Citrullus lanatus 'Ultra Cool' Plant Common Name Ultra Cool
Watermelon, Watermelon A self-sterile F1 hybrid, 'Ultra Cool'
produces medium-sized, rounded, seedless watermelons with dark-
striped rinds and sweet, reddish-pink flesh. Plants grow from
seed to harvest in 90 to 100 days. This triploid cultivar (three
sets of chromosomes) requires a diploid companion (such as
'Sugar Baby') for pollination and fruit set. Watermelon is a
tender annual tropical vine that needs a long, very warm growing
season to produce its famous fruits. Yellow, bee-pollinated
flowers appear among the attractive, deeply lobed, gray-green
leaves throughout the growing season. Some watermelons flowers
are male and others female. Female blooms have a bulbous ovary
at the base, which will eventually become the fruit, and the
males only have pollen-laden anthers. Watermelons do not become
sweeter after being harvested, so they must be picked when ripe.
It is tricky to know when to harvest—especially considering the
fruits take a while to ma