Storage Watermelons and Green vs White Rind

I've always been told that watermelons must be picked when ripe because they don't ripen off of the vine. I've also heard to eat them within a week or two, or they'll be mushy inside. An internet search revealed this as common and accepted wisdom. But I'm reading "Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties" by Carol Deppe, and one of the growers said, "There are long-storage melons, the Christmas types. I'm surprised more people don't grow them. I always do, and I eat my last watermelons in February. But the storage types all seem to have that white rind. I've always thought of the green-skinned melons as an immediate eating thing." Deppe goes on to say, "Storage melons are harvested at just under ripe and finish ripening during storage."

What are they talking about?? Where can I find these storage watermelons?

An internet search of "Christmas melon" pulled up Santa Claus melons, but those are muskmelons and the book specifically refers to watermelon. I've read a few descriptions in online seed catalogs, and I've found no mention of longer storage times no matter what color they are. For what it's worth, the book was written in the early 1990s.

Try "Winter King and Queen". Adaptive Seeds carries it. The website says they're sold out, but it also hasn't been updated for 2022 yet, so there's a good chance they'll have it again soon.

Ellendra Nauriel wrote:Try "Winter King and Queen". Adaptive Seeds carries it. The website says they're sold out, but it also hasn't been updated for 2022 yet, so there's a good chance they'll have it again soon.

Awesome, thank you! Adaptive Seeds wasn't I site I had heard of, yet.

I've read the same thing in Carol's excellent book and also wonder about the storage types. I recently ordered the variety Blacktail Mountain that she mentions in the book as being able to be stored for 2 months, but is more importantly also the earliest watermelon around so great for climates with short growing periods. I'll try it next spring to see how it works here in the Netherlands for outside planting.

I think Piel de Sapo, Toadskin melon, is known for storing up to two months in a root cellar--which I have done--but that's not a watermelon.

Something I've found out this year is that pickle worms will attack light skin watermelons with certainty, the sugar babies are right there next to them untouched. I'm not growing any other dark skin varieties right now but next year I'll probably test out a few new ones. I would have been excited about this because I was growing some kind I don't know the name of that gets about 40 pounds easily and is very light skinned, my old room mate brought the seeds over from New Mexico and didn't recall the variety.

I don't think she's talking about watermelons. A few years ago we grew Valecia Winter Melon at WL. We didn't get too many so they all got eaten before we could see how long they lasted. But, I've heard of people eating them at christmas.

Here's info about christmas melons