“maybe too sweet” has been my experience with minnesota midget both in and outside the greenhouse, when I let them pop themselves off the vine. my 2nd and 3rd were about 3" so the first at 5" was an outlier
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Haogen - 13brix! Still one of my top 3 favs.!
Growing the following, Petit Gris De Rennes, Ha’ogen, Yamato Cream, Silver Yamato, Orangelo, Mabry’s Yellow watermelon, Desert King, Lelanue Sweetglo, Tulerosa market, alacati melon
Also crossed a White Sugar Lump with Lemon Drop, the latter of which was a pocket sized yellow skin light yellow fleshed watermelon. The F2 results so far are yellow skin with with a deep yellow flesh and now ice box sized ~ 7 pounds. Just to clarify, this is not a cantaloupe. This is a watermelon. Yes they can have yellow skin.
I plan to grow this out and stabilize the cross a bit more before I name it. Right now its going from larger than pocket size to up to 9 pounds, and has irregular green streaking in rind.
I still prefer Orangelo. Mine are about 11 to 12 brix and ~25 pounds. As much as Lelanue Sweetglo is tasty, the size and large seeds of Orangelo make it very attractive and convenient. I put Lelanue Sweetglo in the same camp as Sweet Siberian.
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Beautiful!
11.2 Brix. Earlier season harvest
If you guys taste and test a lot of fruit, digital brix meters are very convenient.
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I don’t have anything to measure Brix. For me, the orange glo were already mushy and bordering over ripe as soon as tendril dried. Whereas the Sweetglo have been perfect. And all my orange glos had hollow spots.
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Mike Kiessel did a fantastic job with Leelanau Sweetglow, I wont deny that. I think it’s a much more forgiving to grow than Orangelo. If the later is mushy then it’s way past ripe. Hollow heart is mostly a pollination issue, poor weather or inconsistent weather doesn’t help since there’s less likely to be pollinators around. Orangelo can be finicky some years.
Do you hand pollinate at all? Or is it au naturale? A beekeeper just moved in nearby and it’s been great for me, but I still hand pollinate to be doubly sure.
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Your yellow melon looks delicious and the size is perfect. The cor of the skin is amazing.
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Yeah, I like the result so far. Lemon Drop is a really fun melon. Yellow skin, yellow flesh, but it’s way way too small, 1-2 pounds. That’s why I crossed it.
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Picked this melon this morning and weighed it, came in at 11.4 lb.
Will find out if it taste like s…t.
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Yes I hand pollinate a lot early in season. If I didn’t my crop would be 2 weeks later as the bees seem to not find the melon plants till my crop is mostly set.
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Oh wow. I just realized you’re even farther north than me! I find it a challenge growing a lot of the larger melons to the same size and brix as a lot of people farther south. If you’re growing Leelanu Sweetglo to 32 pounds, that is quite an achievement outdoors in zone 3. 
As far as measuring brix, there are really reliable analog refractometers to measure brix for $10-$20 online. It might help comparing your results to other with that tool.
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These Minnesota Midget seeds were saved from the last time I tried to grow them in 2019, and most of the vines this year match the original. But one of them looks like it may have been pollinated by something else since it has a lot less webbing and more colorful skin:
It also had an intense fragrance so we were disappointed that it was very bland. Not saving those seeds!
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F1 crosses are often bland. Save the seed and grow them another year and carefully pick any that are flavorful.
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Good to know for future reference! Those particular seeds already went out with the municipal compost, though.
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I’ve used black plastic silage tarp mulch since I started about 7 years ago and have been getting better crops each year. And cow manure each fall is all they get for fertilizer.
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Watermelon season still going strong here even though weather is turning cooler. Picked this Georgia Rattlesnake yesterday.
Picked a 32 lb Orangeglo two weeks ago which we are still trying to finish. Brix is 12.5.
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How are the Georgia rattlesnakes? I’m trying that one next year in MN.
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Nice! Anything over 10 is good to me.
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