Cooperative Extension Service
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
The University of Georgia

Volume 7/Number 11
November--December, 2003

George Boyhan, Extension Horticulturist-Vegetables
East Georgia Extension Center
Nessmith-Lane Building, 2nd Floor
PO Box 8112
Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, GA 30460
912-681-5639 | 912-681-0376, Fax | 912-682-3481, mobile

Watermelon and Cantaloupe Variety Trial Results

This year again we conducted watermelon trials at the Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center (VOVRC) in Lyons, Ga., along with trials on cantaloupes and a watermelon trial in Crisp County. There were 32 entries in the watermelon trial at the VOVRC with about a third of the entries seedless. Yields at the VOVRC ranged from 55,431 lbs/acre to 19,511 lbs/acre. The highest yielding variety was WD-02-25 from D. Palmer Seed. This variety is an Allsweet diploid variety. The low yield of variety 8282 is a bit misleading because we had a germination problem with this variety. The seed company (Seminis) had indicated they were having a problem with this variety. The consequence of this was we didn't have enough plants to complete all plots.

The highest yielding triploid variety was Butterball, a yellow-fleshed seedless variety from D. Palmer Seed. Overall, I really like the color and quality of the yellow entries in the trial. The other two entries were Gold Strike and Sunny, with the former a diploid and the latter a triploid entry. Other triploid that did well were XP 4510759 and Cooperstown from Seminis, with yields of 40,166 lbs/acre and 39,709 lbs/acre, respectively.

The watermelons overall were small with only a small number of entries with any melons in the over 30-lb class. FSW 9130 from Florida Seed had 42 percent of the melons in the 20-30-lb class, which was the highest of all the entries. Most entries had a preponderance of melons in the 10-20-lb class.

The second trial was conducted in Crisp County with 12 triploid entries. The pollinizer used in the experiment was the new short-vine pollinizer, Companion, from Seminis Seed. Yields ranged from a high of 26,542 lbs/acre for Sunny to a low of 2,413 lbs/acre for WX-28. We did have some early problems with the use of Sandea herbicide, which caused stunting. Sandea is not labeled nor is it recommended for watermelon use because of the problem of stunting and delayed harvest.

Again this year we had a small cantaloupe trial at the VOVRC with only six entries. Cantaloupe production is still dominated by Athena type melons and this is reflected in our trial. We grow our cantaloupes on bare ground, which is problematic with cantaloupe production. As soon as the fruit is ripe, it will immediately begin to rot if not harvested. Unfortunately, we don't have a plastic layer at the VOVRC, which would improve cantaloupe trial conditions.

Finally, we did conduct a small experiment evaluating the pollinizer Companion. Seminis recommends interplanting Companion every second plant for optimum pollination. We compared this to interplanting every fourth plant with no difference in yield.

Results of the trials are below.

Watermelon Variety Trial, Crisp County, GA, 2003
Entry	Yield lbs/acre
Sunny	26,592
PX 11052889	25,534
Sweet Eat'n	21,842
Afternoon Delight	21,116
Sweet Slice	20,611
PX 4510759	18,897
Butterball	18,696
WT-02-26	18,475
Olympia	15,267
PX 80309020	11,962
Cooperstown	10,475
WX-28	2,413
CV	35%
Fisher's Protected LSD (p.05)	14,176

Watermelon Variety Trial Results, 2003 Vidalia Onion & Vegetable Research Center, Lyons, GA
Entry	Company	Description	Yield (lbs/acre)	Melons per weight class (%)				Flesh Color	Fruit Length (in.)	Width (in.)	Rind Thickness (in.)	Soluble Solids	Fruit Type
				10 lbs	>10- 20 lbs	>20 -30 lbs	>30 lbs
WD-02-28	D. Palmer Seed	2N	47,165	14	62	23	1	Red	12.1	10.0	0.8	9.2	Dark Crimson Sweet
WD-02-23	D. Palmer Seed	2N	38,667	8	76	15	2	Red	15.5	8.9	0.9	9.3	Jubilee
Compadre (DPS 4100)	D. Palmer Seed	2N Watermelon	44,979	19	61	19	1	Red	11.3	9.7	0.8	10.0	Crimson Sweet
Sweet Eat'n	D. Palmer Seed	313 Type (3N)	39,683	31	69	0	0	Red	11.1	8.1	0.8	9.8	Allsweet
WD-02-25	D. Palmer Seed	Allsweet Smoke (2N)	55,431	17	73	10	0	Red	16.3	8.1	0.8	10.5	Jubilee
WD-01-22 (Plantation Pride)	D. Palmer Seed	Blocky Catsweet Type (2N)	48,407	11	67	21	1	Red	15.3	8.2	1.0	9.4	Allsweet
WD-02-29	D. Palmer Seed	Diploid	51,911	7	84	8	0	Red	11.9	8.7	0.8	8.9	Blocky Crimson Sweet
WX-255	Willhite	Hybrid	54,712	11	86	3	0	Red	13.3	8.2	0.8	9.5	Allsweet
Gold Strike	Willhite	Hybrid	52,622	7	81	11	1	Yellow	13.7	8.5	0.8	10.4	Jubilee, Allsweet
WX-261	Willhite	Hybrid	48,098	14	70	16	0	Red	16.9	7.7	0.8	8.6	Allsweet
WX-207	Willhite	Hybrid	46,292	23	61	17	0	Red	16.1	8.2	0.8	10.1	Jubilee
WX-262	Willhite	Hybrid	42,033	20	60	20	0	Red	16.4	7.7	0.7	9.3	Allsweet
WX-266	Willhite	Hybrid	39,604	12	68	21	0	Red	16.8	7.8	0.6	9.7	Allsweet
Genesis F1	Shamrock	Hybrid	37,713	46	54	0	0	Red	9.3	8.5	0.7	10.0	Crimson Sweet/Jubilee, seedless
ChaChaCha F1	Shamrock	Hybrid	36,688	25	72	2	0	Red	11.1	8.4	0.7	10.9	Crimson Sweet, seedless
Olé	Willhite	Hybrid	36,373	27	59	14	0	Red	15.1	8.4	0.9	10.5	Allsweet
Sweet Slice	Willhite	Hybrid Triploid	44,515	24	72	3	0	Red	11.6	8.6	1.0	10.3	Crimson Sweet, seedless
WX-28	Willhite	Hybrid Triploid	38,021	18	55	26	0	Red	17.0	8.4	0.8	8.9	Allsweet, Jubilee, seedless
Butterball	D. Palmer Seed	Triploid	53,780	28	72	0	0	Yellow	9.1	8.8	1.4	9.3	Crimson Sweet, seedless
XP 4510759	Seminis	Triploid	40,166	37	63	0	0	Red	10.9	8.2	1.0	10.5	Blocky Crimson Sweet, seedless
Cooperstown	Seminis	Triploid	39,709	17	80	4	0	Red	11.1	8.2	0.7	10.3	Blocky Crimson Sweet, seedless
Sunny	Willhite	Triploid	36,483	10	83	7	0	Yellow	12.7	8.0	0.9	11.1	Allsweet, seedless
Afternoon Delight	D. Palmer Seed	Triploid	35,191	20	78	3	0	Red	10.2	8.8	0.9	9.7	Crimson Sweet, seedless
Olympia (5031)	Seminis	Triploid	34,104	25	69	6	0	Red	11.8	8.8	0.9	10.6	Blocky Crimson Sweet, seedless
WT-02-26	D. Palmer Seed	Triploid	32,329	25	71	4	0	Red	11.9	8.6	0.9	10.0	Crimson Sweet, seedless
PX 80309020	Seminis	Triploid	28,325	35	62	3	0	Red	11.1	7.9	0.9	10.6	Blocky Crimson Sweet
8282	Seminis	Triploid	19,511	28	39	33	0	Red	16.7	8.0	0.7	8.8	Jubilee, seedless
PX 11052889	Seminis	Triploid Larger Tri X	43,316	26	72	2	0	Red	11.5	8.8	0.8	9.5	Blocky Crimson Sweet, seedless
FSW 9130	Florida Seed		48,137	4	52	42	1	Red	16.6	8.1	0.9	9.7	Allsweet
SSW 9140	Florida Seed		46,867	4	59	37	0	Red	13.9	9.1	0.8	10.1	Blocky Jubilee
SSW 9150	Florida Seed		45,172	21	71	8	0	Red	14.2	7.7	0.7	9.7	Allsweet, light colored seed
SSW 9905	Florida Seed		41,763	32	68	0	0	Red	10.8	8.4	0.7	10.6	Crimson Sweet, seedless
		CV	26%								CV	9%
Fisher's Protected & Adjusted LSD (p0.05)			20,141		Fisher's Protected & Adjusted LSD (p0.05)							1.6

Cantaloupe Variety Trial, 2003 Vidalia Onion & Vegetable Research Center, Lyons, GA
Entry	Company	Type	Yield (lbs/acre)	Yield (No./acre)	Length (in.)	Width (in.)	Flesh Depth (in.)	Soluble Solids (%)
SVR-1022	Seminis		38,345	3,449	9.6	8.2	2.1	7.4
ESC-02-08	D. Palmer Seed	NJ, MD, Biotype	26,275	3,812	9.2	7.3	1.9	6.9
Athena	Rogers	Athena	25,634	3,933	8.4	6.8	1.8	7.1
RML 8793-VP	Rogers		24,079	2,844	9.1	7.3	1.9	7.8
ESC-02-07	D. Palmer Seed	Eastern Shipper (Athena)	23,541	3,691	8.8	6.9	1.7	6.2
ESC-02-09	D. Palmer Seed	Eastern Shipper	19,729	3,812	7.5	6.3	1.5	6.6
		CV	39%	21%				20%
Fishers Protected & Adjusted LSD (p0.05)			NS	NS				NS

First Certified Organic Land in the University of Georgia System

We just received our certificate from the Georgia Crop Improvement Association certifying about 1 acre of land at the Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center for organic production research. To my knowledge, this is the first certified organic production land in the University System of Georgia and reflects a major new commitment on the part of the University.

Organic production remains small in Georgia, with fewer than 800 certified acres, but this reflects more than a 100-percent increase in organic acres since 2000. Organic growers have pressed for such certification for research done within the land grant system, and the University of Georgia has made that commitment.

A few years ago, the Organic Farming Research Foundation came out with a report indicating the woeful lack of support for organic production in the land grant system. A second edition of this report has just come out with a somewhat better outlook on the part of the land grant system to address research needs or organic producers. This small step of certifying an acre at the VOVRC on the part of the University of Georgia, I believe, bodes well for future research in this area.

The VOVRC is a unique facility within the University representing the only vegetable research center in southeast Georgia. It is also unique in that it is a partnership among several agencies including the Georgia Department of Corrections, the Forestry Commission, and the Vidalia Onion Committee along with the University. Vegetable production, and vegetable production research in particular, requires a huge input of labor, which this facility offers. The VOVRC uses inmate labor to accomplish many of the tasks at the farm. There is no other facility in the system capable of handling this kind of labor intensive research. Although the primary mission of this facility has been research with Vidalia onions, it has been the site of research on tomatoes, sweet corn, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, garlic, artichokes, blackberries and strawberries to name a few. And now, with the added certified organic land, this facility truly becomes an essential part of the University of Georgia's commitment to vegetable research.

Well, the end of another year is upon us. This past year has been a struggle for all of us, with ominous changes on the horizon. But with a new year, you can't help but think things are going to get better. For all of us who are in education, whether at the state or county level, and are questioning the importance of what we do, I hope you didn't miss the special on Oprah Winfrey in Africa. When all a child wants in life is a uniform ($6 in Africa) so they can go to school, I think the message is brought home.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.