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| Last year I grew a mixture of Moon and Stars and Sugar Baby watermelons in my garden. I decided to save the seeds to see what would grow, and planted a dozen this spring. The horrible drought took it's toll, so I only now have a few melons maturing. However, the ones I have appear to be crosses between the parents: they're Sugar Baby size with the yellow stars of Moon and Stars!
I'd like to try to maintain this strain and develop a true-breeding variety of my own from it. Any advice on how to go about doing this? I was planning on saving more seed this year from the few melons I have, planting out a few dozen hills next year, and saving seed from any melons that appear to have the same desirable traits. If I can develop my own landrace, my wife wants to call it Sugar Stars. I like Star Baby :-) Oh, and has anyone heard of a cross like this that's already been done that would defeat the point of my work? Thanks. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Can see some pic of them. And your graden. |
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| Size isn't going to tell you anything about the genetics of your seed. Drought or crowding will all make the melons smaller. Beyond that I have no idea if you can make a stable line from this seed. I'd think it very difficult. The seed from even one melon could vary in genetic makeup. |
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| I say, dream big! You might want to contact someone from a county extension office or just google for info on creating your own hybrids. Even if you only got Baby Stars part of the time, who cares? That's still exciting. Best wishes in your endeavour! |
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| I just want to add: the thought has occured to me up here in zone 4 that I would just love to be able to grow Moon and Stars, but in a small, quicker to mature size. I think that has a definite market appeal to those of us with short growing seasons! |
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| Sounds like a fun project to me. I recommend you get the book, "Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties" by Carol Deppe. It will be highly interesting to you. Jim |
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| Sounds like a fun project to me. I recommend you get the book, "Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties" by Carol Deppe. It will be highly interesting to you. Jim |
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