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Location

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Date Posted

South East

One thing that always hits me when talkig to watermelon growers and how we grow is that their is so much more room to grow in terms of giant watermelon specific soil, specific fertlizing techiniques. So far for us imitating the pumpkin care has worked fine. But somehow i think there is much more to weight to be gained withouth grafting. Some how i think that maximum weights in the future are gonna come from regular non grafted plants. what your thought on that.

2/13/2013 2:42:34 PM

Valencia Spain

i think that without grafting u wont beat bartolis weight

2/13/2013 2:56:17 PM

Manchester, TN

I think it will come from non grafting. We are very young in the breeding of watermelons, compared to pumpkins. I think we have a long way to go with the size capability of watermelons.

2/13/2013 3:38:41 PM

Piqua, Ohio

I graft lopes, cukes, and melons for disease resistance. I don't think it's going to be reason melons get bigger, sure it may help but the biggest melon I've grown on a squash root stock is 169.4 lbs. I think Bartoli's record will be broken with traditional methods. More people are growing melons than 5 years ago, I think that's the key to a beast.

2/13/2013 6:05:57 PM

formerly RGG

Of course improved genetics are the key to growing bigger melons. That said, I think all else being equal, a grafted plant will have a slight advantage opposed to a non grafted plant. Just my 2 cents worth. :o)

2/13/2013 7:40:54 PM

Garner, NC

Well I'm growing a total of 8 plants this year, 2 of them are early(August weigh off). I will do 4 traditional, and 4 grafts, so by the end of the year, I will know what is best for me and my enviroment. I have a feeling when we figure out HOW TO GROW grafted plants and the best root system, then who knows what possible.
Now, I don't think grating is a fix all wonder method, you still need soil specific, and tinker with fertilzers and so forth.
I think Albert Einstein said, Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I think that applys to growing as a whole, grafting, greenhouses, soil, fertilizer, spray programs, and on and on.

2/14/2013 11:10:45 AM

South Arkansas

A high percentage of the largest watermelons are coming from growers who also grow Atlantic Giants. The Atlantic Giant growers include lots gardeners with backgrounds in plant physiology and soil science and they share what they learn. What they share is more factual than speculative. The outside dimensions of the watermelons grown today are almost the same as those thirty years ago but the weights are higher so apparently better plant care and nutrition are being used. The true value of grafting will unfold this year as growers grow grafted plants among control plants where grafting is the only difference. Another factor that is crucial to better watermelon growing is accurate weigh-off site reporting to BP. The 2012 information for watermelons was the most complete ever on BP. Even with the better reporting, some sites still listed only grower names and weights. Even though the 2012 data is incomplete, it is a major information source for watermelon growers. Thank you GPC board members for the push to get improved watermelon data.

2/14/2013 11:43:19 AM

Bethlehem CT

I am excited to see the results, from this years melons in the US and Canada. It is hard to tell what is going to happen. Especially since we don't know exactly how the two Italian records were grown. In regards to soil and plant care.
This reminds me of the scene in the movie "Happy Gilmore" when Shooter McGavin is trying to imitate the same form that Happy uses to drive the ball so far. (I apologize for the reference if you have not seen the movie) But my point is this, Grafting is new to all of us and is a technique that isn't super common over here yet. We may not be aware of little nuances or tricks that Gabirele used to help bring him success with his grafts. I feel that with watermelons we are where giant pumpkins were in the early 2,000's. There are many growers over a wide geographic range sharing their successes and failures. Our knowledge base will really grow.
Before Ron Wallace broke the 1500 pound barrier not that many people were using mycorrhizae. Now you would be hard pressed to find a single grower who doesn't use it. Melons and AG's are both in the cucurbit family so that they do share similarities. Which I believe is why so many pumpkin growing techniques work on melons. But we also know there are some pretty big differences in what the plant's like and dislike. So we definitely have more work to do in figuring these melons out.

2/14/2013 1:47:16 PM

sevierville, Tn

I believe weights will continue to increase for both grafted & non grafted alike. I feel 326 can be beat by either method of growing. I will also be growing both side by side. Same seed, same conditions to determine which is best.
Better growing & better genetics will lead the way to bigger & better melons. This past year showed that with more large melons then ever before.

2/14/2013 9:58:00 PM

sevierville, Tn

So take your pick grafted or not. Either is sure to be a winner. The seeds are out there, all we have to do is plant them !

2/14/2013 10:02:17 PM

Fenton, MI

I feel that Gabriele Bartoli's record of 225" OTT and 326# can be broken by a traditional grown melon. It would have to be a short, wide, tall melon that is air tight with probably 228" over the top. From what we learned last year, grafting is not the quick fix that some thought it was when Gabriele set the new record.

We do know that grafting can and did make a new world record. Will grafting help us? Maybe. We have some very good growers that are going to try and find out by growing the same seed side by side this year. Grafted on one side and traditional on the other side. Will grafting help in the areas where it is cold or where it is hot? Will we be able to get past the stump rot? Can we get there in one year? I don't think so. By this fall we will have a lot more answers. Luckily we have some good growers that are going to try it to help give us some of these answers.

The weight increases we have seen in the last few years has been helped along by GWG members sharing their growing methods and seed genetics. The GWG had the biggest top 5 and the biggest top 20 melons in 2012 than had ever been weighed in the GPC. By working together we will keep the weights going up in the traditional grown method.

We have all seen changes in growing methods the past few years. Just a thought, 20 years ago I didn't even know what a cell phone was. Now I don't know if I could make through the day without it. So we will see!!

2/15/2013 3:47:23 PM