Watermelon

[spaugh]

I never really cared for watermelons until growing my own.  They are so tastey and refeshing.  Everyone should grow them.  They are easy to grow and fast. 

Picked this beauty today.  23lb "desert king" watermelon.  We already picked a few and they are excellent.

"85 days. This watermelon produces 20-lb fruits that have a light pea-green rind that is resistant to sunburning. It is also one of the most drought-resistant varieties of watermelon known. It has sweet, yellow flesh and is very popular in the watermelon-growing areas of Arkansas. Good for storage."



Had the bottle of vodka leftover from thanksgiving a few years ago out in the garage fridge.  I think its a sign to mix the 2.

[simon_grow]

Watermelons are awesome. The Orangeglo, Hime Kansen and Hokkaido Black are some of my favorites.
I even tried grafted watermelons
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=10334.msg150673#msg150673

Simon

[spaugh]

I got some 25lbs orangeglos that look amazing.  Few more weeks for the babies and it will be watermelon overload here.

What i would like to know is if my seeds will come true to type since I have many different types growing next to each other.  Anyone know?

Ive been dumping the rinds and seeds around my banana trees and now have a bunch of volunteer plants.  Im going to let a few of them go and see if I can get a late crop into October and November.

[behlgarden]

I got some 25lbs orangeglos that look amazing.  Few more weeks for the babies and it will be watermelon overload here.

What i would like to know is if my seeds will come true to type since I have many different types growing next to each other.  Anyone know?

Ive been dumping the rinds and seeds around my banana trees and now have a bunch of volunteer plants.  Im going to let a few of them go and see if I can get a late crop into October and November.

doesnt hurt to experiment. those giants look amazing. I plan on making a trip down towards San Diego in two weeks with Frank, may try to see and stop by your orchard.

[spaugh]

Behl just send a message and let me know when.

Picked this orangeglo today 21lbs.  Easily the best melon Ive ever had.  Got a bunch more of these out on the hillside that are much larger.  Not sure if they will be as sweet as this box grown melon.

[barath]

Look great.  I'm curious what you mean by "box grown" -- are you using the technique where you grow the melon in a box to make it take a certain shape, like they do in Japan to make cube-shaped melons?  Or do you mean something else?

[RodneyS]

I loved my Sugar Baby melons. 

BTW, watermelon, especially juicing the rind, is high in L-citrulline, which is the precursor to L-arginine, a vasodilator

[spaugh]

Look great.  I'm curious what you mean by "box grown" -- are you using the technique where you grow the melon in a box to make it take a certain shape, like they do in Japan to make cube-shaped melons?  Or do you mean something else?

Sorry I should have said raised bed.  The ones directly in soft earth with compost are getting larger.  The 2 I posted so far are out of raised beds.  I have limited flat space here and its all either on solid granite or been compacted with a bulldozer so for that area I have raised boxes.

[Lionking]

I never really cared for watermelons until growing my own.  They are so tastey and refeshing.  Everyone should grow them.  They are easy to grow and fast. 

Picked this beauty today.  23lb "desert king" watermelon.  We already picked a few and they are excellent.

"85 days. This watermelon produces 20-lb fruits that have a light pea-green rind that is resistant to sunburning. It is also one of the most drought-resistant varieties of watermelon known. It has sweet, yellow flesh and is very popular in the watermelon-growing areas of Arkansas. Good for storage."



Had the bottle of vodka leftover from thanksgiving a few years ago out in the garage fridge.  I think its a sign to mix the 2.

Hey Brad,
      Those look awesome!  Makes me want to give it a shot. 
Where did you purchase the seeds for them 2 varieties if I may ask?
I actually just had my first taste of yellow watermelon about 2 weeks ago and they were so good and sweet.  My mother in law purchased them at a Chinese market. 
She had it all cut up and in the fridge when I had arrived from work.  It hit the spot on a hot day!

[spaugh]

Definitely go for the orangeglo, they are better than the desert kings although Im still experimenting with desert king and letting them grow longer.  They are harder to know when to pick. 

https://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/watermelon/

[Lionking]

Definitely go for the orangeglo, they are better than the desert kings although Im still experimenting with desert king and letting them grow longer.  They are harder to know when to pick. 

https://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/watermelon/

Thanks buddy!
Definitely going too give it a shot! 

[Lionking]

Not sure of the variety but this here is a picture of the one I tried.  Not as dark yellow as yours.  More like a pineapple color

[spaugh]

Not sure of the variety but this here is a picture of the one I tried.  Not as dark yellow as yours.  More like a pineapple color

You might get an ID on it if you have a photo of the skin.  Ive grown a lot of types of melons and so far orangeglo is the winner.  Sugar baby, icebox from rene is good, crimson sweets I have growing but havent tried. Simon had a list of good ones in a thread.  Some Japanese types were there.  Im going to try the georgia rattlesnake and a few other types next year.  Maybe experiment growing some small types over fall and winter.

Enjoy

[Lionking]

Not sure of the variety but this here is a picture of the one I tried.  Not as dark yellow as yours.  More like a pineapple color

You might get an ID on it if you have a photo of the skin.  Ive grown a lot of types of melons and so far orangeglo is the winner.  Sugar baby, icebox from rene is good, crimson sweets I have growing but havent tried. Simon had a list of good ones in a thread.  Some Japanese types were there.  Im going to try the georgia rattlesnake and a few other types next year.  Maybe experiment growing some small types over fall and winter.

Enjoy

So here is a small piece that I found.  Like I mentioned,  don’t know the variety but it was oh so sweet.

[roblack]

Those are some amazing melons! Going to give orangelo a try, but not sure where to place. About how many hours of direct sun do the plants need to produce well?

[zands]

Great watermelon photos. Wish I had the space to grow them. I had a seed come up (volunteer) out of the mango tree mulch and it spread watermelon vines all over my lawn. I eventually got a non ripe 12" long watermelon. I juiced it

I always juice watermelon rind with my green power juicer.  Chill the juice and I am sure it would be good for mixed alcohol drinks.  These inferior effin seedless watermelons have so much rind that you are throwing away 33% of your purchase price if you don't put the rind to work. Some pickle it.

[spaugh]

Those are some amazing melons! Going to give orangelo a try, but not sure where to place. About how many hours of direct sun do the plants need to produce well?

Rob theres a link to the seed bank in reply #9

Its called baker creek seeds.  Www.rareseeds.com

You want to get those plants out into full sun preferably.

[spaugh]

Great watermelon photos. Wish I had the space to grow them. I had a seed come up (volunteer) out of the mango tree mulch and it spread watermelon vines all over my lawn. I eventually got a non ripe 12" long watermelon. I juiced it

I always juice watermelon rind with my green power juicer.  Chill the juice and I am sure it would be good for mixed alcohol drinks.  These inferior effin seedless watermelons have so much rind that you are throwing away 33% of your purchase price if you don't put the rind to work. Some pickle it.

I thought about growing seedless but yeah thry probably cant tough an heirloom for taste.

To get seedless they cross 2 types of melon and the seeds of the resulting fruit make seedless melons.  BUT you also need to grow a pollinator next to the seedless plant.  Seems like kind of a pain. 

My wife cubes the melon and removes the seeds so its kind of like seedless.

[NewGen]

Look great.  I'm curious what you mean by "box grown" -- are you using the technique where you grow the melon in a box to make it take a certain shape, like they do in Japan to make cube-shaped melons?  Or do you mean something else?

Sorry I should have said raised bed.  The ones directly in soft earth with compost are getting larger.  The 2 I posted so far are out of raised beds.  I have limited flat space here and its all either on solid granite or been compacted with a bulldozer so for that area I have raised boxes.

Do you have a photo of the bed? How big? How tall? How long did it take from planting the seeds to getting that fruit?
Thanks a lot!

Trung

[spaugh]

Trung, the beds are 4ft x 8ft x 1ft tall.  If you buy three 2"x12"x8ft lumbers you can cut one in half to make the 4ft end pieces.  Its just a rectangular box a foot tall filled with compost, dirt, food scraps, fertilizer, what you can throw at it.

You dont really need raised beds even, watermelons like just a big mounds of compost and rich soil.  They are heavy feeders.  I used a lot of compost and some avocado fertilizer to start then a potasium nitrate with minors fertilizer once and a potassium heavy slow release for the fruiting stage.  You can throw a lot of fertilizer at them if you have good sun and good dirt they will take it. And lots of water. 

It takes a month to get seeds going in April and then transplant them in May or June and melons are ready in August.  The fruiting times are listed on all the types in the link I posted.  It looks like my vines are setting more fruit now so assuming they dont get any disease they will probably produce for 2 or 3 more months.

[mike rule]

I currently using the following seedless varieties....Carbine & Green Moon with the pollinator Wildcat....... Always get great tasting melons.....Mike

[spaugh]

These ones are just put right in the hillside.  Dig holes, mix in about half yard of compost for 8 holes.  Throw some slow fertilizers and innoculants in the mix.  Maybe cover in mulch.  Keep feeding (lots of potassium and minors once fruiting) and heavy water and 10 to 12 weeks later you have lots of melons.

[zands]

Nice! Watermelon patch photos! You have the space to let the vines run.
Two days ago I bought a seedless one at Aldi for $3.20. It had  a label on it grown in Indiana. Watermelons must be a big business to ship them them 1100 miles and sending them south to Florida?? It was sweeter than others this summer. My guess is it weighed 16lbs.
For the last 6 weeks Aldi has been selling seedless for $3.00. Walmart was doing the same but more intermittently. The only seeded one I was able to buy this year was at Walmart.

[simon_grow]

Brad, those watermelons are growing at an amazing rate. Every time I come over, they gain at least several pounds. Those Oranglo are one of my favorites.

Simon

[roblack]

Thanks Brad, ordered orangelos and other seeds yesterday. Might be a bit late in the year, but going to give it a try. Next year will start on-time.

[spaugh]

Thanks Brad, ordered orangelos and other seeds yesterday. Might be a bit late in the year, but going to give it a try. Next year will start on-time.

You can probably get them to fruit all year in miami.  I read something saying orangeglo grow well even in colder areas. So fall and winter in miami shouldnt be a problem. Maybe thin the fruit to 1 or 2 per vine to make them larger. 

These things grow like weeds, Ive been dumping the scraps around the yard and theres volunteers everywhere already from fruit we had a couple weeks ago.

[spaugh]

This one was 43lbs.  Maybe let it go too long, the center was getting mushy and bad flavor.  Had to toss the core area.  Still getting the hang of this...  Melons can be hard to tell when to pick.

[spaugh]

Got some new melon seeds for this year.  Cant wait to eat some watermelons.  Theres a couple types that weigh just a few pounds that I will start soon in the greenhouse.  And those should produce in late spring.  Will wait another couple months to start the larger types so they get plenty of summer heat and sun.

[zephian]

We just made about 150$ order with baker creek. We are going to try a few melons and I plan on starting them next weekend in doors. I'll post what kinds we are trying when I get home! Let me know if you like any you got

[spaugh]

We just made about 150$ order with baker creek. We are going to try a few melons and I plan on starting them next weekend in doors. I'll post what kinds we are trying when I get home! Let me know if you like any you got

Awesome.  Baker creek got a lot of my money too lately.  Im growing cilantro, beets, salad mixes, celery brocolli,..

[zephian]

I grow a lot of peppers and greens. This year my veggie garden will be a lot larger (planting around baby avocados) going to use that space for melons. We did really well with pumpkins on cattle panels last year. (Still gave a chest freezer full of pumpkin puree) Rats ate all of our melons though...

Current melons I'll be planting. I also have some orange go from you still.

[zephian]

Wow, my camera is garbage.
Supposed to show:

Sakata's Sweet Melon (Baker Creek)
Hopi Yellow Watermelon (Baker Creek)
Charentais Melon (Baker creek)

then just standard sugar baby and honey rock cantaloupe.

[ben mango]

impressive looking melons

[shpaz]

Did you guys try the Ali baba watermelons? I hear raving reviews about them:

https://www.rareseeds.com/ali-baba-watermelon/

I'm planning to grow few plants this year.

[forumfool]

I grew Ali baba and oranglo last year. Oranglo was much better imo

[spaugh]

Simon told me he tried ali baba in the past and was not impressed. 

[Zafra]

Has anyone tried Ledmon or Strawberry watermelon also offered by Baker Creek? I’m tempted by both...

[CA Hockey]

When do you start planting watermelon seeds for good fruit?

[spaugh]

When do you start planting watermelon seeds for good fruit?

They don't do much until it gets really warm.  So my advice would be start them in the greenhouse around April 1st and then get them going in 2 gal pots.  Then transplant them end of May.  And don't let them get pot bound. 

Im starting some now but they are the really small kind and they are going in the greenhouse where its nice and warm and can run supplemental light if theres cloudy days. 

[TnTrobbie]

Besides rodents and wildlife, any other pests to worry about (like leaf cutting ants) destroying the plant/ fruit? Gonna give this a try.

[spaugh]

I didnt have any issues with mice or rats or birds.  Melon leaves are green aphid magnets though.  So if you are using regular fertilizers, cut the nitrogen way back once you get fruit set.  If you can keep ants away it will help keep the aphids off.  They get powdery mildew also although I didnt have that problem but its very dry here.  Once my stuff got aphids I yanked them all around September or October.

[zephian]

Rats really like my melons and zucchini. Powdery mildew is a concern here too in september- onward.

[561MangoFanatic]

Really appreciate everyone’s honesty on the Ali Baba, makes me glad I didn’t impulse buy that one lol. But I had these varieties and really looking forward to growing the Bradford & the Orangeglow.
Any advice for a beginner watermelon grower?

[spaugh]

Really appreciate everyone’s honesty on the Ali Baba, makes me glad I didn’t impulse buy that one lol. But I had these varieties and really looking forward to growing the Bradford & the Orangeglow.
Any advice for a beginner watermelon grower?

They are pretty easy to grow.  They like lots of compost mixed in the soil and built into a mound.   Im going to use yard waste compost, composted cow manure, bone meal, sul po mag, and avocado fertilizer in my heaps this year. 

[MangoMan2]

This one was 43lbs.  Maybe let it go too long, the center was getting mushy and bad flavor.  Had to toss the core area.  Still getting the hang of this...  Melons can be hard to tell when to pick.

Brad, Have you figured out how to tell when to pick a watermelon yet. I'm have some oranglo started here in Fl, and was just wondering how you tell if they are ready to pick.
Thanks, joe.

[RodneyS]

Baker Creek has Royal Golden & Golden Midget watermelon.  Their rind changes color when ready to pick

[spaugh]

This one was 43lbs.  Maybe let it go too long, the center was getting mushy and bad flavor.  Had to toss the core area.  Still getting the hang of this...  Melons can be hard to tell when to pick.

Brad, Have you figured out how to tell when to pick a watermelon yet. I'm have some oranglo started here in Fl, and was just wondering how you tell if they are ready to pick.
Thanks, joe.

Theres the standard indicators all melons have like the tendril drying up, and also the white area on bottom of the melon turns yellow. 

On the orangeglos the bottom of the melon turns from white to light orange.  As soon as you see that, its time to pick.  They get over ripe fairly quick, at least in summer.  For here I can tell by the size of the fruit and the color of the bottom.  About 30lbs is prime size/ripeness here. 

You will have to experiment to figure it out there as your weather and all is much differwnt than here.  But for sure bottom spot orange is a good indicator.