Melons crossing or not

I picked my first swan lake, or rather second one, First one wasn't ripe, Second was so delicious. I noticed it was orange and white mixed , kind of like it was crossing with the cantelopes that are planted in the same row. Is this possible. I thought that only the seeds would produce crosses next year, that the melons this year wouldn't cross. Is this wrong? Anyways, it was delicious, and I picked 2 more swan lakes today they had slipped from the vine so I grabbed them up. And the banana melon is tasting just like cantelope, does it have a cantelope taste? Just wondering, it's planted in the same row too LOL.

I picked 2 santa clause melons but have't cut them open yet. I'm craving watermelon, so I need to go out and pick one of them too LOL.

Nope , I"m not pregnant, I'm just dieting, and melon is what i've been eating to curb the sweet cravings. LOL

kathy

I'm bumping this back up, Really want to find out about this.

The swan lake melon. Has anybody grown it? What color is it suppose to be, Seems the longer it stays out there in the sun the more the inside looks like cantelope, Not ever raising this before, I have no idea what color the inside is suppose to be. But I thought it was kind of like a honey dew , not a cantelope. So Do I have some crossing going on here that might have happened early on. between the cantelopes, banana melon, santa clause melon or swan lake melon. The rest of the melons are fine, but the swan lake,

please if anybody knows, let me know ok

kathy_ann

I want to save seed off the swan lake, but don't want the seeds if their not suppose to be orange inside the melon

i'm pretty sure i'ts a biological impossibility that the fruit of one generation would change due to hybridization. I'm unsure, on the other hand, what the inside of a swan-lake melon is supposed to look like.

I kind of thought this, but wasn't sure. thanks for the help

kathy

It's unlikely that the appearance of this year's fruit is due to crossing. However, if you're planning on saving seeds, there is a good chance that some of the melons you grow from those seeds will have resulted from a cross between your melon varieties.

Description from Seeds of Change: "Some fruits are white fleshed, others are swirled with orange, peach, or pale salmon. All are smooth textured with an exceptional perfumy aroma and flavor." And yes, there are several regular honeydews with orange flesh. If you are growing your other cultivars in the same garden, they will cross and give you some surprise melons in the second generation.

Yes, I am growing the hales best jumbo cantelope that's turning into a smaller melon due to heat and lack of water I guess, the banana melon, and the swan lake, and santa clause, not to mention two types of watermelons LOL, won't it be grand next year, I will be saving the swan lake melons, perhaps the banana, I wsn't too thrilled with the santa clause taste, but perhaps I picked it a bit too young it did not slip off the vine, but maybe I didn't give it enough time to, the only melons slipping are the swan lake and cantelope . The banana melon's are yellow when ripe, and I'm having to cut them, and apparently their ripe cause they were starting to bust open on the bottom and had not slipped from the vine yet.

I'm having a devil of a time picking ripe watermelons though, LOL. picking them too soon, cause i'm dying for watermelon.

FD has said that some melons don't slip, so guess banana is one

the w-melon won't slip, but the tendril will be dry next to the steem, they will thump hollow, and the spot where they were rouching the ground, which was white, will begin to turn. some cremy, some beige, others turn yellow. wait for the first to signs plus any color darker than white B4 you pick!

don't save any of these seeds, they are all crossed from those little bee pollinators.

next year, you can bag some hand pollinated blossoms for the purpose of saving seeds :-)

watermelon is very god for you, raises the ph in your blood, which is good news fdor keeping the calcium in your bones, also great for de-toxing, they use it in Mexico for cancer patients.

plus when you eat it right away, there is nothing better!

pls 4give my 1-handed typing...

I agree tamara, nothing better than melon fresh picked, I don't even put it in the frig first.

I didn't realize the part about mexico giving it to cancer patients, Cool. I eat watermelon quite often when it's summer time. right out of the garden.

I think I am going to try saving a few seeds to see what kinds of crosses I get next year. it will be neat , who knows, maybe i'll come up with some funky nanalake melon or something LOL

kathy

It takes 3 dry curlers on a watermelon to tell it's ripe. The one where the fruit is attached & the next one on each side. Make sure they are good & brown. Thumping a melon will only tell you when the thing is overripe, like most are in grocery stores around here.
I would never save seeds from any melons. Also I only plant hybrids. Melons take up to much space to monkey around with something that may not be fit to eat.
My favorite melons are Sangria watermelon & Superstar muskmelon. Yellow doll watermelon is Okay for a icebox type.
Ours are about 3 weeks from being ripe, can't wait!
Bernie

thanks bernie! picked one today, it was good, but only two brown tendrils, i will be more patient next time!

yes, i had some volunteers come up & would not have fooled with them except that only 2 out of 33 i planted came up! so it's possible cross or nothing LOL