacktail Mountains ripens in the next 4 weeks or so.


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My son and I have been lapping these things up. My wife and daughter–God bless 'em!-- don’t have the same over-the-top affinity for them as we.

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With all due respect to the Yankees in this forum, here is a quote from Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson, in full:

“The true Southern watermelon is a boon apart, and not to be mentioned with commoner things. It is chief of this world’s luxuries, king by grace of God over all the fruits of the earth. When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat. It was not a Southern watermelon that Eve took: we know it because she repented.”

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Most women have this psychological hang up about eating yellow
fleshed melons. So don’t feel like lonesome George. It runs in my family too.