Seawalnut's Melons - Legit or Inedible piece of sponge? Read First!

[Jaboticaba45]

Well many people on here know the legendary member SeaWalnut. A man living in Romania, and an epic grower. He had a large collection of tropical fruit trees too. Because of his large influence on the tropical area of the forum and the fact that these originated in a tropical climate, I know it's fine to post here. Unfortunately, he got canceled for lack of better wording and stopped posting on the forum. Before he left, he spread around these legendary canteloupe seeds. Supposedly they were good and to show that, they had no netting on the skin compared to a regular canteloupe.
I got some seeds from another member who got them from him. I sprouted them this spring and was hyped up for the melon. As you can see in the pictures, we were successful. Today I tried this one. After months of getting hyped up for this, I was ready to eat it.
I am here on behalf of the forum to determine if these melons are legit. I opened it up and wow did it smell good. Was I amazed! The aroma was wafting around the kitchen and my whole family sniffed the melon's aromas. Unluckily the taste was horrendous. The texture was not like a regular canteloupe, it was bad. Mealy and the melon fell apart. Just think about the mealiest thing you've had. For example, sometimes storebought peaches are mealy. That was totally like this! The brix was 8...


So now you are probably going like ohhh these suck. And yes they do. But in seawalnut's defense, the growing conditions of these were bad. I threw them in a communal garden bed thingy with my pineapple plants and never gave them fertilizer. Half the time they were wilting. I also planted a few melons in my greenhouse and yard, but the ones in the yard died to animal and the greenhouse ones are struggling. So I'll be back to give you all an update when I get the growing conditions perfected. I believe it will get better. Also I have seeds to share now!!! Keep in mind there are no other melons here to hybridize with so the thing should be legit. Also the melon could have ripened up another day or so I think.


Seawalnut seems like a cool person and I'd love to meet him. No hate to him or his melons!


And that wraps up todays story time with Jaboticaba45!

[buddy roo]

keep in mind that what you have are f-2s meaning you have the 2nd generation and the person who was kind enough to share the seeds with you could of inadvertently crossed them in his garden with other melons he planted or even his neighbors. that being said they are very easy to breed back to true

[Jaboticaba45]

keep in mind that what you have are f-2s meaning you have the 2nd generation and the person who was kind enough to share the seeds with you could of inadvertently crossed them in his garden with other melons he planted or even his neighbors. that being said they are very easy to breed back to true

I was sent the ones he got directly from sea walnut and some he grew from sea walnuts seeds
I only planted the ones from sea walnut so I’m assuming it’s pretty close.

[elouicious]

good write up ryan-

unfortunately even with the f1 seeds from seawalnut there is a chance that someone growing zucchini down the road could have trashed the progeny here

plant genetics are extremely complicated and most melon have at least 24 chromosomes by my quick google- I admit to knowing relatively little about cucurbits but all of the natural crosses we have ended up with here have been gross

[pagnr]

Melons can only cross with other Cucumis melons.
Only the Armenian cucumber ( a Cucumis melon ) is a possible confusing crosser.
There might be one or two other similar types of bland melons used as cucumbers.
Cucumbers, Cucumis sativa should not cross.
There might be a couple of wild Cucumis that could possibly cross, but few people grow these.
Other Cucurbits should not cross.
The result of growing seeds downstream from a cross should be variable.
The melons on different plants should be different.
If you grew a bunch of plants and the fruit is pretty much the same, it sounds like a stable variety.

[bovine421]

I really liked  Sea Walnut. He was fun and interesting. I also liked Mango Madness from England with her Saran Wrap greenhouse and her Osteen mango tree we named Ostina. I think they're only infraction was to plant their foot where the sun does not shine. I believe somewhere in Wilmington.
I really do hope those melons do pan out for you

This is what I imagined sea walnut looked like when he was flying his hydrofoil surveying for the crop report

[Daintree]

They look a lot like Navajo yellow melons. They like drier conditions, so are great here in our high desert area. Maybe yours was way over-ripe? The seeds look very pulled away from the flesh...

Carolyn

Just a thought - Sea Walnut's main problem seemed to be that he was a bit short on opinions he could back up with science.  The seeds really could be Navajo seeds, or any sort of melon cross.  That is the awesome thing about melons - you can create new crosses so easily. They are such a maleable species!

[Jaboticaba45]

Daintree, thanks for the pointer. There is one more melon so I'll try to pick it earlier.

Seems like melons are very variable. I'll plant out a ton of seeds this fall and spring and see what happens next summer!
I'm tempted to just stick to the watermelons/good canteloupe. I'll try a couple of these too.

Bovine,
Thanks! I do hope these melons turn out to something.
Seawalnut and mangomadness were interesting characters, but they shared the love of tropical fruit growing...I hope they are doing well!
I really enjoyed reading seawalnuts adventures lol.

[Bush2Beach]

 

[Jaboticaba45]

Carolyn,
You were correct. The melon was overripe. I had a green one that was tiny, but very good. Not mealy and very good sweet flavor. I’ll definitely grow these next year!

[Daintree]

Melons are so tricky! I am staring at my honeydews daily now, dithering about whether to pick them or let them go another day...

Carolyn

[elouicious]

any good ideas for when to pick a melon?

looking at my watermelon now

[pineislander]

any good ideas for when to pick a melon?

looking at my watermelon now

Cantaloupe types begin to smell musky and may change to a more yellow hue, the stem pulls away from the fruit cleanly.
Watermelon is usually ready when the tendril directly opposite the fruit stem is completely dry.

[elouicious]

cheers!

in lightning speed too!

[strom]

Hey: if I remember correctly, these melons aren't actually supposed to be very sweet, it's more about the complex flavor and aroma, and, you can assist the flavor by adding a little sugar to it.  My intention here is not to trigger some members into a discussion of why or why you don't do that.. I know that whole concept of adding such seasonings will be controversial, I am simply relaying what the guy suggested. 

J45: if you have any left, or if you do try to grow them again next year, and have similar results, try adding a little sugar or salt, I'm really curious.  It's cool you got fruit without netting!  Some of mine last year were super mealy.  Here's my thread from last year for comparison: https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=45294.0

I will try growing them again next year for laughs.  I didn't have the room for them this year.  Family has a couple growing and they will be ripe in a couple weeks, but, they are very small and have been neglected.

PS: Sometimes I salt mangoes and watermelon, or salt and/or sugar tomato sauce.

[Jaboticaba45]

Hey: if I remember correctly, these melons aren't actually supposed to be very sweet, it's more about the complex flavor and aroma, and, you can assist the flavor by adding a little sugar to it.  My intention here is not to trigger some members into a discussion of why or why you don't do that.. I know that whole concept of adding such seasonings will be controversial, I am simply relaying what the guy suggested. 

J45: if you have any left, or if you do try to grow them again next year, and have similar results, try adding a little sugar or salt, I'm really curious.  It's cool you got fruit without netting!  Some of mine last year were super mealy.  Here's my thread from last year for comparison: https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=45294.0

I will try growing them again next year for laughs.  I didn't have the room for them this year.  Family has a couple growing and they will be ripe in a couple weeks, but, they are very small and have been neglected.

PS: Sometimes I salt mangoes and watermelon, or salt and/or sugar tomato sauce.

Thanks for the write up!
FYI I got the seeds from strom!
the underipe one tasted like a good canteloupe with good flavor. I might grow other qualirty canteloupes and compare and contrast them with the romain one.

[NateTheGreat]

I grew several melons, not this one, all supposed to be sweet. Most have reviews saying they're not sweet, but a few reviews say they're sweet and tasty. I waited until I could smell them from 10 feet away to pick--or let them drop, tried letting them ripen on the counter. Great smell, nice musky flavor, but not sweet. Tried again the next year with more varieties, same result. I think they need to be dry farmed in arid conditions to get sweet, and even then maybe my expectations were just too high. I mentioned this to SeaWalnut, who said you have to put sugar on them. Still I read about these Central Asian melons that are supposed to taste like Creme Brulee, and wonder if I just need to try one more variety, one more growing season.

[Jaboticaba45]

I grew several melons, not this one, all supposed to be sweet. Most have reviews saying they're not sweet, but a few reviews say they're sweet and tasty. I waited until I could smell them from 10 feet away to pick--or let them drop, tried letting them ripen on the counter. Great smell, nice musky flavor, but not sweet. Tried again the next year with more varieties, same result. I think they need to be dry farmed in arid conditions to get sweet, and even then maybe my expectations were just too high. I mentioned this to SeaWalnut, who said you have to put sugar on them. Still I read about these Central Asian melons that are supposed to taste like Creme Brulee, and wonder if I just need to try one more variety, one more growing season.

Interesting notes
I grew these inside the greenhouse very neglected so they were bone dry most of the time. But again why a brix of 8?! I have more questions than answers and I hope to answer them next year.