Sorry Watermelons

[Tom]

We're not growing melons and have to take our chances with the Grocery.  Gael patronizes a Fla. Chain that is growing throughout the South East, called Publix.

I'll have to admit that they are selling the worst watermelons I've eaten in many years.  A grower should be ashamed to let green melons leave his field and a Grocery buyer should know better than to stock their store with them.  We've got three. 

They carry a label  called Borders Best that has a picture of the American flag forming the USA and the colors of the Mexican flag forming Mexico.  It says that the melon is a product of the USA and list Borders Melons, East, LLC as being in Adel, Georgia.  I have a friend who hails from Sparks and lives in Adel.  It's a little town of about 5,000 souls who apparently know little about watermelon growing and a lot on Marketing.   These melons were so green that the heart was even white.   

There was a time when Georgia Watermelons were known everywhere here as being a premium product.  Now melons are planted late and picked early with nothing but the market in mind.

I'm not partial to these little seedless melons anyway, but I hate it when someone sells an inferior product for top dollar and continues to do so time and time again.   You aren't allowed to cut one without buying it. Not everyone can thump one and even the Dept. of Agriculture frowns on plugging.

They might not be used to seeing it, but there will be a letter coming from an irate citizen/customer in Jacksonville, Florida.   It might not do anything but make me feel better, but I'll seek retribution wherever I can find it.

[fishpharmer]

I am with you Tom on the store bought watermelons.  They usually aren't very good.  I have found that a lot of store bought  melons are coming from Mexico.  Probably picked green for shipping.

If you don't mind me asking, how much did those melons cost?   

I try to get mine from farmers markets, that still no guarantee,  except, the guy I bought mine from said bring it back if its not good.  He meant it.

The farmer said the big ones were $8 and the small $6.  They were all pretty close. So I started thumping on some, most were green.  I picked up the biggest one I could find that was ripe.  I said "this one is six, right?"  I think he thought I knew a thing or two about melons. (I do. grew them for years).  He said "yes six if fine".

Was pretty good too.

I used to try to sell melons to groceries, the wanted to pay five cents a pound and wanted a truck load at a time.   That would have been my hole crop.  I decided that five dollars a piece for direct marketing was better than a dollar a melon.

Keep us posted. 

[dnalley]

Hey Tom, you know what "they" say about Adel----so close to hell you can see Sparks :D :D  Might explain something about those watermelons!  How you doing, friend?

[thecfarm]

Take the cut one right back and the others too. My wife would be real upset and I KNOW she would get her money back.She LOVES watermelon.It is too bad they did that.If all customers would take the green product back,it might open thier eyes up to what is going on.

[Tom]

If it were the corner grocery, it would be feasible.   Jacksonville is so large and I am so far from the grocery that the trip is more expensive than the watermelons.  Retailers don't consider the "other costs" when their product is a sham.

I know that the grocery can't see inside of the melons either, but with today's technologies, you would think that the big buyers would have some kind of electronic do-dad to give them an idea of what was going on inside of their produce.

There will be letters and I cut the label off of the melons.  Those labels and the 4" circle of rind attached will be going back to them when we get to town again.

ah yes!  Sparks!  Another little town that has all but disappeared. 

[beenthere]

Tom
Your watermelon experience reminds me of our recent one with bananas. Dear wife bought some at the nearby Costco that were ripe (that is yellow skins for me), and also a bunch that were green. After two full weeks, they were still green (couldn't peel them). She took them back and they gladly refunded her money and had her select a new bunch. Said that they had a lot of returns from a particular shipment. So, it happens, and returns are likely the only good feedback they get.

On the other hand, our best place to buy good quality bananas is the local gas station/convenience store. They somehow are very consistent with good bananas that ripen without hidden dark spots and they are usually around 30¢ a pound. Kinda like it is their calling card. 

[Raider Bill]

Tom,

I bought the same melon Saturday. It was terrible.

[JAMES G]

I have grown watermelons for the past few years and sold them along the road, when people asked me if the were sweet tasting melons or  if the were ripe I would respond to pick one out and we would cut it open, most of the time just saying that would prove they were ripe.Others would pick one out and taste it and then buy three are four melons.I grow charlston grays they have become a rarity around here, they old timers love them and younger people like them as much as the jubilee and congos.

[DanG]

My Mom bought one of those melons when I took her to the store last Friday.  We may never know if it was any good or not.  She had me pick out the biggest one, then had me put it on the floor when we got home.  Neither her nor my Dad can bend over far enough to cut it there, and both of them put together couldn't pick it up! : :D :D :D

In the store, I told her that we passed a farmer selling them by the road, and we should get one from him instead, but she refused.  I'm gonna laugh at her if it turns out to be green. ;D

[ErikC]

  I was at work today and the homeowner came from town with a little seedless watermelon. He brought it over and asked if I had a pocketknife. I immediately was suspicious and thought of Toms watermelon from reading this thread.

But luck was on my side-- it was delicious. ;D

[zopi]

My dear wife is firmly convinced that seedless watermelons are a communist plot...hates 'em..

We've never managed to grow a decent melon...there are five on the vine right now that are just gorgeous..hopefully they will make ok..I'll probably grow a bunch next year.

[fishpharmer]

How come I can't ever find seeds to plant those seedless watermelons? ;) ;D

[DanG]

We've never managed to grow a decent melon...

I feel yer pain, man!  I've lived right here in the heart of tomato country for 15 years and ain't been able to grow a decent tomato yet.  I asked one of the tomato growers about fertilizer and he said, "We put 39-15-21 on the bottom and 53-5-15 on top, and shoot some 28-14-3 through the pipe once a week."  I said, "Ok I'll just come out here and pick some of yours."  He said, "Ok, come ahead," and that's what I've been doing. ;D 8)

[Dodgy Loner]

How come I can't ever find seeds to plant those seedless watermelons? ;) ;D

Problem solved!: Seedless Watermelon Seeds

;D ;D ;D

[fishpharmer]

Thanks DL, I was always looking under the picnic table. ;D

[Tom]

I had a thought this morning. 
When you feed tomatoes too much Nitrogen, they develop a white core and the edible portion becomes minimal. (or so I've been told that this is what causes it)

I wonder if the same thing happens with Watermelons.   These melons were definitely green, but I wonder if the white core replacing the heart is a nutrition problem?

[Dodgy Loner]

Tom, you are a perceptive individual. I did a search for "watermelon white heart" on google and found a link to a commercial watermelon production publication from Kansas State Cooperative Extension. The publication states the following:

White heart or hollow heart. Varies with varieties. White heart is thought to be related to excessive moisture and nitrogen.

[Raider Bill]

My Mom used to can watermelon rind pickles. Boy were they good. When I cut into last weekends melon I thought that you could use the whole thing in the pickle making process.

[zopi]

I had a thought this morning. 
When you feed tomatoes too much Nitrogen, they develop a white core and the edible portion becomes minimal. (or so I've been told that this is what causes it)

I wonder if the same thing happens with Watermelons.   These melons were definitely green, but I wonder if the white core replacing the heart is a nutrition problem?

From what I have been reading, the melons "set ripe" when the first tendril back up the vine dies out, then wait two weeks and it can be considered ripe,
or as soon as the second tendril dies out after two weeks from the death of the first one...basically the melon is ripe when the first one dies, but it takes a couple weeks for the sugar to set in the melon...

although I am sure that the nutrition is equaly important.

[DanG]

My Uncle Bud had the best method of ripeness checking I ever saw.  He would press down on the melon with his knee and listen for the heart to crack.  If it didn't crack, it wasn't ripe.  I never saw it fail, and have done it many times myself with perfect results.

[Dodgy Loner]

I use the tendril method to determine if my melons are ripe, but if you're buying a melon other methods are needed.  The underside of a ripe melon will be yellow - a light green color indicates that it's not ripe.

[Tom]

I doubt that this melon would have succumbed to pressure from a knee.  It was as solid as rock and there was no differentiation between the area I supposed was heart and the area containing the almost-negligible seeds from the red meat that lies between the seeds and the rind, and the rind itself.  The entire exterior of the melon was green, as if it had been a woman turned in a sunbathing machine.

Not really being able to identify where the melon was grown, it's difficult to say that water was a problem, but I'd almost be willing to bet that the melon farmer also raises chickens and spreads this nitrogen rich fertilizer on his fields as a means of disposal rather than nutrition.  I can't imagine his spending good money to over-fertilize a field, especially with fuel costs it would demand.  Of course, if the melon was grown where I think it was grown, he might not even own a tractor.  Human labor is too cheap. :D

There used to be melons grown locally here and just over the border in Georgia.  They were good.   Great big Cannonballs and Congos that you could hardly lift, even as an adult, with hearts that were beginning to separate and juice so sweet that it almost made your teeth hurt.   Even folks with empty building lots would grow them.  Relatively speaking, they were not as expensive as today's melons and accolades were heaped on the farmer for growing a good product.  Melons were almost brand specific because the public wanted a certain farmer's berries.  While, perhaps, they weren't as expensive, there certainly were a lot more eaten compared to today.  There was hardly a meal went by without a slice of watermelon in season.  Kids got watermelon after school, everyday.  Watermelons were taken to the beach, the river, the lake, camping picnics; and not just by the slice either.  Pickup trucks would be laden with the big berries at church meetings, covered dish suppers, or baseball games.

Now the melons seem to have reached a cult following.  Only the die-hards get one and they are taken home in singles or twos.  A watermelon feast to a kid today is one, maybe two pieces and it is parsed out like caviar.

I think the accountants must have gotten hold of the industry.  While I think that money has always driven the economy, I had the impression, when I was little, that real goal was to make sure that everyone had all the melons they could eat.  Today, it seems that there must be some kind of balance between the melons grown and keeping the price up, forgetting the following of the customer.   Both ways probably net the farmer the same profit, but the old way sure made for happier people.

I know, some folks say that a haircut used to cost a dollar and a watermelon, a quarter.  Now the haircut cost $12 to $20 and they say that we should be happy that we can buy a little melon for $5.00.   I guess there is some logic to that in a modernized mind, but I think that haircuts cost too much too.  Keeping a family happy with all the melons they can eat could still be done with prices being $1-$3 apiece.  'Course you would have to do away with a lot of middlemen, sitting behind desks and farmers would have to have stands again.  The pencil pushers probably don't know what a good melon tastes like anyway.

What ever happened to cause the farmers to quit selling to the public, anyway?  Even the Farmer's markets are nothing more than commercial grocery stores now, getting their produce, etc. from big trucks that come from somewhere else.

There I go again, expounding.  I need to quit and go find something important to do. 

[Dodgy Loner]

The farmer's markets around here require that the produce be grown by the people who sell it. Any evidence of farmers buying produce and reselling it at the markets can get the farmer permanently banned. Nationwide, farmer's markets have actually seen a huge resurgence in the last 20 years. From 1994 to 2006, the number of markets increased from 1,755 to 4,385, an average increase of 18% per year. However, the labor involved in supplying a farmer's market with fresh produce eats into the farmer's profits, and many farmers can actually earn more money by selling huge quantities of produce at cheap wholesale prices than by selling one expensive tomato at a time to the folks in a farmer's market.

[Radar67]

Everybody just needs to come on down for the Watermelon Festival in Mize, MS the 18th of July. All the melon you can eat for the cost of entry (3 or 5 dollars). Local grown melons, guaranteed. It's for a good cause too, the proceeds always go to the local volunteer fire department. They really need it this year, the fire station burned to the ground last week with all the equipment inside.  :

[DanG]

Farmer's Markets are not the same things they were when I was a kid.  Back then, the market was a big place with lots of sheds and docks for big trucks to back up to.  There was an auction shed where farmers would bring their produce in bushel baskets, by the truckload.  They would wait for hours for their turn at the auction block, and that was the way they marketed their product.  What we think of as a "Farmer's Market" today is little more than a flea market for gardeners.  Not that there is anything wrong with today's concept, but it will never match up to the market I used to go to with my Dad.  We didn't buy by the pound, but by the bushel, and we would buy several bushels of peas or butterbeans, and spend the next several evenings with a shelling pan in our laps.

The old markets we used to go to still exist, but they are wholesale only, and a regular individual looking to feed his family is not welcome.  You cannot walk down the dock and buy a hamper or two, for fear that you might do something stupid and sue them for it.  If you can't buy a truckload, you may as well stay home and eat out of a tin can. :

[CHARLIE]

Tom, a good picture with your digital camera would be worth a thousand words.  Send them a picture of the inside of that green melon.

[Tom]

That's a good idea!  I told Momma that you weren't all that dumb. :D

[Fla._Deadheader]

CR has "Farias". Open markets in near every small town. Growers have open stalls or string a tarp from their trucks, and sell right out of the truck, with a display for folks to pick out what they want.

  I'm sure that anything that does not get sold or is past ripe, goes to the hogs.

  Living down here is pretty much the same as when I was a young lad. Nothing much is wasted.

  I wouldn't trade it for anything. Just wish my kids would wise up and come visit. Might open their eyes  : : ;D

[Dodgy Loner]

What we think of as a "Farmer's Market" today is little more than a flea market for gardeners. 

For the most part, I would say you are right. Most of the folks who sell produce at our local markets are retirees who earned their pension doing something other than farming. However, if you get into the larger cities, you can definitely find farmer's markets where the farmers actually make a living at what they do. Most of them are managing small acreages very intensively, and consider themselves "organic" or "naturally grown". There is a husband and wife here in Rabun County who sell at the Morningside Market in Atlanta (2 hours away), and they're supporting themselves on only 2 acres of land. They may not have 2000 acres of cotton and a $200,000 combine, but if they're making a living by putting seeds in the ground, who are we to say they're not farmers?

[DanG]

Now I didn't say those people weren't farmers, just that their markets are not like the markets of old.  My Sister and her Hub make their living that way too, and they are very much farmers.  To look at their operation though, you would probably call it a garden.

[Chuck White]

Watermelon prices here are rediculous this year!
At the Walmart store yesterday they had bins of the round, seedless melons that varied from 6 to 8 inches in diameter for $4.99 each.
If the rind was completely removed, they would probably vary from 4 to 6 inches, well that's not much more than the size of a softball.
Last year, we could buy them that size for 49¢ each.

I guess we're on a watermelon free diet this year!

Chuck

[ErikC]

  My mom and dad have 3-4 acres they raise for farmers markets. A lot of berries, and everything else you can grow in a garden around here pretty much. A lot of work goes into it that's for sure. Dad is retired, but they started before he was. They make some money at it, and the produce is without question the best available anywhere in our area. They always sell out, there is often a line before the market opens so people can get what they want.

[Dodgy Loner]

Chuck, I highly doubt the watermelons you bought last year were seedless watermelons.  Seedless watermelons are from hand-pollinated hybrids and the seeds cost about $0.20 apiece.  They must be started indoors under specific temperature and moisture conditions to ensure proper germination, and the vines are less vigorous and produce less fruit than regular seeded melons.  Normal 'Sugar Baby' watermelons seeds can be purchased 4 for a penny. That's why they're so much cheaper than seedless melons.  Even so, I have a hard time seeing how any farmer could make a profit if the retailers were selling their melons for $0.49 each.

[SwampDonkey]

My Mom used to can watermelon rind pickles. Boy were they good. When I cut into last weekends melon I thought that you could use the whole thing in the pickle making process.

I've had those also. First from dad's aunt in Massachusetts and mom made a few after getting the recipe. I liked them very much, but up here in the north everything is cucumber or tomato based as far as home made pickles and you can't change that.  :D :D

[SwampDonkey]

The underside of a ripe melon will be yellow - a light green color indicates that it's not ripe.

I use that method with my winter squash. Also, a dull colored one that has lost it's shine is going rotten and won't keep.

[SwampDonkey]

I think the accountants must have gotten hold of the industry.  While I think that money has always driven the economy, I had the impression, when I was little, that real goal was to make sure that everyone had all the melons they could eat.  Today, it seems that there must be some kind of balance between the melons grown and keeping the price up, forgetting the following of the customer.   Both ways probably net the farmer the same profit, but the old way sure made for happier people.

Just like the lobster fishery here, the fishermen get about $3.50 a lb and the super markets never dropped the price on the shelf a dime, they still want about $12 a lb and the price at the wharf has been rock bottom for over a year.  They continue to artificially inflate the price at the store as if it's rare and pay the fishermen rock bottom prices with the line we are over supplied. They can't loose when extortion is legal. :

[bd354]

  Around here the coyotes destroy every watermelon they can find. Very seldom is one eaten, usually they just go along and bite one plug out of each melon. I don't plant them anymore. It drives the gardners crazy around here. One guy put poison in one melon and then couldn't remember which one. Course he does drink a little. It doesn't seem to matter if the melons are ripe or not, they get them all.

[JAMES G]

Crows will destroy watermelons also those dang @#$#@# will go right threw a field and peck holes in every one they can find :'( >:(

[Modat22]

I tried one of those so called "Sweet Seedless" mellons last week and couldn't finish it. The taste to me was sort of like an over ripe cucumber with little white specks throughout the thing (I assume those where seeds).

[Dodgy Loner]

I had a seedless watermelon from Wal-Mart last week, and it was absolutely delicious. The only other time I tried a seedless watermelon, the taste was sweet, but the flesh was soggy and disappointing. I think there's an art to growing seedless melons, and not all the the farmers who grow them have artistic ability ;D

[LeeB]

I just remebered that we bought a melon for the 4th and put in the refer in my shop. I need to call Lindy and tell her to get it out and eat it. It surely won't be good by the time I home.