‘Josephine’ Is New Record Melon
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KENTUCKY – A 104-day-old watermelon tipped the scales at 274 pounds Saturday, setting yet another record for the largest watermelon ever grown in the State of Mississippi. Grown by Allen Rogers, the Carolina Cross watermelon narrowly edged out the former state record by three pounds and claimed another chapter in the Water Valley’s rich history as the Watermelon Metropolis of the World.
Rogers’ new watermelon record comes only 23 days after Hal Vaughn set the former state record with a 271-pounder. Hal Vaughn’s melon broke the previous state record set with a 239.5-pound watermelon grown in Water Valley by Jerry Vaughn – a record that stood for 11 years. Hal Vaughn’s 271 pound melon was pulled on August 29, giving it 94 days on the vine before it stopped growing.
After growing 104 days, the stem on the giant watermelon was cut by Martha Allen last Thursday. Martha and Allen Rogers carried the watermelon to Guston, Ky.
Allen and Martha Rogers made the 400-plus mile trip to Guston, Ky. last weekend to enter the giant melon named Josephine in the Great Pumpkin Pursuit & Watermelon Weigh-off at Roberts Family Farm. The weigh-off attracts top growers from across the nation and Josephine won second, only trailing a 309.5 pound melon entered by Kentucky grower Nick McCaslin.
And that’s not all – Rogers also took second place in the weigh-in with a bushel gourd that weighed an impressive 153.5 pounds, setting another new Mississippi state record!
Rogers monitored the daily growth of Josephine with a scale rigged underneath the rack that keeps the melon off the ground. He reported that a five-inch rain that started on August 18 brought cooler nights and slowed the growth.
“It went from growing two pounds a day to a pound, it was the cool rain and cooler nights,” Rogers said.
Josephine continued to grow around a pound each day until Sept. 12 when Hurricane Francine brought another round of rain and cooler nights.
“It just stopped growing after that,” Rogers said.
Rogers believes that without the two cool, rainy spells, Josephine could have made it to 300-plus pounds. He also shared that there have only been around 40 watermelons ever grown that weighed 300-plus pounds including the current world watermelon grown in 2013 by Christopher Kent in Tennessee. Kent’s 350-pound watermelon is officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest ever.
Kent typically brings big melons to the Roberts Family Farm for each year’s competition, but he didn’t make it this year.
“He couldn’t come because the bears got in his watermelon patch two weeks ago and cleaned him out,” Rogers said about the world-record-holder. “He had some that weighed around 260 when the bears found them.”
The 2025 Playbook
Rogers and Hal Vaughn have earned the reputation as the two top giant watermelon growers in Mississippi and both men are already working on their playbook for the 2025 growing season.
“We work as a team,” Rogers explained about the comradery. “I can’t thank Hal enough for getting me started. He is my mentor, but we will still both try to beat one another.”
Earlier in the summer, Rogers and Vaughn purchased lumber to make walking boards above the watermelon vines, allowing access to the plants without trampling the vines. During the growing season they work in their melon patches daily, spraying insects, pruning the vines and pulling dozens of small melons that continue to pollinate on each vine that will draw nutrients away from the big melon.
Rogers explained that he has learned all the acclaimed growers use a similar set-up of walk-ways to protect the vines. Another tip is adding microbes to the soil, information Rogers learned from top watermelon grower Frank Mudd.
“The microbes are the balance of nature.”
This year’s playbook included a new method as Rogers learned how to graft watermelons, a tactic used by most top growers in the nation. Rogers grafted the watermelon seedlings, attaching each seedling to a bushel gourd vine. The gourd vine gives each seedling a bigger root system to draw nutrients to feed the watermelon.
“I did all I know how to do this year,” Rogers added about his effort. “You have to have some luck and good weather too.”
Vaughn and Rogers also have a passion to help other growers in the area get involved in growing the giant Carolina Cross melons. They will readily provide growing tips and seeds for anyone interested.
“I will be glad to show anyone as much as possible, I will share all of the information I can,” Rogers said.
The couple also set a Mississippi record for the largest bushel gourd (right). The gourd weighed 153.5 pounds.
