Watermelons...Yum

[deanfitz]

We have 45 acres of these beauty's. 1st picking came last week with another Thursday. Heres a pic how they looked like in May.
Watermelons 2010 pictures by deanfitz - Photobucket

 

[Bedlam]

Mouthwatering. Up here in this part of the Northeast we cant get them with seeds anymore. So In my opinion they taste allot different. Not sure why they have gone to all no seeds here. I didn't care about the mess the kids and I would make as we spit the seeds. But from what people have told me the reason they buy the seedless is its cleaner LOL
So in my opinion I Miss out on the flavor... thanks for posting the pics.

 

[czechsonofagun]

I too am firm believer water melon loses the taste and sweetness with seeds.

 

[Bedlam]

So I guess my question is why is it that there aren't many with seeds around anymore?Wonder if its something to do with what I saw about the seed companies taking over the seed base?Like I saw here. One store actually told be it was demographics. One year we were able to get them seeded at the next few towns over, Where the income was . ...well far less...

 

[deanfitz]

Can't really answer that about the seeds. I know ours are Hybrid Jubilee watermelons and we're growing them in Washington Parish,La.

 

[rmully]

Petite Perfection is one of the sweetest melons and not too big

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Seedless watermelons are triploid chromosomes, which results from breeding diploid and tetraploid watermelons together, resulting in sterility, a lack of formation of the seeds.

Excellent flavor can be found in many varieties of seedless watermelons whether they are "crimson" type or jubilee type. TriX 313 is the market leader for taste, flavor and production.
Studies show the taste and sugar content are about the same or can be greater or less depending upon conditions. But blindfold, few people can detect a difference. Texture, however can be different, but that is usually tied to maturity level.

The primary influences in flavor are weather (drier years result in sweeter melons and more concentrated flavor), harvest time (some people harvest seedless watermelons earlier to capture the peak market prices), and soil types.

The US watermelon market is now 80-90% seedless. Seeded water melon and other non marketable melon types are planted to pollinate the seedless watermelons so they will produce fruit. The pollinator's have much different color and growth style and only 1 pollinator is required for 5 or 6 plants for peak production. A few of these are harvested to satisfy the market demand which is quite low and a the remaining ones are plowed under. The prices for seeded watermelon barely hover around the 6-7 cent/lb sustainable range in GA this time of year. Seedless is usually twice that or more.

I used to grow 75-100 acres every year when I managed a farm here in GA. Seeded watermelons were hard to get rid of. Living near the watermelon "capital" of the world, Crisp county, our area provides the majority of the July 4th watermelon market. Like the Vidalia onion, S. GA grown watermelons are usually preferred as sweeter and more flavorful. Although other areas of the country can provide good competition, buyers say that our area does exceed for flavor and demand.

 

[Bird]

Living near the watermelon "capital" of the world

:laughing::laughing:Let's see . . . that's a title claimed by Cordele, Crisp County, Georgia, Rush Springs, Oklahoma, Hope, Arkansas, Dilley, Texas, Lulling, Texas, Beardstown, Illinois, Lincoln, Illinois, Green River, Utah, and I wonder how many others.:laughing: As a teenager, I lived for awhile in Marlow, OK, a few miles south of Rush Springs and loved attending the annual Watermelon Festival, but it's now been 55 years since I was there. Watermelons were such a big crop in that area that I can remember a guy with a mule and rubber tired wagon going up and down residential streets selling watermelons two for a quarter. And one day I noticed a 101 pound watermelon in front of a grocery store for $3.50. My first that was that no one would pay that kind of price for a watermelon, but then I learned they really would . . . for the seeds.

The last watermelon I bought was a "product of Texas" seedless melon from Walmart and was an excellent flavor. In addition to the right kind of soil and right amount of moisture, I think a great deal depends on how ripe a melon is when it's picked.

 

[charlz]

I wish I could get them to grow well here.

 

[ray66v]

I grow Crimson Sweet's every year, and every year it is a battle to keep the fungus from killing the vines, before the melon's ripen.

Dean, can you give me any secrets on how you handle fungus issues.

I have had the most success with copper dragon dust.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

I think the production numbers actually support the claim, particularly for the time of year when watermelon consumption is the highest around July 4. GA is always ranked in the top 3 and some years ranks at the top. But again, going back to traditional watermelon consumption times, when demand is highest, GA supplies most of the market within a 3 week window, to put things in perspective. Florida and other states harvest are more delayed and spread out by several weeks.

Some of the other states you mentioned don't even come close, though Texas, and Florida do give a run for the money annually and well California and Arizona do too, but if its a tasteless melon, it probably came CA.lol. No offense to any CA growers, but a lot of CA produce on the east coast is known for beauty, not flavor. Of course, that is not to say there aren't any good melons coming out from there, but I've seen blind taste test between east and west coast produce. East coast wins hands down. Its advantage is being able to supply produce in market off times. Tough tastless cantaloupe is usually shipped straight from the west coast during early spring and late fall. Sweet summer cataloupes come from the South, and midwest typically from May to August

 

[RadarTech]

Mouthwatering. Up here in this part of the Northeast we cant get them with seeds anymore. So In my opinion they taste allot different. Not sure why they have gone to all no seeds here. I didn't care about the mess the kids and I would make as we spit the seeds. But from what people have told me the reason they buy the seedless is its cleaner LOL
So in my opinion I Miss out on the flavor... thanks for posting the pics.

when I was growing up, about 6 or 7, I had a cousin truly convince me that if I swallowed the seeds that I could not digest them and they would really hurt me when they did one of two things:
1. hit the mud pie I ate and grow
2. exit the body via the other end.


So I spent a great deal of time digging them out, until dad asked me why I got worried when I swallowed one by accident... after his chuckle he made my cousin eat a bunch of em.... then told me that we should see how long before he ran to the bathroom.... (he made the story even funnier for me against my cousin).....

anyway--- it is funny looking back-- I wonder if the people in your area got scared of the seeds enough to only do seedless???

J

 

[dave1949]

I wish I could get them to grow well here.

I tried last year, which was a really bad gardening year. I don't know the variety name, they were small, round melons. Only one melon got to looking ripe before cold nights and frost shut them down. It wasn't ripe. I know your frustration. We just don't get enough sustained hot weather for those types of crops as a rule.
Dave.

 

[Transit]

You do not know what a treat is until you have had a vine ripened Cantaloupe, Crenshaw or Casaba melon. Just thinking about it will give you a case of diabetes.The trick is to start them indoors and grow them in the site of an old compost heap. In northern areas chose verities that have a short growing season, 60-90 days vs. the larger verities at 100-120 days. Cover the bed with black plastic to heat the ground and speed growth.

 

[Bedlam]

Good one Radar maybe they are scared of the seeds

 

[randy41]

planting melons in plastic helps in cooler areas.

 

[dave1949]

You do not know what a treat is until you have had a vine ripened Cantaloupe, Crenshaw or Casaba melon. Just thinking about it will give you a case of diabetes.The trick is to start them indoors and grow them in the site of an old compost heap. In northern areas chose verities that have a short growing season, 60-90 days vs. the larger verities at 100-120 days. Cover the bed with black plastic to heat the ground and speed growth.

I have tasted such melons, probably the best were in Mashhad, Iran where I spent a summer once. We would bring our melons home from the market and put them in the courtyard water pool to cool, then eat them with sheep's milk yoghurt.

I have never really come to grips with northern gardening techniques. I did start the melons from seed indoors, but last year was so poor our sweetcorn didn't even mature. I just never know what to expect from year to year.

I built two 4'x10'x2' deep raised beds this Spring. Those are doing well so far. They are much easier to keep watered and of course the growing medium is much better than the garden soil. I have some tomatoes in the raised beds and some in the garden. The bed tomato plants are easily 4-5 times the size of the garden tomatoes. I put the beds on the south side of the house where they are sheltered a bit from the NW breezes. So, I have better soil and a bit of a warmer micro-climate helping.

I wanted to build a hoop house this year, but that didn't happen.
Dave.

 

[charlz]

You do not know what a treat is until you have had a vine ripened Cantaloupe, Crenshaw or Casaba melon. Just thinking about it will give you a case of diabetes.The trick is to start them indoors and grow them in the site of an old compost heap. In northern areas chose verities that have a short growing season, 60-90 days vs. the larger verities at 100-120 days. Cover the bed with black plastic to heat the ground and speed growth.

I actually have pretty good luck with Cantaloupe. Maybe because they are smaller and develop/ripen sooner. I do get a pile at the end of the year that just don't make it in time though.

 

[charlz]

I tried last year, which was a really bad gardening year. I don't know the variety name, they were small, round melons. Only one melon got to looking ripe before cold nights and frost shut them down. It wasn't ripe. I know your frustration. We just don't get enough sustained hot weather for those types of crops as a rule.
Dave.

Yep that is what happens to me. I have tried the midgets and sometimes get one or two but generally it is just a waste of garden space.

 

[charlz]

So.... what are everyone's secrets for picking a good watermelon in the store? I had Aunt/Uncle/Cousins that lived in New Mexico and whenever they would come up to visit they would fill the truck full of watermelons and drop a pile off with each visited relative :thumbsup: Every one of them was always delicious. :drool:

They solved the seed 'problem' by only eating the cores and throwing the rest out .... I guess when you have acres and acres of them.... They taught me to look at the width of the 'net'... which IIRC is the darker lines on the watermelon. The wider the 'net' supposedly the more vine-ripened and therefore likely to be good.