I posted this update on the OSSI Breeding forum, but here is my report for my citron-watermelon hybrid that I tried to eat as a winter watermelon for Christmas. For 2021 I have already ordered new seed for Kholodok / Holodok from Russia / Ukraine which is highly suspected as having citron-melon ancestry.
Feel free to join me on the Experimental Farm Network if you are interested in breeding watermelon-citron hybrids or working on my sub-project for breeding more “winter watermelons”.
@Fusion_power, didn’t know you were also getting into Kholodok. Did my posts inspire you by chance?
My post from the day after Christmas 2020:
I decided to try finally opening my “Christmas Watermelon” for this year. It was soft but only had a brix of 4% (an improvement over 2%). I actually think it was under-ripe, so maybe i should aim for breeding a New Years watermelon instead of a christmas watermelon? Except it was fairly soft, so it probably was not overripe. Still, it is a fun project.
The “go” gene for yellow/gold rind ripening would come in VERY handy for this project.
Does someone want to try crossing these seeds with an improved gold-skin watermelon?
If anyone is interested in this sub-project for winter storage watermelons, I would be willing to share some of the limited seed with anyone who would like to try crossing it with the Russian Kholodok watermelon variety which is already reported as a winter watermelon variety.
