Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. The Kordofan melon from Sudan is thought to be the ancestor of our modern watermelons. It grew wild there but was important to people as a way to actually have safe water on journeys (watermelons are 92% water). Paintings from Egyptian tombs over 4,000 years old show these small fruits mixed with others, and paleontologists have also found baskets of seeds for eating there, too. Scientists like to find the origins of plants as they can use those genetics to alter modern varieties beset by disease and pest problems. One of watermelons' worst problems is fusarium wilt, a soil borne organism. For years in the south, people searched for new fields that had never grown watermelons before as a safe place for their crop. Now watermelons can be grafted onto resistant root stocks.
The origins of watermelons
SC Public Radio
