Watermelons :: essays research papers

WatermelonsWatermelon is truly one of summertimes sweetest treats. Watermelons are fun to eat and costly for you. Watermelon seeds were brought to this country by Afri digest slaves. Today there are more than 100 different varieties of watermelons. The phase may be red, pink, orange, or yellow. There are stoneless varieties and super-sweet round ones that fit nicely into the refrigerator.Watermelon is a tender, warm-season vegetable. Watermelons can be grown in all parts of the country, but the warmer temperatures and weeklong growing season of southern areas especially favor this vegetable. Producing a good watermelon is a bit tricky in the short northerly season. Gardeners in northern areas should choose early varieties and use transplants. Mulching with black waxy film also promotes earliness by warming the soil beneath the plastic. rootless row covers moderate temperatures around the young plants, providing some frost protective cover in unseasonable cold spells.Harvesti ng is particularly critical because watermelons do not continue to ripen after they have been removed from the vine. They should be picked at full maturity. No amount of thumping, tapping, sniffing, or shaking can actually give a clue to ripeness. One main cordial of watermelon is a seeded watermelon. These melons are self-sterile hybrids that develop normal-looking fruits but no fully developed seeds. The seeds for growing them are affirmd by crossing a normal diploid watermelon with one that has been changed genetically into the tetraploid state. The seeds from this cross produce plant, when pollinated by normal plants, produce seedless melons.In seedless watermelons, key seed structures form but remain small, soft, white, tasteless and undeveloped diminutive seed coats that are eaten virtually undetected along with the flesh of the melon. seed down production for these seedless types is an extremely labor intensive process that makes the seeds comparatively expensive. Becau se germination of these types is often less vigorous than normal types, it is recommended that they be started in peat pots or other transplantable containers. Here the germinating conditions can be almost controlled. Once transplanted, cultivation is similar to that for regular watermelons. For pollination necessary to grade fruit, normal seed types must be interpolated with seedless melons. The pollinator should be decided from the seedless cultivar in color, shape or type so that the seedless and seeded melons in the patch can be separated at harvest. Because seedless types do not put energy into seed production, the flesh is often sweeter than normal types and the vines are noticeably more vigorous as the season progresses.