Cooperative Extension Service
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
The University of Georgia
George Boyhan, Extension Horticulturist-Vegetables
East Georgia Extension Center
Rosenwald Building, Third Floor
PO Box 8112
Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, GA 30460
912-681-5639 | 912-681-0376, Fax | 912-682-3481, mobile
The Georgia Organics Fall Farm Tour is scheduled for Sunday, October 7, 2001, in Athens. This tour will showcase three small farms in the Athens area. The tours will be from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.
The Paul Chew Farm specializes in fresh produce with an educational mission. The next farm is the Carl Jordan Farm, which conducts research to improve organic farming in Georgia. Finally, the Sam and Abeos Vegetable and Flower Farm shows how small farms can conserve green space in urban settings.
For a program and directions to each farm, visit the Georgia Organics website at www.georgiaorganics.org
In addition, programs can be picked up at Atlanta and Athens area natural food stores, restaurants and garden shops. You may also call the Georgia Organics Hotline at 770-621-4642. GO is asking for a $5 per person per farm tax-deductible donation from GO members and $7 per person per farm from non-members. This should be a great opportunity to see commercial organic agriculture in action!
As in past years, we conducted watermelon and cantaloupe variety trials at the Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center. Transplants were started at the Bamboo Farm and Coastal Gardens in March/April, 2001, and were transplanted to the field on April 19, 2001, for the watermelon trial and on April 25, 2001, for the cantaloupe trial.
Fertility consisted of 750 pounds per acre of 10-10-10 applied preplant and 750 pounds per acre of 15-0-14 applied on May 11, 2001. Harvest began on June 29, 2001, for cantaloupe and on July 2, 2001, for watermelon. Both cantaloupe and watermelon were also harvested on July 5, 6 and 9, 2001. Weed control was accomplished with 2 quarts/A of Sonolan applied on April 27, 2001. In addition, Permit was spot sprayed on May 7-8, 2001, for control of nutsedge. Finally, Poast Plus was applied over the top on May 7, 2001, at 1 quart per acre. The fertilizer application is a bit high and is the result of an error on my part. In addition, Permit is not labeled for use on cucurbits. Hand weeding was also done as necessary. We generally avoid applying pesticides to see how the plants will do under disease and insect pressure, and this year no insecticides or fungicides were applied.
There were 29 watermelon varieties in the trial. Royal Star watermelon from Petoseed was the highest yielding variety followed by Big Stripe, WX8 and WX22 from Willhite. Montreal from Sunseeds rounds out the top five performers. Surprisingly, Moon & Stars also had good yields. This is an old heirloom variety with an unusual rind pattern (check out the pictures below). The quality of this old variety was very poor, with white streaking in the flesh.
Seedless watermelons continue to be tested and grow in popularity. Nine of the varieties -- or almost a third -- were triploid varieties. We are beginning to see triploid varieties outside the crimson sweet type. This year, WX55 from Willhite and Revolution from Sunseeds were Allsweet types and Freedom a jubilee type from Sunseeds.
We had nine cantaloupe varieties in the trial, with Odyssey from Sunseeds having the highest yields. Both Eastern and Western types were in the trial, with the Eastern types yielding higher.
A note about the statistics listed: I used an adjusted LSD, which allows you to make up to five comparisons while maintaining the experiment wise error rate. This stricter criterion allows you to make any five comparisons you are interested in and eliminates the need to compare only adjacent means. The results of these trials are below.
| Watermelon Variety Trial, Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center, Lyons, GA -- 2001 | ||||||||||
| Variety | Company | Yield (lbs/acre) |
Fruit
Weight (lbs) |
Length (in) |
Width (in) |
Rind
Thickness (in) |
Soluble
Solids (%) |
Flesh Color | Melon Type | Comments |
| Royal Star | Petoseed | 27,240 | 16.0 | 12.5 | 8.9 | 0.75 | 10.2 | Red | Crimson Sweet | Some blocky & jubilee fruit |
| Big Stripe | Willhite | 25,406 | 14.9 | 12.7 | 8.6 | 0.83 | 10.4 | Red | Jubilee Blocky | - |
| WX8 (large seed) | Willhite | 23,766 | 12.6 | 13.6 | 8.1 | 0.78 | 10.8 | Red | Allsweet | |
| WX22 (small seed) | Willhite | 21,312 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 8.3 | 0.66 | 10.2 | Red | Jubilee | - |
| Montreal (5023) | Sunseeds | 21,225 | 13.3 | 12.7 | 8.2 | 0.53 | 10.0 | Red | Allsweet | |
| Moon & Stars | G. Hunter | 20,045 | 16.7 | 11.6 | 9.6 | 0.78 | 8.6 | Red | Moon & Stars |
Old variety, white streaked flesh |
| WX55 Triploid | Willhite | 19,889 | 12.7 | 13.7 | 7.3 | 0.70 | 9.0 | Red | Allsweet Seedless | |
| Festival (large seed) | Willhite | 19,548 | 12.0 | 14.4 | 7.3 | 0.63 | 9.5 | Pink/Red | Allsweet | - |
| Revolution (4043) Triploid | Sunseeds | 19,471 | 10.9 | 12.8 | 7.9 | 0.81 | 11.7 | Red | Allsweet Seedless | Variable, some jubilee fruit |
| Pinata (large seed) | Willhite | 19,185 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 8.4 | 0.83 | 9.4 | Red | Allsweet | Some jubilee & blocky types |
| XP 4525247 | Asgrow | 18,999 | 13.1 | 13.4 | 8.0 | 0.58 | 9.2 | Red | Allsweet | |
| Tribute (PX59696) Triploid | Petoseed | 18,999 | 11.9 | 10.7 | 8.7 | 0.70 | 11.0 | Red | Crimson Sweet Seedless | - |
| Stars n Stripes | Asgrow | 18,891 | 12.7 | 13.8 | 7.5 | 0.72 | 10.2 | Red | Jubilee | |
| Falcon (PS 56395) Triploid | Petoseed | 17,874 | 14.5 | 14.7 | 8.0 | 0.69 | 11.1 | Red | Allsweet | - |
| Sweet Eat'n Triploid | D. Palmer Seed Co. |
17,598 | 10.3 | 9.6 | 7.7 | 0.67 | 11.4 | Red | Crimson Sweet Seedless | Variable fruit, some icebox size |
| Sentinel (PS 36694) | Petoseed | 17,544 | 11.8 | 12.0 | 7.9 | 0.72 | 11.3 | Red | Allsweet | - |
| Sweetheart (large seed) | Willhite | 17,105 | 12.7 | 11.6 | 8.8 | 0.95 | 10.3 | Red | Jubilee | Some variability with Crimson Sweet type |
| Legacy (OP) | Willhite | 16,212 | 10.6 | 12.3 | 7.6 | 0.72 | 8.3 | Red | Allsweet Blocky | - |
| Vista F1 | Hollar Seed | 15,043 | 14.3 | 12.0 | 8.4 | 0.69 | 11.6 | Red | Jubilee | |
| AU Golden Producer | Hollar Seed | 14,810 | 13.2 | 9.9 | 8.8 | 0.67 | 10.0 | Yellow | Crimson Sweet | - |
| Freedom (3022) Triploid | Sunseeds | 13,957 | 12.0 | 12.3 | 8.2 | 0.72 | 11.8 | Red | Jubilee Seedless | |
| AU Producer ZYMV | Auburn University | 13,605 | 13.4 | 10.1 | 9.1 | 0.72 | 9.6 | Red | Crimson Sweet | - |
| Afternoon Delight Triploid | D. Palmer Seed Co. |
13,511 | 8.9 | 9.2 | 8.4 | 0.77 | 11.5 | Red | Crimson Sweet Seedless | |
| Stargazer | Asgrow | 12,977 | 11.2 | 12.7 | 7.4 | 0.64 | 8.5 | Red | Allsweet | - |
| WX24 (large seed) | Willhite | 12,814 | 13.1 | 13.5 | 7.4 | 0.81 | 9.3 | Red | Blocky Crimson Sweet | Some jubilee type |
| Cooperstown | Asgrow | 11,576 | 10.6 | 9.6 | 8.2 | 0.58 | 10.9 | Red | Crimson Sweet Seedless | - |
| Triton | Petoseed | 11,558 | 10.0 | 8.9 | 8.4 | 0.75 | 11.3 | Yellow | Crimson Sweet Seedless | |
| AU Allsweet | Auburn University | 11,489 | 13.8 | 12.0 | 7.4 | 0.61 | 9.1 | Red | Allsweet | - |
| Sapphire F1 | Hollar Seed | 2,222 | 10.2 | 8.8 | 7.5 | 0.66 | 10.9 | Red | Crimson Sweet Seedless | |
| - | ||||||||||
| R2 | 0.353 | 0.563 | ||||||||
| CV | 50% | 14% | ||||||||
| Adjusted
LSD (p  0.05) |
14,199 | 1.8 | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||||
| Cantaloupe Variety Trial, Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center, Lyons, GA -- 2001. | ||||||||||
| Variety | Source | Yield (lbs/acre) |
Fruit
Weight (lbs) |
Length (in) |
Width (in) |
Flesh
Thickness (in) |
Soluble
Solids (%) |
Flesh Color | Melon Type | Comments |
| Odyssey (7119) | Sunseeds | 16,970 | 5.6 | 7.5 | 6.8 | 1.9 | 7.8 | Orange | Eastern | - |
| Athena | Syngenta | 13,891 | 4.0 | 6.9 | 6.2 | 1.8 | 9.8 | Orange | Eastern | - |
| Vienna | Asgrow | 10,557 | 5.5 | 6.8 | 6.8 | 2.0 | 8.1 | Orange | Eastern | - |
| Eclipse | Petoseed | 10,037 | 4.9 | 6.6 | 6.6 | 2.0 | 9.0 | Orange | Eastern | - |
| EX 04204099 | Asgrow | 9,378 | 4.1 | 6.8 | 6.3 | 2.0 | 8.2 | Orange | Eastern | - |
| AC-75-1A | Auburn University | 7,575 | 2.2 | 5.0 | 5.1 | 1.5 | 7.1 | Orange | Western | Some Eastern type |
| Super 45 | Willhite | 6,044 | 2.9 | 6.2 | 5.2 | 1.5 | 7.5 | Orange | Western | Some Eastern type |
| AC-89-55MI | Auburn University | 6,032 | 2.6 | 5.2 | 5.0 | 1.4 | 7.2 | Orange | Western | Some Eastern type |
| AC-82-37RNL | Auburn University | 2.311 | 2.4 | 5.8 | 4.9 | 1.6 | 4.9 | Orange | Western | |
| - | ||||||||||
| R2 | 0.574 | 0.597 | ||||||||
| CV | 60% | 21% | ||||||||
| Adjusted LSD (p0.05) |
7,015 | 2.4 | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||||
I have been doing some preliminary work with leek production in South Georgia. It seems like it would be a good fit with our onion growers. Zellwin Farms, when they moved to South Georgia from the muck soils of Florida, brought their leek production with them. Presumably, since they have sold out to Coggins, Coggins will continue this production. They were growing leeks as a fall crop started the previous spring (March).
We grew some at the VOVRC, direct seeding on 11-7-00 and harvesting on 6-19-01. Whether it is grown as a winter or fall crop, it is apparently a very long season crop. The following table has the yield data. We grew two varieties -- Arena and Alora -- with Arena having a blue-green leaf color and exhibiting more winter hardiness. (We had some freezing temperatures around Christmas.)
| Leek yield per acre using direct seeding | |
| Cultivar | Yield
per Acre (lbs) |
| Arena | 35,030 |
| Alora | 21,635 |
From My Desk
Sorry this is so late but, as usual, I'm behind. The pictures I took of this summer's trial watermelons are below.
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