No. 0768 · Cucumis melo
Long Caravan Melon
- Crop
- Vegetable
- Climate
- Dry
- Season
- Summer
- Origin
- Khorezm, Uzbekistan
At risk, kept by 2 growers
No. 0768The variety
A long, netted winter melon from the oases of Khorezm that keeps for months hanging in a cool barn.
Grows best inDesert heat and irrigated, sandy soil
Seed passport
Perennial Seed Library · Season 2026
- Origin
- Khorezm, Uzbekistan
- First documented
- 1926
- Days to maturity
- 110 to 125 days
- Height
- Trailing vines to 3 m
- Hardiness
- Frost tender
- Sun
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 1.5 m between plants
- Flavor notes
- Crisp, honeyed and faintly floral
No. 0768Growth timeline
From sowing to saving seed.
Stage 01 of 06
No. 0768Story
The story of Long Caravan Melon
The oases of Khorezm were famous along the old trade routes for melons that would keep through the winter. Long Caravan is one of them: an oblong, netted melon picked late in autumn and hung from barn rafters in nets of straw, where it stays sweet until spring.
It came to the library from a family near Khiva in 2018, and only two growers in the network have the long, hot season it needs. Every fruit that ripens is a small celebration.
Grown by
2 growers this season
Saida Yusupova
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan
Inés Ruiz Cortés
Oaxaca, Mexico
Lending list · Season 2026
Borrow this seed.
Members borrow up to twelve varieties a year. Seed is posted on the first Monday of the month in a hand-numbered paper packet, and all we ask in return is a little of your harvest and a few lines about how it grew.