Evaluate a Personal-Sized Seedless Watermelon Grown in High Tunnels

Growing personal-sized seedless watermelons in high tunnels is not a common practice in the U.S. However, as high tunnel adoption increases and farmers gain experience in using them for specialty crop production, there is a need to evaluate nontraditional crops to improve crop rotation within these structures. In this study, we evaluated the performance of a personal-sized seedless watermelon grown in a high tunnel system. This seedless watermelon cultivar was selected because of its thin rind, tender flesh, and high sugar content. The combination of these fruit traits may make it particularly attractive for local food markets. Additionally, we compared two diploid watermelon cultivars as pollen sources in the system: a pollenizer cultivar producing non-edible fruit, and a yellow-rind seeded watermelon cultivar. Results showed that the yield of the seedless watermelon was significantly higher when the non-edible pollenizer was used than the seeded watermelon cultivar. This article presents the preliminary results and discusses the opportunities and challenges associated with growing personal-sized seedless watermelons in high tunnels.