That is why I like growing very light colored watermelons. Charleston Gray and Ledmon are among the best.
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Being a backyard grower I can easily cover a handful of melons…
Nice to know. Thanks
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Somewhere in my house I have a brix meter I got for wine making… If I find it I’ll check the Blacktail Mountain watermelon.
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Reporting on the ambrosia melon. We’ve been getting sugar kiss melons from sams and I have to say they are the best musk melons I have ever had. Sugar kiss is a 10/10 in my book. The homegrown ambrosia melon is a solid 7.5/10 as compared to the sugar kiss. I’m very pleased so far other than I thought I would get 3-4 melons per vine but I’m averaging a little less than 1.5 fruits per vine. Will the ambrosia set any more fruit or is it done after it ripens its melons?
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Melons will keep setting fruit but after a while, they won’t mature. If you can pour some liquid fertilizer on the plants, they will last a bit longer.
I have at least 3 watermelons that will be ripe in 2 or 3 days. They are about 20 pounds each.
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I still have 90 days of growing left if not a few days more. Some of my vines will start to be in shadow from the sun angle and my side fence.
I should be able to finish any melon that starts this month.
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Cantaloupes haven’t set second crops for me. I can fruit watermelons for months. Not so with any kind of cantaloupe.
I think it would be helpful if you could post some uncut pics of melons like Ledmon that most people haven’t grown to help identify them.
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ive had watermelons ripen from mid-August up to mid-October, when light frost typically strikes
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I ate the first watermelon from my patch with about 1/2 of it still in the refrigerator. It is a very good watermelon! More are ripening. By Sunday, I should be able to pick 4 or 5 more.
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Speaking of liquid fertilizer, anyone have any recommendations? I was using Kellogg’s Fish and Kelp 2-2-2 and I was getting pretty great melons, a ton of them too. I’ve been eyeing Neptune’s Harvest, but they are a little pricey.
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I used Alaska Fish Emulsion this spring with good results (not on melons though). I found it reasonably priced and available at Lowe’s and Walmart. I was balking at the price of Neptune’s Harvest too.
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its pretty cheap in bulk, not that it helps you guys who are far away. i have a friend who was hauling 55 gallon barrels of it from the plant in the Gloucester, MA area for use on hay fields. I believe it was ~$300 per barrel. Considering the retail price per gallon, that was a pretty good deal I thought, especially since he’d let me buy it from him for about the same price.
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Here are some of my watermelon.
Klondike Striped Blue Ribbon Watermelon, Sugar Baby, and other. Most should be done near the end of August. I try to fertilize them every 3 weeks if the weather does not exceed 100 degree.
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I picked 3 more ripe watermelons today. The largest weighed 35 pounds. The others were 25 to 30. I have about 20 more in the garden with 3 or more that will ripen over the next few days.
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My first crop is done. I’m waiting on the second crop which should run thru September. Same vines different pollinator. Hand pollinated for those done and some tiny bees on the second crop. There never were any honeybees. If they had showed up like normal it would all be one long harvest. It’s still more than I can eat.
I need the Petit Gris de Rennes type to ripen to hold me over.
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I went away for a week and cant believe the amount the watermelons grew. They were baseball size last I checked them. Some of the Lelanau Sweetglow are easily 15 lbs now. I know its a bigger melon but man, theyre either going to be HUGE or ready soon! They seem way ahead of the others. Ive got some blacktail mt amd cream of saskatchewan that are a little over 1/2 size. We also got another 2 inches of rain while I was gone. We’re easily at ~ 30 inches so far this summer. For perspective, our average annual precipitation (including snow as rain equivalent I suppose) is 45 inches, with most rain typically coming in fall. I dont see any split melons YET. Glad I didnt bother with the drip tape!
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It has been a very odd season here without the usual summer buzz. A few bumble bees are around and sweat bees. So i ordered leaf cutter bees that are coming Wednesday. Crown Bees has a BOGO sale so 400 bees should turn things around here. Since they don’t travel more than 300 feet, they won’t be off to my neighbor’s cotton fields.
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To what do you attribute this observed loss of pollinators?
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