MOON AND STARS WATERMELON

[Lonesomedave]

OK....was down at the nursery today, just looking around....picked up a couple Black Beauty eggplants and (although I swore I wouldn't do it this year) a couple of Big Rainbow tomato plants, when I saw some intriguing looking watermelons.

they were an heirloom called Moon and Stars....got four

got back, planted them and looked them up on the internet....apparently they were introduced in 1926. they get REALLY big, up to 50 pounds or so.....are described as incredibly sweet, but not as firm as some other melons....they were also described as a tennessee/missouri melon, so I figure they'll do alright around nashville

virtually all reviews said they were worth growing, and since I will only have four melons this year, I decided to make this my variety.

I have heard that melons do not like a lot of nitrogen in their soil....any truth to this?

anybody have experience with this melon?

/dave/

[Lindsaylew82]

Mmmmmmmm! I love watermelon! This year we are trying Sugar Baby for the first time because as much as I love watermelon, I HAAAAAAAAATE the seeds. SO annoying. We grew Moon and Stars, but it was just as good as any we've ever grown. Trick to a perfect melon? Don't pick them too early, or too late. Too early, you sacrifice sweetness. Too late, you sacrifice texture. IMO, the best time to pick them is when the tendrils that come from the stem that connects the fruit to the vine get dried up and brittle. It's never failed me!!!

Another little trick for melons... Put a really thick paper plate under it if it's laying on the ground. We have critters that like to bore in and sample from below. Nothin worse that picking your melons to find them rotten and cored out from the bottom....


Happy melon growing!!!

[Mr green]

I'm trying watermelon for the first time this year, Sugar Baby variety since it said to be an early variety. '

To much nitrogen may promote vegeteble growth and with less fruiting.

[jal_ut]

Lindsaylew82 gives you some good tips. I like to use cardboard to put under the melons. Yes, something to keep the lil ground critters from chewing on them.

[KitchenGardener]

I so wish I could grow watermelon successfully here. Did it once (beginner's luck) but we basically just don't get the sustained heat to make them sweet enough...

[feldon30]

Biggest thing I've experienced is, there is no such thing as too much compost. For tomatoes, I add 10-15% compost to my beds. For melons? Closer to 50%. You can cut an X in a bag of composted cow manure and grow great watermelons out of that.

As for the end of the season, whatever you can do to withdraw moisture so they concentrate sugars, including covering plants with plastic during rain, seems to be the ticket. I plant with black plastic mulch and only a small X cut for the plants to grow out of. This way I have fine control over how much moisture the plants get and I can start cutting back when the tendril dies.

Moon and Stars is a top flavor variety, as is Orangeglo. I want to try Bradford which is apparently an heirloom variety known in the Carolinas for sweetness.

[AnnaIkona]

I am trying to grow my first watermelon plants this year. So far I have 4 Crimson Sweet watermelons, I grew from seeds from my mother-in-law's watermelon she grew on her farm.

Can't wait to plant these little babies outside!!

[catgrass]

Lindsay, you say you hate seeds, and you planted Sugar Baby. I plant Sugar Baby, and I can tell you, it has lots of seeds. I did not think that Moon & Stars could get up to 50 lbs. Hmm?

[Lindsaylew82]

Welllllllll.... They are SUPPOSED to be seedless per package.

I was reading that sugar baby are now being considered a type of melon vs them being a variety of watermelon. Because there are a few varieties called "sugar baby". (Isn't it an heirloom watermelon though???)

The type I have are supposed to be mature with white soft seeds. I'm wondering if there are diploid and triploid varieties of sugar baby that produce seeds or don't produce seeds.

At any rate... The ones that I'm growing did require a pollinator (that was included in the pack).

I know maturity can affect seeds also. Maybe your melons were overripe?

I'll never turn down watermelon though! Especially if I've taken the time to grow them Seeded or not, but I hope these are seedless, or at least relatively low seeded!

[Lindsaylew82]

Hmmmmmmm... I should have saved that package.... Now I'm wondering if I have "Sugar Baby" hybrid or just Sugar Baby.

Back to Moon and Stars!
Has anyone tried the Yellow strain? We only grew the pink fleshed ones. Most of ours just had the stars, with smaller "moons."

[jal_ut]

KitchenGardener, Here at 5000 ft elevation and a rather short season, getting a watermelon is a challenge. One year I bought every type of watermelon seed I could find, about a dozen varieties and planted. Only one, the "Charleston Gray" did well and made some good melons. So I have been planting this one since.

[Gary350]

Nitrogen seems to make longer vines. Longer vines make larger melons if you cover the vine with soil to make more roots so the roots take in more water. Lime or wood ash will keep melons from having Blossom End Rot. Give plants lots of water you get larger melons.

[KitchenGardener]

KitchenGardener, Here at 5000 ft elevation and a rather short season, getting a watermelon is a challenge. One year I bought every type of watermelon seed I could find, about a dozen varieties and planted. Only one, the "Charleston Gray" did well and made some good melons. So I have been planting this one since.

jal_ut: thank you for that! What does the Charleston Gray taste like? Is it more like a honeydew type than a watermelon type?
It would be so awesome to get melon...my kids would go nuts! One year, I planted a mess of cantaloupe (translation for me as a City dweller: 2 plants). Got multiple melons, which had great flavor but very little sweet. So I made melon sorbet. Now I'm just not that ambitious.

[jal_ut]

Charleston Gray is definitely watermelon.

[KitchenGardener]

Ha ha, it sure is! Wow, the first photo made the skin look like it was yellow!

[Gary350]

Charleston Gray has seeds. I have noticed melons with seeds have better flavor than seedless melons.