Watermelons are a vine covered crop. These sprawling vines are more than just the plant’s support structure; they act as the lifeline for watermelons, ensuring proper nourishment and giving the melons energy to ripen.
Watermelons, like other cucurbits, grow long and trailing vines along the ground. Sprawling vines are essential because it allows the plant to spread out over a large area, maximizing its exposure to sunlight, which is critical for photosynthesis. As the plant’s primary photosynthetic organs, the leaves of the vines absorb sunlight to produce energy, which is then transported to the fruit, roots, and stems.
Typically, we require 1.8 square metres per watermelon plant, to get optimum growth of the watermelons and get maximum yield as well.
There are over a 1000 different varieties in the cucurbitacae family and they all vary slightly, requiring different vine management and growing programs.
Here are Fieldco, we have an extensive melon program, where each year we are building on our core varieties and trialling new ones to help bring you the best.
Interested in melon supply for local or export market? Contact one of the team to find out more.
Watermelon can be a super hydrating and healthy snack on those scorching summer days, particularly when you’re out in the sun at the beach all day! It can feel like your skin is burning, even after lathering on the sunscreen.
Watermelon can be a super hydrating and healthy snack on those scorching summer days, particularly when you’re out in the sun at the beach all day! It can feel like your skin is burning, even after lathering on the suncreen.
But have you ever wondered how watermelons fare under the intense sunlight? What if they got sunburnt too? As an actual fact, watermelon plants are not immune to the effects of sun exposure, and just like human skin, watermelons can suffer from “sunburn” too…
What is Watermelon Sunburn?
Watermelon sunburn occurs when the fruit is exposed to excessive sunlight, especially during periods of extreme heat. Unlike the “sunburn” we experience on our skin, which is caused by ultraviolet (UV) rays, watermelon sunburn results from intense heat and direct sunlight. As the fruit matures on the vine, they require a lot of irrigation and water resource to keep the plants healthy and the vines full and leafy. The more leaf cover on the vines, the more protection from the direct sun especially in the growth stage.
Excessive Sun Exposure: Watermelons, like other fruits, require the right amount of sunlight to grow. They do thrive in warmer temperatures and need plenty of sun to ripen, but too much direct sunlight, especially in intense heat, can cause the fruit’s skin to burn.
Poor Canopy Cover: Watermelon vines grow with a dense canopy of leaves that offer shade to the fruit. When the melons start the ripen, the vines usually start to die back a little. This is generally ok as by this point in their growth cycle, the fruit skin is more robust. But poor protection of the melons early on lead to discoloured fruit.
Unripe Fruit: Watermelons that are still maturing on the vine are particularly vulnerable to sunburn. Their skin is thinner and more sensitive to temperature fluctuations. As the fruit ripens, its skin becomes more robust, but premature exposure to the sun before the fruit has had a chance to fully mature, can cause damage.
Water Stress: Watermelons need consistent watering to thrive. If they are subjected to drought or inconsistent irrigation, the fruit can become stressed and less able to handle high temperatures. This makes them more prone to sunburn as they may not have the internal moisture needed to protect against the hotter temperatures. And we have had very warm days in the last few weeks!
And what is the difference to the yellow spot on the bottom of the melon you ask? This yellow patch is a sign of a ripe watermelon, but is simply where it sits on the ground, not as a result of any sun damage.
Now, to be clear watermelon sunburn is perfectly fine to eat! It does not damage the skin, although they don’t look as appealing in the shops and can become overripe prematurely. It takes only the best of the team to minimize the risks of sunburn by applying the right techniques of irrigation, shade and vine management.
That’s why our Watermelon Production team have a full time job come summer, keeping our melon fields in top shape to bring you the best produce of New Zealand!
Have you seen our mini Lunchbox Melons? Offering all the juicy, refreshing goodness of a full-sized watermelon without the hassle of cutting and storing…perfect for kids and adults alike!
Lunchbox watermelons are small, sweet, and an incredibly portable variety of watermelon, designed to conveniently eat in one sitting or take out on a picnic. A manageable size that makes cutting your watermelon a breeze. Save your fingers, you know they are very useful to have.
This variety is a microseeded variety, which is perfect for these lunchbox sized melons. Small white pips that don’t ruin your eating experience…these might be your new favourite!
And with their thin rind, you get more value for your money, definitely a win-win for your shoppers!
These really are a perfect size, an easy snack for on-the-go moments.
Interested in hearing more? Contact one of our team on sales@fieldco.co.nz to find out more.
With growing, there is always a portion of the crop that is not a supermarket grade product. A portion of the harvest is wasted. With kumara having just one harvest annually, utilizing every product that comes out of the ground, counts.
Here at Fieldco, as part of our sustainability plan,we have grown various divisions of our business to utilise as much as we can from each harvest.
A few years ago Fieldco acquired a processing factory, called Turiwiri Produce, which turns our smaller, non-retail grade produce into food ingredients. This helped us to get more value out of every crop we grow and is helping to put meals on New Zealanders plates!
We recently launched Humble Heroes, our own retail brand of secondary grade product. These little heroes have been out battling the elements and sometimes look a little worse for wear, but are just as good inside!
After every harvest, the foliage on the tops of the kumara plants are then tilled back into the soil. This helps to naturally give back to the soil and add to its nutrients.
Kumara only has 1 harvest annually, so storage becomes a crucial part of the journey onto the supermarket shelves. Bad storage can lead to the product losing weight, shrivelling and bringing low returns back to the grower with a low quality product for New Zealanders.
Kumara Storage has long been a practice, dating right back to when early Maori in New Zealand, when kumara was even then a key part of their diet! Pictured are 3 kumara storage pits that were in use in the 1930s. According to history, pits were dug into the side of earth banks with wooden doorways and reinforcing added. This also helped give protection against pests and thieves.
The process of ‘curing’ requires careful management and a knowledge of the crop as it comes in from the field. Each block has to be treated differently and careful storage to keep the sheds organised as we progress through the year.
As the bins come in from the field, our Storage Manager will unload into temperature controlled sheds to start the process of ‘curing’.
Curing is a process where the produce is held in specific climate conditions for a short direction, then moved to a very different storage condition.
Kumara’s sweet spot for curing is high humidity for the first few days.
At our harvest, our motto is ‘treat them like eggs’. Vastly differently to the average potato, kumara are a very delicate crop to harvest so they take careful handling.
As the kumara goes through the process of curing, this helps form a layer of ‘suberin’ – a waxy substance covering the tuber. This toughens the kumara skin making them easier to pack and ultimately a better quality product that lasts longer on the supermarket shelf.
Curing also converts some of the starch in this high-starch vegetable, to natural sugars, by triggering the sugar-producing enzymes in the kumara. This gives them a better taste overall.
We all know the benefits – both in taste and nutrients – of eating watermelon. But did you know the watermelon rind also contains a lot of additional vitamins and minerals?
Because lets face it, there is lot of the watermelon that turns to waste once we cut, dice or portion it…so lets look at some ways we can make use of the rind!
According to Northwestern Health Sciences University, the watermelon rinds are lower in sugar and higher in fiber than the flesh of a watermelon. When eaten with the the rest of the melon, it helps slow down sugar absorption in the gut and mellows the rise in blood sugar.
So what is the watermelon rind?
It is is the inside of the watermelon between the green skin and the red watermelon flesh. Some varieties we have are thin-skinned varieties, which means you have very little waste once you’ve portioned your red watermelon!
But believe it or not, you can put the rind to good use and there’s a few reasons why…
Extra nutrient boost
While watermelon contains a host of benefits for those doing intense workouts or training programmes (not to mention the massive hydration boost!) a lot of extra nutrients can be found in the rind!
The rind contains L-citrulline. This is an amino acid with antiozidant, anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective effects. This boosts athletic performance and may help reduce blood pressure.
And did you know yellow watermelons have 3 x more citrulline in the rind that red watermelons?
Add to your Skincare Routine
Sunburnt? Look no further than a watermelon rind next time! It is reported that Korean grandmothers used to rub watermelon rinds on sunburn, rashes or irritated skin to soother it and help it recover faster. They are related to cucumbers after all, both being members of the cucurbitaceae family.
How to prepare watermelon rind:
Once you have prepared your watermelon how you like it – chunks, slices or however your family like to enjoy it most. Set the skins aside and taking a knife, carefully remove the green ‘skin’ and set aside the watermelon rind ( the white layer right next to the vibrant pink flesh ).
While we all love to enjoy a slice of juicy watermelon, sometimes the melon you buy sometimes doesn’t look quite so enticing as the next one…
We thought we’d uncover the phenomenon of Hollow Heart – what it looks like, what causes it, and if the fruit is still safe to eat.
So what does Hollow Heart look like?
This is when the inside of the watermelon has hollow cracks in the inside. In minor cases this will show in small splits, in major signs are shown by the flesh separating in triangle shapes.
And what is the main cause of Hollow Heart?
This does come down to poor pollination. Often cases, this will happen in seasons during the time of critical pollination it is rainy or overcast weather so the bees aren’t as active to transfer pollen from plant to plant. Sometimes it can come down to just a season where the bees aren’t as active or the pollination isn’t as good.
It’s also important to have good water and fertility management in the critical growing stages of the melons to ensure they the inner fruit cells keep pace with the expansion of the rind. That’s why here at Fieldco, we have a dedicated team of expert long-term planters and teamleaders to help keep an eye on our fields and do regular checks in the growing phase to ensure they get the nutrients they need as the fruit fills out.
So the most important question is…are Hollow Hearted Watermelons safe to eat?
The answer is a firm yes. As Hollow Heart mainly stems from a pollination problem your watermelon will be safe to eat. In fact, most times it will be a sweeter tasting melon because the natural sugars are concentrated along the cracks in the flesh.
Perfect for whizzing up in your processor to make a melon cocktail or diced into a summer salad!
How to tell if a rockmelon or honeydew melon is ripe is a quite different story to a standard watermelon. We have witnessed a few funny sights of people listening to them, tapping them to tell their ripeness but the fact is, you can’t.
Rockmelon
The first signs a rockmelon or cantaloupe melon, is getting ripe is the change in colour of the netting of the skin. The netting refers to the vein-like detail on the skin of the melon. When they’re ripe, the netting should turn from green to tan.
A ripe rockmelon also have a strong, pungent aroma that can be smelt through the skin.
You can also check the top of the melon, the spot where the melon attaches to the vine. When a rockmelon is ripe, the stripes near the top of the stem will be wide and fully ‘netted’. An unripe rockmelon will be slightly green and often smooth around the top of the stem.
Honeydew
Honeydew melons are the hardest of all melon varieties to test for ripeness and this is also true for our melon picking team. When they are picked, secateurs are used to cut them off the vine so unlike other varieties, the pop-test (how easily the melon ‘pops’ off the vine) isn’t used.
The most noticeable sign of ripeness is the colour of the skin. The melons’ green rind will turn slightly creamy yellow in colour.
For a lot of honeydew, they won’t give off a strong smell like the rockmelon, but more of a sweet aroma.
If the colour is good, you can test the end of the melon opposite the stem. If there is a slight give, the melon is probably ripe.
When you cut into a honeydew melon, the flesh should be soft, not hard and crunchy.
The most commonly asked question and debate that comes up on the topic of watermelon is, how do you pick a ripe watermelon?
And while our melon growing experience dates back to the early 90s, we can’t honestly say there is a foolproof way to know what the inside of the melon looks like.
But we did care to share a couple of tips and tricks from our team to help you pick out your watermelon next time you’re instore!
TIPS AND TRICKS TO PICK THE BEST WATERMELON:
No soft spots or bruises – a watermelon skin should be firm all over. Any soft spots indicates it is overripe or has a small disease which could affect the taste of the watermelon.
Dull rind or slightly brown – the skin of the melon should be nice and shiny!
Buttery yellow underside – perception of a perfect watermelon is it has to be green all over but that’s not true! The yellow patch shows where the melon has been resting on the ground prior to being harvest. A large spot illustrates it has spent more time ripening on the vine and should be sweet.
A ripe watermelon will have a hollow sound when tapped, like a drum. This is because the air inside the watermelon has expanded as the fruit has ripened. An unripe watermelon will have a duller, higher-pitched sound.
Is heavy for its size – this indicated the amount of ‘juice’ and ultimately, a sweeter tasting melon.
Dried tendril stem – this is easier for our picking teams in the field as the curly tendril on each watermelon stem should be brown before they are picked. If the stem of the watermelon is still green or got a long green stalk, this can indicate it hasn’t done its full ripening cycle in the field!
BUST THE MYTH
If you can fit 2 fingers between the melon stripes, it is ripe
This is simply not true! A good portion of Fieldco watermelons are a dark green variety which has no stripes and are some of our sweetest tasting melons. The ripeness completely depends on the variety and of course…who’s 2 finger measurements are the same?
We prefer to go off the tap-test(does is sound hollow?) and testing the weight of the melon.
They say you can’t judge a book by its cover and that doesn’t ring more true than when it comes to the yellow watermelon!
This yellow flesh variety looks identical to its red fleshed counterpart, with a dark green stripy rind, so it takes special care and attention to detail to keep this crop variety separate in both picking and packing.
Apart from the obvious difference in colour of the skin, this variety can be used just as you would with the red watermelon. Slightly firmer in flesh and sweeter in taste, this is a super juicy variety…you don’t want to miss out on trying it this summer!
Surprisingly, as legend would have it, yellow watermelon cultivation came before red watermelons. Believes to have been grown 5000 years ago in Africa, yellow watermelons went through generations of selective cross-breeding for texture, sweetness and colour.
And what’s makes them yellow? Traditional watermelons get there pinky-red flesh from lycopene which is the same antioxidant that is found in tomatoes or grapefruit. Yellow watermelons don’t contain lycopene so they never do turn red as they ripen.
Interested in hearing more? Contact us to find out more.
