How is a seedless watermelon grown?
It’s grown from seedless watermelon seeds in sun-warmed soil with a little help from the bees. A “seedless watermelon” search in Yahoo! turned up a page from the Territorial Seed Company describing the “culture” of this modern hybrid fruit. Watermelon breeders discovered that crossing a diploid plant (bearing the standard two sets of chromosomes) with a tetraploid plant (having four sets of chromosomes) results in a fruit that produces a triploid seed. (Yes, it has three sets of chromosomes). This seed grows fruit that rarely develops seeds, although you may find some empty white seed coats. The melon’s flesh is firmer because the usual softening of the fruit around the seeds does not occur. Triploid varieties are more difficult to grow than their seedier cousins but
