A couple of years ago my mom turned me onto the “sugar kiss” and “honey kiss” melons that would occasionally show up in our local wal-mart and sams club produce sections. These melons strongly resemble a canteloupe –however, they are 10x sweeter than you can imagine and their texture is completely different.
I sat down last season and dried some seeds from a few melons we picked up in the store and tried really hard to get them started indoors and transplant them outside, for whatever reason the seeds were hard to germinate and get up indoors and they didn’t transfer outside very well at all (especially into my raised bed garden 1.0).
Fast forward to this season and I’ve had a very good start to the season w/ these kiss melons (started indoors and transferred outdoors successfully). See photos below…
Background information on the kiss melons:
A melon so sweet it’s called “Sugar Kiss” — and that’s no exaggeration. The cotton candy of melons, the soft orange center will melt on your tongue, bursting with rich, cantaloupe flavor. … For over 25 years, the Russell family has produced their juicy, flavor-bursting specialty melons throughout Arizona and California. (source)
Sugar Kiss is the sweetest member of the “Kiss” family of melons. This melon packs a punch of flavor. The soft meat melts in your mouth, dissolving like sugar on the tongue. An incredible enjoyable eating experience. With a texture reminiscent of a Crenshaw, the Sugar Kiss has unsurpassed flavor. (source)
The honey kiss melon is a hybrid of the Hami melon variety, which originated in Hami Prefecture in eastern Xinjiang, China, more than 700 years ago. … The sugar kiss melon got its name because it is so sweet and also because of the way sugar melts on your tongue, which you get a similar feeling when you eat this melon. (source)
Also, I recently ran across a video of someone that had actually managed to grow the melon in their garden, check it out:
Is it possible to grow Sugar Kiss or Honey Kiss Melons from saved seed?
I have mentioned my intentions of saving seed from these melons and trying to grow them myself amongst other gardeners online in a discussion board setting and got various opinions as to whether these melons would even produce since they are F1 hybrids…
Here’s some background on F1 Hybrids: F1 hybrid seeds refers to the selective breeding of a plant by cross pollinating two different parent plants. In genetics, the term is an abbreviation for Filial 1 – literally “first children.” It is sometimes written as F1, but the terms mean the same. Hybridization has been around for a while now. (source) However, any seed produced by F1 plants is genetically unstable and cannot be saved for use in following years. … Gardeners who use hybrid plant varieties must purchase new seed every year. Hybrid seeds can be stabilized, becoming open-pollinated varieties, by growing, selecting, and saving the seed over many years. (source)
Update: The plants are not sterile…
One of the biggest concerns I had when dealing w/ a F1 Hybrid was that I might have a huge plant that takes up a lot of space but doesn’t make fruit because it’s sterile, well I can rule that out…
Honestly, I’m not sure what’s going to happen but I’m anxious to find out. I’ll keep posting updates here as things progress…
Also, here’s some additional information on the Kiss Melons.
Official Website for Savor Fresh Farms, growers of Kiss Melons.
Any updates on the sugar kiss melons? I am in the early stages of trying to do the same thing and was wondering if you were able to get the plants to grow fruits?
hey, sorry just seeing this. how did your melons turn out?
Great article. I to saved seeds from sugar kiss melon and have about 15 plants in the garden. Any update as to you’re melons growing to full size? Did they mature, or did the plant abort them are in the early stages of development? I hope you were able to enjoy you’re melons. I too am wondering if the space is going to go to waste in my garden. Any update would be most appreciated.
they do take up a lot of space. i think next season we are going to try to grow them somewhere on our farm in eastern arkansas instead of in our backyard. our melons did completely mature (when we would give them enough time).
Where did you get your seeds?
we saved them from the fruit.
How did it turn out? Were you able to grow it successfully? If so, how did it taste?
yes, we were able to get a handful of melons and really enjoyed them.
I would love to hear more of how your last season ended up with the ‘Sugar Kiss.’
we ended up getting a few melons that were really good. our biggest challenge was picking them before they were completely ripened. as you know a sugarkiss is pretty much meat all the way up until the rind. some of the ones that we picked too soon were very sweet in the center but were not as tender toward the rind (outer portions).
Did you end up getting the same quality melon as the one you bought in the store!?
yes, eventually. the hardest part for us was letting them sit there long enough to completely ripen.
Can you give any guidance on what you learned about when the best picking time is? I know cantaloupes slip off of the vine when ready. Do these? We are planting these this year (we just can’t get enough from grocery store!).
I know the feeling, I grab them up when our Sam’s Club has them in stock! To be honest, I picked the majority of ours too early from not knowing. Eventually I got it right and we had some pretty sweet ones. I guess my best advice is wait until you think they are ready to harvest –then give them another week or two. Sorry, wish I could be more helpful.
where can I buy some hybrid kiss melon seeds
Unfortunately I don’t think that you can, or at least not that I’ve been able to find anywhere online.
How long did you wait to pick them? I have 3 good sized ones right now. One of them has turned 2/3 light orange in color. The other two are still green in between the white webbing. It been about 3 months since I started the plants.
sorry for the late response, just seeing your question. Honestly, I would wait until the melon and webbing are both very pale in color. You might find a melon in the grocery store to use for comparison. I know that it required a lot of patience on my end, haha. So, best of luck!!
Inspired by Joseph Lofthouse landrace gardening I have interplanted White sugar kiss melon seed with Picaso (Gaya, Snow Leopard are alternate names). These parents are both sweet and delicious. Look forward to tasting the next generations:
So you grew these from seed you saved from a kiss melon you purchased? If so, any special instructions on saving, storing, and planting next year?
We just dried the seeds on a paper towel and stored them until the following season. Worked really well. Germination was great.
Several years ago I had success growing Sugar Kiss melons. This year I have had good success, but being hybrids the melons looked like Summer Kiss melons on the inside. I thought it was a failure, but on tasting the melons they were very sweat and juicy, but a slightly different flavor. I wonder what melons were used as parents.
I have wondered that myself. I agree, the flavor is slightly different (but still very sweet) from what the sugar kiss melons I purchased at sam’s club. They have two varieties, sugar kiss and honey kiss, that they sell in the stores. I’m going to try to do side by side next season and see what happens –but yes, I would love to know the parent
Does anyone know if the sugar kiss melons will grow in South Carolina, zone 8?
I can’t say w/ certainty but I bet they would. It’d be worth a try. I honestly think it might be too hot almost in zone 7 where I’m located.
This year I planted Sugar Kiss seeds and all of the melons turned out looking pale, and very light green inside. But they were as good in sweetness and tenderness as the parents were. In fact in some ways they were better than the Sugar Kiss cantaloupes.
Anyone else had this happen?
how did the melons taste? what was the growing season like?
I agree. I’ve gotten both yellow and green melons inside. About a 50/50 split. You can’t tell from the outside. They both taste great, if not better than the parent.
I have been waiting on a fully sized golden melon for a month now, with no scaling on the outside. Is this normal?
Is it still firm or is it soft? You’ll want to make sure it’s not getting too soft.
I’ve been following your post for a few years. My experience…
I saved seeds from a sugar kiss melon I bought from the grocery store in 2020, since seeds are unavailable for purchase.
The first year (2021) was a total experiment, being F1 hybrid I wasn’t sure what to expect but encouraged by your post. All my seeds that I started outside in a small 6pck sprouted. We grew them in our backyard in full sun. We successfully harvested a few very sweet melons that fall.
Last year (2022) we planted a few more of the same 2020 seeds and got a decent number of melons. We are backyard hobbyists growing in our suburban Los Angeles backyard. The melons are as sweet if not better than the original seed imo. The interesting thing is that some melons are yellow and some green (like a honeydew) inside, but both taste great!!!
This year (2023) I started plants for my neighbors as well. They say my melons were the best they’ve tasted and much better than the plants from the nursery. Lol. Also, going to try growing seeds from my own melons and seeing what happens in the following generation.
Patty, thanks so much for sharing your experience! I’ve had seeds set aside that are a year old and I’ve been waffling on whether or not to attempt it and your post convinced me. The sugar kiss are already incredibly delicious, the idea of getting a few that are even better than that is the dream.
What time of year did you plant them? What zone?
I’m in zone 7, so we planted them early spring.
All F1 hybrid melons are never sterile, all will produce fruit. The only problem is that 50% may not come out the same as the fruit you ate. After each year you grow it out, the odds get even worse because you are basically de-hybridizing the melon.