A Queensland watermelon grower says he sings and talks to his crop to ensure he gets the sweetest fruit, but the tastiest is left in the field.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 4 minutes 57 seconds 4 m 57 s Grower Anthony Rehbein says he sings to his watermelons to ensure he gets the best fruit. ( Brad Marsellos ) Download 9.1 MB

Anthony Rehbein will harvest 100 tonne of the fruit per day for an eight week period over summer, and has used social media to allow consumers to follow the life cycle of a watermelon.

"Everyday since I planted them I talk to them, sing to them, look at them, touch them, make sure there's no stress so no matter what crop you grow you've got to nurture just like kids," he said.

Despite the love and attention Mr Rehbein gives it, he said fussy consumers have forced him to leave behind a quarter of his crop, because the melons contain seeds.

"There's two types (of melon) and you can't grow one without the other," he said.

"There's a pollinator, which is a seeded watermelon, and then there's a seedless, which is three quarters of your crop.

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"The bees come in, do their work and cross pollinate so the customer gets seedless watermelons.

"That's the only way you don't get seeds, is through bee pollination, and using the Red Tigers, which is a fantastic seeded watermelon, and the Royal Armarda, which is our seedless.

"You've got to have both."

But Mr Rehbein still believes the seeded varieties are the better eating fruit.

"At the moment the watermelons with the seeds are being left on the ground because the consumer thinks that seeds are no good," he said.

"I gotta say, they (seeded) are the best melons and the people who work for me would prefer to eat a seeded watermelon.

"But in retail world people want seedless oranges, seedless mandarins, seedless grapes and seedless watermelons."

He said being unable to sell up to a quarter of the fruit means farmers have to factor that in when considering if a crop will be profitable.

Despite the challenge, Mr Rehbein sais the busy harvest is an exciting time on the farm.

"The pickers go out and pick virtually every daylight hour that we have," he said.

"They're looking for the blush of the melon, like a slight yellowing or a sunburn on top, which tells you that the internal colour is nice and red and ready to go.

"They give it a little 'love tap' so that they know that the melon is solid and full inside.

He said the melons hit the Sydney or Melbourne markets within three days of being picked.

"When it's hot, people like melon and it's a great time of year, we're coming out of winter, great to take to the beach," he said.

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