where are you ... do melons thrive there ... ??

your name implies desert.. and you are trying to grow a WATER melon crop ...

perhaps you lost on pushing the envelop???

what is the variety ... and what is the other variety ????

in other words... i am suggesting a CULTURAL problem.. as compared to a pest or disease ...

perhaps there are better forums to discuss such ... though i have no clue if there is a WM forum.. gourds are covered in the cornucopia forum ...

ken

Thanks, Ken.

I'm in El Paso, TX (high desert), but I have drip irrigation with a timer to make sure the garden gets enough water (in fact, I wonder if the watermelons may have gotten too much water, since we had a very wet monsoon for 2 weeks while we were out of town).

Re: varieties, the watermelons are local heirloom varieties from Mexico and New Mexico. The stringy one is called Mayo and the non-stringy one is called Tohono O'odham. Though they are desert varieties, they are not supposed to be stringy. :-) But it's encouraging to know that it's not a recognizable disease....

How many drippers on one plant?
Where, in relation to the base of the plant, are they placed?
What is the output of each one?
How often do you run the system?
And how long do you run the system?

well you chose ones that were supposed to be right for the area ... two thumbs up ...

i wonder if you didnt wait too long.. and they are simply over ripe???

perhaps you should have started the harvest a week or two early ... one at a time.. to find out what was going on.. internally ...

experimenting is usually .. the best way to learn ...

do link us .. if you fish around other forums ... or let us know if you come up with a definitive answer ....

ken

I live in Arizona and had the same thing happen to me. I’m part of a community garden and I planted Native Hopi Seeds. I guess its possible that cross pollination occurred, but I think maybe they‘re over ripened.

Watermelons (and other melons) cannot cross pollinate with squash of any kind.