Because I spend so much time asking for information and help with my new passion of fruit trees, I thought maybe for once I could actually be the provider of information. I�ve grown watermelons for many years with great success. In addition to several common, standard varieties, I always plant a few new and/or unusual varieties and then evaluate them and decide if any will make it onto my list of "regulars". Here are my 2014 selections and results. I have used a very UNscientific, highly subjective 1 to 10 rating scale that is sort of a general score that includes appearance, taste, and productivity. BTW, I live on the TN/KY line in middle TN, zone 7a/6b. This year I bought my seeds from Baker Creek Seeds, which are a bit high but overall I have been very happy with their seeds and service. I suspect that some people, when reading some of my negative reviews, will wonder if the problem was me or the melons. Some may have even had a positive experience with some of the melons I have given poor reviews to. Certainly there are countless factors than can make a watermelon grown in a different area in a different year under different conditions turn out differently. I also do not claim to be a foremost expert or the most knowledgeable grower. But I want you to know that I�ve grown watermelons for 30 years, I�ve won many ribbons at the fairs over the years, and I�ve been featured in our local newspaper 4 times for my watermelons. I am not being boastful because I�m sure many of you are better, more experienced growers, but I really am very well known in my community for my delicious watermelons that I distribute to family and friends as well as donate to churches and other civic groups for their various events. (I don�t sell melons). I say all this only so you will know the following descriptions/ratings are not the results of some newbie who is experimenting and learning how to grow watermelons. The bad ones aren�t just the result of some bad luck or rookie mistakes. I do have a lot of experience and overall I have been successful with watermelons- so those that get bad reviews probably deserve them! These are just this years new melons. I have 5 standard varieties that I grow every year and which serve as my dependable harvest melons. Each year I plant several new (to me) varieties to see if they are worthy of my permanent list. I�m sorry this is so long�.hopefully you can just scan for any melon you might be interested in and ignore the others. All questions and comments are welcomed. I hope in some tiny way this can make up for all the help I�ve received on fruit trees, about which I know so little!

#1) Royal Golden : This is just a visually stunning and amazing watermelon that undoubtedly gets the most comments and its fun watching people shake their head in disbelief. That�s because when this watermelon ripens it turns orange�on the OUTSIDE! (The inside is red). In fact, it looks almost exactly like a pumpkin except for the stem. I will probably grow it again simply because so many people have been shocked and amazed at its appearance, making it very fun to give away. In terms of taste, I would call it good but not great. I also must say it is a very low production watermelon, rarely making more than 1 or 2 melons per vine. The size is medium, which for me means they are between 6-12 pounds. Overall, I rate this as a 6 on my unscientific, highly subjective scale. It gets lots of points for its orange, pumpkin-looking appearance that is unlike any watermelon anyone I know has ever seen, but it looses points for its low productivity and average (or slightly better taste).

#2) White Wonder: Again, the most interesting aspect of this watermelon is it�s APPEARANCE. It looks pretty much average on the outside, except that it is very small. In fact, the majority of mine were only about the size of an average cantaloupe- ie slightly bigger than a softball. The generally weight 2-4 pounds. But when cut open, they are "WHITE". Really. I put white in quotes because they are somewhat translucent and have a tiny, tiny hint of yellow, but do NOT be misled�they really are white. They are also quite prolific, with each vine producing 4-6 small melons each. The taste is not great, to me. I�ve read several reviews calling it "creamy" but I think that is very misleading. The texture is exactly like any other watermelon. The taste, however, I say is not good because it is not very sweet. I don�t mean to suggest it is absolutely bland or lacking any sweetness, but it is far less sweet than almost any other melon I�ve grown. Overall, I�d rate it a 4 on my personal scale. Its extremely small, it doesn�t have much sweetness, but it is very unique due to its color so for that reason alone its somewhat fun to grow.

#3) Cream of Saskatchewan: This melon is almost identical in every way to the White Wonder described above. You can literally apply every single thing I just said about White Wonder to this one, except it is SLIGHTLY bigger. I emphasize slightly because the seed description lists white wonder at 3-5 lbs and this one at 8-10. I disagree. My Saskatchewan melons were about 4-6 pounds, and I almost always have melons that EXCEED the size given in the seed description, so it isn�t just my garden and growing abilities. Again, I�d give this a 4 on my scale. If you want to try one if these 2, I suppose I�d choose this one for its slightly larger size, but I certainly wouldn�t grow them both since they are so similar.

Kleckleys Sweet Watermelon: This is a long melon that is solid dark green. I also found it to be extremely prolific, producing a large number of melons per vine-far above average. The size varies considerably, but ranges from about 8 to 18 pounds, so it is a fairly large melon by my standards. Unfortunately, though, I am forced to rate this melon extremely low because of its bizarre tendency not to properly ripen. The melons would form and grow normally for many weeks, then they would tend to just stop growing and never ripen. And not for lack of time�.they would stay at the "almost ripe stage" for 4-6 weeks, never ripening but not rotting either. Eventually, though, they would start to turn yellow outside and begin to decline, just like an over-ripe watermelon. The flesh never got more than a light pink, and usually was much more white than pink. In other words, at all stages of its life cycle, Kleckley melons look like a � ripe watermelon, and taste like a green (unripe) watermelon. I will concede that what I am saying is the melon�s inability to properly ripen might just be that even when ripe, these melons look and taste unripe. Either way, they are not very good to eat. So, even though these are very productive, beautiful looking melons, I have to give them a rating of 2 because I never grew a single one that I would have enjoyed eating. The 2 points I do give is just for the nice appearance and high productivity of this plant.

Blacktail Mountain: This watermelon is extremely similar to the well known "sugar Baby" in almost every regard. It looks almost identical (quite small, round, dark green melons) an has a very similar growing period (about 72 days). However, I find it to be much better tasting. For me, its considerably sweeter than sugar baby. The flesh is also a bit darker red, making it a little more attractive in my opinion. In short, if you like growing sugar baby because they are small enough to fit in any refrigerator and/or have one of the shortest seed-to-fruit time periods and/or are very prolific, then I strongly recommend you grow Blacktail Mountain instead. It has all the positive attributes of sugar baby but tastes better by far in my opinion. It also tends to be slightly smaller than sugar babies, with most of mine being from 3-6 pounds. Overall, I rate it an 8 out of 10, but if you are a fan of sugar baby then you will rate this melon even higher.

Orangeglo: Hands down, this yellow meat watermelon is my all-time favorite watermelon- including melons of all colors, shapes, and sizes. Orangeglo is absolutely the best watermelon I�ve ever tasted, it is prolific in production, it is large enough for picnics/family outings, etc but not too big to get in the fridge (they are long melons, which I find to be easier to store and handle than large round ones. Mine range from 12-25 pounds for the most part, though I�ve had some in the 30�s and some under 10 that were ripe and good. The sweetness is just incredible. But don�t take my word for it. Google watermelon brix rating and you�ll see that most university agriculture departments have brix tested a lot of melons and the yellows usually are the highest, and orangeglo, if tested, is the very highest. Its not just the sweetness, though, for me. It just has a unique, wonderful flavor that I love. Of course flavor is subjective, but most everyone loves sweetness in a melon and this one has it in spades! It also is one of the juiciest, and when ripe is just perfect. Its one of those that just sort of bursts open as soon as you stick a knife in it-something I almost always find to be a good sign. The only slightly negative thing I can say about Orangeglo is that they have a relatively short field and shelf life-compared to other melons. Once they are ripe after only 1-2 weeks they will start to go soft inside, long before the outside shows any sign of deterioration. One other negative thing about these melons is that it is not uncommon for them to have hollow portions in the middle of the melon. These are much more likely on dead-ripe or overripe orangeglo watermelons. But don�t let these small issues fool you�.there is little on earth any better than a cold, ripe, orangeglo watermelon and it will remind you of why you love melons so much. I must confess that while all the others I am rating in this report are being grown by me for the first time, whereas I�ve grown orangeglo the last 3 years but love it so much I had to include it here. In summary, I rate them as a 9.o out of 10.

Georgia Rattlesnake: It is no accident that I am reviewing this melon right after Orangeglo. That�s because, for me, these are a very close second and may well be tied for my all-time favorite watermelon. Georgia Rattlesnake melons are long, striped melons very similar in appearance to the old standard: the Jubilee watermelon. However, these are a bit thinner and slightly smaller than Jubilee. But I find them to be among the very sweetest watermelons I grow. They also produce like crazy- a small patch of these will be absolutely packed with melons. They also, unlike orangeglo, tend to have a very long field and shelf life. From the time they first are ripe enough to pick, you can leave them on a live vine as much as 3 weeks and they will still be firm and good. Also, in my experience the G Rattlesnakes are one of the most consistently good watermelons I�ve grown. What I mean by this is that with almost all watermelon varieties, there will be some melons of the same kind, grown in the same place at the same time that are better than others. Nothing is more frustrating than cutting 3 wonderful watermelons in a row, then taking one on a picnic to impress your friends, only to cut it and have it be half as sweet as all the others. Out of around 20-25 Georgia Rattlesnakes I cut and tasted this year, every single one was as sweet and juicy as the others. They also have a dark red meat, which I think is more attractive than the lighter pink color than many "red" melons have. In general, I just can�t say enough good things about this melon. I have to give it a 9.5 out of 10 and I really can�t say why it isn�t a 10 other than I�m optimistic that an even more perfect melon is out there.

Kolbe�s GEM: WOW! This is the second largest melon I�ve ever grown (Carolina Cross being #1 for me) but it has a lot more to offer than just size. This is a great tasting, great looking watermelon. I had several that were over 50 pounds and my biggest one was 64, which for me is a VERY big melon (I know the records are much bigger, but I got the aforementioned sizes without taking any of the "Giant Watermelon" special steps (like placing on sand, limiting to one per vine, shading, etc. These are round, striped melons that look a lot like the old standard , Crimson Sweet, but much larger. Again, aside from the giant size, I like this melon because it still tastes good and looks normal and proportional. Personally, I haven�t had the same positive experience with Carolina Cross and find its thick rind and less than great taste to take some of the fun out of growing the giants. For me, Kolbe�s Gem is great because it�s a giant AND it tastes and looks great. That also means that on the Kolbe�s that don�t turn out to be giants, you are still left with a very large but also very tasty melon. It is also a fairly productive melon (in terms of the number of melons per vine, something else I don�t find with Carolina Cross. AS you can tell, I tend to compare Kolbe�s with Carolina Cross even though they don�t look the same. But they are both what I would call "giants", and for all the reasons mentioned I find Kolbe�s to be superior in ALMOST every way. The big exception, of course, is that a TRUE giant Carolina Cross is much, much larger than a true giant Kolbe. However, for my own experience, Kolbe can serve as a great general purpose melon when it doesn�t reach "giant" status, but Carolina Cross can not. For all these reasons, I rate Kolbe�s as an 8 out of 10. One of the downsides is that they do tend to rise above the vines and sunburn fairly bad sometimes. And while I can hardly hold this against the variety type, I have to mention an oddity: on 3 separate occasions this year, while examining a different but very large Kolbe, upon turning it over I discovered a (harmless garter) snake coiled up underneath it!!! 3 times!!! Of course no one should blame the melon type for that, but it is funny that the only 3 times it happened was with a Kolbe Gem!

Malali: I really liked this small melon. It is supposedly from Israel, and I can tell you from personal experience that it was more drought resistant than any other melon I grew. We had a very serious lack of rain in my area this year and the only melon that was unphased and really didn�t need watering was the Malali. It is also the single most prolific watermelon I grew this year. I don�t know the average number per vine, but I plant all my watermelons 2 plants per hill and all are the same distance apart. Since I have the same number of plants per square foot throughout my entire melon patch, its fairly easy to tell which varieties are most productive because those plants will have the largest number (ie most dense) of melons per square foot. No doubt about it, the Malali melons were the most crowded and this variety the most productive. Its productivity and its drought resistance are big positives. The size is also very suitable to me: they run between 8 and 12 pounds and most are right around 10. This would make them a good market melon, I would think. I get my seeds from Baker Creek, and I will point out that the melons are much darker than shown in their artwork. They are very dark green melons, but if you look close you can still see that there are stripes running end to end on these. In spite of all the aforementioned positives, I must say that the taste is just average. Its as good as any supermarket watermelon and most people would probably say it�s a pretty good melon, but compared to many of my favorites it doesn�t hold up. Its just not all that sweet and has no special flavor. Therefore, in my little rating system I can only give it about a 7.5. That�s a shame because the drought resistance is a very powerful quality to me, but it just can�t overcome the average taste (for me)

I hope the above info is a little bit of help to someone who may be trying to decide what to grow next year. You are certainly more than welcome to ask me anything you want to about any of these melons. Also, keep in mine that these are just the new watermelons I grew this year for the first time (except Orangeglo). I grow 5 other melons every year-very common varieties I'm sure you are familiar with and which serve as my "go to", dependable basis for my annual melon crop. Feel free to ask about those above or the standards. THanks. Kevin

But they just don't thrive here.

Drew51, your post made me laugh because you have no idea how many people I come across who just cannot accept a yellow watermelon! I have good natured arguments with most of them and even get them to agree that if blindfolded, the orangeglo is probably better. But people, including my very own parents, are just so ingrained in the belief that watermelon should be red that they just can't accept anything else. So your wife is certainly not alone! So I suggest you grow some Orangeglo for you and to at least let her try, and some crimson sweets or Georgia rattlesnakes for her!

Rayrose, I will try gold strike! As I've said, every year I plant about 10 new (to me) varieties so I've added gold strike to my list. thanks! Sounds like Yellow Doll may be another one to add since 2 people just mentioned it.

Star Brite averages 25-27 lbs and 13-14 brix if properly watered and fertilized. I've had melons from the same hill early June until late October. But that takes a lot of work. It's easier with two plantings, one very early and pushed along and another early to mid May. By fall one hill can be 40ft diameter.

Biggest Star Brite has been 52 lbs. I like my melons big because I never put a whole melon in the fridge. Instead I cut out the best part and put it in a large tupperware container. That allows me to get rid of all the rind at once and not over fill the fridge.

Star Brite also has large seeds and not too many. I don't like a zillion small seeds. I've probably tried 20 seedless. Some have been great and many so so. A few even had flesh too hard. But none enough better than Star Brite too make up for all the extra trouble and usually lower yields.

Drew- now you are going make me go and post a review of all the non-watermelon melons I grew this year (cantaloupes, honey dews, etc). But I've taken up enough space for a while, so I'll wait on that. I don't know the Ha'Ogen you mentioned, though. But for me few things are as wonderful as a really good cantaloupe!

I do not grow watermelon due to lack of space. My brother does and his favorite is Crimson Sweet. I do buy Yellow Doll from a farm stand near me and must say it is one of my
favorites.

Alas, I do not know if the kind lady there will continue growing Yellow doll in the future. Everyone here is nuts
about "seedless watermelon". Seedless is all our supermarkets carry anymore. My farm stand lady stopped growing seeded red watermelons due to lack of interest
(I bought them!). Now she is getting flack about yellow doll and even had to post a sign that they contain seeds. Many of her clients will not buy them because they have seeds.

I fear the worst for watermelons to come if I can no longer get a good seeded melon. My daughter took Yellow Doll
to her high school and got ridiculed by the other students because it looked like pineapple due to its color. They were
also distraught that she would even eat a 'seeded melon' once she told them what it was.

While I like seedless watermelon, I find they usually have a
spongier texture and often are not as sweet as a seeded melon. I much prefer seeded types.

What fun are church picnics and family reunions when kids
can't spit watermelon seeds anymore? Glad I am not
a youth in these troubled times. Bring back my seeded
watermelons!

Great minds think alike, exactly what I'm going to do!

I think they cross pollenate with other watermelons and don't produce true (same as the parent plan) seeds.

I tried Cream of Saskatchewan several times with high hopes but it never delivered: it was not very productive, ripened late, and had small, often tasteless fruit.

Crimson Sweet is a good standby for me, as well as Desert King, and Blacktail Mountain, although the last one I have only grown twice.

Anyone tried Ali Baba? It is supposedly THE BEST watermelon out there, according to Baker Creek. I think I will give it a go next year, along with Kolb's Gem, and possibly Mountain Sweet Yellow.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'd love to plant melons but I have no space left, and I think it would be too much to grow these babies vertically.

Funny, the seeds I have are Orangeglo, Starbright, Blacktail Mountain, and Sweet Siberian.

I need more land!!!!

Dark Star Watermelon (83 days) “Much better than Jade Star or Blacktail Mountain,” says Welsby who harvested several in the 15 lb range. Our trialers agree, rating it as having larger size, darker red interior flesh and substantially better flavor than Seminis/Monsanto's Jade Star. Dark's high-yielding dark glossy round 10-15 lb fruits feature crisp bright juicy flesh, sweet right down to the rind, and small black unobtrusive seeds. Donna Dyrek's first fruit ripened Sept. 1 in 2010.

And a response

Kath, that is quite a list of watermelon you have grown. Fedco also gives high marks for Sweet Dakota Rose and Dark Star. The two on your list that surprised me were Ali Baba and Sangria. However, catalogs sometimes tend to hype certain varieties and that is why I like to hear feedback from people who have actually tried them.

Yet another response

Got seed for those two from Fedco because of the hype and wasn't disappointed. I was surprised at Ali Baba, too. They were smaller than I thought they'd be and the taste wasn't as sweet as I like. Maybe I don't fertilize enough or something and the two winners are just more tolerant of my soil's shortcomings. I've trialed watermelons the same way I do tomatoes- I grow lots of varieties at the same time and only the winners are invited back because I want to find the ones that do well every year, not just sometimes.

I agree, but it's still not always clear. it appears the Fedco watermelons do well in colder areas. Ray had bad luck, he's warmer. Seems true with orangeglo too. All watermelons are tropical so you think all would do well in the warmer zones.
Well I have about a decade's worth to try! I can only grow two cultivars a year.

I say this because for the first time this year I had a disaster using saved seeds. From the orangeglo seeds I had saved from the previous year that were grown alongside Desert King and Crimson Sweet, this year I got nothing that was true orangeglo!

The best tasting were still just mediocre, being small round dark rinded (like Blacktail Mtn) orange fleshed melons. I also had a whole lot of small ones that looked like orangeglo with the right shape and striping, but tasted awful (I threw them all in the compost). One tiny melon showed up looking exactly like Desert King, and another like Crimson Sweet, but both were overripe when opened, so I have no idea about their taste.

Like you, from here on out I will always order my seed from a reputable source.