Exploding Melons

Watermelons are exploding in fields in China, after farmers apparently misuse chemicals intended to accelerate the fruit's growth. All of those with exploding melons apparently were first-time users of the growth accelerator forchlorfenuron, though it has been widely available for some time, CCTV said in the report broadcast on Monday night.


A farmer shows a watermelon that burst in his rented greenhouse in Danyang city in eastern China's Jiangsu province. Photo: AP


Farmers clear out watermelons that exploded. Photo: AP

Foto set of square watermelons

A company in Panama is hoping to join in a small niche market of the fruit export business: square watermelons. The Panama Fruit Producer company has started "rounding up" the square fruit, sending its first shipment of 120 boxy melons to New York.



The first square watermelons are thought to have been produced by a Japanese farmer and have been sold in some markets in Japan for years. Diaz said the only square watermelon production in the Americas he knows about is in Brazil and California in the U.S.