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Rochester, Minnesota

Greetings,

I had the privilege of growing a few large watermelons over the last few years, and I have some seeds available for distribution.

These are seeds proven to grow in the northern climate (Minnesota).

White 225 (2006) - I have lots of these seeds
White 202 (2006) - Lots of these also.
White 218 (2005) - Poor germination, but I still have available seeds.

If you are interested, all you need do is send me a SASBE at
James White
2920 50th Ave SE
Rochester, MN 55904

Good Luck growing.

11/30/2006 2:36:33 PM

Lexington, Ky

Very kind James!

11/30/2006 4:35:13 PM

Sage, Arkansas

Great offer James! I will be e-mailing you.
4-kids

11/30/2006 8:03:59 PM

min i will be sending you an email
and sasbe

11/30/2006 9:16:56 PM

Williamsport, Pa.

what the heck, sounds good to me? a bubble is on the way, thankyou.. theyss BIG!!!!! ID SEND YOU A SASBE BUT I DONT KNOW WHAT THAT IS, SCOTT

12/3/2006 6:38:06 PM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

Self
Addressed
Stamped
Bubble
Envelope

12/3/2006 8:51:23 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Scott, a bubble is the same as a SASBE...once you apply your address and postage. Peace, Wayne

12/4/2006 7:56:48 AM

Montoursville, PA

Scott is my baby.........I will cover his need as well. :)He's possibly a champ in waiting. A little nuts but a very good grower not afraid to try some stuff others may not agree with. :) He keeps me on my toes.

12/4/2006 10:28:23 AM

Williamsport, Pa.

gheezz, guys! i knew what a sasbe was!!! i was just seeing if you guys knew!!! thanks for the help, scott

12/5/2006 3:44:30 AM

Rochester, Minnesota

Just to let you know, I have received three different requests for seeds on Monday, and shipped out the seeds on Tuesday. So they should be there in time for spring planting. :-)

Now if we can just figure out a way to email seeds, life would be so much easier.

12/6/2006 12:01:54 PM

Cameron,ontario Team Lunatic

James

Do you have the crosses of the seeds listed above? Just curious as to the genetic background of the seeds. I look forward to hearing from you.

Phil (Email me at: gvgo@sympatico.ca)

12/7/2006 7:44:56 AM

Rochester, Minnesota

Yes I do have the crosses, or at least potential crosses. The reason I say this, is that when you have only 6 plants, you don't always have a good choice of males when pollinating females. One thing I do is to use at least two males, and frankly, I have had to combine between plants.

But! The goods news is that I have been selecting for a few years now based on quality of plant (primary), and size of fruit (secondary). My original seed strain comes from Bob Dwyer from a 215 and 227, and least that's what I think are the weights were.

Pumpkin growers find that there are a lot of lines to choose from, so that opens up more possibilities. This is somewhat limited for watermelons, especially melons proven in the north. So, I have been working from within my seed own seed lines. I have attempted a few others, like a 177 from Wisconsin, but haven't found the plant growth to be what I wanted, so I stopped using that line.

I do have some new seeds from Hope this year which are a 200+ crossed with a melon that was 41.5 straight length. I will give this a try, but will not cross it into my line at this point.

To give you an idea, this last year, my 225 fruit came from a plant with a 38' primary vine.

12/7/2006 8:48:21 AM

Williamsport, Pa.

ok and where on this primary vine did the melon grow???your sasbe is in the mail mr white thankyou sir.. your a genorous man, scott

12/7/2006 6:32:46 PM

Cameron,ontario Team Lunatic

Thanks, James. I've been working with seeds from Bill Donkers & have found them to suit my garden well. The 207.5 Donkers grew our Canadian Record last year & we grew a 194.4 off the 206.4 Donkers this year. We're hoping to bring something different into the mix next year. We just weren't sure of the genetics. Too bad there isn't a list of watermelons, with their crosses posted somewhere. It sure would make this easier. Thanks again.

Phil

12/8/2006 6:24:10 AM

Circleville

Thanks for the offer James, will send a bubble your way. Also have our 188 which is a cross of the 228 Edwards selfed which produced the 168 Crosby, which we again selfed to produce our 188. If anyone would like to add this line to their breeding please send me an email have plenty of seeds. mikeyhelberg@hotmail.com

12/8/2006 8:09:33 AM

Rochester, Minnesota

That's fine. I still have plenty of seeds available. Definitely lots out of the 225, since I removed all viable seeds from that watermelon and there were 1278 of them. I am starting to run low on some past seeds lines that were successful in getting me up to this point.

If anyone wanted to send me interesting garden seeds that they are proud of to the packet, feel free. I will try the 30# melons, and giant tomatoes. My wife also likes red flowers to attract humming birds.

I turn the seed requests around daily, having mailed two more today.

And I don't consider this generous, but just helping others with a shared interest. Last year was generous, since I provided bubble envelopes and postage for all requests. That got to be a bit much. This year you have to provide your own SASBE.

12/8/2006 8:52:59 AM

Gays Mills,WI

Will get a bubble on the way. Also will throw in some giant tomato seeds that did well for me this year. I was able to witness this giant watermelon at the weighoff and would love to give it a try.

12/9/2006 12:33:54 AM

Sage, Arkansas

There appears an increased interest in growing watermelons the past few years. Hopefully with this increased interest and growers creating there own crosses we can develop an ongoing list of melons and crosses. I have found this site and the growers on this site to be the most bentificial thing to happen for me and my 4 kids garden.

12/10/2006 4:51:52 PM

porterville, calif.

Jim , I recieved your seeds today. Thank You can,t wait till spring. Your directions with them is fantastic. Greg

12/12/2006 9:12:40 PM

Rochester, Minnesota

You are most welcome Greg. No promises with the hints, but it does get you thinking.

12/13/2006 8:23:11 AM

Sage, Arkansas

We recieved our seeds also. Thanks so much!
4-Kids

12/13/2006 9:55:48 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

My seeds have arrived also, thank you James!!! Peace, Wayne

12/13/2006 10:49:47 PM

Cameron,ontario Team Lunatic

James, my BP went out last week. I included a few seeds from our 207.6# Canadian record. Thanks for the offer. Take care & Merry Christmas.

Phil

12/14/2006 6:31:19 AM

Rochester, Minnesota

Phil,

Thanks for the seeds. I received them yesterday, and sent back your request and two others this morning.

My daughter really liked your envelope with pictures of your kids on them. I think she was hinting that my seeds would be better if her picture was on them. I think I am going to have to step up to that.

Have a great growing year.

James.

12/15/2006 9:36:04 AM

Rochester, Minnesota

Everyone's seed requests that I have received are in the mail, and should make wonderful addition under the Christmas tree. Well, maybe in the garden in the spring.

This is the time of year when we transition from receiving Christmas cards and letters, and seed requests, and switch to receiving dozens of seed catalogs. That's when the real garden dreaming starts, and thoughts of "I can grow that".

I do wish everyone a wonderful Christmas, and a great new watermelon growing year.

James in Rochester

12/22/2006 1:02:18 PM

Williamsport, Pa.

seeds came in goodshape, have all my buddys all choked up... thanks a million jim, scott

12/27/2006 7:26:31 PM

Gays Mills,WI

James, plants are looking nice. The 211 seem to be doing better than the 225. Thanks again for the seed.

3/30/2007 6:44:43 PM

Rochester, Minnesota

I have 16 plants going right now, and all seem in pretty good shape. I have some 225, 211, 202, 157, and a few guest varieties sent to me from generous people. It will be a shame, but when all is said and done, I will be trashing 6 really nice plants.

Lately, I have been set back by this sudden cold snap, and had to pull the plants from my unheated solarium. I am hoping to get back on schedule soon for garden prep and planting.

4/5/2007 12:14:43 PM