Watermelon Growing

Ya, I’ll have to track down one of those 200$ watermelon plants and eat a couple grande by season’s end. I looked round the shops and couldn’t find an orange WM. It’s ok I got a good selection going this year, looking forward to them. Bought some chicken wire in advance of the chewing animals. How did your coyote wire work out?

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I’ve got some little guys on the vine. Sangris Watermelon and Sugar Cube Melons. The seeds a very generous member here sent are the plants just coming up! They are White Wonder/Oraneglo…
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I would cull the deformed melon. Not enough pollen. It will continue to get more deformed as it grows. That is just from my own experiences.

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Is there a variety you can recommend that is small and might work in a shorter growing season? Thanks.

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Sugar Cube is really tasty and super early, I wish they were bigger though!

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I’m with Hoosier on this. I’m not real well versed on it but that’s what I know about the Sugar Cube…I hear they are about 5-6 pounds…

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Great!!!

They are usually around 2 pounds here, some only the size of a softball, really nice sweet flavor and extra firm flesh. Disease resistant but can get belly rot…

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I heard laying cardboard out for them to lay on is good?

Belly rot is probably not a big problem for home growers, it usually does not develop before ripe, they won’t store long at all though. I’ve thought about a low trellis to keep the fruit off the ground completely. Unfortunately during wet weather they can get it sitting on top of plastic mulch or straw even, guessing from soil splashing.

That’s really good to know Hoosier. I’ll try and keep a good eye on them. I have mulch i can use and Cardboard. I guess these will be my experimentals! LOL…

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My Orangeglo. Growing very slowly. Butternut squash that were seeded week after is about 4 times this size. I guess watermelon need warm weather more than b squash does.
This is my only watermelon plant this year.

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Why do you have all of that mulch around the plant? The mulch will
help keep the soil cool and will limit the growth of the plant. Melons
need heat and not just in the air, but in the soil too.

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Mulch is to retain moister. I guess black landscape fabric would’ve been better. That’s what the pumpkins have. That could explain their growth …

So…I have some very nice little sugar cube melons. But I have a problem. I can’t find out when to harvest them. People say they get anywhere from 2-5 pounds so that’s a huge difference. I don’t know what they should look like either. Seems the biggest one has the ridges like a cantaloupe? Any suggestions?

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Very nice looking melons. Any pest problem?

Tony

Not yet. I’ve used Naturlyte and it seems to be working fine.

Got watermelon too!

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They are lopes… Just wait until the stem detaches on its own or falls of easily when picked up, they can soften on the counter more if you like, much easier than watermelons. I need to correct myself on them as well, the problem here is not belly rot but fusarium fruit rot, and apparently associated with plastic mulch.

Thank you much Hoosier. I was a bit concerned so that makes me feel a lot better. Very nice to know the harvest will be easy to tell. I hear you gotta get watermelon at just the right time. Seems most let them overripen and the get mushy. I would rather they be over crisp. I’ll let them sit if not ripe enough and they will get better.