Watermelon varieties were evaluated in the spring 1999 season at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, Bradenton. The trials included 32 diploid entries and 28 triploid (seedless) entries.

Production Practices

The EauGallie fine sand was prepared in late January by incorporation of 0-0.8-0 lb N-P₂0₅-K₂0 per 100 linear bed feed (lbf). Beds were formed and fumigated with methyl bromide: chloropicrin, 67:33 at 2.3 lb/100 lbf. Banded fertilizer was applied in shallow grooves on the bed shoulders at 3.1-0-4.3 lb N-P₂0₅-K₂0/100 lbf after the beds were pressed and before application of the black polyethylene mulch. The total fertilizer applied was equivalent to 148-40-206 lb N-P₂0₅-K₂0/acre. The final beds were 32 in. wide and 8 in. high and were spaced on 9 ft centers, with four beds between seepage irrigation/drainage ditches which were on 41 ft centers. The diploid watermelons were planted in rows adjacent to the ditches and also served as pollenizers for triploid watermelons that were being evaluated in the two center beds of each land.

Diploid watermelon seeds were planted on 15 February in holes punched in the polyethylene mulch at 3 ft in-row spacing. Seedlings were thinned at the two true-leaf stage to one per hole. Triploid watermelon transplants were field planted on 15 February. The 30-ft long plots had ten plants each and were replicated three times in a randomized complete-block design. Weed control in row middles was accomplished by cultivation and application of paraquat. Plant stand counts recorded just before vines grew together showed no significant difference among plots. Pesticides were applied as needed for control of silverleaf whitefly (endosulfan, esfenvalerate, abamectin, and ultrafine oil), gummy stem blight (chlorothalonil and azoxystrobin) and worms (Bacillus thuringiensis and methomyl).

Watermelons were harvested from late May to mid-June. Marketable (U.S. No. 1 or better) fruit according to U.S. Standards for Grades of Watermelons were separated from culls and counted and weighed individually. Triploid fruit 8 lbs and larger and diploid fruit 12 lbs and larger were assumed to be marketable. Tetraploid fruit, where they occurred, were not included in the marketable category because they are not seedless. Soluble solids (a measure of sweetness) were determined with a hand-held refractometer on at least six fruit from each entry at each harvest. The resulting data were subjected to analysis of variance and mean separation was by Duncan’s multiple range test.

Diploid Results

Early yields, based on the first of two harvests, ranged from 0 for ‘Starbrite’ and ‘Stargazer’ to 426 cwt/acre for ‘Sentinel’. Twenty-one other entries had early yields similar to those of ‘Sentinel’. Average fruit weight ranged from 19.9 lbs for SWD 8307 to 30.6 lbs for ‘Big Stripe’. Soluble solids concentration varied from 10.9% for ‘Huck Finn’ to 13.2% for WX 8. The incidence of hollowheart ranged from 0 in ACX 7402, ‘Fiesta’, ‘Huck Finn’, ‘Legacy’, ‘Royal Star’, RWM 8036, RWM 8074, ‘Sentinel’, ‘Sultan’, ‘Summer Flavor 500’, ‘Summer Flavor 800’, ‘Summer Flavor 810’, ‘Summer Flavor 820’, SWD 8307, SXW 5023, and SXW 5038 to 100% in ‘Big Stripe’, ‘Piņata’, and ‘Stars-N-Stripes’.

Total yields varied from 450 cwt/acre for SXW 5023 to 856 cwt/acre for ‘Big Stripe’. Twenty-six other entries had yields statistically similar to those of ‘Big Stripe’. Average fruit weight over the entire season ranged from 20.6 lbs for ‘Sangria’ to 28.2 lbs for ‘Big Stripe’. ‘Summer Flavor 810’ average fruit weight was 26.7 lbs., ‘Huck Finn’ average fruit weight was over 26.0 lbs and a number of other entries had substantial average fruit weights. Fruit per plant varied from 1.3 for SXW 5023 to 2.2 for ‘Mardi Gras’. Soluble solids concentrations ranged from 10.8% for RWM 8074 to 12.9% for ‘Sultan’. Seasonal average soluble solids for all entries exceeded the 10% specified for optional use to designate very good internal quality in the U.S. Standards for Grades of Watermelons. The incidence of hollowheart varied from 0 in ‘Starbrite’ and SKW 5023 to 83% in ‘Piņata’ (large seed).

Based on this and previous trials, the following Allsweet and blocky Crimson Sweet type varieties are expected to perform well in Florida: ‘Fiesta’, ‘Mardi Gras’, ‘Regency’, ‘Royal Flush’, ‘Royal Star’, ‘Royal Sweet’, ‘Sentinel’, ‘Starbrite’, ‘Stars-N-Stripes’ and Summer Flavor 800 and 900 series. Other varieties may perform equally well on some farms.

Triploid Results

Early yield, as represented by the first of two harvests, varied from 157 cwt/acre for DPS 4571 to 648 cwt/acre for XWT 8706. Twenty-two other entries had yields similar to those of XWT 8706 and 15 other entries had early yields statistically similar to DPS 4571. Average fruit weights at the first harvest ranged from 13.5 lbs for RWM 8084 to 28.3 lbs for DPS 4548. Soluble solids concentrations varied from 12.4% in RWM 8089 to 14.3% in DPS 4548 at the first harvest. The percentage of fruit having hollowheart at the first harvest ranged from 0 in ‘Fandango’, ‘Summer Sweet 5544’ and ‘Triton’ to 83% in ‘Constitution’.

Total yields ranged from 686 cwt/acre for ‘Triton’ to 1186 cwt/acre for XWT 8706. Only seven entries produced yields significantly lower than XWT 8706. Average fruit weight for the entire season varied from 13.0 lbs for RWM 8089 to 24.3 lbs for DPS 4548. The number of fruit per plant ranged from 2.3 for DPS 4548 to 4.3 for XWT 8706. Soluble solids concentrations varied from 12.1% for ‘Triton’ to 13.6% for SXW 1003. Accordingly, soluble solids in all entries far exceeded the 10% specified for optional use in the U.S. Standards for Grades of Watermelons to describe very good internal quality. The incidence of hollowheart ranged from 0 in ‘Fandango’ and ‘Summer Sweet 5544’ to 67% in ‘Constitution’.

Based on results of this and previous trials, triploid hybrids, in alphabetical order, that should perform well in Florida include ‘Constitution’, ‘Crimson Trio’, ‘Freedom’, ‘Genesis’, ‘King of Hearts’, ‘Millionaire’, ‘Revere’, ‘Summersweet 5244’, ‘Summersweet 5544’, ‘Tri-X-313’ and ‘Tri-X-Carousel’. ‘Triton’, a yellow-flesh variety should be evaluated for that niche market. Other varieties may perform well on individual farms.

Those readers needing more details on these trials should request Research Reports BRA-1999-5 and BRA-1999-6, from the author.

In case you haven’t noticed, we are about to leave the "dead bed era." Methyl bromide served us well, killing most soil-borne pathogens, insects, nematodes, and weeds. But by all accounts (i.e., IFAS research) the alternatives leave something to be desired. Hence, a "lively" bed will be the result. Sure, we’ll develop chemical cocktails tailored to certain situations, but we are losing more ground than we are gaining when it comes to the use of agricultural chemicals. If we continue on the present course, most of what we are using today will either be ineffective or have lost it’s registration when we lose methyl bromide (2005). So what’s an alternative? Dare I say it? Biologicals!

Believe it or not, over the past two years many transplant houses in Florida have silently put away their copper/EBDC sprays in favor of "the phage," a virus that attacks bacterial spot. Learning how to use the phage was frustrating at first, but this year several transplant facilities have mentioned how "clean" their transplants have been under phage technology. Transplant producers are just like vegetable growers, except they plant hundreds of crops each year. So if biologicals are working for them, perhaps you should take a closer look at this technology.

Biological control has been around for decades, yet success stories are few. That is because we have expected too much. Our chemistry has been so effective in defeating diseases and insects that we have used chemistry as the standard on which to judge the biological. But Mother Nature operates according to the familiar phrase "you win some, you lose some." Let’s face it: you never really beat bacterial spot!

So how can these biologicals help you?

Easy Application. These products are generally applied either as a seed treatment or as an amendment to the peat/vermiculite when growing transplants. The products themselves are either dusts, granules, or flakes, and liquid formulations are on the drawing board. Just a one-shot deal and forget about it! No repeat applications, no tricky timing issues, and best of all, no re-entry or pre-harvest interval considerations.

Growth Promotion. Of the several products tested at the SWFREC, all have shown an ability to increase plant growth. This growth response is most noticeable in the transplants, but measurable growth differences have been seen in the field as well. Enhanced growth in plants can translate to an ability to "out run" seedling diseases, rapid establishment, better foraging performance (accessing water and nutrients), and in the long run, earlier maturity. These benefits simply increase the plants’ ability to take full advantage of the resources in the surrounding environment.

Disease Reduction. Tests at SWFREC have clearly shown reductions in both the incidence and severity of disease. Products varied in level of performance and differences may not have been detectable to the naked eye. For example, in a trial involving a natural infestation of bacterial spot on pepper, 20% of the untreated plants were diseased compared to13% of the treated plants. Furthermore, there were 6 spots per leaf on the untreated plants compared to 4 spots per leaf on the treated plants. This may not seem like a great deal of protection, but it might make the difference between an epidemic and a controlled outbreak. Additionally, the slower advance of the disease provides the grower a management tool in that chemical controls and application timing can be more effective. Similar results were noted for Phytophthora capsici on cantaloupe (lower incidence/slower development). However, the virulence of P. capsici simply proved too devastating for the biologicals in the end ("... you lose some.") This is by no means an exhaustive list of disease trials, but a trend seems to be emerging.

Insect Repellence. We have not seen this aspect at the SWFREC; however, insect repellence has been documented. Researchers at Auburn University have shown that certain biologicals altered the level of cucurbitacins in cucumbers and thereby made them less pleasant-tasting to cucumber beetles. This biochemical phenomenon also reduced the amount of cucurbit wilt pathogen transmitted by the cucumber beetle apparently due to its reduced feeding. This may be just an isolated case; however, the ramifications seem very beneficial.

Nematode Reduction. USDA researchers have documented reduced root galling and improved root condition in nematode infested soils for tomato and pepper, right here in Florida. Some organisms were better than others in eliciting these responses and some were more effective in one crop or the other.

Yield Effects. If the biologicals bring about any of the above-mentioned effects, you will probably see a positive impact on yield. We have seen everything from more extra-large fruit at first harvest and more total fruit after three harvests in pepper to no yield differences, early or late, in cantaloupe. We even had one incident of a reduction in extra-large tomato fruit size at first harvest, but no effect on total harvest (size, weight, or grade). Again, these effects vary with the organism and the crop on which it is used, and will probably not perform identically every year ... you know, like Mother Nature.

So what are we to make of all this? At this level of development you cannot expect great things from biologicals. However, you can expect these organisms to show up every day of the season and give you the best they can give. It’s the little things that add up over the course of the season that produce the successful year. As we enter the "lively bed" era without the "grand slam" of methyl bromide, we are going to need all the help we can get, and this broad spectrum of benefits provided by biologicals will certainly help. What better way to help yourself than to put something "live" in that transplant plug or on that seed.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings became well-known world-wide due to her writings. Her story about a boy name Jody and his little pet deer name Flag growing up together in the back-woods of central Florida won her the Pulitzer award for literature in 1939. While The Yearling was her crowning achievement, at least one of her other books, Cross Creek, was not far behind.

In Cross Creek we find that Marjorie was not only a talented writer, but she was adept in many other fields. One in particular about which she writes at length was horticulture. It was her oranges that she knew most about, for her grove was what first attracted her away from Rochester, N.Y. to rural Florida; however, it was her vegetable garden and truck crops that filled most of the dishes on her table.

For this article, I would like to look back to the period of 1928-1941, her first years at the Creek, and enter the old rusty gate to her kitchen garden for a look at what sort of vegetable garden she might have grown at that time.

I suppose I just missed meeting Marjorie Rawlings (Baskin), for I arrived at the University of Florida in 1954, less than one year after her death in December, 1953. So while I do not have first-hand knowledge, I do have the following sources of information: 1) her book, Cross Creek; 2) A.P. Spencer’s 1930 Vegetable Crops of Florida; 3) F.S. Jamison’s 1935 The Florida Home Garden; and 4) my experiences with the present garden on her farm.

As in all of her endeavors, Marjorie seemed to approach gardening with a comfortable blend of academia and osmosis, graduating early from the school of hard knocks. Her understanding of the botanical and horticultural aspects of her crops and plants was amazing accurate. For example, she found out by trial and error that her craving for asparagus was not going to be fulfilled at Cross Creek, and she explained this demise correctly on the basis of the plant’s lack of dormancy due to the warm winters.

Based on the cultivation techniques she describes, Marjorie does not appear to have been what we would call an "organic" gardener or farmer. She sent her grove man Snow Slater to town for fertilizer, and had him spread it in the orange groves, and probably on the row crops. But in the garden, she used humus, mingled with the droppings of Dora and Lady. MKR: "Hammock soil is dark and rich, made up of centuries of accumulation of humus from the dropping of leaves. I dig leaf mold from this hammock to enrich my roses and camellias and gardenias." Her stance on the use of pesticides is even less clear, as is indicated by the following passage. MKR:"The balance of nature is a mysterious thing, and man must fight on one side or the other with caution, or he will find that in his battle he has exterminated some friendly element. Old-timers in citrus growing do not believe in much of the spraying for unfriendly parasites, and some of the moderns are agreeing, for in destroying them, the friendly parasites are also destroyed."

To Marjorie, the seasons dictated as much what she would plant as did her mere cravings. For that reason, her vegetable gardens followed the seasons as best they could be distinguished.

Her Spring Garden

MKR:"We say at the Creek,’ when the first whippoorwill calls, it’s time for the corn to be in the ground’. The first whippoorwill may call in late February or in March. I have never known frost to come after that first plaintive, heart-tearing cry." (Those of you who have my new book, Vegetable Gardening in Florida, will recognize this famous quote on page 116 to introduce the Planting Guide)

Her Cravings

Whether possessed by a craving for a certain dish or by the sheer joy of cooking, preparing the products of her own garden and grove, or the surrounding woods and wetlands was a pure passion with Marjorie. Just as the seasons, this obsession instilled a desire and determination to grow favorite vegetables. MKR:"But the bacon itself is very tasty and is a requirement in cooking many vegetables. I can not conceive of cow-peas without a few thin slices boiled along with them, and even string beans, which here we call green beans or wax beans according to color, now seem insipid to me when cooked with butter or even with cream. Greens’ probably save more backwoods lives than the doctors, for they are the one vegetable, aside from cow-peas, for which country folks have a passion. Spinach as a green is unheard of, although it is raised for the northern market. Beet greens are not relished, but turnip greens, mustard greens, and above all, collard greens, cooked with white bacon, with cornbread on the side, make an occasion. Mustard greens are strong and hot and are best used sparingly along with turnip greens. Whenever mustard greens has been planted, it goes wild and spreads, so that today, ten years after my last planting, I can still go down toward the lake under the old seedling pecan trees and pick a good mess in season. Collard greens are my favorite of the three. They have a sweet nutty flavor."

While Marjorie did not elaborate on the planting of several other common vegetables usually grown in the area’s spring gardens, it is highly likely that she grew them. Few gardens of that day, and even today, were without such crops as pole beans, lima beans, cucumbers, melons, potatoes, pumpkins, radish, and the tomato. But she was quick to praise the merits of several lesser-known kinds that apparently fascinated her sufficiently to grow them, or in certain cases, to collect them. MKR:"Pokeweed flourishes here, and in the late winter or early spring the broad-leaved green shoots spring up all over the grove. Others at the Creek use the leaves for ‘poke salat’, or cook them like other greens. I hunt through the grove after a spring rain, basket in hand, for the most tender shoots, cutting those from six to eight inches in length. I trim off the leaves and thin skin and cook the shoots exactly as I do asparagus, serving them on buttered toast with a rich cream sauce poured over, and strips of crisp bacon around them. The flavor is delicate and delicious, with a faint taste of iron."

"Longing for asparagus, I imported a quantity of the roots and made a deep rich bed according to instructions. The asparagus grew and thrived, but the year-round blandness of temperature here, with no long dormant period, excited it so violently, that it grew twelve months of the year, sending up long neurotic shoots every night, no larger than a bridge pencil. It grew so fast that there was never a moment of that crisp succulence in which to cut it. By noon the thin sprigs had burst into ferny leaf. I was discouraged, but I think the asparagus was not, for after a generation of offering damp heads to a cold April northern sky, here were sun and heat all day long and the asparagus went wild with joy."

Since Marjorie’s experience with asparagus, we at the University have learned to cut back the entire plant to the ground twice a year, first in January, then again in July. The resulting spears are larger and more succulent, but still lack the quality of the northern-grown crop.

Today, next to her garden gate, there is a trellis completely enshrouded by a dark green cucumber-like vine. Since it is perennial, it may even be a holdover from her past. Marjorie described it thus: "We raise here successfully an ethereal relation of the squash family, the choyote. The fruit-like vegetable grows on a luxurious vine that has been known to cover an acre. I used it through a hot summer for a shade over my mallard duck pen. The choyote is the shape of a blunt, enormous pear, pale jade green in color." (The correct spelling is chayote.)

Since I come from a Florida Cracker background, I am not surprised to see that she included in her garden the "Florida cranberry", so-called due to the sweet drink, resembling cranberry juice, made from its immature pods. MKR: "The roselle belongs to the okra and cotton and hollyhock family, and when the flowers, which we raise for ornaments, are just past full bloom, we make the jelly of the seed pods that have begun to form, seed pods that resemble rose hips, rosy pink, tasting like candied rose petals." (Today there is a large plant of roselle beside the back porch).

Cassava was one of the early pioneer Florida crops, sustaining man and beast, so the fact that Marjorie wrote of it is also not surprising. MKR:"There are several tropical edibles that are poisonous when improperly treated, notably the coontie palm root and the cassava. Both must be soaked and pounded to get rid of the poisonous element. The coontie palm root makes a starchy flour for bread, and the reason the Seminole Indians were able to hold out against us was their use of the root. The treated cassava makes a delicious pudding, amber in color, translucent, delicately sweet."

When Marjorie cooked a possum, it was stuffed with sage, with sweet potatoes roasting on the side. She talks about her sweet potatoes (yams), and very likely she would have as a "side-dish" to her vegetable garden, a small plot of assorted culinary herbs. Her menu for a duck meal included: sweet potato, whole white onions, tossed salad of endive, chives, marjoram, basil, thyme, and tarragon.

Her Summer Garden

Marjorie wrote of things slowing down around the Creek in the summer, and that went for her vegetable garden as well. MKR:"I went then, the porch well cleaned, wet and glistening in the fading light, to water my garden. There were a few carrots that I had hoped to bring through the heat, a few zinnias, half a dozen desperate collard plants, poor things but mine own." ( Also in my book). By early August, in a good year, her garden rows could have included sweet potatoes, cassava, eggplant, pepper, cow-peas, peanuts, and okra. Of okra she wrote, "Okra is a Cinderella among vegetables. It lives a lowly life, stewed stickily with tomatoes,or lost of identity in a Creole gumbo."

Her Fall Garden

Although spring has always been known as the prime gardening time of the year, fall initiated a lot of green-thumb activity around the Rawlings household. MKR:" The second week in September I gamble on the season and plant most of my seed-beds. The broccoli will probably survive in any case, but if the storms with their rain do not come soon, the parsley and lettuce will never germinate, nor can I bring through my seedling flowers, for my well water is harsh, and the delicate plants resent it......! When the September storms are over, we have some of our most superb weather. If they are not planted already, we hurry to put in our fall crops: beans, English peas, squash and cucumbers; our winter crops of cabbage, lettuce, carrots, beets, broccoli, turnips, collards, kohlrabi, cauliflower, and celery.

The hurry now for the fall market crops is against the first frost. The beans are delicate and must make before the cold has touched them. The crops that have matured through the long summer are ready. Sweet potatoes are dug and mounded for the winter’s use, the vines fed to the cows and the nubbins to the hogs."

The Winter Garden

Of the winter as a growing season, Marjorie had only a few comments, all related to the community at large. MKR: "Ahead of us is the good season, when growth is slowed and a very little hoeing keeps clean the farm fields, the groves, and the gardens. It is the tidy time." And of her own endeavors, she adds: "My own flower and vegetable gardens are thriving, if they will thrive at all, and my citrus crop will not be ready for picking before Christmas."

Other Plants and Crops

From the foregoing it seems difficult to fully comprehend that her vegetable garden represented merely a small fraction of the multitude of chores, projects, activities, hobbies, pleasures, enterprises, and just plain hard work that encompassed the daily and seasonal routine of of this phenomenal and marvelously gifted woman. Her fields were planted and harvested for market, and included a range of crops from lettuce and cowpeas to peanuts and beans. Her yard and premises abounded with fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, grape vines, flowers, and ornamentals of all sorts. Her citrus groves are legendary. Her animal raising projects, whether for pet, product, or profit, are yet another story, as are her forays onto the lakes and into the woodlands for sport and culinary purposes.

And, yes. Oh, yes! Above all else, she was a writer- the creator of prose the likes of which we may never see again. Enjoy her works, but as you read, look not just at her garden of fables, but stoop to peer down the measured rows and into the foliage of her hyperbole; strip away the peel to reveal the core of her message; then perhaps you will be pleasured with one tiny seed that germinates, and the wisdom of her vision, understanding, appreciation, and concern for Cross Creek and all that it symbolizes starts to grow within you. Marjorie planted her garden well; now the cultivation is in our hands!