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Trinity River Bottom

this goes back to an earlier post. the small cull melons that i had picked off my vines . nothing over 8-10 inches very young. my 9 year old daughter loved to throw them and bust them in the yard . i have hundreds of watermelon seedlings growing where she busted them . they had small white soft seeds in them . they could never be dried but some of them are viable.

8/4/2010 8:36:17 AM

Rochester, Minnesota

I have a hard time believing that small culls have viable seeds. It is very difficult to get viable seeds to begin with, or at least it is in the north. I suspect watermelons eaters and good spitting contest.

8/4/2010 10:18:08 AM

Trinity River Bottom

i know what your saying but no watermelon eating in this area.but got little patches all over . i was shocked thats the reason i posted this. i'll have to do a controled test. just thought it was interesting.

8/4/2010 10:36:11 AM

sevierville, Tn

WOW, got a picture to post ?

8/4/2010 2:42:05 PM

Deep South, USA

I noticed a few of my culls about 10 days old had large, soft seeds. I tried opening a couple up, but all I saw on the inside was a clear film.

I wonder what percentage in an infant melon might be viable. It sounds like it would be nearly impossible to store them, but it is very interesting nonetheless.

So far my cows have gotten the culls. I suspect the soft young seed is often destroyed in the cows' stomachs. I'm hoping I won't have to cull again anytime soon, but I'll keep this in mind.

8/4/2010 3:37:43 PM

Deep South, USA

I culled a 16 day old melon today due to BER. I decided in order to keep it from being a total loss I'd plant a few of the seeds to determine viability. The seed I picked were full size as best I could tell. I broke into one and found an embryo. I did not plant it, of course.

My only goal is to get an idea of early seed viability, it's too late in the year for me to try raising plants. I don't have suitable ground at the moment either.

I'll post back again in a few days with the results.

8/8/2010 12:03:54 AM