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Wi-sunflower · December 1, 2011

As a market grower, I always grow Burgess Buttercup because so many people want them. But frankly I haven't found a decent variety of the original black green buttercup. I can plant out twice as many rows and get 1/4 as many squash as I will from many other varieties. Even the new expensive varieties only give 2 -3 fruit / plant on a 10ft+ sprawly plant.

Personally I think Mooregold, an heirloom golden buttercup, will have better flavor and be sweeter. Yield maybe marginally better.

I've grown Speckled Hound a couple of times now. It's bigger, sweeter and seems to yield better. It's not as dry tho, at least not this year.

For something that grows more compact I love Festival. It's a semi-bush Sweet Dumpling type. Personal size and has that sweet fine grained texture of a Delicata. It is early and yields like crazy.

For melons, we gave up on muskmelons years ago mainly because they don't have the shelf life we needed. For a nice ripe melon, if you don't sell it today, you will probably pitch it before the next market 1/2 week away.

We do quite a few watermelons tho as they will keep at least 2 weeks in summer and over a month in fall when we put them in the barn if we still have them.

You can't beat a nice ripe Sugar Baby for flavor for a red. Crimson Sweet is also a variety we grow and it will usually have good flavor for us.

For yellows I grow Sweet Siberian and Desert King. Sweet Siberian is an heirloom I got from SSE public catalog. It can be a bit hard to figure out when it's ripe, but when you do, it's got great flavor. desert King is the biggest WM we grow. It can get to over 25 lbs but will also have plenty of 15 lbers too. It has the thickest rind so is a better shipper so will resist splitting.

I have been saving Watermelon seed for several years even tho we grow all the varieties in the same field. So we also have a few unique varieties like a orange fleshed Sugar Baby. But those seeds aren't stabilized yet and will only give about 50-60 % orange so far.

Just some of my experiences.
Carol

With the splitting you mention, it's possible you had too much untimely rain that made them split and diluted the flavor.

December 1, 2011	#2
Wi-sunflower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 2,591	As a market grower, I always grow Burgess Buttercup because so many people want them. But frankly I haven't found a decent variety of the original black green buttercup. I can plant out twice as many rows and get 1/4 as many squash as I will from many other varieties. Even the new expensive varieties only give 2 -3 fruit / plant on a 10ft+ sprawly plant. Personally I think Mooregold, an heirloom golden buttercup, will have better flavor and be sweeter. Yield maybe marginally better. I've grown Speckled Hound a couple of times now. It's bigger, sweeter and seems to yield better. It's not as dry tho, at least not this year. For something that grows more compact I love Festival. It's a semi-bush Sweet Dumpling type. Personal size and has that sweet fine grained texture of a Delicata. It is early and yields like crazy. For melons, we gave up on muskmelons years ago mainly because they don't have the shelf life we needed. For a nice ripe melon, if you don't sell it today, you will probably pitch it before the next market 1/2 week away. We do quite a few watermelons tho as they will keep at least 2 weeks in summer and over a month in fall when we put them in the barn if we still have them. You can't beat a nice ripe Sugar Baby for flavor for a red. Crimson Sweet is also a variety we grow and it will usually have good flavor for us. For yellows I grow Sweet Siberian and Desert King. Sweet Siberian is an heirloom I got from SSE public catalog. It can be a bit hard to figure out when it's ripe, but when you do, it's got great flavor. desert King is the biggest WM we grow. It can get to over 25 lbs but will also have plenty of 15 lbers too. It has the thickest rind so is a better shipper so will resist splitting. I have been saving Watermelon seed for several years even tho we grow all the varieties in the same field. So we also have a few unique varieties like a orange fleshed Sugar Baby. But those seeds aren't stabilized yet and will only give about 50-60 % orange so far. Just some of my experiences. Carol With the splitting you mention, it's possible you had too much untimely rain that made them split and diluted the flavor.