Exploding Watermelons! Acres of Crops Erupt

Sounds more like a water retension problem.

I would agree that there is a watering problem that may cause the splitting. What I am not sure if it is because of over-watering or under-watering. The tomato will split if it is under-watered. This is copied from a site I lost: "Sometimes, if you have a lot of rain after a spell of really dry weather, you will find splitting tomatoes on your tomato plants. A split tomato problem is really caused by a lack of water. If you take away water, the tomatoes cannot stay lush and juicy, and the skin will crack just as your skin cracks if you do not have enough moisture. And when the tomatoes receive a large amount of water quickly, they fill with water and the skin bursts like an overfilled water balloon."

Can a dry spell followed by a wet spell be a real cause of the "exploding" melons? Sure seems more likely than the growth chemical. Perhaps they need better watering controls.

I was just wondering if that is what the growth chemicals actually did. Make it retian water not so much as make it ripen sooner.

Or add some triamterene (or other diuretic) to the watermelon food.

The Chinese producing an inferior product that fails??? That's a first.

Maybe they can find a way to use them to make drywall.

Whats the problem? Just send them here. I'll ad the other stuff and ice, no problem.