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Post by extremegardener on Jan 4, 2010 18:01:17 GMT -5
CanadaMike , et al - A belated report on my 2009 melon trials. (Melons in zone 4) - It was a totally lousy year, and I lost a lot of the seedlings early on. I sowed: Piel de Sapo Apelsinnaja CUM 304 (Russia) Luneville Altajskaja Ulucsennaja Sary-Guljabi Gnadenfeld Zatta I got fruit from: Piel de Sapo CUM 304 Luneville Altajskaja Ulucsennaja Gnadenfeld Zatta I cannot make any judgment on flavor, except for Piel de Sapo which is a winter melon that consistently does well here, and manages to make some sugars. The others had no sugars. We had no sun, and cold wet weather all season. However, vigor and disease resistance was interesting. Altajskaja Ulucsennaja seemed to not mind the cold, pumped out a lot of very early blossoms, and set fruit well (large fruit, ripe first of October). Gnadenfeld was the earliest ripening, lots of small fruits. CUM 304 may be a small winter melon - I don't think it got ripe enough on the vine, though. It keeps very well, and I am pretending it is an exotic cucumber and making salsa with it here in December and January. Zatta and Luneville both seemed like if there had been some sun they would be quite tasty. I'll post photos and more info on www.theextremegardener.com/blog/ later this week.
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Post by jonnyyuma on Jan 8, 2010 20:40:18 GMT -5
I cannot make any judgment on flavor, except for Piel de Sapo which is a winter melon that consistently does well here, and manages to make some sugars. It's interesting that you can get Piel de Sapo types to mature in Zone 4. I have a hard time with them in zone 9. They have such a long season. I think around 80% of the world wide commercial market is planted to one variety from Syngenta. Jonny
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Post by extremegardener on Jan 9, 2010 17:14:19 GMT -5
I cannot make any judgment on flavor, except for Piel de Sapo which is a winter melon that consistently does well here, and manages to make some sugars. It's interesting that you can get Piel de Sapo types to mature in Zone 4. I have a hard time with them in zone 9. They have such a long season. I think around 80% of the world wide commercial market is planted to one variety from Syngenta. Jonny Yes, I was quite surprised and originally thought it was a very long shot. I'm learning that there are a lot of different strains of the Valencia/winter melons, with different maturity ranges. For keeping into winter, they should be picked somewhat immature, so that's easy for me. Gourmet Seed International (they sell seed from European seed houses to North America) is where I got the seed originally. They don't have Piel de Sapo this year, but have two Valencia varieties, one which is supposed to be quite early, and I may try... if I can get myself psyched for hand pollinating... I need to keep my Piel de Sapos going and pure - a melon that I can grow and salivate over is pretty rare.
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Post by canadamike on Jan 9, 2010 22:38:57 GMT -5
I have a lot of early spanish accessions in my pool, I suspect the majority to be winter types, the spaniards being crazy for them. There is one excellent keeper that looks like a small canary type that is very early, it is called MARYGOLD. I ONLY HAVE A FEW SEEDS LEFT, BUT THIS ONE SHOULD BE A PRIORITY. I ate it in november last year, and on top of that, I left one half of it in the fridge to come back one month later, and it was still good
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Post by castanea on Jan 9, 2010 22:44:23 GMT -5
Through the years I've noticed that maturity dates for many vegetables and tree fruit vary widely over what is claimed. There seem to be many reasons for this. Sometimes this is because the information is simply inaccurate. Sometimes maturity is strongly affected by environmental factors and not always in the way we might expect. For example, some pomegranates that have OK flavor in cooler areas have lousy flavor in warmer areas when in theory it should be the reverse. Availability of nutrients undoubtedly affects maturity. Significant day and night temperature differences can encourage or delay maturity depending upon what fruit we are dealing with. I'm sure there are other factors such as unknown genetic factors. Burbank always remarked upon how unusually plants might behave outside their native environment. The bottom line is that nothing takes the place of actually growing something in your garden.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jan 10, 2010 8:59:13 GMT -5
Spanish? Spanish melons? You are not joking? If you still have some available, I would dearly love 2 or 3 seed of the Marigold, but why is it a priority? Because of my bug problems, I don't want to risk more than a few seed. But with just a plant or two, I can be up close and personal and hopefully protect from invaders.
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Post by canadamike on Jan 10, 2010 10:40:37 GMT -5
Sharing is not a problem with me my dear, sharing is safety for all of us, but in the actual case, when I sais a few I really meant a few, like in a couple. So I have arrranged for them to be grown by a professional nursery man in order for them to be safe and have seeds to share. Tim Peters might have more. This melon , bred by N.Hampshire U if I remember well is really delicious and early and can take some mountain weather. And it is a great keeper. For some reason, I did not see it in GRIN, which is a sin, it's genetics are quite desirable in breeding. I can send you loads of other early spanish melon seeds . We have to explore a bit here That is also breeding.
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Post by extremegardener on Jan 10, 2010 12:43:21 GMT -5
Sharing is not a problem with me my dear, sharing is safety for all of us, but in the actual case, when I sais a few I really meant a few, like in a couple. So I have arrranged for them to be grown by a professional nursery man in order for them to be safe and have seeds to share. Tim Peters might have more. This melon , bred by N.Hampshire U if I remember well is really delicious and early and can take some mountain weather. And it is a great keeper. For some reason, I did not see it in GRIN, which is a sin, it's genetics are quite desirable in breeding. I can send you loads of other early spanish melon seeds . We have to explore a bit here Oh I can't resist - can i get one or two of the early spanish? I think I may have grown Marygold many years ago, certainly have heard of it - good work!
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jan 11, 2010 7:05:23 GMT -5
As long as it's Spanish, I would like a few! Thanks for the clarification =o) I'll wait patiently for a more significant number of seeds of the Marigold to become available. If you could send me maybe 2 or 3 seeds of a couple other Spanish varieties and perhaps a naked seed variety?
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Post by canadamike on Jan 11, 2010 17:04:11 GMT -5
I am not aware of naked seeded melons, sorry, not to say they do not exist, but I never saw one, read about one or saw that as a descriptor. You'll both get more than 2-3 seeds
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Post by Dan on Jan 14, 2010 17:38:07 GMT -5
i severely wish we had more room to grow....i'd love to grow melons. we have to be selective every year as we live in the city squashed (no pun intened) between 2 houses. oh well, guess i have to make Jim grow them for me
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