Introduction
Table 1
Table 2
Table 3
Trial Photos

Watermelon and cantaloupe variety trials were conducted at the Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center near Reidsville, Ga. in Toombs County. There were 36 entries in the watermelon trial and seven in the cantaloupe trial. Plants were seeded on April 7, 2004 in a local greenhouse and transplanted to the field on May 18.

Fields were prepared according to University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service recommendations for watermelon and cantaloupe production. Seven hundred and fifty pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer was preplant-incorporated and an additional 750 pounds of 10-10-10 was applied approximately four weeks later just prior to vine coverage. Weed control followed University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service recommendations, however no disease or insect control measures were taken.

The experiments were arranged as randomized complete block designs with four replications. Watermelons were planted with an in-row spacing of 5 ft. and a between-row spacing of 6 ft. Each plot (experimental unit) consisted of 10 plants. The cantaloupe experiment had plants set 3 ft in-row with a 6 ft between-row spacing and also had 10 plants per plot.

Watermelons were harvested on July 8-9 and again on July 12. Cantaloupes were harvested on July 6 and 12.

Data collected on the watermelon harvest included weight of each individual fruit, and two melons were cut from each plot to ascertain the length, width, rind depth, and soluble solids (percent sugar). In addition, the color was rated from 1-5 with "1" indicating excellent color and "5" indicating poor color. The color assessment attempted to quantify the color quality without bias between dark red, red, and yellow fleshed melons.

The watermelon description in Table 1 is the seed company descriptor that was written on the seed packet or that came with the seed. The comments are our comments as noted during melon-cutting. Occasionally, there may be discrepancies in these comments, which reflect differences among replications primarily due to variability in the variety.

The yield results of the watermelon trial are summarized in Table 1. Yield ranged from 9,202 pounds per acre for WS Crimson Palm to 54,987 pounds per acre for Olé. The lower yields generally occurred among the smaller fruited watermelons, several of which had 100 percent of their fruit in the below 10 pound size class.

As the criteria for watermelon harvest we look for a dead tendril opposite from the point of watermelon attachment. This is a particularly easy method for inexperienced workers to use in determining ripeness and in the past has worked very well for us. Even with this criteria, however we noticed many fruit that had immature appearance when cut showing light pink and/or white streaks in the fruit. We are not sure if this is due to immaturity or some other physiological problem related to an environmental condition or cultural practice.

The watermelon fruit characteristics are summarized in Table 2. Recently, several seed companies have introduced 'palm' or personal size watermelons. These watermelons are characterized by having weights averaging 3-7 pounds. Many are seedless and differ from other small seedless watermelons in having a very thin rind. We tested several in this class from Wannamaker Seed Co. and Rogers Seed Co., including both seeded and seedless melons, as well as the red and yellow-fleshed varieties.

Only four entries had any melons in the larger-than-30 pound class. These varieties only had 1-2 percent of their melons in this size. The majority of entries had melons in the 10 to 20 pound size class. This reflects the demand in the commercial market for small to medium size melons.

There continues to be a wide selection of watermelons from several different seed companies available in Georgia. No single variety dominates the market. Seeded and seedless watermelons continue to be grown in Georgia, varying in size and rind type. Personal melons have found a niche, but are primarily being marketed directly by seed companies under contract production or exclusive release. This marketing method will garner higher profits for the seed companies, but may also reflect the fact that personal melons tend to have lower yields, which makes it it difficult for growers to make money on a per pound basis with these melons.

The results of the cantaloupe trial are summarized in Table 3. There were no statistically significant differences among the varieties in the trial either for yield or number of fruit. All were Athena type melons with the exception of WS-SP04, which we characterized as a honeydew. The seed company descriptor indicated it is a 'Sprite-type', but the fruit were larger than a typical sprite melon.

No soluble sugars are reported this year for cantaloupe because the fruit were immature at harvest. In the past, we have had a lot of trouble with southern blight infecting the fruit immediately upon ripening particularly since we grow these on bareground. To minimize this problem we harvested earlier than usual, however the fruit never ripened sufficiently postharvest to get an accurate reading of soluble sugars (readings were low). We do feel the harvest otherwise reflects the potential for these varieties since the fruit had sized sufficiently.

 

Table 3. Cantaloupe Variety Trial, 2004. Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Resarch Center, Lyons, Ga.
Entry	Company	Description	No. of Fruit/acre	Yield/acre (lbs)	Length (in.)	Width (in.)	Hybrid
Athena	Rogers	Hybrid	7,623	38,557	7.6	6.1	1.9
Aphrodite	Rogers	Hybrid	5,748	37,437	8.0	6.8	1.7
WS-SP04	Wannamaker	small, specialty melon, 0.5-0.75 kg, 'Sprite-type', high sugar	7,443	27,491	6.0	5.8	1.8
PX 1461-1013	Seminis	Hybrid	6,050	31,109	7.5	6.3	2.3
Jaipur (BS 4309397)	Seminis	Hbrid	7,260	38,932	7.8	6.2	1.9
Moneyloupe (ACX 3908)	Abbott & Cobb	Hybrid	4,538	27,316	8.3	6.5	2.1
ACX 4757	Abbott & Cobb	Hybrid 72 Maturity Fruit Shape Oval	6,050	37,577	8.5	6.4	2.0
		CV	22	27
		Fisher's Protected LSD (p<0.05)	NS	NS

 

Trial Photos

#5244

#7167

#800 (ACX 5413)

#810 (ACX 5408)

Cha Cha Cha F1

Jamboree

Majestic (XP 4510759)

Mardi Gras

Olé

Precious Petite

PS 80309020

RWT 8145

RWT 8149

RWT 8154

RWT 8155

RWT 8162

Sweet Delight

Sweet Slice

Top Gun

Tri-X 313

Tri-X Palomar

Wrigley

WS Crimson 144

WS Crimson 166

WS Crimson Palm

WS Orange Palm NQ

WS Red Seedless MF

WS Yellow Palm PY

WS Yellow Seedless F

WS Yellow Seedless OS

WX207

WX255

WX257

WX266

WX270

WX28

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MP107-2 / 2005

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating.

 

J. Scott Angle, Dean and Director