How to Plant Seedless Watermelon

Seedless watermelon is a fresh and delicious summertime treat. Ideal for fruit salads, sorbets or fruit salsa, this fruit is easy to eat and cook with because it has no seeds. The mystery remains, however, how is a seedless watermelon planted when it has no seeds?

Things You'll Need

• Seedless watermelon seeds
• Peat pellets
• Plastic tray with lid
• Trowel
• Soil

Instructions

Prepare Seeds

1. Purchase seedless watermelon seeds and peat pellets. Both can be purchased at any gardening or home improvement store. The seeds in the seed packet are actually for two varieties of watermelon with incompatible chromosome numbers. When the two fruits pollinate, one of the resulting fruits will be seedless.

2. Place peat pellets in the plastic tray and cover with water. Allow the pellets to soak up the water and expand. They will expand to several times their original size.

3. Place one or two seeds in each peat pellet. Use your finger to press the seeds one-half inch into the center of the peat. Cover the seeds lightly with excess peat. Place the cover on the tray to contain the moisture until sprouts appear.

4. Maintain a temperature between 75 and 85 degrees F as the seeds germinate. Seedlings should emerge in a few days.

5. Begin light watering after several sprouts have grown. The plants will be ready to transplant to a garden when they have three actual leaves, usually in three to four weeks.

Transplant Seedlings

1. Bring the tray of plants and a trowel to your outdoor garden. Prepare the garden by digging holes large enough to contain the plants' roots. Holes should be spaced three to four feet apart.

2. Gently remove the netting from the peat pellet, taking care not to damage the roots. Place each plant in a hole, water and and gently cover with displaced soil until secure.

3. Water occasionally as the plants continue to grow; soil should remain relatively dry. Seedless watermelons will be ready for harvest in about three months.

Tips & Warnings

• Ensure that transplanted plants include a combination of both seed types provided in the seed packet. They need to cross pollinate to create the seedless hybrid.

• Seedless watermelons are very sensitive to moisture and temperature. The ideal outdoor temperature for optimum growth is 80 degrees.

References

• Where Do Seedless Watermelon Come From?
• AgriLife Extension: University of Florida: Growing Seedless Watermelon