Heirloom, Open Pollinated, Non-hybrid Melon Seeds from the Victory Seed Company

Watermelons

Citrullus lanatus

[ Cantaloupe / Muskmelon ] [ Watermelon ]




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Melons for the Passionate Grower

by Amy Goldman
photography by Victor Schrager

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If you are interested in learning more about heirloom melons, this is the book to own. Beautiful photography and colorful histories complement practical growing and seed saving information.

Can't wait until summer to taste watermelon?
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Indicates New Variety for 2008

Click Here for information about growing watermelons.

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Arikara
80 days — The small (about five inches in diameter) fruits have dark rinds and good tasting, sweet, pink flesh.

According to the Museum of the Fur Trade, this variety is a descendant of small Spanish watermelons brought to South Dakota by traders from St. Louis in the late eighteenth century. It was collected and released by the Oscar Will Seed Company. About ten seeds per gram.

Well worth the effort . . . watermelon close to October!

Black Diamond
90 days — This old standard variety generally reaches the thirty to fifty pound range.

The fruit is slightly oblong with prominent creases, and dark skin. The flesh is dark red with large grayish seeds.

This one was harvested on the 23rd of September and boy was it good!

Approximately seven to eight seeds per gram.

Charleston Gray No. 133
90 days — The rinds are tough, grayish green with darker veining, oblong shaped with rounded ends, dark red flesh and reaching 20 to 40 pounds in weight. 'Charleston Gray' was released in 1954. No. 133 is adds better disease resistance.

Congo
100 days — The rind is tough, medium green with darker stripes, cylindrical in shape with blunt ends. Can reach twelve inches by twenty five inches and up to fifty pounds. Does extremely well in Southeastern U.S. and has a medium red colored flesh with very high sugar content and white seeds. Developed by the USDA. An "All-American Selection^®" winner in 1950. Approximately 12 to 13 seeds per gram.

Crimson Sweet
88 days — The fruits are light-green with dark-green stripes and average about 25 pounds. The flesh is dark red and very sweet. An "All-American Selection^®" winner in 1964.

Desert King, Yellow
90 days — Developed to be extremely drought tolerant and resistant to sunburn. The fruits are round to slightly oblong in shape with a rind that is a light pea green color. Although the rind is relatively thin, it will hold up in transport well. The flesh is a deep-yellow color, sweet and very tender. The fruits will reportedly hold up well on the vine for about a month after they first reach the ripe stage. Note: A small percentage of red-fleshed melons may occur. Approximately eight to nine seeds per gram.

Fairfax
90 days — The fruits average about 35 pounds, are oblong, striped light and dark green with bright red flesh that is fine quality and very sweet. Anthracnose and fusarium wilt resistant and well adapted for the Southeastern United States. Bred by the USDA, Southeastern Vegetable Breeding Laboratory, Charleston, S.C. and released in 1952.

Garrisonian
90 days — The melons are large in size with a hard rind and sweet, rose colored flesh. Well adapted for Southern and Eastern U.S. melon markets.

Bred by the USDA, Southeastern Vegetable Breeding Laboratory, Charleston, S.C. and released in 1957.

Georgia Rattlesnake
90 days — A very old Southern variety dating back to at least the mid-1800s. The vines are very productive setting fruits that are long, large (up to 30 pound) and light green with irregular, dark-green stripes. The flesh is bright-scarlet, crisp and sweet with seeds that are white with black tips.

Giza
85 days — This melon is typically not available in the United States. Grown in the mid-East for its large, edible seeds. They are consumed as we would sunflower or pumpkin seeds here in the U.S. Approximately nine to ten seeds per gram.

Although the original use may in fact be for the seeds, we found it to be a really good eating watermelon. Sweet, juicy and fine grained.

Greybelle
80 days — Greybelle was bred and released by the USDA's Vegetable Breeding Laboratory at Charleston, South Carolina in 1963. It features resistance to Anthracnose race 1 and sunburn. The fruits are nearly round and reach about fifteen pounds. The rinds are a light grayish-green in color with darker veins and flesh that is dark pink. Approximately 20 to 22 seeds per gram.

Iopride (Pride of Iowa)

100 days — The fruits are dark green with darker green stripes. They are oblong and blocky with sweet, bright-red flesh and a high sugar content. Holds long at maturity. Developed at the University of Iowa for upland soils and for resistance to Fusarium wilt and Anthracnose (race 1). Although once popular, it has become quite rare. Approximately 17 to 18 seeds per gram.

From our grower in Tennessee, David Pendergrass writes, "I think this is one of the easiest melons to grow. In all the years I have grown it, it has never failed to produce a crop. I have had extremely wet as well as dry and hot seasons, and when others failed, this one always came through for me.

This strain will get bigger than it is typically described. I average twenty five to thirty pounds and normally have a lot of forty pound ones. It has a good fruit set. I cannot say enough good things about it."

Kleckley's Sweet (a.k.a Monte Cristo)
85 days — The skin is too thin for shipping so you will not likely find this variety in your local supermarket. Excellent for home gardens. The fruit is oblong, dark green in color, and up to forty pounds in weight. Very sweet, dark red flesh with a stringless heart and large, white seeds. Approximately nine to eleven seeds per gram.

Developed by Alabama watermelon grower W. A. Kleckley. It is reportedly a cross between 'Boss' and 'Arkansas Traveler'. It was introduced commercially by W. Atlee Burpee in 1897.¹

Klondike Blue Ribbon Stripe
85 days — A very sweet, scarlet colored flesh with no strings. The fruit has a thin, but tough rind and can weigh up to thirty pounds. Released about 1900. Approximately 18 to 19 seeds per gram.

Moon and Stars
95 days — The dark green skin of the fruit is wonderfully speckled with bright yellow ranging in size from tiny to silver dollar and sometimes larger, hence the name. The leaves of the plant are light green with similar yellow speckles. The flesh is pink and very sweet. Average about ten pounds in weight. Approximately nine to ten seeds per gram.

The January 1, 1940 edition of Henry Field's "Seed Sense" stated, "A Novelty Worth Planting . . . Quite a curiosity . . . The Quality is good . . ."

Mountain Hoosier
85 days — Grown in the Mid-Eastern states since before the Civil War, Mountain Hoosier is a very old and productive variety. The seeds are white with a bit of black at the tips. The fruit is slightly oblong in shape with a dark-green rind that is medium thick making it a good shipper. The flesh is very sweet, crisp and deep-red in color. Fruits can mature to 75 to 80 pounds under optimum growing conditions.

Mountain Sweet
90 to 95 days — This is an old variety dating back to the 1800s. Melons are round and slightly oblong. The outside coloring is moderately green with darker stripes intermingled with mottled shades of green, The rind is one to one and one half inches thick but thinner on the blossom end. Can reach sizes of one hundred pounds but will weigh forty to sixty pounds on average under normal conditions. Seed are large and brownish black. Real nice sweet taste. Approximately nine to eleven seeds per gram.

Orange Flesh Tendersweet
90 days — The fruit of this melon are oblong in shape, roughly twelve inches in diameter by eighteen inches in length weighing between thirty five and forty pounds. The rinds are medium thick, light green with flesh that is a orange and high in sugar content. Approximately 13 to 14 seeds per gram.

The reward from a summer of watering in HOT weather - a 14 pound 'Sugar Baby' watermelon!

Sugar Baby
84 days — The best and most popular small or icebox melon around. One of the sweetest and earliest melons with very small seeds. Fairly tough, thin rind which keeps for a long time. Approximately 22 to 24 seeds per gram.

The watermelon in the picture was the result of a hot summer of hand watering. The reward was this fourteen pound fruit with perfect, extremely sweet flesh.

Tom Watson
95 days — This is a variety that was very popular with home gardeners as well as market growers. The fruit is large, up to forty pounds, with sweet, crisp dark-red flesh. The tough rind makes it a good shipping melon. Approximately nine to eleven seeds per gram.

See also 'Tom Watson'.

Will's Sugar
90 days — Fruits are nearly round in shape, reach up to twelve inches in diameter and average ten to twelve pounds in weight. The juicy, sweet flesh is pink to red with almost black seeds when fully ripe. Approximately 18 to 20 seeds per gram.

Introduced by the Oscar Will Seed Company of South Dakota in 1888. Very well adapted for the northern Great Plains region and does well in areas with shorter seasons. Grown out by David Pendergrass from NSL 28142. Click here for a catalog picture.

Watermelon Culture

Watermelons are a warm-season crop that thrive in air temperatures between 70 and 85ºF. Plant seeds direct in the garden in the spring after the last chance of frost for your area. Seeds will not germinate in cold soil so wait until soil temperatures at a four inch depth have reached about 65ºF. To get a jump on harvests, seeds can be started indoors and carefully transplanted.

Watermelons require full sun and a lot of room. Plants should be five to six feet apart in rows that are spaced six to eight feet from each other. Watermelon varieties will readily cross with each other as well as Citron so if you are intent on saving seed, grow only one variety and make sure your neighbors are growing the same. Isolation distance required is about one half mile. Hand-pollination is usually the preferred method for maintaining pure strains.

Watermelons will benefit from rich, healthy, well-drained soils. Work in plenty of well composted organic matter in early spring in preparation of planting a melon patch. Since watermelons are ninety two percent water, they require a lot of it. If you are using overhead sprinklers, water in the early morning so that the plants have a chance to dry before evening. This will help reduce opportunities for diseases to become established. Hand watering or drip irrigation is preferred. Water so that the soil is moistened to a depth of at least six inches - especially during fruit set and development.

Knowing when to harvest is a little tricky. When you have a field of watermelons, the best method it to sacrifice a fruit and taste the heart. If you have a home garden, this "brute force" method is not an option. First, compare your fruit with the description for the variety. Are the fruits the approximate size? Second, have enough days passed? Finally, look at the tendril closest to the fruit. If it has turned brown, the watermelon is usually ready to eat.

Watermelon Sale Conditions - Please Read Before Purchasing

1. U.S.D.A. Yearbook of Agriculture, 1937. Page 222

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