Definitely try Ali Baba, and if you have room Blacktail Mountain. I think you can get seeds for both at Baker Creek. I think Ali Baba (from Iraq), is the best watermelon i've ever tasted.

Thanks flatlaner and Wayne

I tried blacktail mountain last season and it did bad...most just died.

Wayne

Finishing healthy is exactly my problem! I got the plants to start off great but after that is where I had problems.

Is summer flavor 420 and orangeglo the best ones for finishing healthy that you have grown?

Jim

We always had trouble growing watermelon until we started planting them this way; Fill a raised box, (ours are 4x4) with half rotten compost, big chunks of compost work the best. On the top of the compost put 2 inches of your good garden soil, plant in the seeds. We grow 5 vines per box, and when the plants are 3 inches tall, throw on a couple hand fulls of organic fertilizer. They grow great using this method.

Jim,

I know your pain...concerning growing melons. Oh, how many times I have been there! You get some nice looking melons and pow!.. several wilt and die or/and they don't have the strength to finish up healthily to give full size, texture, flavor, and sweetness. You need all four to get that super melon.
Oftentimes they just half-wilt about August 7th overnite....several the same day. They may not die, but are not as vigorous thereafter...at least for a while and then some catch a second life and grow again.
Some years disease hits worse than others. Some years are vintage years. Beginners may have more "luck" as the disease pressures are not there so heavily if at all. My soil has had melons off and on for many years. Usually a brand new location with loose, sandy, and rich soil will do great. Last year I had a volunteer that sprang up in a fence row that likely had never been farmed. Although this soil is not sandy or extra loose, it produced a marvelous nice sized watermelon with excellent taste that I picked on October 9th.

I have observed that Summer Flavor #420 is about the pluckiest variety that I have grown......just keeps ticking. And when it is larger than 20 pounds, it is great tasting. Organgeglo is perhaps the largest vine grower I have raised with its good health.

Yellow Doll will usually do fair to great. I have not raised Mickey Lee...it is probably good from what I hear. I stay away from most baby types as I like the texture better on large ones.

Should wilt be a problem, look for a wilt resistant variety. Dixie Queen, Chris Cross among the older melons. Most of the newer commercial melons like Crimson Sweet will have wilt resistance. Fortunately, I don't have the problem here. Just throw the seeds on the ground and run. Great watermelon country.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dixie Queen

farmer, i don't know just why you are not troubled with at least some wilt?!
Anyway wilt resistance is just that....a measure of TOLERANCE against wilt and I believe that it is just that and certainly not any guarantee against wilt. If soil conditions and disease pressure is there heavily, I don't think that any variety is wilt proof. Now there is a third race of fusarium wilt.!
Again, anyway, I have dealt with wilt and reccomend SF#420 as the best resister I have found so far if one is having trouble with watermelon disease.

I have raised Dixie Queen and Crimson Sweet and they have done perhaps ok, but I think that the Dixie Queen did not have as much tasty flavor as some others. IMO

I too have the wilt problem living in north central ILL. I usualy try and plant in several places so I don't lose them all but I have had one vine die out of the hill and the rest were ok.

I don't plant the smaller melons since I prefer the 25-33 pounders and most of my plants are pretty vigouous. Some years they just set fruit better than others. Two years ago I didn't have any orangeglo while others were setting pretty well. I quit looking at them so closely and one day I began looking at them and found about 20 melons in one hill which is 2-3 plants.

I plant mostly hybrids and feel they taste better for me. My favorite is Burpee's Million Bucks, but I do plant some Moon and Stars just because I like the look of them. I will be trying the Summer Flavor #420 this year though, Wayne.

One thing about the Orangeglo....it is notoriously slow to germinate and slow to set fruits, but once it does probably no other variety has as much vigor of vine size.

I have had plants want to set on way too many .....usually on a second set of melons and I find that 1 or 2, or occasionally 3 fruits is best usually for nice size and full texture and flavor.

If you think Orangeglo is a vigorous grower, then you have never grown a really vigorous watermelon. The most vigorous watermelon I've grown is an old heirloom orange variety similar to Desert King, but with orange flesh and the explosive gene. The vines are routinely 30 feet long and I have measured them at 50 feet. They are so vigorous that I plant them on 12ft by 12ft spacing and leave lots of room on each side for them to sprawl. With that said, unfortunately, they are susceptible to wilt and sometimes die before making fruit.

If you want a good large and tasty melon, Jubilee and Congo are arguably excellent varieties. Fertilize heavily with organics and your watermelons will astound you.

DarJones

I too have the wilt problem living in north central ILL. I usualy try and plant in several places so I don't lose them all but I have had one vine die out of the hill and the rest were ok.

I don't plant the smaller melons since I prefer the 25-33 pounders and most of my plants are pretty vigouous. Some years they just set fruit better than others. Two years ago I didn't have any orangeglo while others were setting pretty well. I quit looking at them so closely and one day I began looking at them and found about 20 melons in one hill which is 2-3 plants.

I plant mostly hybrids and feel they taste better for me. My favorite is Burpee's Million Bucks, but I do plant some Moon and Stars just because I like the look of them. I will be trying the Summer Flavor #420 this year though, Wayne.

fusion power, I have not raised Jubilee though I tried Jubilee II once. It was the only bummer in a good melon year. I did not like the taste either. Is it much like Jubilee? Perhaps some varieties are not as well suited here as others. I raised Congo once and it did well. It was the hardest fleshed melon I ever raised. Some like that and some don't. I think I might have unsuccessfully tried Congo back in the '50s...not certain.

Course Carolina Cross might be considered vigorous, but was not for me.

A lot of watermelon growing depends on environmental conditions, particularly soil and summer temps. While I have grown them from the New River Valley to the Virginia Piedmont, to coastal Virginia and now in Middle Georgia, each area required some different techniques. Also some cultivars do better in one place than the other. Even here in the sandhills which is almost perfect for watermelons, I have duds taste wise. Although I have not found one that will not grow. Indy, Jubilee II is virtually identical to Jubilee except that it has wilt resistance. Jubilee is a good producer of large melons here, decent flavor for a pre - Crimson Sweet melon. Congo is ok, but gets watery when over ripe. Similar to Fusion Power I plant on 10 ft centers. Most difficult are the the Triploids (seedless) which need a high soil temperature to germinate. I have licked that problem, but still have not found one that I want to eat. The Orangeglo does well here, but is a late maturing melon, I actually prefer the orange fleshed Tendersweet. There once were two orange fleshed melons that were both productive and tasty, Texas Beauty and Texas Golden. Willhite discontinued them and I have not seen them advertised since.

This will be my second year to grow watermelons. I was very happy with Crimson Sweet last year. It was the only one I tried. I am going to branch out to try three different colors this year. For red, I am going to try Big Crimson. Does anyone know if the taste and and disease resistance are equivalent to Crimson Sweet. In the Willhite seed catalog, it only says it is "almost identical to Crimson Sweet". But does that mean the taste is equivalent, the disease resistance is equivalent, or both?

For yellow, I am going to go with Yellow Crimson. It just sounds like a safe bet. I had considered Yellow Doll also, but I may wait for another year to try that. Any comments on Yellow Crimson?

And for orange (although not as orange as some), it looks like Willhite's Tendergold is my pick. But I can't find anyone that has tried this one either. I have read comments that Orangeglo was a good one, but Willhite doesn't offer that seed and I can't find it locally.

Thanks for your opinions/advice!

Here is a link that might be useful: Tendergold

westtexan,

I have grown Tendergold and one year it was scrumtious for the first ones, but cool weather ones later didn't have the oompth of flavor. In any case let the melons fully ripen on the vine to get all the flavor.
One man in Arkansas raised Big Crimson last year and reported that the production was good and the taste was not very far behind Raspa....and that would be very good.

Yellow Crimson is likely ok. I tried it once and it died on me so I can't give a first hand report. Tthe Yellow Doll would give you some earlier melons in a yellow.

I like gold, orange, and yellow melons, but like about 3 red ones before another gold......love that Gold Strike.

Thanks Wayne! I've read your watermelon posts in other threads and always enjoy the extra tips and advice!

Now if you could only grow one type of watermelon, what would it be?

I just can't do that. LOL I've probably got 15 on tap for this year as I have narrowed down my favorites....hah!

I would probably plant Raspa if I could only plant one. Still that one has a bit more wilt so I don't like putting the eggs in one basket. Still, I like great watermelon so well that I plant many kinds with the empathsis on Raspa, Sangria, and SF#420......along with some Gold Strike, Sweet Dakota Rose, Royal Sweet, AU Sweet Scarlet, and on and on.

Some people drool over tomatoes with a passion. Now I like tomatoes some and raise a lot, but I just don't see the comparison to good melons!

So does wilt get transferred to nearby plants? I don't have much space so I will be planting melons in the same place this year so I am a little worried. I have a lot of compost this year so the soil will be better so the plants will hopefully be healthier, but other than that, is there anything I can do to decrease the chances of the plants getting diseased?

So all those you mentioned taste better than Crimson Sweet? I'm gonna have to look into them. If they can hold up against disease as well, I may have to change my plan for this season.

One more thing, would it be asking for trouble to try to plant 2 crops of melons in the same spot (within a few feet) in the same season? Even in west Texas, that might be pushing it weather-wise, but what about disease-wise?

I agree that Crimson Yellow is just Ok. Ditto for its look alike Au Golden Producer. Flavor and Texture is about equivalent to Yellow Fleshed Black Diamond. I much prefer Desert King, and Tendersweet, Yellow in that category. Tendergold is also in that Ok category. Ditto for its hybrid look alike Super Gold. Worst of the lot for me is Tastigold.
Big Crimson is simply a larger version of Crimson sweet.
An old time dark yellow melon that is as good as any and very productive here is the Golden Honey. (20 -23 lb category)

I do trial c couple of hybrids each year, but have not yet found one that was decidedly superior to an equivalent open pollinated one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Yellow Crimson

Thanks for the info and the link farmerdilla. I'm going to look around at the other melon information on the related pages. I was surprised at how orange the picture was. From a picture I saw elsewhere online, it Crimson Yellow looked a lot brighter yellow. Yellow Doll looks bright yellow in the seed catalogs too. I wonder just what color it turns out. Thanks!

As far as wilt spreading from plant to plant, it probably doesn't happen quite that way with soil borne fusarium wilt. There are other fungal diseases that could spread....especially foliar disease.

It is some gamble to plant in the same area over and over though I have done some of that with some degree of success. Six years in a couple places! Anymore I use Root Shield in the seed starting mix to help out.

Yellow Doll is a fine early melon good to the rind and I scrape that for more juice!1

Yellow Doll is very good, but it is a very pale yellow. Cream of Saskatchewan, which seems to me to be the same melon as the old White Sugar Lump from Fields is surprisingly good. It is not actually white fleshed but very close. A little larger than Yellow Doll, but just as prolific. There is also a Red Doll, if you prefer a red icebox melon.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cream of Saskatchewan

Thanks again for all the advice. I can't believe I hadn't already found all that information at Dave's Garden. I think I have been talked into Sangria for my red melon due to taste and Twilley's statement..."highly resistant to wilt" and b/c you guys (I am assuming Wayne is Indy on Dave's Garden) give it rave reviews. And it looks like I'm going to go with Yellow Doll instead of Yellow Crimson even though I don't read anywhere that YD has any special disease tolerance. I like the idea of it being early. I still don't know about the orangeish melon. I just wonder why orangeglo seed is difficult to come by when it seems to be so popular.

It's strange that Willhite doesn't list Orangeglo after praising it for so many years. rareseeds.com [Baker Creek] has it as do many small time places.

Willhite seems to be dropping several open pollinated watermelons and C. melo types each year in favor of hybrids. I had planned for Au Jubilant last year, but it was dropped after the catalog was printed. Also dropped Rocky Sweet, one of my favorite cantaloupes.

A question. OrangeGlo is an OP variety, right?

And all you watermelon lovers need to know this about watermelon's health benefits!

WATERMELON: RICH IN THE ANTIOXIDANT LYCOPENE

Lycopene pigment provides the red color found in some plants, notably tomato and watermelon fruit. Lycopene is a highly efficient oxygen radical scavenger and has been implicated in many epidemiological studies as providing protection against cardiovascular disease and some cancers, particularly of the prostate. Human uptake of lycopene from tomato-based products is thought to be more effective after heat and processing treatments. Watermelons contain as much or more lycopene than tomatoes but have been little studied as a source of lycopene. Over the last three years, we have conducted numerous studies with watermelon to determine maturity, storage, and minimal processing effects on lycopene levels. Additionally, a human clinical study with watermelon juice and tomato juice was done to determine lycopene uptake in humans. Watermelon cultivars exhibited a range of lycopene values, with seeded and seedless red fleshed types having 36 to 78 µg/g lycopene, and orange or yellow watermelons having less than 5 μg/g lycopene. Underripe and overripe melons had as much as 20% less lycopene than fully ripe melons, with maturity effects dependent on the variety. Storage of whole or cut melons for 2 to 10 days reduced lycopene by 6 to 10%. Assays of human plasma after lycopene ingestion indicate that lycopene was as efficiently obtained from watermelon juice as from tomato juice.

Thanks Anney for the good report. Yes, Orangeglo is op and yes, it is less healthy than the reds I love even better. Still, when you eat as much watermelon as I do, you get a fair amount in even orange I predict. LOL

Actually I have lived out my alloted years and am now in the bonus time. I eat what tastes good to me and never worry about trying to live past 115. I leave that up to you young folks. When I was young, the worry was whether I could find something to eat.

Thanks Wayne and everyone!!

I have been reading what you have wrote on some other watermelon threads Wayne and I appreciate all the good info you have contributed!

Is red doll pretty similar to yellow doll?

Jim

I don't really know. Farmer would know.

Red Doll vs Yellow Doll - Basic difference is flesh color. Yellow Doll has pale yellow flesh, Red Doll bright red flesh. Exterior markings, size, and growth patterns are almost identical.

Here is a link that might be useful: Doll watermelons

First get a copy of willhiteseed.com or order on line. bill

Thanks Farmerdilla

Is Evergreen seeds the only one that has red doll?

I was going to try yellow doll this year because it seems to do well for people and if red doll is similar I would like to have a red watermelon over a yellow.

Jim

I am adding to this old thread that is 15 years old. I have picked up a lot of info from these threads on numerous cultivars that has helped me in my trials of many varieties. I found it interesting that farmerdilla has pale colored Yellow Doll. Different soils and temps can have effects like this obviously. Yellow Doll grown here in Florida is not a pale yellow but takes on a nice bright yellow. I have been growing that early variety here for a very long time. I grow it for it's earliness, for to me, it is the best early variety I have grown. Has anyone grown the variety Royalty? That variety is a 20-22 lb melon which supposedly ripens in 70 days. Noted for being a great pollinator and has an extended flowering period which will help with a seedless variety if you are growing them. I am going to put that one out in South Florida and start it very early so I can have watermelon starting out in early March. I also just noticed this thread started out as most vigorous vines! lol I think Orangeglo is at the top of my list but I have not grown some known for their aggressive nature and am not interested in doing so. I grow strictly for flavor and production. I will sacrifice production to get the quality of flavor I want, but if I can get both, then that is the cats meow. To me, nothing beat Gold Strike! It had it all. I do not see it ever being available again, which saddens me!

Gold Strike has been my best producer for many years and I'm going to miss it too. I used to really like Yellow Dolls but in recent years it doesn't seem to be the same melon it used to be, still a nice yellow color but less productive and not as flavorful as it used to be.

That is very interesting! I am growing it out now and will report back. It has been a few years since I have grown it and have new seed. I am trialing a few new Yellow and orange varieties this year. Orange Crisp, Golden Honey, and Leelanau. It is my quest to find a Gold Strike replacement!

I like Sweetheart and Charlene...Willhite Seed.

I enjoy reading what you write Wayne ! I just ordered from Wilhite and they have been my supplier for most of my watermelon seeds. I almost got Charlene but then took it off, not once, but twice. lol I ordered Summer Flavor #720 and Starbrite. I thought Charlene might not be crisp enough but it was a guess. I have a problem of ordering way too many types and then not using them. I also did an order with True Leaf for some early Crimson sweet types named Royalty and Grandeur and then Golden Gem to compare it to Golden Honey.

For those wondering about what a fall crop will do in Florida, here are a few pics to wet some appetites. I started to late here and actually put in the seed on Sept 7th and then again on Sept 12, 2023. I could not get all of the vines in one pic for they were to large of an area and spread out. There is 52 ft of vines in width and about 20 or 25 ft deep, with 16 plants in a double wide row (wide row method of gardening for those who have never used this method). The plants are spaced 3 ft apart in each direction. These pics were taken on Nov 4th 2023. This is a close up of Jubilee. You can not see all the melons here but Jubilee has 4 nice sized ones similar to this one in pic. Orangeglo is out there also and is much later. Crimson sweet is sizing up quite well and another impressive melon. The Sugar Baby vine has 5 on there and is a trial to compare the speed of ripening times. The vines as you can see are completely free of any diseases or insect activity and are extremely healthy. This patch is being grown in Florida in zone 10, Port Charlotte, which is the West coast.

.

What will you do if most of the watermelons ripen at a similar time?

There is really no such thing as most ripening at the same time if you plan your harvest period properly by growing early, mid, and late season varieties and you are only growing around 15 vines Cindy. Staggering your plantings just a bit will help you even further. For instance Yellow Doll and Sugar baby! I have 2 each of these two so yellow doll will hit first followed closely by Sugar baby. For me, that would be great if a few more would ripen together for I am running flavor trials so I am ok this year with getting many to ripen at the same time but it will more then likely be comparing midseason to other midseason varieties and so on. I hope this answered your question!