Melon Homestretch: Records In The Making

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WATER VALLEY – Two huge watermelons believed to be the largest ever grown in the state have entered the watermelon homestretch, or the final four weeks of growing time before they will be pulled from the vine. If everything goes according to plan, local growers Allen Rogers and Hal Vaughn will each pull a giant melon from their patches around September 19 and carry them to Kentucky for entry in an annual competition that attracts some of the top watermelon and pumpkin growers in the nation.

In Mississippi the number to beat is 239.5 pounds for a new state record, but both growers are hoping to make a strong showing in the The Great Pumpkin Pursuit & Watermelon Weigh-off in Guston, Ky. where watermelons can push the 300-pound mark.

Rogers has a scale connected to the frame that supports his melon and can monitor the daily growth.

“It is still growing, just not as much as it was. Some days it gains a pound, some days it gains two,” Rogers said.

Although he did not share the current weight of the melon, he noted that it is a good one.

“I will tell you this, it will beat the state record by a good bit,” Rogers added. “I am putting 125 gallons of water a day on it. Watermelons need water and heat.”

Although Vaughn doesn’t have a scale rigged to his frame holding his massive melon, at 35 inches long it is comparable in size to Rogers’ big melon. Vaughn has been growing the giant Carolina Cross watermelon for eight years and reported this melon is the biggest one he has ever grown. But he is cautiously optimistic that he can keep it growing, the watermelon homestretch is tricky and anything can happen.

“I had a big one like this year before last but the bottom rotted out on me,” Vaughn explained about another potential record-breaker that didn’t make it through the homestretch in 2022.

During the last three weeks Vaughn has been battling a stem problem, as the stems on his giant melon and a few others still growing in his patch have turned black. He has reached out to expert growers for advice and even experimented with a few of his own ideas including putting vaseline on the stems. An acclaimed Georgia grower told him to put a little sulphur on the stem.

“But if it will hold on a little bit longer, I am planning on taking it to Kentucky,” Vaughn added.
Vaughn has already set one record this year with the largest watermelon ever entered in Water Valley’s Watermelon Carnival. The winning melon weighed 219.6 pounds on August 3, marking one of only three times in carnival history that a 200-plus pounder has tipped the scales in the local contest that comes earlier than other watermelon contests across the south.

Vaughn carried that same 219.6 pound melon to Franklin County Watermelon Festival in Russellville, Ark. last Saturday and earned another first place win and $300.

“It lost four pounds,” Vaughn said about Saturday’s weigh-in as the melon measured 215 pounds in the Arkansas contest. That means it lost four pounds in two weeks, as he pulled the melon on August 2 for the Watermelon Carnival weigh-in. The melon was auctioned, but the winning bidder gave it back to Vaughn and he stored it in a damp, cool place for the next two weeks so he could carry it to the Franklin County Watermelon Festival.

Vaughn pulled another melon from his patch last week, a 211-pounder that he also carried to Arkansas. His son, Clay Vaughn, entered the melon and it won second place.

Rogers and Vaughn work together each year, sharing growing tips and helping one another and the competition between them is friendly.

“Allen really has a good melon, I am pulling for him,” Vaughn said about their top melons.
“We are just getting started, we are learning something every year,” he added.