best tasting watermelon

Okay, the tomato folks have got me started. Now, I would like to have a few seed for one variety of heirloom watermelons. I live in the southeast, anyone have any recommendations and sources. I've read that Moon and Stars is not really sweet and I want great taste.
thanks
charlotte

Sorry I know lots of great tasting watermelons, but no heirlooms.

Can you recommend one that does well with limited space?

Bush cultivars; they are not as prolific but they take up a lot less space. Garden Baby and Bush Sugar Baby are pretty good. If you have a little more space regular Sugar Baby(red) and Yellow Doll (yellow) are very good melons. The Doll is a hybrid. There is also a bush Jubillee and a Bush Charleston Grey. All are small "icebox" size melons.

I'm trying Crimson Sweet but it doesn't say anything about space other than 5-6 ft betweeen hills/rows. Fruit can be up to 25lbs.
-Juli

Crimson Sweet is a standard for flavor. It is a full size plant and melon which means it needs space. I plant on 10 foot centers.

This message was edited Feb 7, 2005 12:16 AM

The Rattlesnake is a decent full size melon. Very popular for those who had bottom land when I was a kid. It is an older commercial melon but not even the oldest available. Sometimes the misuse of the word "heirloom" sets my teeth on edge. Sorry

I dont necessarily want an heirloom watermelon but I do want one that might taste good. I rather have 2 good melons than 20 so so. I know the Moon and Stars are popular but I wonder if that is not because of their uniquness and not taste.

Taste wise, The Crimson Sweet is good enough to have folks demand it. I always plant some for those folks, but I converted a couple to AU Scarlet last year. Sugar Baby is very good and one of the very best icebox types. There are dozens that are almost as sweet but these stand out among watermelon fans. Among the yellow fleshed types Orangeglo and Tendersweet stand out. The best of the old timers are Kleckley's Sweet and Scaleybark.

Thanks so much. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it !
charlotte

This message was edited Feb 7, 2005 12:19 AM

I've grown Moon and Stars and it is considered sweet here. Don't know where that Non-sweet idea came from, unless it was from someone who grew them with too much water (or during a wet season). Trust me, Moon and Stars IS a sweet melon.

Granted, Sugar Baby is also sugary, but M & Stars is a great tasting melon and equals it easily...not lacking sweetness at all. (And remember, the sugar in anything is contingent on many factors.)

However, it sounds like Sugar Baby would give you a good harvest and the sugar you are looking for and do so in a limited space. I grew the Georgia Rattlesnake 3 yrs ago...I found it pale in comparison regarding sweetness but yet still an excellent melon. Well worth growing but I prefer others!

Perhaps you should try the Blacktail Mtn. I also grew it the other year and it was a great hit! And fairly early, too! (70 days). Give it a try...small vining, sweet/tasty, open-pollinated. Well worth saving the seeds from for next year.

Good info (and seeds) available here:
http://rareseeds.com/catlisting.php?cat=32

Thanks Horseshoe, I dont remember seeing seed for that around but I may give it a try. Do the M&S have thorns on their leaves? Seems I read that somewhere. Sounds crazy but who knows?
charlotte

Charlotte,
I am going to try Moon and Stars myself this year for the first time. There are several diff. types and I am not sure which one I have seeds for. I'll have to check my seed packet. I got them from Baker Creek.

Yes, it seems confusing to have so many different "kinds" of the same thing. I'm sure I read somewhere that Moon and Stars had thorny stems. Sounded yucky to me, I have to go wadeing thru mine looking for ripe melons.

Never have grown Moon and Stars but it has good reviews in plant files. Never saw a watermelon vine that was in any way hazardous and I have waded through tons of them barefoot. I still pick them barefoot to avoid damage to the vines.

Charlotte,
On the PF it does caution about spines on the plant- OUCH!! I guess DH will be picking our melons this year- LOL!!

I know that someone filled in spines on the plant for plantfiles but I have never seen one. Any other watermelon growers out there with spiny vines? I have grown a lot of cultivars and I have never seen one that you could not roll in naked in if you so chose.

Shoe has grown it, so lets ask him:

Shoe,
Does 'moon and stars' have spines or thorns on it?

Thanks!

We grew Moon & Stars one year. It got huge but taste was lacking. No spines that I can recall.
Our favorite melon is Sangria. You plant that and you will turn your nose up to all others.
We have people ask for it by name at the market. Lots of folks won't buy any other watermelon if we are out of Sangria. You can order from, www.twilleyseed.com
Crimson Sweet is nearly as good & is easy to grow & early too.
Bernie

Thank you CountryGardens, I will investigate that. Would it do well in the hot and humid south?

Sangria grows well here and is an excellent hybrid Allsweet type, I second Bernie on the flavor athough I would match up the open pollinated AU Sweet Scarlet any day. There are a lot of great tasting melons out there. I don't grow many hybrids, Actually Sangria, Yellow Doll, and Sweet Slice are the only ones that I have grown. Of the three only the triploid (seedless) Sweet Slice was a major dissappointment.

i was just looking through seed catalogue and came across "sunshine". it says it grows on compact vines. does that mean it doesn't take up much room? maybe this will help you.

I just browsed through the posts, wanted to throw in my ten cents...

I grew Early Moonbeam last year. We had a drought, and some were smaller, (the biggest were 5 pounds), but what we didn't eat or give away, I sold for $5 a piece, mostly to people who didn't even eat yellow meat. It was the best they had ever tasted. I got mine from http://www.seedsofchange.com

Frankly, I thinkt he best tasting watermelon is the one you just ppicked 45 minutes ago, put on ice, then immediatley delivered. Maybe that is why they were so good... yum...

Be sure to throw your $0.02 for the melons you've tried into their PlantFile entries.

These threads are fun reading, but eventually they slip off into cybersapce and are hard to find when you need 'em (like when you're thumbing through catalogs and trying to make up your mind ;o)