Sorry forgot about part 2 of the question. Any cross pollination won't show in the fruit this year, only in fruit grown next year from the seeds you saved this year. Those seeds could revert to either of the parent stock or produce any sort of crossed effect but only 2 genes would be reflected. Overly simplistic, but to effect 3 genetic changes you would need at least 3 generations of crosses - the crossed stock of the first 2 would have to be crossed with the third type and so on. And even then it would depend on which was the dominant or recessive gene as to which characteristics would take. An easy way to think of it is that you are a hybrid of 2 parents who each had 2 parents, etc. but your brother is also a hybrid of the same 2 parents as you are and look how he turned out. :^) Dave

tomatozilla: Like fruitnut, I also depend primarily on the brown tendril method, backed up by the yellow bottom method. But I mean really brown, dried up tendril. I agree that you jumped the gun with your yellow doll. Read the seed packet when you plant. It will usually give the days to harvest (I think yellow doll is about 75-80), and when you approach the indicated number that is the time to begin checking for the indicators. Stem slippage is for cantaloupes, which is quite a different melon. I recently learned stem slippage doesn't even work for honeydew melons. But I don't grow honeydews. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Black rot? http://www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/veg/htms/blkrtcuc.htm Watermelon. Spots start as small, round, dark greenish-tan to black water-soaked areas. They enlarge slowly, becoming brown to black in the center. They remain smooth for a long time, but become depressed as they enlarge. The spots are usually surrounded by a narrow water-soaked area with an irregular border. Under moist conditions, tiny pale and dark dots develop in the center of the spots, although these can be difficult to see. The spots may become leathery, the centers become darker, and cracks may radiate from the center of the spots. When humidity is high, a white cottony fungal growth may grow over the spots. Gummy ooze is usually absent. If the fruit is sliced open, cutting the spot in half, the rind is dark brown to black directly below the spot, and progressively lighter toward the edges. Here's a pic I found on a pumpkin:

It's been an interesting giant watermelon year. They are still growing although the plant in the back has had about half of its leaves stripped by a baby deer. I've since got my electric fence running all day to try to prevent this. That watermelon is a nice hindenberg shape and I'm guessing is about 60 pounds right now. In my "upper patch", the CC plant is doing great -- showing no signs of decline at all. Whenever I see my watermelon lurking there in the grass I keep playing the "Jaws" theme in my head -- it's a big one. Interestingly it's not a round cross-section, but rather it's flatter and broader. I've stopped measuring the circumference on it, but it's about 30 inches long and almost a foot and a half across, although possibly only a foot high. Pretty sure it's over 60 pounds but don't know how close it is to 100. I'm guestimating 80 pounds....time will tell. How is everyone else's CC doing ? Wayne