Watermelon hybrid - pollinator seed???

9 years ago

I'm in zone 8b, and no, I'm not about to put these in the group for a while..,but I just got them delivered from Burpee...

My five year old convinced me that we need to try growing an orange watermelon (first time for any watermelon) and when I got the seed packet I realized I apparently ordered a seedless hybrid that contains a pollinator seed. Now I'm stumped, I opened the packet and all 10 seeds look the same, do I have to plant all 10 seeds for this experiment to actually work. I don't have room for 10 watermelon plants, or a desire to grow that many melons. Anyone with any advice/experience on this?

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digdirt2

9 years ago

What is the exact name of the variety you ordered please? Need to include that info.

Dave

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Comments (9)

wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I can understand having a problem with these packets of seedless and pollinators. First of all, some send a small sealed packet with the seeds. IS THIS THE POLLINATOR? They should mark the pollinator clearly. Also I will use my own known pollinator of a good eating variety....thank you.
Katie Gooding thanked wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
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digdirt2
9 years ago
Yeah normally the pollinator seeds are packed separately in the packet if there isn't a clear difference in the seed appearance. It is possible that this particular packet just didn't get the pollinator seeds added. Call Burpee and ask.

Normally the seedless hybrids (triploids) need to be started indoors rather than direct seeded and once germinated you can see the difference in the plants. Which is why I asked the name of the variety. But I now see Burpee only lists one triploid orange - Orange Crisp - and IME their seeds are smaller than any pollinator seeds.

If your son wants orange and you want to order from Burpee then get a pack of Orange Tendersweet and then you won't have to worry about having a pollinator.

Dave
Katie Gooding thanked digdirt2
wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
9 years ago
I looked in the regular Burpee catalog and they don't list Tendersweet there...or much else in watermelons. Actually, Burpee carries more varieties than listed in the garden catalog. You can e-mail them to find out.
Katie Gooding thanked wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
digdirt2
9 years ago
Orange Tendersweet. May not be in the catalog but Orange Tendersweet is on their website.
Katie Gooding thanked digdirt2
farmerdill
9 years ago
Orange Tender sweet is one of the best dark yellow fleshed melons, BUT it is a big melon 30lb class. You may be more interested in an ice box size. Yellow Doll is pale yellow flesh, but delicious and 6-8 lbs. Baker Creek has a number of OP pale to dark yellow flesh melons. The best is Golden Honey (18-20 lbs)
Katie Gooding thanked farmerdill
Katie Gooding
Original Author
9 years ago
The specific variety is "orange crisp hybrid". According to the packet they get 16-20 pounds, although I don't always trust the packets. Upon closer inspection I noticed that there are more than 10 seeds, and some are smaller than others, I'm assuming these are the plants that will produce a seedless orange watermelon, and the big seeds are the pollinator?

Correct me if I'm wrong as I have no experience with melons...If I plant one mound with small seeds and one mound with the large seeds I can thin them to one plant/mound and will end up with two plants. One will produce my seedless orange crisp and the other will produce some mystery type of watermelon plant? Will the pollinator plant also produce edible fruit?

According to the local agricultural college I can direct sow, which I would prefer, I have a poor history with transplant attempts, but maybe since this is a hybrid I need to try to start indoors?

I blame my MIL and the book "rainbow garden" for my current confusion! Thankfully the purple beans were a bit more self explanatory, and next year I'm going to check out some of the other varieties you mentioned. The ice box sized melons sound intriguing, and hopefully we won't be needing yellow next summer?
digdirt2
9 years ago
I'm never a fan of planting only 1 of anything. It cuts your odds of having any success way down. 2 plants will double your odds, 3 will triple them. Especially when cross-pollination is required. And one doesn't normally only plant one melon plant per mound anyway, you plant 2 and often 3 to insure adequate male and female blooms at the same time.

So I would success you sort your seeds, and if you don't want to grow them as transplants but decide to direct seed instead then plant 5-6 seeds of each in separate hills next to each other, close enough that the vines will be able to intertwine for pollination, and then thin each hill to 3 plants once the plants are 3-4" tall.

Dave
Katie Gooding thanked digdirt2
Katie Gooding
Original Author
9 years ago
Perfect. That's what I'll plan on doing then!