I emailed them last night but have not heard back yet.

I found two sites besides Baker Creek that have a wide selection of heirloom watermelons - but not yet Stacy's watermelon. I sent both emails. Got to maintain my reputation as stubborn!

http://www.seedman.com/waterme...
http://sustainableseedco.com/h...

What about Sandhill?

I tried writing to the Texas Watermelon Association, but haven't gotten any response.

Sandhill isn't offering it, but now I've sent them an email also. Thanks!

That makes four. (five including Texas Watermelon Society)

This is fun!

(I wonder if Prism and the NSA have detected the spike in questions about "Schochler Watermelon seeds"? Now they're trying to figure out what that could be a code word for. Watch for low-flying black helicopters and drones over watermelon patches!)

Y'all are all awesome!!! Thanks for all your help!

Sure thing! It's fun.

I got an answer from Jim at SeedMan:

"Sorry to say that none of our growers list this, I have no ideal
where you would find seeds for this variety, the last seeds we tested
in our trials last year from a farm did not germinate."

I guess if everything comes back "No", we could ask Jim if he would reveal the name of the farm last year.

Baker Creek - - ?
SandHill - - - - - ?
SeedMan - - - - no
SSE - - - - - - - - no
Victory Seeds - ?
Sustainable Seed Company- - - - - - - ?
Texas Watermelon Association - - - - ?
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange - ?


Fallbacks:
(the farm that sent seeds to SeedMan)

I found Schochler Watermelon listed in plantfiles and this is what mgardner had to say in the garden notes section:

"On Jan 29, 2006, mgardner from Orofino, ID wrote:

My grandfather, Joe Palmar Schochler, developed this hybrid strain in the 1920's in Cherokee County, TX. He actively grew and sold these melons commercially until 1948. We moved to northern Idaho in 2003. In 2005, I obtained viable Schochler watermelon seed from an uncle in TX. We are in a mixed zone 5-6(depending on elevation). I planted right after last frost in middle of May. The quail ate the sprouts at about 2-3 weeks, and we replanted under a wire cage, inside our 8 ft. deer-proof garden fence. Out of two hills, we had one that produced two mature melons before the first frost in September.
Even with a southern exposure, our primary problem are the cool nights. Watermelons need warm nights to mature quickly."

There is a picture of it. Read more: http://davesgarden.com/guides/...


I dmailed mgardner asking if they had a seed source for this watermelon. Waiting to see if they respond, the post was made in 2006.

Sounds like Stacy might be related in some way to mgardner, maybe she should try contacting him/her.

If this is a hybrid and you get seeds and grow it out and save the seeds from the grow out it won't grow true....But you could de-hybridize it.

Awww, a hybrid! We still might find some commercial grower or vendor who's willing to share or sell.

Thanks for finding that. i never scrolled far enough down to see that!

Stacy, I sent mgardener an email and a link to this thread, but so far no reply.

mgardner is also a member of GW, but hasn't posted in several years. Same over at DG (yep, I peeked). The post mentions Orofino, ID, but didn't Stacy mention that he'd moved back to Texas? Or is this perhaps someone else?

I think the photo was from 2006, so he could have moved several times.

I'm so bummed out that it's a hybrid!

Joe Palmer Schochler is Dave's grandfather. Dave is the one in the photo that Rick posted on the previous page. He is dead now, Dave is probably in his late 60's early 70's.

My father in law asked his sister and said that one of Dave's sons was supposed to be getting her some seeds... I will email Dave about that.

I'm new to all of this so why is a hybrid seed bad, if it's been around so long?

Y'all are awesome! Thanks for all of you help. I really appreciate it so much.

Hybrid seeds are not bad but if you save seeds from a hybrid you won't get the same fruit because a hybrid is a product of either and accidetail cross of 2 or more varieties or an intentional cross of 2 or more varieties.

so how do you keep growing the same fruit? i'm confused.

There are hybrids, heirlooms and open-pollinated seed. I have a favorite hybrid tomato that I grow every year called Jetsetter, I have to purchase the seeds because I don't save the seeds from it. I grow many other tomatoes that are open-pollinated or heirlooms and I save the seeds from them to replant again next year.

Here are a couple of links that might help:
http://www.grit.com/farm-and-g...
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu...

And to add to Patti's response, SOMEONE is growing the types that are used to cross and make the hybrid seeds. But WE have to purchase those new seeds, not try and save ours.

I found this little snippet from a 1999 article in a Texas newspaper. It's just sort of a gossip column, but there's a reference to someone named Virgil, who worked collecting watermelon seeds for his uncle Palmer Schochler. Kind of a funny little vignette. It starts in the lower right hand side of the first page with "Virgil doesn't like to eat watermelons."

Virgil is my husbands grandfather.

Woofie, that is so cool you found that! But it makes me think the word "hybrid" was possibly misused in the earlier description because if he was scooping out the seeds to save they wouldn't have been hybrid. That would be nice and really, make more sense.

Well, yes, that's what I thought, too. One of the reasons I posted it, apart from the fact that it's kind of cute. Besides, I wondered who Virgil was and figured Stacy would know!