Mini seedless watermelons sprouted!

Success at last!

I'm planning to trellis the minis.

Can I ask a dumb question? If they're seedless, how do you sprout them? Or are they just mostly seedless?

No matter how it works, congratulations!

They're triploid hybrids, crossed from a diploid and a tetraploid parent. The seeds from the parent grow into the sterile seedless watermelons. Kinda like breeding a mule.

So the parents are both seeded, and the baby isn't? Gotcha... and thanks for explaining!

They're the devil to get germinated.

But I bet the taste will sure be worth it! Hope the hard part is over now that they're started. :)

It's hard to get them transplanted and growing in the garden, too. I'll use black fabric mulch to warm the soil.

And plant seeded watermelons, too, because they need a pollinator and in case the seedless ones fail.

I haven't had much success with watermelons in the past.

And you're giving these a shot? I'm impressed! :) I've got my second-ever watermelon going now. The first one was during my very first-ever attempt at gardening and did not fare well. Now I've got a variety called Early Arizona (couldn't resist!) and it's looking good so far. Can't wait to see it start setting blooms...

Yes, I am that foolish, that having always failed at growing watermelons, I am determined to grow the most difficult!

Hope you are not to early in your area as melons do love heat? I am growing Orangelo and also had a heck of a time getting them to sprout. I direct seed cause of my zone. The pollinator sprouted but it took two tries for the others to sprout in my EB. They are now doing very well and the melons on them are coming along nicely though only one or two per vine. Wonder how the farmers make a living growing melons as some produce only two or so per vine??

They charge more for them!

You're right, it's pretty early here for melons, but these sprouted so much more quickly than I'd anticipated. Definitely not warm enough to set them out now.

But now I have the trick of it. I think. And some more seeds left. I think that's where the money is, in the seeds, in the hybridizing. Those little suckers cost a lot for just a few seeds. They do recommend against direct seeding them, it's so hard to get them started.

I'm glad I don't mind seeds. :) With the seedless vars I think the pollinator variety most of the time is Sugar Baby since it takes up less space.

Tplant, anxious to hear what you think of Orangeglo. I have seen it many times referred to as the best tasting watermelon out there.

This message was edited May 6, 2008 10:43 AM

LTilton please tell me which mini you are growing. I would love to try them next year when I get my new bed ready.

It always used to be Sugar Baby, but this year it seems to be Crimson Sweet. Dunno why.

I'm growing Solitaire, Petite Treat, and a seeded mini called Red Little Baby Flower. The only one I tried to grow before was Petite Treat, and I think the vine got to be 4 inches long. Not a success.

I'll also grow Yellow Doll again, which was the closest to a success I've had [besides Sugar Baby] and I love that one. But it's an icebox size, not a mini.

Do all watermelons need a separate pollinator? I'm wondering if I need to find another plant ASAP to go with my Early Arizona.

LTilton -- "They do recommend against direct seeding?

Do you mean direct seeding outside at this time of year or at anytime?? Melons always do well when direct seeded. I just came back from Walmart and they had crimson sweet seedlings in containers. Surprised to see this but I guess its anything for a buck.

Jill --- No! It usually pertains to the seedless melons..

Thank you LTilton

Seedless do require more perfect conditions to germinate and the seeds are about $200.00 per thousand. The major reasons for not direct seeding. Seeds for diploids and Open pollinated melons are very cheap by comparison. They do better direct seeded than transplants most of the time and you avoid all the extra labor of transplants.
I have not found a seedless yet that fits my tastebuds, so I don't do much beyond experimenting with them.

One thing I read was that the seedless seeds require such consistent high temps to germinate it's better to do them inside than seed them outside where it might get cooler.

I went out today and got the melon area ready, put down the black cloth stuff to heat up the ground, For When.

I wonder if Indy has any in the ground yet? I think he said a couple of weeks ago that he had some germinated.

No, I don't have any in the ground yet. My oldest seedlings are 18 days now and just getting big enough to set out, but I am watching the weather forcast closely. I have some seedlings 14 days and some 5 days. I start them at 88-90° and they come up mostly in 2½ to 4 days. Those cantaloupes are first by a few hours.

Since this isn't Georgia, transplants are FAR better here than direct sowing.

Some growers are now using pollinaters that they don't intend to harvest with their sedless watermelons. So seeded melons may get scarce. I'm with farmer on the taste of seedless....probably because some of mine are so very good. I spent a heap of years learning to grow watermelons here...a hard learning curve but possible.

I had a seedless recently that had as many seeds and large white ones that were hardly edible....and the taste was not particularly good.