Watermelon Landrace (project)

[AndrewB]

I will be able to attempt to resurrect my watermelon landrace this year. I did not plant the Citron melon hybrids.

I was mostly out of seed. Honestly I thought I was out since i shared almost all of my seed over the years. I'm a bit more protective of my seeds now.

Planted the smallest seeds of the batch. Got at least 80% germination on the heat mat! So my cold storage / vacuum storage worked!

So hopefully I can find a few spots, and I hope the poor soil here will be enough. Since the original landrace was bred on pretty poor soil I'm thinking they may do better than typical varities would.

It's always exciting to resurrect old projects! I'm still sad Joseph's yellow fleshed Charleston grey variety failed last year, but there is a strong possibility some of that pollen survives in these seeds from So long ago.

William, how did yours do last year? You think it was seed I sent you?

[William Schlegel]

They did survive last year not great though. I got some seed back. No I think my water melon project has had huge genetic turnover and has pretty low diversity currently.

[AndrewB]

Watermelons growing nicely. Got at least 10 growing and at least 4 different patterns. Lost a lot of seedlings that germinated, but we get what we get.

These plants on the end look productive and growing well. Oblong fruits. Look like they are Lofthouse Yellow Charleston gray descended! So maybe not 100% lost after all?!

Guess we get to find out! I think most of these will make it just before frost this year,  so I'm not worried. Ironically one of the best crops for me this year.

[AndrewB]

One the first watermelons to ripen are the lofthouse charelston grey looking ones. A little smaller than in hoped, but okay for such poor soil. Seem to be orange or yellow fleshed. Good sweetness. Large brown seeds, which is interesting because I could have sworn I planted small seeds, not large.

Edit:
These actually could be Kaho, watermelon. I did plant some seeds for kaho, but I was certain they all died. Perhaps I mislabeled the container? If they are Kaho, that would explain orange flesh instead of yellow, and such small size. Would be a good candidate to cross with lofthouse charelston grey if it is Kaho.

[AndrewB]

This one that has the darker stripes and canary yellow- white flesh was very seedy. The round one with more charleston grey pattern and pink/red flesh has few seeds. Both are on the small side and the yellow one was way too seedy, so both will not be saved for seed. It's time to start being selective with seed saving. If not now,  then never. It's nice to see all three flesh colors showing up in this year's melons though.

I am coming to the conclusion that those with more silvery foliage and lighter colored melons are the ones that will theoretically do better in my high UV elevation environment, so selection in the future may tend toward that over time.

[Carol Deppe]

One characteristic I have decided is critical to me with respect to watermelons is whether the seeds are lined up in a relatively discreet ring or a jagged irregular large area spread over much of the flesh. If the former, I can easily remove the seeds by quartering melons lengthwise and removing central seed-free core. Then running finger through the seedy ring removing it leaving rind with flesh as more prime eating. I can also afford to over-produce the melons, since it is easy to remove seeds and feed the rest to poultry. I far prefer eating the huge seed-free parts of the flesh rather than having to spit out seeds. The photo shows examples of fruits with both seed arrangement patterns.