Melons - Heirloom vs Hybrid
 

I've been looking at several OP varieties of melons to grow next year, many of them from the SSE catalog. I am interested in the Charantais and other French cantaloupes, as well as a few other OP melons.

But every time I get a catalog that caters to market growers, all of the melons are F1 hybrids. I'm a market grower, but I avoid hybrid tomatoes to target the customers interested in heirlooms. I would like to be able to do the same with melons.

Lower production is ok with me, but I am trying to avoid anything that is an abysmal waste of space. I do have a honey bee hive in the field.

Anyone's melon input is welcome. I have read some growers post that modern hybrid melons are not as sweet. But in the seed company's descriptions, they often brag about the high brix levels of the hybrids. I'm not sure whom to believe.

I have a list of about ten each, watermelon and muskmelon, and I am anxious to see if any are on the list you get. I am just getting into melons but in the past I love Orange-glo and Blacktail Mountain for watermelon and Golden Gopher for muskmelon.

My grandparents always grew Sangria. We have good luck with it. I think we've also grown Royal Sweet and Charleston Gray. I tried Black Diamond and did not have that great of luck.

But all we have grown are the more "normal-looking" varieties of cantaloupe and watermelon.

You might consider Tuscan melons I find them to be more reliable for sweetness.
They are very good.
Worth

Is Tuscan a class of melons? Or is there one "true" Tuscan?

There are some heirloom types but they have hybrids too.
An old Italian type melon that tastes like a cantaloupe they are one but look different.
Have you not had one before?
If not you should and get one that smells like one should.
They should sell very well.

Worth

[URL]http://www.rareseeds.com/ananas-d-amerique-a-chair-verte-/[/URL] not the easiest to grow but they demand a better dollar and the flavor is phenominal. And we have no trouble selling them

[QUOTE=reddeheddefarm;525877][URL]http://www.rareseeds.com/ananas-d-amerique-a-chair-verte-/[/URL] not the easiest to grow but they demand a better dollar and the flavor is phenominal. And we have no trouble selling them[/QUOTE]

Do you trellis them?

we don't as they have a tendancy to become ripe in a hurry if the conditions are right. When they are ready the come off the vine way to easy to risk them falling. One other thing is the shelf life is short and they are fairly fragile. All reasons they are not grown very often ...........but the flavor! If you can deal with all that they will sell well for you

I grow Pride of Wisconsin and Minnesota Midget cantaloupe and Sweet Dakota Rose watermelon due to my short season and they are good tasting too. Orange Glo is a good one too. I only grew it once after reading a whole article devoted to it in a gardening magazine. My husband prefers red watermelon, but I liked it.

I have had good luck with Georgia Rattlesnake watermelons. They are OP, productive, and tasty in my garden.

I used to grow op varieties of melons when I first started but anymore I grow nothing but hybrids. The biggest reason is production and appearance but I don't think there has been any sacrifice in flavor or sweetness. I've tried numerous varieties and try a few new ones every year. The claims about brix levels are as dependent on your growing conditions and methods as it is the genetics of the melons. Here are a few that my customers enjoy the most and ranked by my perception of sweetness and flavor.

cantaloupe, Hannahs Choice, Crescent Moon, Halona, Rock Star
honeydew, Honey Ace, If I could only grow one melon for me to eat this would be it.
annas, San Juan, Beautiful and so fragrant and sweet.
peil de sapo Lambkin

seeded watermelon , Jade Star red, Lemon Krush yellow, New Queen orange
seedless, Crispy Red, Orange Sunshine, 3521Y

I grow more varieties, these are the ones I consider the sweetest, My brother in law grows Roadside cantaloupe customers line up for them every day but they don't do well for me.

Marcus

[QUOTE=Marcus1;525964]I used to grow op varieties of melons when I first started but anymore I grow nothing but hybrids. The biggest reason is production and appearance but I don't think there has been any sacrifice in flavor or sweetness. I've tried numerous varieties and try a few new ones every year. The claims about brix levels are as dependent on your growing conditions and methods as it is the genetics of the melons. Here are a few that my customers enjoy the most and ranked by my perception of sweetness and flavor.

cantaloupe, Hannahs Choice, Crescent Moon, Halona, Rock Star
honeydew, Honey Ace, If I could only grow one melon for me to eat this would be it.
annas, San Juan, Beautiful and so fragrant and sweet.
peil de sapo Lambkin

seeded watermelon , Jade Star red, Lemon Krush yellow, New Queen orange
seedless, Crispy Red, Orange Sunshine, 3521Y

I grow more varieties, these are the ones I consider the sweetest, My brother in law grows Roadside cantaloupe customers line up for them every day but they don't do well for me.

Marcus[/QUOTE]

I totally agree and was waiting for someone else like you to come along and say it so I wouldn't be all alone.:lol:
I dont care what melon you grow if it isn't grown right and picked too soon it wont be sweet.
I saw a woman in the store looking at cantaloupes one day she was about my age.

I asked her can you smell cantaloupes and she said no.
I then said then they aren't worth buying.
If people would complain and not buy them and just let them rot they would stop doing this to us.
I saw some pineapples in the store the other day that were as green as a gourd, I mean dark green not a speck of ripeness about them.

Worth

I can't give any info from experience growing hybrids vs OP. But to add to the "If you can't smell them" part - We almost never buy melons from a grocery store just because they have no scent or flavor. We buy ours at a local Flea Market because you can smell them several spaces/stalls away. A lot of times they have samples to try too.

A couple melons have been truly above and beyond expectations were Ha'Ogen- sweet, like in OMG sweet, softer flesh that is white to pale pale green and melts in your mouth; people would stop their cars in the street and ask us what that wonderful smell was when we grew them in the front yard. Seriously, a melon to delight your mouth.

Bad side- they slip, so if you trellis them, you need to "sling "them and they are productive as hell for us at about 10 to 14 melons per vine. But they do not hold real long, thin rind, but take chilling very well. They are small, 2 servings per unless you are Rob, who ate the last two all by himself while I was at work ( and yes, I am still twitting him about that from time to time!). The vines are a bit...wispy? but love the heat. Don't water them a lot for the sweetest melons.

Crane melon- needs heat to be good, but it's a very good and productive melon for us. A bit better at holding than Ha'Ogen is, but you'll not need to hold them long. Let them ripen up to the color change on the "freckles " for the best flavors.

Unnamed cantaloupe I had volunteer from the community gardens- almost like a Minnasota midget for size, was very very productive with no care growing in gravel and almost no water. Very vining, good sized leaves, more than 20 little melons from the one ( I think it was just one plant) and intense orange with a small seed cavity. Flavor was the best cantaloupe I've had since California. Heavy netting, slight sutures, did not slip, and changed color slightly at full ripening, plus they smelled wonderfully. Went right up to frost.

I do have seeds for this one if you want to try it. We'll be growing it again.

edit- have grown hybrid melons in the past and several were good, but the above 3 were the best IMO, and everyone who tried them were quite taken with them. Never had such a consensus on the hybrids as we had on the 3 above. My neighbor asked me if I was going to grow those little melons again this year ( Ha'Ogen) and I told her we were and she reminded me that we ARE good friends and I SHOULD remember that especially as they get ripe! The last time we could grow them was 5 years ago, at the start of the drought.