HYBRID OF COLLECTIVE FARM WOMAN MELON

[canadamike]

Here are pictures of what was supposed to be COLLECTIVE FARM WOMAN, from Gatersleben, but if the exterior looks exactly like it ( it is a variable melon visually, the skin can be bi-color like here, dark green or orange-gold ), the flesh is greenish-yellow instead of pure white.

It was absolutely delicious anyway, and I'll keep the seeds along with all the seeds of the melons that made it GREAT to the finish line.

If the year was absolutely horrible, cold , rainy, loaded with diseases and insect infestations ( both cucumber beetles here, one at the beginning, the other at the end), it was on the other hand a banner year for natural selection.

Any melon that made it with a great taste is a purebred for my harsh climate.

Yesterday, I visited the farm of an organic melon and watermelon market grower ( he should join us ), and the desolation in the fields was a very sad thing to see. Add to that the 20,000$ of corn that he counted on selling is a total loss, constant rain and cold having hindered pollination ( same here), and Vadim really wants to forget 2008, the worse year he has seen in his life, either here, in Kyrgystan where he is from or in Germany where he lived for 10 years.

As sad as it is, it underlines the importance of work like the one my collaborating friends here and I do...

We have in store, thanks to that horrible year, seeds of real champions. and by the way, despite 2 light frosts ( ground level frosts) just around the patch, my LUNÉVILLE still have more leaves than many of the others ever had.

So, on top of this incredible disease resistance and harsh climate tolerance, cold has not killed the plants, while sunden death syndrome has taken away all the others, except PRESCOTT, a parent of LUNÉVILLE.

I wouldn't say plants are looking great, but I still have leaves pumping carbohydrates in my melons, which are ripening. I picked one LUNÉVILLE today to eat with friends on Sunday, it will rain untill then, as should be expected in this shitty year that is ending like it started.

[Alan]

Another nice looking melon buddy!


Oh, I'll definetly take some seeds from that green fleshed mix that you have.

I ended up making a mix of green fleshed muskmelon this year as well with about 9 varieties, I have saved seed of only the best in all aspects. I am glad to see you working so hard on developing, crossing, and selecting melons for the far north.

Michael Lachume "Hero of the North" Melon breeder!

[canadamike]

Thanks for your support

As for crossing Alan, the bees did it, I was prudent enough not to go in the main patch after the small one was killed by downy mildew.

So the F-1, or F-2 in that case, might end up any color. I could only self ONE LUNÉVILLE, because it was at the very end of the row and I could do it without touching anything else. And I did it in a good dry morning, (kidding here, it rained 5 minutes after), with new washed clothes and a shower taken just before going and walking away from the patch , circling it to work at its end.

It sadly means your mass-cross of whites was not selfed, using the same procedure or so I selfed 2, but they aborted. I think the plants were heavily stressed and since there were many fruits on the plants already, they might have called it quits for a while. Too bad, because I had selfed a perfect flower that was there to my great surprise.

Funny how watermelons, so identified with water, really don't like it too much and how small they grow when water is aplenty. Vadim, the grower I talked about yeasterday, from Kyrgystan but living here now, only has watermelons that are small ghosts of their usual selves.

My corn breeding is also a disaster, all the corn, including the early ones, the late ones, the ones in the middle, tasseled at the same time, very very late. I am only beginning to harvest, and pollination is a cruel joke.I almost had a dozen of ears today, my first ones, out of maybe 10,000 plants, and all but 3 were WHITE MIDGET, and early fantastic heirloom planted 2 weeks after all the others. ( I had only 100 seeds, 56 germinated, I'll get 2 dozen small ears MAX, and the plants are multi-stalked).

No way this corn will make it to dry seeds, frost is already here and most of the corn needs a good week to make it to the edible stage.

Vadim was planning to sell for 20,000$ of corn to the market, and sold NONE. All the plants are full size, but the constant rain killed pollination. His field looks georgous but there are only empty stalks....

I hope you understand why I think so highly of the melons that have make it to perfection... War heroes deserve respect .

[Alan]

I agree, all the seeds that we on the site have collectively propogated and worked on in the past two seasons should be nigh indestructible in the future. I know they are if they survived on my farm for sure. Drought, flood, Drought!

This year was not a good year for corn.

I did have good luck with watemelons though, they were at one point coming out my ears there for a little while. Next year has to be more disciplined though. Far too much mass crossing going on. Great for diversity, bad for getting things to market in mass and making any money.


With that said my dear watermelon growers out there, grow and eat lots and lots of Cream of Saskathewan. They are machines! Quick to flower, quick to mature. Tolerant of nearly everything and to boot they are delicious. Just be careful picking them or walking around them, when they say they have the "E" gene which stands for "exsplosive" they are not joking. Touch it with your foot the wrong way and it will crack right in two!

[canadamike]

With your FOOT? How about your finger?

I GENTLY pressed a finger on one to check if it was mature, it was, then, looking up elsewhere, I heard CrrrrrrrrAck There it was, split.