Topic: Japanese watermelon

[Jim]

Anyone ever heard of this?  Someone sent this to me in an email so I did a search and sure enough it is true.  Don't think I will be buying any of these though as they sell for about $83 each in Japan.





They place the young melon inside a tempered glass box while it is still growing to get the square shape.

[Penny]

I have never ever seen that, it looks kind of cool but dont think i'd try it.

[Dianna]

I would try it if we had one of those boxes. I think it would be neater than grits! Well, almost...

[Wrennie]

I guess it makes stacking them for shipment and sale more effective.

[Patty S]

I saw the article for this on my home page a few weeks ago. I didn't give it much thought though, cuz all I raise are the little sugarbaby melons, so I don't have a problem with refrigerator space for them.

Dianna, you don't really need the fancy boxes to make them square.  We used to mess around with making our pumpkins & cucumbers into interesting shapes by putting them inside cans & boxes, or tieing string around them when they were little, then cutting away the can/box/string once they got started. (If you don't cut the shape-makers away, your fruit will be bulging out of both ends & have the cans/boxes/strings embedded in the rind.)   Once the shapes (or string marks) are established, the fruit will continue to grow that way.  Of course, they'll bulge a little bit as they get larger, so your square melons won't have perfectly flat sides, but they'll be unique & won't roll around in the refrigerator!

Try wooden boxes, if you can find (or make) them, & graduate the sizes, so you can switch out the boxes they're in, as they grow.

Aint gardening fun?

[Wrennie]

I saw an article with pumpkins, where the gardeners daughter and friend wrote their names in the young rind, and when it was mature their names were 'scars' in the rind.
I've also seen molds you can put around gourds to give them faces. Same idea as the box thing.

[Penny]

I've seent that too, with the pumpkins giving them names and designs, but not the watermelon, didnt think about the shipping and how much easier oit would be.