Sweetest Watermelon

[gourmetgardener]

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.

[moon1234]

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.

[swamper]

i'd go with micky lee and yellow doll

[barkeater]

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.

[feldon30]

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.

[pmb2005]

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!

[clkeiper]

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.

[joseph]

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.

[IronPete]

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

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by IronPete

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

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.

Worth

[Worth1]

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

[PaulF]

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.

[MendozaMark]

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.

Originally Posted by Worth1

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.

Worth

[BigVanVader]

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.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by MendozaMark

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.

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

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

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.

We used to have this problem until we hung smelly work clothes up along the fence.

Worth