Personally, I have never had any splitting with Orangeglo.....course I haven't hauled them around. Mine have been smaller...good ones ranging from 25 to 33 pounds.
They are a delightful change-up in taste from red ones. I like about 4 red ones to 1 orange/gold/yellow one.
Melon suggestions?
I've tried the Tigger from Baker creek, haven't had much luck getting it going. This year I'll try starting indoors and transplant. I thought it would be an interesting melon for the market. I'm also going to try the d'Algiers. I've grow the charentais before also, but have only gotten a couple of melons off it. Bambi is a problem here too. Watermelons I like the Moon and Stars and Black Diamond.
I quite liked the flavor of the one [1] Yellow Doll I managed to grow last year.
I sure hope this is a better year for watermelons!
Yes, the Yellow Doll has a refined flavor. Course I like to get into some real "red meat" like Sangria, Raspa, SF#420, AU Sweet Scarlet [op], Sweet Dakota Rose [op], RoJo Grande, and some others.
This message was edited Jan 1, 2008 4:10 PM
Indy, do you have a suggestion for a "real red meat" mini melon?
May I make a suggestion? This is a Mickeylee about 15 lbs and absolutely fantastic. A real winner in my melon patch.
Seeds were difficult to find but Wilhite Seeds has them. Lowes has them in their own packages but they are not true Mickeylee.
The larger one is the Mickeylee before cutting. On the right is a Sugar Baby but not as sweet as Mickeylee. Hope this helps?
hmmm - I consider a Sugar Baby on the large side
I've noticed there are no zone 4 or less listed in this thread, but I'm obligated to ask a question here. My wife has been after me to plant some mellons this year, and I was considering Johhny's Sweet Granite. For musk mellon I'm thinking Seed Savers Minnesota Midget or a hybrid from Johhny's called Little Baby Flower. These mellons are listed as 70 days or less, which is probably essential if I am able to get any fruit at all. I'm a bit concerned about Farmers comments on taste for these early varieties.
Also, I was planning on transplanting a few to see if that would allow me to use some of the varieties previously mentioned. My best date to transplant is probably June 15th and frosts can come as early as late August and early September. I plant to cheat as much as possible using Tufbell along with some other ground cover such as hay. I am already certifiable according to my neighbors for raising tomatoes, but I have been challenged. Help me please!
Little Baby Flower is a hybrid personal size watermelon. Probably about as early as watermelons get, It is smaller than Yellow Doll or Red Doll which are excellent short season watermelons, I have not grown it. I have not grown Sweet Granite muskmelon but it is a New Hampshire release, Meader specialized in short season vegetables and was responsible for the N H midget series. The earliest muskmelon that I have grown was Alaska.( Veseys) Nice melon, visually attractive, but very mild flavor.
I have only been to Helena in the summertime, so I don't have a good feel for your climate. You can star the melons in pots or cups and transplant just as true leaves begin to appear. Do not disturb the root system when tranplanting. They are hard to find now, but Hot Tents, which are a melon sized version of Hot Caps can give you about a three week jump on melons. You might also consider poly tunnels.
I like Yellow Doll, I may look for her sibling.
Hey Mraider3; I grew MN. Midget last year .I got the seeds from Skyfire Seeds.They range in size from tennis ball to softball and are Really Sweet! The vines are short, but are heavy producers.
Thank you all!
morgan
What size should I expect Sugar Baby to get?
BB
This thread should be a sticky. A great amount of information. Thanks everyone. I have bought the Ambrosia cantaloupe and Sugar Baby watermeon from the local nursery for years but would love to try some of your suggestions. Linda
BB, Sugar Baby is a small icebox melon that averages around 8 - 10 lbs.
Holy cannolis, Farmerdill.. That is a lot of watermelons.. Do you by any chance sell your harvest?? Cuz you have a ton of watermelons there.. :) Do you imind me asking how may plants did you have to get that type of yield??
Wow, I've really missed a lot on this thread!
Oh, those watermelons look scrumptious!
I think I've decided to just stick with watermelons. The other melons sound iffy to me. (Although, I may take zebraman up on his Charantais offer. I've never seen a real cantaloupe in person. Just masquerading muskmelons.)
I got a few seeds of these watermelons in a trade. Opinions?
royal golden
sweet siberian
cream of saskatchewan
orangeglo - well I think you've already established this one is good
These are some others I'm considering: Sangria, Petite Yellow, Quetzali, Blacktail Mountain, and White Wonder.
Also, do the vines of icebox variety watermelons take up less space than those of big watermelons?
Sugar Baby comes in a bush variety, if you're concerned about space for vines.
Icosden; Sugar baby and indeed most of the small mellons wil average about 4 melons per vine. That particular picture was taken at the Tom Watson Watermelon festival where they were used in one of the participant events, the watermelon shotput.
Danita; Royal Golden - Grew back in the early 70's. Ripens to a dark yellow skin. Looks like a pumpkin and doesn't taste much better.
Sweet Siberian - Have not grown.
Cream of Sakatchewan - Good producer, good flavor Icebox melon about the same size as Mickylee
Danita,
Sangria is a very delicious watermelon.. I can partly understand some new melon growers thinking small melons, but I think the large ones are better.....especially if one has good soil and growing conditions.
Well, I was also thinking that with the drought we are having that smaller melons might be a better choice for now. It seems that it would be difficult to satiate one of those giant watermelons with a limited amount of water.
farmerdill raises them in Georgia. You could try some of both.
Watermelon Shotput????
Does that get a bit messy? LOL
BB
I recall seeing a thread somewhere about a small, heirloom mellon, good for cool climates, which had a French sounding name. For the life of me I can not find that thread again. I am planning only a few plants of a single variety, so the heirloom sounds appealing. Any ideas on this one?
Don't know about a French sounding one, but Blacktail Mountain invented by Glenn Drowns of Sandhill Preservation is reportrd to be a very good early icebox melon, Have not grown it myself. Another good one is the icebox size version of the Stone Mountain, current available only from Wetzel.
Watermelons are about as drought resistant as any vegetable, I don't irrigate and had good melons even in this past years stage 3 drought, The major difference between the small melons and big melons is the amount of space required. The vines of big melons are usually larger altho there are short vine cultivars of large melons )bush Jubliee, Bush Snakeskin, Bush Desert King... . The other consideration is whether you have refrigerator space or the ability to use a large melon. I can't eat as much as I use to, so the large melons are cut and shared with the neighbors,
Farmer are they heavy feeders ?
I have an old soy bean field that some of it will be my garden. I am going to have Llama poop tilled in early spring. If i remeber right it is good nitrogen ,green and can use right on at harvest.
I have about 5 melons that i m going to try.
Sugar baby
Orangello
Tiger melon
Queen Anne ( just for the smell )
Carolina Cross ( a really big one up to 50lbs)
and a cantalope i cant find the seed at the moment ,but i think i remembe where i put them.
I might add one more
I do have a good amount of space to use for the melons
thanks
sue
They are not particularly heavy feeders. They will grow on a sandbar with minimum fertilization. However, watermelons despise clay and will sulk. The cantaloupes are much more tolerant of heavy soils. Carolina Cross is a big show melon. Anything less than 100 lbs is a wimp and they can easily get over 200lbs.
BB,
I was wondering who gets to clean that up, too. LOL.
Karen
Glendale, Shortly therafter, we have our own field of blackbirds, well grackles, crows, and starlings anyway, First class clean up crew.
Farmerdill:
How is the taste of Carolina Cross?
BB
Farmerdill,
Of course, I should have thought of the birds. Duh! We throw our melon rinds over the fence into the woods behind us. Don't know what eats them, but they are always gone the next morning.
Karen
The show melons, Carolina Cross, Kolb's Gem and the like were developed for size not taste. Mediocre at best.
Some of the hype on old watermelons make it sound to the person new to growing them like they are going to rake in all those huge melons. [been there myself!!] Instead, probably 90% are kind of disappointed unless they happen to have suitable soil and weather and freedom from disease...and hail.
Farmerdill --- You mentioned a few varieties of bush melons? I thought that there was only one type and that being Bush Sugar Baby. I would really like to grow other bush varieties because of space problems. Can you tell me where I can find the seeds for those varieties? All of course except for Sugar Baby???
Bush Jubilee - http://www.cooperseeds.com/pages/vegetables/Watermelon.html
Bush Snakeskin - http://www.seedsofchange.com/garden_center/browse_category.asp?category_id=425&UID=
Bush Baby II - Parks no longer lists it
Garden Baby -
Yellow Doll- Not really a bush type but small vines;http://www.veseys.com/us/en/store/vegetables/melons/watermelon/yellowdoll
Bush Charleston Grey
Bush Desert King. Willhite use to carry it- But I can't find a current listing.
A google for bush watermelons gets lots of play, but there are few vendors left. Apparently they never sold well.
This message was edited Jan 7, 2008 8:16 PM