Smooth or slightly netted, gray-green rind with dark green, slightly furrowed sutures. until Christmas?! "Santa Claus" is also the variety name.Ĭharentais (approximately 90 days): A popular European melon, also called "Chaca" "French" or "Italian melon". The name is derived from the long keeping qualities of this melon. Very similar to "Canary" except rind in mottled green and yellow. Santa Claus (approximately 110 days in the Columbia Basin). Fruit is oval, similar to crenshaw, 8" x 6", 6-7 lb: Sweet Yellow Canary, Tenerife. Flesh is pale green to white with a pale orange seed cavity, sweet and a distinctive flavor. For trial: Carnival (early hybrid).Ĭanary (approximately 110 days in the Columbia Basin): Late maturing, bright yellow corrugated rind. Fruit is elongated with a flattened stem end (elongated acorn-shape), 9" x 7", 7-10 lb: Crenshaw, Early Hybrid Crenshaw, Crenshaw Blanco, Golden Crenshaw. Pinkish-orange, sweet, tender flesh with distinctive flavor. Fruit acorn-shaped, 8" x 7", 7-8 lb: Casaba Golden Beauty, Casaba Sungold (earliest of the casaba types).Ĭrenshaw (approximately 110 days in the Columbia Basin): Large, late maturing, yellow and green corrugated, rough rind without netting. With white, spicy, sweet and tender flesh. For trial: Honey Dew Orange Flesh.Ĭasaba (approximately 110 days in the Columbia Basin): non-slip, late maturing, corrugated bright yellow, sometimes greenish-yellow rind, not netted or ribbed. Fruit 7" x 7.5", 5-6 lb: Earlidew, Honeybrew, Honey Dew Green Flesh, TAM Dew. Light green, sweet flesh with some orange-fleshed varieties available. Honey Dew (approximately 110 days in the Columbia Basin): Smooth, greenish-white rind, turning creamy when ripe. Tolerant cultivars are Top Mark, Durango and Otero. This sensitivity is cultivar dependent: Sensitive cultivars are Harper Hybrid, Gold Star and many others. Many muskmelon varieties are sensitive to air pollution (ozone, sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide), as well as to applied sulfur (for disease control). Varieties for trial: Voyager I (midseason medium size), Voyager II (very large), Voyager III (medium size). These melons hold their sugar content in the field, during shipping, and in the market.
Canari melon series#
Long Shelf-Life Melons: Sunseeds has recently developed a series of Western shipping type muskmelons with long shelf life.
For Trial: Pulsar, Magnum 45, Durango (sulfur tolerant) Top Score, Starship, Performer, Otero, Easy Rider, and many others. Western shipping type muskmelons (often called cantaloupe): Round to slightly oval, sutureless, very well netted, with firm, salmon-colored, sweet flesh: Hy-Mark, Top Mark. Green-fleshed, for trial: Passport F1, Rocky Sweet F1. Main season: Saticoy Hybrid, Gold Star, Roadside, Supermarket, Canada Gem, Summet, Pulsar, Eastern Star, Burpee Hybrid Improved, Harper Hybrid, Classic, Fruit Punch, Ambrosia. For trial: Earliqueen, Earlidawn, Northern Queen, Supermarket. 70 days from transplanting in the lower Columbia Basin, 75 days in the Willamette Valley) are classified as eastern types or western shipping types.Įastern type muskmelons: Round to oval, usually sutured, netted rind with sweet orange flesh, not intended for long-distance shipping Early: Superstar, Earlisweet. conomon, the Oriental pickling melon.įollowing are commonly used commercial descriptions. inodorous include casabas, crenshaws, honeydews, and the late-maturing winter melons.Ĭ. reticulatus are the netted, aromatic melons (muskmelons) and Persian melons.Ĭ. They have deeply grooved fruit with a hard, warty or scaly rind and orange or green flesh.Ĭ. cantaloupensis (true cantaloupes) are not commonly grown in the U.S.A. Photo credits: Bill Mansour, Oregon State UniversityĪlthough all melons are classified as Cucumis melo, several "botanical" or "varietal" subdivisions are recognized. Photo credit: Bill Mansour, Oregon State University Left: (top to bottom) Honeydew, Canteloupe and Casaba. It may be sweet, aromatic, spicy, bland, or a combination of these. The flesh may be white, green, salmon pink or orange. When it occurs, netting may be rope-like and prominent or flat-surfaced, fine, and less conspicuous. The surface may be white, grayish green, golden yellow, orange or black! It may be sutured (ribbed or grooved), smooth, or netted (covered with a network of corky tissue). They may vary in length from three or four inches to more than three feet (snake cucumber-which is really a melon). Melon fruit show extreme variations from the common muskmelon, sometimes looking more like an orange, banana, or cucumber! Fruit may be oval, oblong or very long and slender. The currently accepted protocol is to divide all melons into two categories - melons and watermelons.