Cucumis melo subsp. melo
Origin: Odesa, Ukraine
Improvement status: Landrace
Seeds per packet: ~20
Germination tested 10/2025: 89%
Life cycle: Annual
EFN INTRODUCTION. 'Odesa Yellow' is the name we've given to an unnamed landrace melon collected by an American visitor to a farmers market in Odesa, Ukraine, in 1986. Described as a local type by collector Kate Rogers Gessart, it's a yellow-skinned melon with pale greenish flesh and a lovely sweet flavor. Great-grandparents of EFN co-founder Nate Kleinman emigrated to the US from Odesa in 1905, so he has been trying to find as many crop varieties from Odesa as he can — and this is the first melon he's found. It came to us from the USDA's National Plant Germplasm System, which has maintained it since Gessart donated it in the 1980s. This has proven to be a relatively easy melon to grow, though it seems to have a limited harvest window (just a couple days from peak ripeness to over-ripeness). These seeds were produced by Nate at the EFN flagship farm in Elmer, NJ.
GROWING TIPS: Grow as any other melon, direct-sowing after all danger of frost has passed, or starting inside a few weeks before last frost. Benefits from rich fertile soil and plenty of sunlight and heat.
