Dual Purpose
Triple Play is an early-maturing F1 hybrid watermelon that brings seedless convenience and exceptional sweetness to gardens across zones 3, 13. This compact mini watermelon weighs just 7 to 10 pounds, making it perfect for smaller gardens and families, and reaches harvest in a quick 80, 89 days. The light green rind with narrow dark stripes houses a strikingly bright red, seedless flesh that's remarkably sweet, a triploid variety engineered to skip seeds while delivering full flavor.
Full Sun
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3-13
18in H x ?in W
Annual
High
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What sets Triple Play apart is its brilliant seedless flesh combined with an impressively early maturity for a hybrid watermelon. At just 7 to 10 pounds, it's small enough to fit in a cooler for picnics yet substantial enough to feed a family. The light green rind with dark striping gives it visual charm, but it's the very sweet, vivid red interior that keeps gardeners coming back year after year.
Triple Play's compact size and seedless nature make it the quintessential picnic watermelon. You can halve it easily, slice it into hand-held wedges, or scoop out the sweet flesh with a spoon straight from the rind. Its early maturity and manageable weight also make it ideal for farmers markets and home gardeners who want to grow watermelon in cooler climates where longer-season varieties might not ripen.
Transplant seedlings outdoors only after all danger of frost has passed and soil has warmed to at least 70°F. Harden off young plants by gradually exposing them to outdoor conditions over 7–10 days before planting. Space plants 36 inches apart in a sunny location.
Direct sow seeds outdoors after the last frost date when soil temperature reaches 70°F or warmer. Plant seeds in warm, fertile soil and keep the area consistently moist until germination.
Triple Play typically reaches harvest maturity in 80, 89 days from planting. Pick watermelons when the rind has developed a dull (not shiny) appearance and the melon feels heavy for its size. A ripe Triple Play will have a creamy yellow spot where it rested on the ground, and the rind should give slightly when gently pressed (though not be soft). Harvest by cutting the stem with a sharp knife rather than twisting, which can damage the vine.
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“Triple Play is an F1 hybrid triploid watermelon, a result of deliberate crossing to create a seedless variety. The triploid breeding approach, crossing diploid and tetraploid parents, produces sterile offspring that develop the seedless fruit gardeners love. This hybrid represents decades of horticultural refinement aimed at combining early maturity with the convenience of seedlessness, making watermelon growing more accessible to home gardeners with shorter seasons.”