How Do Seedless Watermelons Reproduce?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Seedless watermelons are basically the best thing ever. But they’re also a delicious paradox. Seeds are a key part of plant reproduction. So how do you breed a plant that doesn’t make any seeds?
Hosted by: Hank Green
SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at www.scishowtan...
----------
Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: / scishow
----------
Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters: Greg, Alex Schuerch, Alex Hackman, Andrew Finley Brenan, Sam Lutfi, D.A. Noe, الخليفي سلطان, Piya Shedden, KatieMarie Magnone, Scott Satovsky Jr, Charles Southerland, Patrick D. Ashmore, charles george, Kevin Bealer, Chris Peters
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
Facebook: / scishow
Twitter: / scishow
Tumblr: / scishow
Instagram: / thescishow
----------
Sources:
naldc.nal.usda...
news.nationalg...
extensionpublic...
learn.genetics...
www.crops.org/...
www2.palomar.e...
link.springer....
www.tandfonlin...
www-naweb.iaea....
link.springer....
aggie-horticul...
www.uaex.edu/y...
www.ncbi.nlm.n...
www.ncbi.nlm.n...
Image Sources:
commons.wikime...
en.wikipedia.o...
www.flickr.com...
Ah SciShow! Always answering the questions I didn't know I wanted answers for.
1:00 Mutation Breeding: Thousands of mutations to find that "one in a melon."
LMAO
Oh ouch! Pah dum pum tish! Rimshot.
Seedless to say, that was a good one ;P
Nice
Thanks for the laugh, Master Therion, it’s been a real slice.
What I wanna know is how they make watermelon-less seeds, like the watermelon seed packs you buy in the garden center WITH NO WATERMELON! Freakin' magic, I tellz ya!
Didn't you watch the video? Your answer was there, no magic required.
@@kahoaalohamalalis8841 Did you read his comment fully? he was asking about watermelon-less seeds not seedless watermelons.
@@kahoaalohamalalis8841 r/woooosh
I'd like to think it's a sunflower that grows melon seeds instead.
It i tap ur comment it lags my phone wtf it takes me to a cat video and you are saying: 0:40 give me food, hooman
Idk my phone is idiot
Seedless watermelons don’t reproduce. Or do they?
**plays VSauce music**
Automatic ear worm.
Queue Michaels dancing and off key singing/humming.... lol
Hey, VSauce, watermelon here!
That sounds so much like an homophobic statement.
Bru keep your weeb pfp away from my science channel
Jeff Goldblum - "Life uh...finds a way"
Most modern plant varieties were developed by using radiation or mutagens. Modern genetic engineering just speeds up the process by eliminating all the crossbreeding and putting the alleles you want in one organism. Unfortunately GMO’s have a bad reputation because most people don’t understand how plant breeding works. Domestication changes the genetics of organisms be it a corn plant or your dog that used to be a wolf.
Yeah. The problem is, when you mix your dog genome with your corn. Because we all know mixing genes from two completely different types of species is totally normal.
@@michaelesposito2629 What?
I don't mind seeds in water melons.
But I HATE seeds in gapes!
Wtf is wrong with you
I also hate when I leave seed in ur gape
I liked it because I thought it was grapes....
I don't really like grape seeds much either, but, they are oddly very healthy.
Why are you raisin this issue?
I never thought I'd disagree with Hank, but he can go to the hell. The joy of spitting seeds is the height of childhood.
Yet another amazing video. Informative as well as entertaining. As a content creator, I highly admire your videos. Keep up the good work!
yas
I’ve been wondering this for years without the motivation to research it
1:06
"plants r exposed to something that induces changes to their genome"
sounds.....totally safe and edible to me!
Making science understandable for everyone as you guys do, it's something humankind will never be able pay you back.
I know people who strongly dislike sedless watermelons because they don't taste as good. And part of the fun with eatting watermelon is the seed spitting contests!
Seedless watermelons , square watermelons, great rock music...Thanks Japan 😀
Yah Baby Metal
@@tammyelizabeth5157 I like Baby Metal "Karate" .....but Band Maid is my passion :-)
That Japanese scientist is Hitoshi Kihara. Respect, SciShow crew. Why was it so hard to mention his name?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitoshi_Kihara
Glad to see a much greater concentration of Hank videos on Sci show channel in past months. Also check out the Sci show episode that shows everything wrong with GMOs
Seedless watermelons seem to have less flavor/texture potential than a "normal" watermelon... all while actually having those white soggy seed carcasses in them. No thanks bruh
Came here to say this - unfortunately the American public buys mostly seedless now so its hard to find seeded in the stores - in my area.
I grew my own last year. Best watermelons I've ever had.
I just swallow the seeds. Never had a problem.
@@MrCrashDavi I like chewing the seeds.
With you there. I have never understood the allure of seedless watermelon. The old fashioned kind taste better, and you can spit the seeds. Dinner and a show. Or you can just swallow them.
this sounds an awful lot like eugenics with fruit
If the definition of GMO would be changed to also include these watermelons, would there then be any fruit or vegetable left that isn’t a GMO?
That's one of of the arguments in the GMO debate. Pretty much all modern crops have been modified in some way from their original form so the whole GMO label is pretty arbitrary.
well, selection vs mutation is a good line, where selection follows a possible "natural" progression of a plant species, just sped up, mutation is more "artificial" ... idk about grafting tho, that's just strange, lol.
If we're being literal, everything is literally a genetically modified version of its parent(s) (except sometimes), so I think what makes more sense is just labelling how something was modified: a GMO label for radiation, a label for artificial selection, a label for CRISPR... I'm not sure it matters much, but maybe it'll make some people happier? I dunno.
The whole conversation about GMOs is mostly wasted breath :-)
the current definition of GMOs include the process of inserting alien/foreign DNA into the plant, in which the plant don't ever develop naturally. Old-school GMOs is like Dogs; they came from wolf but now they are like a hairier and miniature wolf, but modern GMOs is like a Dogs that can speak (like human) or have infrared eyes (like a snake) or a double-coat fur (like russian blue, cat). One example is when Scientist made goldfish that glow in the dark (contain jellyfish DNA), you won't find a glowing goldfish even if you mutate a thousand generation.
I miss seeds in my watermelons. I remember as a child having fun spitting them out as I eat the flesh. I’m not sure if it’s nostalgia or not but I remember the seeded ones being more flavourful than the seedless ones.
_They get under the covers and have the time of their lives_
Technically, by strictest definition, eugenics in plants counts as genetic modification. It's modification by selective breeding.
"Ki-yoto University"
My inner weeaboo just cringed, and then I cringed at my inner weeaboo.
same
Nah, It's OK with city names. It's Common to call a city something else in another language.
Seedless watermelons do not taste as good as seeded watermelons, also watermelon seeds are perfectly fine, actually enjoyable to eat. I would never by choice eat seedless watermelons.
The texture of the seeded watermelon is also better, juicier and more brittle and melts in your mouth. The seedless watermelon is comparably chewy.
It sends me knowing that there's people out there that I've never actually tried seeded watermelon it is so much better
It was a dewy morning, the air was crisp and I was excited for the mornings duties. As I stood outside I noticed something in the garden. Something odd. The leaves were rustling. I quickly grabbed my pen and pad of paper, naturally being a scientist and went straight to the back yard. Oh what a surprise ,the melons where in mating fever!I studied the results. I could not wait to tell my peers. It was a beatiful morning. I will never forget those melons in the mist.....
I’d like to say that you’re the first person to sexualise a pair of melons, but... no...
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS
How can we have watermelon seed fights without the seeds?!
“Chemically treated melon Mum”
Nicest thing anyone has ever told her. Thanks scishow.
This was great! More interesting stuff like this, please!
It's called "Spontaneous generation".
its called fu
Ironically, I was just wondering about how seedless fruit reproduce yesterday, then today I saw this video was uploaded yesterday.
I've always wondered about that. Thanks for sharing!
If I can pull off a massive genetically engendered plant via breeding ( that's copacetic man ) but God forbid I use crispr to achieve the same results. People will freak out about GMOs ( ooooooooh! ) in spooky voice
Yes, but with the "old school" breeding you never cross strawberry's with sardines or bacteria's. The serious problem with GMO is not the human consumption. It is the pollen with the exotic DNA, flying in to the wild. Finding the wild relatives of our noble plants. Interfering with complicated fragile systems on the basic level sounds hazardous.
@@ferencivanics9980 that may be but how's it different than anything else we've done and then reacted post humously
P.S. said plants are usually made sterile. no virulent seeds pollen or whatever you have. The farmers have to buy said product/seeds or what have you from the company year after year they can't just get seeds that will grow from the plant they just grew. Corns a big one mile after mile of those fields and in one year you'd have no corn except for the one or two that didn't germinate the first year and managed to make it through the winter and germinate the next year.
@@christianheichel Non viable pollen is an option, but it is not 100% secure. I am not an expert and my knowing about this GMO stuff is minimal. I was just accidentally reading some "serious" post about this GMO pollen "danger". I think the monsanto soja has viable pollen, and it creates a totally different problem with copyright issues. I don't know if there is any wild soja relative in the nature, and I have no idea what and how much genetic "junktions" the glyphosate resistance gene has , that will be expressed after x generations in the wild soja (if there is any) . I just have this bad feeling...fast-grand profit and small careful-cautious baby steps are not compatible.
I've forced triploids to breed and produce viable seed using auxins (plant hormones, like the one found in rooting powder). I wanted to use colchicine for some of my experiments, but it's expensive and difficult to find in the USA. I also force chimearism using chemical means to make host plants support introduced cells of other plants until they're established throughout the tissue of the organism.
Anyone who thinks bio-hacking, as well as more traditional means of altering plants, wasn't going on before CRISPR just hasn't studied it.
@@TitanUranusOfficial Genetic biohacking on interspecies level? It is not about CRISPR, or gene gun, or biochemical method's. It is GMO vs. classical cross breading. The very slow, but safe and stable vs. the very fast but...some believe it is without any significant side effect, and some say it is the armageddon. I just simply think, we need to be very careful. More interesting field is the human manipulation. Imagine the future dictator.
*GMO free genetically modified watermelons* 👍
next meme 👏👏
On a related note, it'd be interesting if you could do an episode about atomic gardening. Because the idea of atomic gardening just seems so interesting/hilarious. Especialy because the crops it created are widely farmed even today.
Thanks for this video! I've often wondered how they do this...
Thanks for the informative vid. I was high af eating a seedless melon and this question hit me.
The answer I've always needed.
You actually can eat the seeds if you fry it in a pan
I have eaten the seeds all my life and never cooked them, they just go down with the rest of the delicious melon. Well, except for the ones I spit.
seedless melons cannot compare in taste to seeded.
OFC, seedless fruit is garbage
Ill add that tidbit at the end to my list of reasons GMO is a meaningless term
Love you lots thanks for educating us
So to become radiated enough to be a superhero all I need to do us to binge on seedless watermelons 🍉
Maybe it's my imagination but I don't think seedless watermelons taste as good as the seeded varieties. It's like they're more sweet with less flavor. Of course, it seems like a lot of fruits are being bred to increase sweetness at the expense of actual flavor.
It's too bad kids today don't have the opportunity to experience the joy of accumulating a mouthful of watermelon seeds and machine-gunning them out through their lips at each other. Ah, nostalgia!
I agree, seedless watermelons are always disappointing, the seeded ones are much better.
Seeded watermelons are left on the vine longer and allowed to ripen to a preferred sweetness. This is also why they are bigger. Seedless varieties are picked once they reach a preferred size and are intentionally underripe to prevent damage in shipping. Seeded varieties are sweeter simply because they are less desirable and farmers care less about them.
@@turtle4llama This is a sad commentary on what agriculture has become. _Sic transit gloria..._
It is not your imagination. Seedless varieties have little flavour.
So, I'm not the only one whose aware that every plant that we grow for food is effectively a GMO
Effectively. Sure. And yet there is still a difference between breeding two different plants together, and inserting genomes from an animal, into a plant, in some multi billion dollar corporations lab.
Wow. I had no idea. I just assumed they had a variety that had to wait longer for the seeds to develop and they harvested them when ripe, but still underdeveloped.
Everything we eat is GMO.
so
YOU, my friend, are a GMO yourself
👏👏👏👏👏
I hunt my food
Araanor In a way every living thing on earth has been modified by our existence. We’ve changed the world so much that basically everything faces different selecting pressures than it would have in the past. Therefore we’ve hijacked evolution and impacted all of the genomes. GMOs everywhere.
@@lilj4818 true
in that way all living things pressure each other to modify their genes, so in this way everything is GMO.
"Melbourne mom" Best quote! 😀
*melon mom
Josiah Klein Yeah.. Dictate was dumb. Still a great line. 😀
'For Some Reason.'
LOL
To this day I did not even know seedless watermelons were a thing.
You are lucky. Seedless watermelons are always disappointing.
Idk about the best thing ever. All seedless watermelons I've had barely have any taste compared to watermelons with seeds. I actually prefer them with seeds due to this. Hardly an annoyance for the flavor.
I agree, seedless watermelons are always disappointing, the seeded ones are much better.
Yeah good point
So, we're modifying their genetics. But they're not genetically modified. Makes perfect sense. XD
We're all GMOs ourselves, if you think about it
Wow. You got it totally correct, and this is a breath of science fresh air! kudos.
I read the title and I was like wow, what a good question haha
LOVED this topic! So cool
Enjoying a sweet slice from the offspring of a chemically treated melon mom. That's not something I thought I'd ever hear.
Geez, the process of how they found this out sounds like trying to find Easter Eggs in Mario Brothers.
You guys are awesome ))
Well then, that's one of life's mysteries down, now to get to that last couple billion, and we're all set.
For the supposed number of seedless watermelons sold. There sure are a lot of VERY seeded watermelons growing in the runoff of the local drainage ditch.
Love ur work
I think you mean *BONELESS*
Next: The science of boneless chickens.
It would be so much easier if watermelons had all their seeds in an easily scoopable clump in the middle, like other melons and squash.
The best explanation!
Awesome! I had no idea it was so complicated. I thought they just used plant grafting... somehow...
When two grown up watermelons love each other...
Hank, it's almost like you're suggesting that fear of GMOs is irrational!
*sees title* WAiT! They Reproduce?!??!!!?????!!
Okay but bananas don't really need seeds to reproduce anyway? Banana trees duplicate on their own!
True
We don't eat those tasteless sh!ts here in Chile, we eat real ultra sweet full of seeds enormous watermelons :D
Same in Turkey.
I’ve never seen a seedless watermelon. I didn’t even know they existed...
THANK YOU!!! I’ve always wondered this
This is so wierd, the seeds don't matter at all. They're easily spit out or swallowed. If they exist in my country they're very uncommon and redundant
IVE ALWAYS WONDERED ABOUT THIS
I have an orange tree that gives the best seedless orange ever
Wait a minute. Banana's had seeds at some point in history? *MindBlown*
Yes..they graft new shoots on plants..like apples but different since all bananas eaten in the west are from the same one plant breed in England in the early 1900s. The History Guy had a great little video a few weeks back explaining the history. Have a great day!
I love watermelons. I even like the seeds. I just spit them out like a machine gun 😂
Alright I've been crossing watermelon for breeding hybrid study last week. At 2:20 where crossing female triploid with male diploid I think is wrong. To get triploid watermelon, you have crossing female Tetraploid with male Diploid.
Every “seedless” watermelon I’ve ever brought home has had plenty of seeds... I didn’t think they actually existed, just less-seedy watermelons
Seedless watermelons only have the white ‘seeds’. They don’t have the typical black seeds of a seeded watermelon.
I pictured something totally different when Hank said “chemically treated melon mom” 3:27 😏🍈🍈
Nice. I always wondered about that.
They do the same thing with grass carp so you don't get them breeding in your sportfishing pond. I always wondered what they mean't by triploid.
Also they can sell the seeded ones as well so they can still easily make profits.
Has there ever been a case of a plant sprouting and growing inside of a living person or animal's digestive tract?
Like that old urban legend about growing a watermelon in your stomach if you swallowed the seeds?
If not, what causes a seed to sprout underground, and what part(s) of the digestive tract prevent seeds from sprouting?
not sure but google will tell you there were cases where plants grew in the stomachs. but im skeptical about that. also, one strong enemy of seed in our stomach is the acid that can easily melt almost anything, even our stomach. that's why another mucus is being secreted by our stomach to line up the walls, to prevent the acid from directly melting the wall..seed need to grow for days, only a day or so, the acid can almost melt the seed,, destroying it.
Awww the thumbnail tho
I think I prefer watermelons with seeds. The "seedless" ones often have underdeveloped seeds leading to unexpected and unwanted seeds in a bite of water melon.
I’d die to be able to work with the Scishow peeps honestly.
Seeded watermelons are significant sweeter than seedless.
I bought a seed less watermelon and it had only 4 seeds in it
Are people in America really that fussed about seeds in a watermelon? I can understand grapes but when the seed is that tiny compared to the fruit you don’t notice them and tend to just eat the seeds also.
Some are. A lot of us though think the seedless varieties are pretty bad tasting and the seeds are not a problem. I never get the seedless ones. So yeah, a lot of Americans have this irrational watermelon seed revulsion, but there are plenty of us here that prefer the higher quality, and cheaper, regular kind.
Shout-out to all the lovely chemically modified melon moms!
I just want regular watermelons. Seedless watermelons have way less flavor.
No. They don’t
Mmmmm mutant melons nom nom nom. Reminds me of the time I had watermelon dabs and posted the video on my channel.
So, Hank. What yer saying is the entire reason we have seedless watermelons is because a japanese scientist in the 1930's was bored and decided to spray chemicals on plants to see what he would get.
Colchicine is a chemical, sure. It is a natural one, though, obtained from the winter crocus, plants in the genus Colchicum.
Colchicine was already known as a mutagen in the 30's and known to cause seedlessness in plants. This scientist tried on watermelons.
It’s just like mating a horse and a donkey and getting a seedless mule
eating my seedless orange as i'm watching
"How Do Seedless Watermelons Reproduce?"
*The same way seedless grapes reproduce?*
Seedless watermelons don't taste as good though, the seeds impart a tart and mellow flavour missing when it's seedless.
@@AxxLAfriku please just stop
AxxL wat
Axxl, f****** goddammit, you again?
I usually don't eat the seeds though.
I agree Sebastian, regular watermelons taste much better
A fantastic video talking about an interesting topic, as always.
It's just a shame it was posted the day after my exam on plant breeding.