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North America

We would like to thank you for your participation in the 2012 growing year of the GWG.


We hope you decide to join or rejoin the Giant Watermelon Growers for the 2013 season and continue to grow with us.


We will be having our free seed raffle 3-31-13 for four of our 2013 members. They will get one pack of 2 seeds from one of the top 4 melons of 2012. You still have time to get in this.

This is the link for the website and seed sales http://giantwatermelongrowers.com/



GWG Committee

3/24/2013 10:37:04 AM

Eastern Pennsylvania

I just hopped on the gwg site to renew my membership, where this whole grafting vs traditional thing was brought back to my attention. I cannot with any confidence expect to bring my melon to competition with the vine intact all the way to the stump. Pumpkin yes but not melon, a result of where my priorities lie. So traditional class is out. I have no interest in grafting and I do believe that technique is an advantage so I won't enter that class either. I wish you all the best but the current setup is no longer a good fit for me. Not sure if memberships are down at all this year, but if they are, consider that others share my feelings. Have a great 2013! Jim gerhardt

3/26/2013 9:34:11 AM

Rochester, Minnesota

I was also worried about that. If I can do the whole vine thing, I might. Otherwise I go off the grid and just do my weighing at home. I have a really cool old Fairbanks Morris grain scale that was given to me, so I can pretty accurately measure the melons.

3/26/2013 12:10:52 PM

Garner, NC

You only need to bring the vine and stump for melons over 190 OTT inches. Last year that would have only been 50 or so melons out of 250.

3/26/2013 1:59:57 PM

Fenton, MI

Traditional or grafted growing. Grafted growing for watermelons is just starting to come into play more now than in the past only because two big melons were grown that way last year in Italy. Is there a advantage growing that way? That is something we don't know yet. We do have some very good growers that are going to try grafting out this year, so we will see.

If there is an advantage for growing bigger melons by grafting and the GWG sat on our hands waiting to find out, then we did not do right by the membership. So we did what we thought was the best thing for the total membership. We made two categories so that it would be fair for all growers instead of keeping one category which could possibly be unfair to the majority of the growers.

I took my vine and stump that was still on my melon to my weigh off in Port Elgin, Canada. That took five minutes more to do that than in past years. I took the vine and rolled it into a big circle and set it over the melon. After a five hour drive to the weigh off, it was still fine when I got there. Some of the growers at the weigh off got to see how easy it was to do. We cut the vine off in two seconds and the melon was put on the scales.

In 2012, there would have only been 20 growers who would have had to take their vine and stump to their weigh off.

3/26/2013 4:28:36 PM

Manchester, TN

You don't have to have vine for GPC Weighoff, only need vine I doing gwg contest. GPC isn't seperating the two, so that's the way I'm going this year. Not worth the hassle to me to pull stump for Weighoff, especially if I have a late set that I'm doing for genetic cross. We've got some very good producing melons now that we're late season genetic crosses. 35 Kent ring a bell?

3/26/2013 9:45:37 PM

Ontario

Well this is going to work out great for growers on the money bubble!! With the prize structure looking to be similar to last year, a few less growers means some of us who were close last year may actually get a pay out this year.

I also took my vine and stump with the melon to the weigh-offs last year and it was no big deal. I only grow one melon per plant, so taking the vine and stump if I have a competitive melon is a no brainer!!

To quote someone on this forum.... "It's awl good!!"

3/27/2013 7:14:21 AM

Marshall, MI

I also took my melon to the weigh off with the vine and stump attached.
Just saw the stump off at ground level coilup the vine and put it on top of the melon.
It don't take long at all.

3/27/2013 8:20:06 AM

Canton Ohio

I think I will pass on joining the GWC. I'm going to grow melons as I have in the past and take them to a GPC weigh off. Without meaning to offend, I think it is very short sighted to force growers to distinguish between traditional or graft growing. It really sounds like sour grapes from the people who have their heads stuck in the sand and won't evolve. I bet most everyone evolved when mychrorizae was introduced. Not sure that spreading all the fungicides on the plants is evolving but in my mind the world record for watermelons is held by an Italian guy and we should all just man-up and accept this.

3/29/2013 7:57:13 AM

Rochester, MN

I have to admit I agree with Frank...not sure why we care how a grower did it...whoever has the biggest melon wins...should be 1 category only. I will continue to grow the non-grafted way...until I think it is better the other way. :-) However, I use heating coils and other growers can't...do we need a separate grouping for that also?
I think we should just stay focused on one thing: Growing that 500 lb watermelon!! Woohoo!

4/3/2013 11:29:22 PM

sevierville, Tn

Brian brings up a good question, supose someone had 2 melons on a plant, then what ???? Supose a grafted plant had 2, 300+ melons. What would one do???????????

4/4/2013 6:18:00 AM

formerly RGG

And then there is a possibility of growing a huge melon from a plant whose stump ends up rotting.There is then no stump to bring and that particular grower is not able to compete in the GWG contest through no fault of his own. This was the worst idea ever, IMHO.

4/4/2013 7:55:58 AM

Ontario

This is being addressed folks, we are just a group of growers trying to make the best decisions we can. We are not a one person committee, and we are all busy. Discussions have been on going this week and we will have an update soon. We are listening and we are trying our best.

4/4/2013 8:59:17 AM

Cameron

I'm not on the executive, but I am a member of this club. I know most of these guys on the executive & they were just trying to please everyone that grows melons. Many growers were taken back with the grafting thing when it made the headlines by growing the new WR & this seemed to bother a lot of their members. Many complained about competing with the grafting community, so they tried to please all by making this rule. It now seems that many of these disgrunted growers have now had time to think about the grafting issue more & have now excepted the idea of it. Now that eveyone is voicing their opinions, I looks like the executive is listening. They just need time re-think their position on this issue. Don't give up on the club just yet. Afterall they are just regular growers like you & me & we all make some rash decisions sometimes in our lives that come back to bite us.
The GWG is a good club & we are proud to be members of this new club.

Jane & Phil Hunt

4/4/2013 9:58:25 AM

Williamsburg,KY

Great post Phil and Jane.

4/4/2013 12:40:24 PM

Okla

Since the discussion is about grafting or non-grafting maybe someone can answer my question. When you graft to someother root stock does it change the genetics in the seeds off that plant? If you answer what are you basing your answer off of.
Thomas

4/4/2013 12:45:32 PM

Okla

As far as which Melon Club I would join it is a no brainer. Join the one here where it is represented by a group that listens to it members or one that is ruled by one person. I already seen the temper tantrums and want no part of that.
Thomas

4/4/2013 12:52:47 PM

South Arkansas

Thomas, it doesn't change the genetics. A sheet of plastic is put down and the grafted watermelon plant is placed in a small opening in the sheet. The watermelon section grows on top of the plastic and the gourd or squash root system grows underneath the plastic. The watermelon section of the plant never touches dirt. The grafted root system enables the plant to be free of soil disease as long as the watermelon plant is limited from sending adventious roots from the vines into the soil. Grafting is used to enable growers to grow watermelons year after year in the same soil. The big Italian watermelons are of the same seed line you use. The Bartoli cousins started with their seeds thirteen years ago and collect their own seeds from open pollinated watermelons. The 326 was grown in the same soil where the 245 was grown. To prepare the plot for 2012, a leaf blower was used to blow the old dry vegetation from the plastic and new plants were inserted in the plastic. They use grafting as a disease control mechanism. Gabriele Bartoli is very similar to the current top tier growers in the U.S. He grows Atlantic Giant pumpkins as well as watermelons and he has a good understanding of plants and the soil care needed for plants.

4/4/2013 3:52:23 PM

Okla

Thanks Lloyd for the reply. I was just wandering because the root stock is the life line of the plant. If a heart is changed, it is from a different DNA, and placed into another body it has to somewhat change, from medications, because there is always a chance of rejection. I did not know if there has been studies done on plants to make any determination.
Like I said above if anyone new is considering joining a Melon Club this is the one they need to JOIN.

4/4/2013 4:17:48 PM

Muddy Waters

I agree with Phil & Jane & Thomas,A lot of time & effort went into the forming of the GWG.Dont give up This is just a hiccup.They will work it out and it will come out good!

4/4/2013 8:12:28 PM