Watermelon Production
Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is a flowering plant species of the Cucurbitaceae family and the name of its edible fruit. A scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, it is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, with more than 1,000 varieties. Watermelon is grown in favorable climates from tropical to temperate regions worldwide for its large edible fruit, which is a berry with a hard rind and no internal divisions and is botanically called a pepo. Watermelon is a sweet and refreshing low-calorie summer snack. It provides hydration and also essential nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Watermelons vary in size, appearance, and flavor, depending on the specific variety, and generally have a small to large, oblong, oval, to round shape. The rind is thick, smooth, hard, and waxy, showcasing solid light to dark green hues or a base green coloring with darker green, broken, and mottled stripes. Underneath the surface, the flesh has a soft, granular, crisp, and aqueous consistency, encasing dark brown-black or white oval seeds. The flesh also ranges in color from pink, red, white, green, orange, to yellow.
Watermelons are typically sweet with moderate sugar content, averaging from 9 to 12 Brix, a unit of measurement for sugar, contributing to the flesh’s mild, sweet, and subtly fruity, earthy flavor. Ripe Watermelons should feel firm and heavy for their size and display a yellow spot on the rind where they sat in the field. While not always a reliable indicator, some consumers select Watermelons based on the sound they make when tapped. Ripe Watermelons are rumored to have a dull, hollow, and muffled sound.
Product Varieties
Caribbean King RZ F1 is an orange-fleshed Harper melon that produces large fruits with a creamy skin color with even netting. Internally, Caribbean King has a medium to small seed cavity, and sweet orange flesh that is slightly aromatic, not too firm, and achieves a high sugar content under good growing conditions. This great-tasting variety has a long shelf life and is well suited for the processing industry. Caribbean King RZ has a high yield potential and the generative plant offers good leaf cover with a concentrated fruit set to give uniform fruit size and shape. It can also be grown successfully under protection.
Special attributes
- Large size and long shelf life
- Orange flesh
- Average fruit weight: 2.2 kg
- High sugar content
Columbia RZ F1 Crimson Sweet melons, because of their extremely high sugar content and wonderful flavor, are the most appreciated watermelon cultivars worldwide because they adapt well to various climatic conditions making them by far the most popular watermelon. They have a tough, medium green rind with dark-green stripes and oblong fruits.
Special attributes
- Crimson sweet type
- Round shape with stripes
- Good vigor
- Good fruit setting
- Nice red flesh color
- Good sugar content
- Average fruit weight: 4 – 7 kg
Baronesa RZ F1 Watermelon is a Large size black seeded watermelon with very uniform fruits and dark green skin with deep red flesh. Sugar content is high, and the plant is strong, with small leaves and an excellent leaf cover that gives fewer problems of sunburn. The yield can be very high as the variety has a very good fruit setting. Recommended for spring/summer cycle in the open field.
Special attributes
- Sugar baby type
- Round shape with dark green skin
- Strong plant type