Sweetest Watermelon
 

I am tinkering with the idea of growing some melons for the farmer's market this year. I need some that are not too big and very sweet. Any suggestions from personal experiance?

Also looking for suggestions for the sweetest and tastiest cantalopes.

thanks
gary
[URL="http://www.duckcreekfarms.com"]www.duckcreekfarms.com[/URL]

A week or two ago, I happened to stumble on a Wisconsin State Univ. webpage that has many of the answers you seek. Doesn't cover any larger melons, just midsize and down. Doesn't cover all that many midsize either. Tendersweet is MIA, for example.

Thought I was never going to be able to find it again:

[URL]http://agsyst.wsu.edu/watermelonphotos.html[/URL]

From growing a LOT of watermelons, there are not many that have superb flavor.

Yellow Moon & Stars
Ledmon
Luscious Golden
Whitley's Yellow Popper

Of the above, Yellow Moon & Stars and Ledmon are the best overall, but both of them average weight is about 32 pounds. Luscious Golden is a bit smaller maybe 25 pounds


Susan Healy is an excellent cantaloupe.

DarJones

Just did a quick page search of that page. 7 varieties with Brix above 11, another 5 Brix above 12, and Treasure Chest, a seedless yellow-flesh triploid hybrid, with a whopping 13.0.

Orangeglo shows up as 10.7 which is still quite respectable, better than Crimson Sweet. Farmerdill likes it, but likes Tendersweet better.

I'm not real good with watermelon... yet. I've gotten decent performance from Charleston Grey, which I still love muchly from my youth, but in the city, children (and some adults) always try to steal watermelon before it's even ripe, which is why I refuse to grow it in the meetinghouse garden. If Buhl corn is a raccoon magnet, watermelon is a magnet for bandits of the two-legged kind.

Our biggest predator for watermelon is coyotes. I tried the yellow moon and stars once, but it may have not been the best season as It wasn't very sweet to me, but I may give it another trial. I think I got the seeds from Baker's Creek.... However the coyotes adored it and I barely had a couple to taste. I'm planting in a different location this year and I hope the coyotes won't be a problem.

I'm going to check out the Susan Healy

thanks

[QUOTE=Petronius_II;255297]A week or two ago, I happened to stumble on a Wisconsin State Univ. webpage that has many of the answers you seek. Doesn't cover any larger melons, just midsize and down. Doesn't cover all that many midsize either. Tendersweet is MIA, for example.

Thought I was never going to be able to find it again:

[URL]http://agsyst.wsu.edu/watermelonphotos.html[/URL][/QUOTE]

thanks for sharing the website, It will give some interesting reading

Yeah thanks! That is by far the best resource for watermelons that I have ever seen!

[B]Osh Kirgizia[/B] and [B]Cream of Saskatchewan [/B]did quite well for me this [last] year here in lower Michigan.

What ever you do, don't plant Cream of Saskatchewan and White Wonder beside each other... you can't really tell them apart.

I've found Watermelon to vary so much with location and season - when living in Pennsylvania, the Moon and Stars I grew were the best melon I ever had - they were a round, large, white seeded strain (pink flesh). I've tried them here in my NC garden, and they aren't nearly as good - but the yellow fleshed Moon and Stars was delicious - both are bigger than what you are looking for.

At the Raleigh Farmers Markets, we tend to go for Sugar Babies - like a black bowling ball, not all that large, but really delicious. Most are now growing seedless melons, which used to be pretty awful, but last year someone carried a small to medium sized seedless orange flesh that was really spectacular.

I have actually ordered the Cream of Saskatchewan from Sand Hill and looking forward to trying it. It sounded so much like the Icecream watermelon mentioned in another thread except it has black seeds. I would love to try that one if anyone ever finds a source.

Yes, the way our farmer's market is set up, the customers have to carry their purchases a distance making heavy things not as desirable. I have noticed that the smaller or icebox types seem to do well. ....I wouldn't mind trying a seedless one, but I have heard so much differing opinions on their culture, that I am not sure if I should...

Two that I've grown personally and would recommend are:

[B]Orangeglo
Strawberry[/B]

Both are very sweet with crisp flesh. Orangeglo being my favorite of the two. Good size, outstanding flavor and gorgeous deep orange color.

I have Orangeglo on order, I will look into strawberry
thanks

The amish around here grow ambrosia and goddess musk melons, they are divine. I've grown the ambrosia for years when I have room. I also like orangeglo for watermelon, but have given up growing them here for the most part unless one of the kids wants to work on it. I just don't get enough product from the space needed verses other things I can grow like tomatoes, peppers, onions, greens, etc. So I will let the amish grow my melons for now, they do a great job, and not expensive.

Thank Lurley I see that Holmes seed company in Canton OH has both of those listed.
gary

Orangeglow is one of the best tasting sweet watermelons I have ever grown. I have grown it for the past seven years. It always does well in my zone 4 garden. I start the seeds six weeks before transplanting outside.

As for Cream of Saskatchewan, I also grow this every year, but it is not a real sweet watermelon. It has a fresh crisp lightly sweet taste..But we still love it.

I have grown Blacktail Mountain a couple of years, It was a really good producer of 8-10# melons, but could never get it to get the red stage it is suppose to get..even when fully ripe it stayed more of a pinkish red, and the flavor was not that sweet for us..

For melons, I grow Petit Gris de Renne, It is a smaller melon averaging around 2-3#. The taste is sweet rich and outstanding.very fragrant smell.. Love it!!

The Charentais melon is another super sweet small #3 melon, very fragrant and wonderfu..

Heard great things about the taste of Ambrosia.. Will have to try sometime..

Ginny

You might want to try Crisp 'n Sweet. You will need to plant a pollinator, such as Escort or Pollimax. I had great luck with it last year, and my customers just loved it. It is available from Siegers Seeds. Sweet Polly is not far behind.

The sweetest melon is NOT always the best. Most people will love Goddess Muskmelon, but it has a lower brix that many muskmelon. It is also considered an early season melon only. It cracks, badly, mid-season.

As for watermelon, I don't grow any yellow melons. They do not sell well around here. I grow Ruby Premium, Harmony and a new variety called fascination. I use Jade star (Pata Negra) as a pollinator, which is a seeded sugar baby. I find at my farmers market that I can sell just as many seeded as seedless. I am the only grower who sells the newer hybrid seeded varieties.

I personally think the best tasting melon I sell is the Pata Negra. It has firm flesh, is sweet without becoming sickeningly sweet and has a nice color with good watermelon taste.

i'd go with [B]micky[/B] [B]lee[/B] and [B]yellow doll[/B]

I've grown a lot of different watermelons (and eaten a lot!) and still haven't found any that can match the pure watermelon flavor & sweetness of Crimson Sweet. I had a large asian customer base due to Bell Labs nearby my farm market and couldn't grow enough Yellow Dolls either which were very productive and sweet too but a different flavor. I like Sugar Baby's but they are just too seedy for me and the sizes too variable. Seedless Watermelons are OK but some flavor is missing IMO.

I was very happy with Mickylee the year I grew it. Shaped like Sugar Baby but lighter in color, and less spongy/watery. Note: Mickylee is not a compact plant. I got almost 30 melons off 3 plants though.

One of these years I reallllly want to grow Orangeglo and Moon & Stars. Just need the space for them.

No such thing as too much compost for melons.

Dreaming of a steamy, hot summer and planning my melon selections. This thread has been very helpful. Or maybe not, because now I want to try even more varieties. Thank you!

In the running to grow for 2015 are...

Whitley's Yellow Popper Watermelon
Orangeglo
Ali Baba
Congo
Dixie Queen

Maybe some smaller ones too.

Will have to find some Strawberry Watermelon!

For cantaloupes we grow goddess and ambrosia. They are about 2 weeks difference in maturity date so we plant at the same time and have a continuous crop for a couple weeks, I haven't found them to crack or split here unless I miss picking them... which I try not to. Both turn tan when ripe. I did one from Stokes seeds one year that stayed green when ripe and I missed it being ready.grr! So mark your calendar for approximate ready dates so you can check them.

There are two things going on with watermelon sweetness. 1st, how much sugar it has in it, and 2nd how much bitterness.

So to my taste buds, a yellow fleshed watermelon with lower brix tastes sweeter than a watermelon with dark red flesh with higher sugar. I find the taste of lycopene to be quite disagreeable.

I didn't look up every variety on FusionPower's list, but I endorse it because it contained yellow-fleshed watermelons. My watermelon breeding project is moving more towards yellow-fleshed melons every year.

What thread do I look up to find out how to grow watermelons? No idea what a polinator is? Do you need 2 varieties?? Sorry to sound confused, but apart from tomatoes I haven't grown much and I want to change that. :)

Pete

[QUOTE=IronPete;513160]What thread do I look up to find out how to grow watermelons? No idea what a polinator is? Do you need 2 varieties?? Sorry to sound confused, but apart from tomatoes I haven't grown much and I want to change that. :)

Pete[/QUOTE]

I'll help you right here watermellons like well draine soil but they need water.
I have found that the best ans sweetest mellons go throught a little water stress from lack of water.
Sandy loam is one of the best soils.
Melons are self pollinated but they have a make and a female flower.
The males will show up first and then the females.
The male flower is just a flower in the end of a stem on the vine.
The female will have a little baby melon on it right behind the flower.
Due to the plant have two sexes of flowers you need to have a pollinator bring the pollen from the male to the female.
If you dont have any bees wasps or other insects to do this you will have to do it yourself with and artist paint brush.
Or pull a male flower and push it against the female and move it around.
No smart remarks please.:lol:

Worth

An old friend of mine used to grow 80 acres of melons between his wife and him.
40 acres each in sandy loam river bottom land.
Every year is was a contest between the two on who could grow the most and the best.
They were some of the best melons I have ever had.
He is long gone now as well as his wife.
But I haven't had a good melon since.:(
He sold them all from a Goose Neck flat bed trailer in towns at the town square.

Worth

I agree with Orangeglo as a sweet variety. My garden is not melon friendly so next year it will be back out to the farm a couple of miles from the house for melons.

Worth, you know/have any success growing either watermelon or any type of melon in the hard clay soil with Texas heat? I have had very little success here but put very little effort in it. I have had both produce fruit but then they just stop growing and everything just wither away. I haven't actually tried a real variety here just a few volunteers that popped up. Butternut squash does great for me which may or may not be a useful point. I would love to get some smaller melons to grow here. I do have a melon stealing dog but i have fenced him off as long as the vines stay inside.



[QUOTE=Worth1;513166]I'll help you right here watermellons like well draine soil but they need water.
I have found that the best ans sweetest mellons go throught a little water stress from lack of water.
Sandy loam is one of the best soils.
Melons are self pollinated but they have a make and a female flower.
The males will show up first and then the females.
The male flower is just a flower in the end of a stem on the vine.
The female will have a little baby melon on it right behind the flower.
Due to the plant have two sexes of flowers you need to have a pollinator bring the pollen from the male to the female.
If you dont have any bees wasps or other insects to do this you will have to do it yourself with and artist paint brush.
Or pull a male flower and push it against the female and move it around.
No smart remarks please.:lol:

Worth[/QUOTE]

Yeah, orange/yellow melons are sweeter to me, I like to grow mostly orange varieties myself, but if you have deer near you better have them fenced. I lost a whole field in one night a few years back.

[QUOTE=MendozaMark;513229]Worth, you know/have any success growing either watermelon or any type of melon in the hard clay soil with Texas heat? I have had very little success here but put very little effort in it. I have had both produce fruit but then they just stop growing and everything just wither away. I haven't actually tried a real variety here just a few volunteers that popped up. Butternut squash does great for me which may or may not be a useful point. I would love to get some smaller melons to grow here. I do have a melon stealing dog but i have fenced him off as long as the vines stay inside.[/QUOTE]

I haven't tried yet but the Texas heat makes no difference.
Normally in this area the get ripe around July.


[QUOTE=BigVanVader;513251]Yeah, orange/yellow melons are sweeter to me, I like to grow mostly orange varieties myself, but if you have deer near you better have them fenced. I lost a whole field in one night a few years back.[/QUOTE]
We used to have this problem until we hung smelly work clothes up along the fence.

Worth