For example, some flowers show a distinct curling near the blossom end as well as a narrowing, rather than being perfectly shaped like a baby watermelon. My theory is that at the very least, the blossom will end up off-center, and at worst, the melon will be misshapen.

I don't particularly care about this for most of the watermelons that I grow, but I am extremely interested in this wrt Carolina Cross watermelons. I suspect that the best-formed females grow into the largest melons.

Any comments ?

Another thing that's interesting is that one of the plants just set out 3 female flowers that are all perfectly shaped. I'm very tempted to let them grow a little bit and cull the existing watermelon if these are well-formed. Time will tell. Could be pretty risky though. I'm guessing that the current melon weighs about 15 pounds and is adding 2 pounds daily.

Wayne

Wayne

In my "upper patch", the CC plant is doing great -- showing no signs of decline at all. Whenever I see my watermelon lurking there in the grass I keep playing the "Jaws" theme in my head -- it's a big one. Interestingly it's not a round cross-section, but rather it's flatter and broader. I've stopped measuring the circumference on it, but it's about 30 inches long and almost a foot and a half across, although possibly only a foot high. Pretty sure it's over 60 pounds but don't know how close it is to 100. I'm guestimating 80 pounds....time will tell.

How is everyone else's CC doing ?

Wayne

Wayne