Seedless Melons

Please someone explain to me how you can get seeds to plant from a seedless veggie? One of the catalogues has seeds for seedless watermelon???

That does sound like an impossibility, doesn't it? I'd guess it is a hybrid, whose fruit will not produce viable seeds. The magical world of gardening holds lots of mysteries, for sure!

Vols is on the right track. They are created hybrids. The plants produce only female flowers and so a 'pollinator' seed is included in the package that produces male flowers. The combination produces a fruit with no seed. I'm no botanist,so the whys and whatfors are lost on me,but this is the simple version on how this happens (and the only one I really understand too)

You have to go back to the seed company each year to get the combination of seed that produces the seedless melons.The same for seedless cucumbers. It only works if you have distinct male and female blossoms. Fruits that produce 'perfect' flowers...tomatoes,peppers and such will not work because male and female parts are included on the same flower.

It's an intersting gimmick,but it puts you in the situation of needing the seed companies each season.They get you hooked and then you are dependant on whatever they decide to market each year. If you will get some seed catalogs from 8 or 10 years ago,you will find that there were many more open pollinated offerings.Now,there are so many hybrids,you have to search for the OP varieties.This is because hybrids will not grow true,or are sterile and the seed companies have you hooked again.You're dependant on their seed producing farms to supply your seeds.Now you are limited to whatever they deem marketable and your choices get smaller and smaller each season.

Try some of the melons if you want,and you'll have to grow only them for the season,because other melons will cross pollinate and possibly your seedless melons will have seeds.
Just keep in mind that if you buy them,you are possibly incouraging these large seed companies to create more 'frankenfood'

Thanks for the 'soapbox' I get carried away sometimes.

Not carried away at all, Mell. Just stating facts.

And your explanation is just one of the many reasons to avoid hybrids.

Once again, Melody enlightened me with her knowledge. Thank you so much. I too am trying to figure all this out, and you have helped me understand all this in your postings. THANK YOU!!!

I am now trying to find the open pollinated varieties of veggies and trying to stay away from the hybrids.

I was looking at the ABUNDANT LIFE catalog, and I read that you can grow open-pollinated vegetables and save the seed as long as you don't grow any veggies with the same latin names close by. Example: Broccoli (Brassica oleracea), and Brussel Sprouts (Brassica oleracea). I hope I'm getting the right info from that catalog?

Joan

Joan,
You are kinda on the right track. But,there is more to it than that. Squashes are classed as curcubits,so are gourds,but they won't cross.

It gets complicated at first and I recomend a good publication such as Susanne Ashworth's Seed To Seed. There are ways of growing crops for pure seed within close areas and that way you can have more variety. You have the right idea with the brassicas,but you can time their flowering so that only one type of plant is fertile at a time.

If you are intrested in seed saving,try beans or tomatoes at first.The brassicas are biennials and require 2 seasons of growth to produce seeds.Get used to the process and then branch out with more difficult species.

Thanks again Melody. I think I'm starting to catch on to this.
Joan