I am considering growing watermelons this year, and I have looked through many seed lists on the internet to see what strikes my fancy. I have come upon two heirloom varieties that get rave review from their loyal fans and gained an inspiring idea from the descriptions of these tried and true treasures. I thought I could grow a hybrid that is loaded with extra antioxidants and promises to be a winner in taste from the two varieties. However, I noticed what might become a big problem. I have never seen or tasted either one myself, and I only have pictures and descriptions. It appears that I could easily get them mixed up because they grow approximately the same size and I would not know one picture from the other if they are not labeled. If I do not cut them open to see which is which, one might look like the other on the outside. I do not want to tell y'all what varieties they are because one or a bunch of y'all will decide to help me grow these things, and I apoligize, but I don't think I need any of you helping me name this new strain of watermelon. Is there a special trick to telling my works of art from the bee's works of art without goinng inside to take a look?
Watermelons that already look alike on the outside
I'm not sure what you're asking.
If you're growing 2 different varieties this year, plant them in different hills and label them. If you want to be (fairly) sure of getting crossed seeds rather than self-pollinated ones, maybe you could do something like removing the pollen bearing anthers from the bloom you are pollinating (with pollen from the other variety and then tying the bloom shut or bagging it so it doesn't get additional pollen.
I'm not sure if you realize that no matter whether you get crossing or not, the melons you harvest this year will look like the mother plant... it's only the seeds that will be hybrids. Next year, when you grow out the seeds, you will see the F1 hybrid generation fruit... and if you want to stabilize the hybrid strain you'll have to continue to grow it out for several years. It wasn't real clear from your post what stage of this process you were in.
Yes, I was thinking of a spot in my Garden where the two varieties could grow close to each other. I would know where A is planted and where B is planted. I could stick a brick between the varieties. I was thinking of pollenating them myself, but I do not want to go to the extra trouble of keeping bees away. So some may be polinated from their own variety. Is it difficult to keep bees away? How much trouble is it?
I am aware that I will have to save the seeds until the next year to see what happened. I will also have to do it again to get a more consistent strain. The seeds that are kept the first year after I pollenated the flowers should have characteristics of the Mom and the Dad if they are true hybrids. Others that are pollenated by bees may look like either A or B but not both A and B. That leaves three groups: those that look like A, those that look like B, and those that look like A and B.
My problem is that the varieties in the pictures look like each other on the outside of the watermelon. I suppose I could cut every one open and save all of the seeds. Any seed from a melon that looks exactly like Variety A can go into pile A. etc. I would not be able to sell any of the watermelons because I could not tell my customers what to expect inside the melon. I suppose I could keep and eat every one myself. Is there a better way?
Is there a better way?
Yes. Eliminate the self-pollinated bee/wind self-pollination by pollinating by hand just when the bloom opens, removing anthers, and bagging the bloom. Other than that, I don't know any way to reduce/identify bee crosses. And the most desireable hybrid could be one that looks just like one of the parents on the outside, so...
Good luck with your project!