where do seedless watermelons come from?

[jdub61]

...do they come from seeds?

i was eating one of those "seedless" watermelons yesterday, and i had to wonder to myself as i was eating it... how do they grow seedless watermelons? where do they come from? don't they have to come from seeds too? where's birdgirl, i'm sure her genius knows the answer to this conundrum that i pose imp:

i posted this inside skink's latest munchies topic yesterday but i think it's so vital that it deserves its own thread dedicated in honor of it :hippy:

jdub61 Reviewed by jdub61 on 07-10-2007. where do seedless watermelons come from? ...do they come from seeds? i was eating one of those "seedless" watermelons yesterday, and i had to wonder to myself as i was eating it... how do they grow seedless watermelons? where do they come from? don't they have to come from seeds too? where's birdgirl, i'm sure her genius knows the answer to this conundrum that i pose :pimp: i posted this inside skink's latest munchies topic yesterday but i think it's so vital that it deserves its own thread dedicated in honor of it :hippy: Rating: 5

[slipknotpsycho]

i'm not sure but i think they're just young watermelons that haven't begun to produce seeds yet.

[wicked]

haha now thats one good question!

[johneg]

Hybrid seedless (triploid) watermelons have been grown for over 40 years in the United States. However, it was not until recently that improved varieties, aggressive marketing, and increased consumer demand created a rapidly expanding market for seedless watermelons. The seedless condition is actually sterility resulting from a cross between two plants of incompatible chromosome complements. The normal chromosome number in most living organisms is referred to as 2N. Seedless watermelons are produced on highly sterile triploid (3N) plants which result from crossing a normal diploid (2N) plant with a tetraploid (4N). The tetraploid is used as the female or seed parent and the diploid is the male or pollen parent ( Figure 1 ). As shown by the schematic drawing within figure 1, several steps are necessary in triploid watermelon seed production: a diploid (2N) female parent plant is treated with colchicine to produce the solid-colored female tetraploid (4N) parent; this is corssed with a striped male parent (2N) which results in triploid (seedless) watermelon seed(3N). To produce a crop of seedless watermelons, the triploid seed is interplanted with a pollenizer variety (2N). Since the tetraploid seed parent produces only 5 to 10% as many seeds as a normal diploid plant, seed cost is 10 to 100 times more than that of standard, open-pollinated varieties and 5 to 10 times that of hybrid diploid watermelon varieties. Tetraploid lines are usually developed by treating diploid plants with a chemical called colchicine.

Figure 2.
Tetraploid parental lines normally have a light, medium, or dark-green rind without stripes. By contrast, the diploid pollen parent almost always has a fruit with a striped rind. The resulting hybrid triploid seedless melon will inherit a striped pattern ( Plate 2 ). Growers may occasionally find a non-striped fruit in fields of striped seedless watermelons. These are the result of accidental self pollinations of the tetraploid seed parent during triploid seed production. Tetraploid fruit are of high quality but will have seeds and must not be sold as seedless. The amount of tetraploid contamination is dependent upon methods and care employed in triploid seed production.

Plate 2.
Sterile triploid plants normally do not produce viable seed. However, small, white rudimentary seeds or seedcoats, which are eaten along with the fruit as in cucumber, develop within the fruit. The number and size of these rudimentary seeds vary with variety. An occasional dark, hard, viable seed is found in triploid melons. Seedless watermelons can be grown successfully in areas where conventional seeded varieties are produced. However, they require some very unique cultural practices for successful production.

[johneg]

dont you know anything??

[stinkyattic]

I am fairly certain that you can also treat the plant with a hormone that prevents seeds forming.

The flower MUST be pollinated to set fruit at all, but the fruit simply is a vessel for the seeds to develop within... if you can prevent the development of the seeds without preventing the development of the FRUIT, you're in business.

That 'Reverse' product from Dutch Masters I think can be used on curcubits to give seedless fruit.

Johneg, would you mind citing a reference for that information?

[Skink]

I have yet to see a seedless watermelon without seeds...

[johneg]

University of fForida

Growing Seedless Watermelon 1
Donald N. Maynard2

And Stinkyattic....I do apologise!!

[D.Boone]

science

[stinkyattic]

University of fForida
Growing Seedless Watermelon 1
Donald N. Maynard2

That's cool, do you have a link? I asked because I wanted to go look around at the other information... we often have arguments in Cultivation over the polyploid condition, lol...

National Garden Wholesale - Dutch Master Reverse

This is the stuff I was thinking of.