Watermelons With A Twist. Acquaintance

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

We are used to seeing classic varieties of southern berries on store shelves. With red flesh, alternating light and dark green stripes of watermelons. But breeders are an addicted people, they do not stop there. They are interested in creating new, unusual hybrids. This is how “exotic” varieties appeared

Diversity

There are many options:

• Gift of the sun (yellow peel, red inside);

• Spark (black shell, red pulp);

• Lunar (classic skin, yellow content)

• Surprise (whitish with a yellow center);

• Honey giant (marble top, red inside);

• White miracle (classic shell, white pulp);

• Winter in Navajo (white skin, pink interior);

• Moon and stars (dark skin with yellow spots, red contents);

The list is endless. Breeders' fantasies are not limited to the varieties listed above. Let's give a description of each type in more detail.

Gift of the sun

Bred at the Kuban station by the breeder G. A. Tekhanovich. in 2001. An early maturing variety (65-73 days), intended for open ground. The central shoot is short. Medium dissected leaf of green-yellow tint. The fruit is smooth and round. Maximum weight 3kg. The rind is bright yellow, with a dark yellow mesh of narrow, sinuous veins, reminiscent of a pumpkin and a melon at the same time. Red, tender flesh, thin crust, good taste. Sakharov 5%. Seeds are small, black in color. Drought tolerant. Store after collection for 2-3 weeks.

Twinkle

Developed by breeder Nasrullaev N. M. for the northern regions, the middle lane in 1955. Early maturing variety (70-87 days), medium-growing. The leaf is small, strongly dissected. The fruit is spherical, the maximum weight is 2, 3 kg. The bark is thin, green-black with a bluish bloom, smooth. The pulp is tender, red-orange, sweet, with a good taste. Productivity up to 25t / ha. Relatively resistant to certain diseases (anthracnose, powdery mildew) with proper agricultural technology. It is not inferior in quality to the elite Japanese variety Densuke. More adapted to the Russian climate, time-tested.

Lunar

Bred at the Astrakhan Institute by Sokolov S. D. in 2003. Mid-season climbing variety. Has strongly dissected green leaves. The fruit is smooth, wide ellipse. Outside in a classic striped color, thin bark.

The eye is struck by the bright yellow, delicate pulp, excellent taste. At the same time it resembles melon, mango, pumpkin, lemon. Maximum weight 3kg, yield 160kg / weaving. 3-5 ovaries are formed on one bush. Seeds are small in small quantities. Saved for a month after harvest. The result of crossing wild species with cultivated ones. Designed for open ground.

Surprise

Created by the family dynasty G. A. Tekhanovich, A. G. Elatskova. at the Kuban station in 2008. Early ripening variety with medium length shoots, green-gray leaf, strongly dissected, weak wrinkling.

The fruit is smooth, rounded, whitish with narrow, irregular stripes of a dark green hue on the outside. Thin crust. Dense yellow flesh with good taste. Weight 4-4, 5kg, yield 210kg / weaving. Seeds are black, small. Drought tolerant. Stored for a month after collection. Shows maximum results under film shelters in Central Russia.

The yellow color is formed from the presence of a large amount of carotenoids in the pulp, which have a positive effect on the exchange between cells. Suitable for people who want to lose weight, contains 38 kcal per 100 g of the product. Its composition includes: folic acid, iron, calcium. Eating such fruits improves vision, the condition of the stratum corneum, hair, strengthens the immune system, increasing hemoglobin, and fights anemia.

All of the above varieties are zoned in Russia. We will continue our acquaintance with unusual watermelons in the next article.