I Thought Seedless Watermelons Were Another Monsanto Frankenfood

There had to be some kind of conspiracy afoot

Photo by Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash

I hadn’t bought many watermelons lately because the prices were astronomical. But now that we’re in Texas’s pre-heat season of June (July is bake, and August is broil), watermelon prices are spiraling downward.

Still, there are precious few seeded watermelons for sale. I’ve only found one chain, Texas-based H-E-B, that carries them.

On my last trip, H-E-B had six huge cardboard boxes full of medium-sized seedless watermelons. Off in the corner was one lonely box of huge, seeded watermelons the size of toddlers.

I bought one of those monster melons last week. I call it a monster because of its size. But I thought the seedless melons were the real monsters.

You can’t grow seedless watermelons the cheap, old-fashioned way — from seeds. So, I reasoned, a nefarious company (Monsanto sprang to mind) had a lock on the watermelon industry, and all growers had to buy seedlings from that company.

Immature fruits

My son, a trove of naturalistic trivia, insisted that seedless melons were simply immature fruits. I didn’t know enough to talk with him intelligently about it, so we deferred the subject.

But as I thought about it, I realized that seedless watermelons had to be mature or they’d taste bland.

Even more curious by now, I did some research. Here’s what I found:

First of all, it’s not just my imagination that seeded watermelons are hard to find in the United States. According to watermelon.org, 92% of watermelons sold in the United States are seedless.

And it’s a lot more complicated to grow seedless melons.

Photo by tian dayong on Unsplash

To understand the complications, start with the chromosomes.

Chromosomes are the building blocks that dictate what traits living things — including watermelons — will have. A diploid plant has two sets of chromosomes, a triploid plant has three sets, and a tetraploid plant has four sets.

When you cross a diploid plant with a tetraploid one, you’ll get a fruit that produces a triploid seed. Triploid seeds produce sterile seedless watermelons.

Since seedless watermelons still need to be pollinated by their seeded parents, growers plant both seeded and seedless varieties. But the seeded commercial harvest and retail sales account for only about 8% of all watermelon sales.

Seedless melons are an example of cross-breeding, which involves two parents and their offspring. In the final analysis, they’re not genetically modified Frankenfood.

Although it’s a lot easier to grow plain ol’ seeded watermelon.

Conspiracy theory

In conclusion, it sounds like consumer preference is driving the seedless watermelon craze. So I’ll jump off my conspiracy theory horse.

Still, I have questions. First, why are Americans so quick to cave to convenience? What about taste and value? The seeded melons cost less per ounce, and I think they’re sweeter.

What happens to the leftover seeded watermelons?

What will happen to the heirloom seeded varieties? Do we let those go extinct?

And finally, does this mean the end of watermelon-spitting contests?

Thanks for reading! Here’s another tale that’s fruity despite the picture:

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Edited for Restless Quills by Wandering Mind