Who knows why seed companies do things the way they do? Outsourcing?

Burpee does apparently sell a basic 'Crenshaw' to Home Depot/ Walmart. 105 days.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Burpee-Melon-Crenshaw-Seed-64489/204729745

Yep, that's the one i bought. guess we'll see what happens with this 1 lonely "Crenshaw" seedling that manged to germinate..

I plant Burpee Early Hybrid Crenshaw. You cannot get it in garden catalogs...have to e-mail them and get it from commercial listings. The real deal is the best crenshaw and perhaps cantaloupe.

Agree that Burpee Early Hybrid is the best tasting Crenshaw that I have encountered. Its biggest draw back, its' prone to cracking. In later years I grow Lily, not as good flavor but more reliable.

So, the "Crenshaw Hybrid" on the burpee site isn't the same one as the Burpee "Crenshaw" seed packet. the packet shows it's a 105 day melon (90 day on the Hybrid) and up to 10lb melon vs 14lbs on the hybrid. appearance-wise, both are the same (oval and start green and ripen to yellow).

anyway, at this point i guess it really doesn't matter if it's a hybrid or OP, though it'd be nice if it were OP for seed saving. no idea how they managed to take a OP melon, make it larger, mature in less days AND taste better? So i'm hoping if the Early version is good, the OP melon is even better lol.

Btw, a second seed sprouted, so i'm going to have two plants instead of one! hoping the slow germination rate doesn't influence growth.. although i didn't have the seed trays in a heated environment (room temp 65-75F) that probably had a factor in taking 20 days to germinate.