Yeni Dünya is an old commercial watermelon that was once widely grown in Northwest Region of Turkey. Fruits of Yeni Dünya have light green and thin rind with red, juicy, crunchy and sweet flesh. Each fruit can weigh as much as 10 lbs. Seeds are white. Our plants produced 4-5 fruits and performed very well throughout the drought of Spring 2017.
Our current seed stock was grown by Jamie Swofford of Old North Farm in North Carolina. You can follow them on their Instagram page @oldnorthfarmwnc.
Packet has min. 20 seeds
Commercially introduced by us
Phonetically pronounced:
- Citrullus lanatus
- Full sun
- Planting depth: 1/2-1″
- Sprouts in 7-10 days
- Ideal growing temperature: 75-95F
- Plant spacing: 18-36″
- Frost hardy: No
- Growth habit: Vining
- Growing tips: Start seeds indoors in seedling trays or small seedling pots in seed starting soil that has essential nutrients in it 3-4 weeks prior to last frost. Cover the seeds with soil and keep the soil moist for quick germination. Make sure to keep the young seedlings under good light to have strong plants with sturdy, healthy stems and leaves. Transplant seedlings to garden or a pot with ample space for roots to spread after last frost in fertile soil. Feed with liquid fertilizer once every two weeks. Water regularly especially in flower stage. Reduce water when the fruits are maturing to improve flavor and sugar content. Mulch and always water at plant base to minimize disease. If the fruits are small, you can trellis the plants to decrease disease pressure and improve air circulation. Watermelon thrives in hot and humid climate and does best in sandy soil with good drainage. Alternatively, to start melon seedlings, you can direct seeds in ground after last frost. Note that it is possible for seeds to rot when they are direct-seeded if the soil is cool and moist before they can sprout so make sure the soil temperature is over 70F.
Unfortunately got powdery mildew so had zero harvest
Due to it’s winter storage capabilities, I give it 5 Stars, otherwise I’d give it 4 stars due to the newer fruitsets decreasing in size as the season progresses and the almost tough to determine time of harvest. So what do I mean by winter storage? Although watermelon season is over for zone 9b, I still have a Yeni Dunya watermelon in storage (sitting on my carpet floor unbothered by life) that’s been picked and hasn’t been eaten yet and we’re now into December. I planted 5 seeds and 4 sprouted healthily, then the vines began to vigorously sprawl so be sure to give them some space, another bonus is that they also produce tons of flowers early on which helps to attract pollinators! It takes about 110 days to get a ripe fruit after direct sowing and the plants don’t need much water, if any at all. My largest Yeni Dunya was 11 pounds and I saved loads of seeds from it. As the season progressed, although the melons began to decrease in size, the amount of melons on each vine remained constant which basically means each plant is always putting out female flowers almost everyday. Out of (4) 20+ foot long mature watermelon vines, I easily harvested 16+ watermelons that were refreshingly sweet, even when I accidentally picked some underripe due to me not yet knowing when this variety is at peak ripeness. If picked underripe, I’d recommend to use this variety as a base for juices or smoothies due to its refreshing sweet taste, also if you wait too long to harvest then you’ll quickly realize how fast this variety can go overripe!