4 Likes
Pics above are from Sept. 10. I started harvesting these about August 1, getting a ripe one every 2 days or so. August 23 I harvested 8.
6 Likes
It’s 34 outside at noon and expected to be near freezing day and night until Monday. My Star Brite planted March 7 are under a shelter of several layers of blankets with a 9W LED bright stik about 3 inches away. It’s 85 and steady under the shelter. Yesterday when it was 75F outside and partly cloudy it was 67 low and 110 high under the shelter. That was poly during the day and blankets at night.
If the plants don’t suffer blight or something else they should be bigger on Monday than they were yesterday.
Watermelons under a poly shelter don’t seem to suffer even at 130F. I would be concerned at 140-150. I’ve got a remote sensing thermometer under there to provide guidance on ventilation by day and protection needs at night.
We’re supposed to be 78 again by Wednesday.
2 Likes
I’m kept some seeds from a Galia melon. Store bought from last summer. Planted them last Saturday and was surprised they sprout after only 3days. I didn’t expect them to sprout so fast. I’m in zone 4 and won’t be able to plant them outside until beginning of June.
As this is a hybrid, I don’t know if I’ll get a Galia melon or anything else. Only time will tell me.
2 Likes
I think you are a month or more too early starting them. By June my melons will have runners 10ft long.
Agree with you. I was thinking to wait, at least, 2 weeks for the seed to sprout. I think I’ll need a lot of growing light. LOL
1 Like
I’m a glutton for punishment. I needed to germination test Ledmon watermelon seed so put 10 in a cell tray to see what comes up. If they make it, I’ll put them in 5 gallon pots and then set them out on black plastic in mid April.
Huge caution, growing watermelons for 4 weeks from seed makes it very easy to stunt the plants. I usually recommend 3 weeks maximum from seed planting until they can be put into the ground preferably in soil warm enough for watermelons.
4 Likes
My melons are covered with 5 inches of snow. But it’s 77.2F under my shelter with 9 watts of LED shining on each hill. I’m betting they make it.
Meanwhile outside it looks like this.
5 Likes
My Small Jadu’i seedlings seem to have attracted their first baby slug of the season. Now to squish the little 
…
2 Likes
I saw a gypsy moth a few days ago. He was dead dead dead. I don’t understand all the fear of gypsy moths. Alas poor gypsy moth, fire-ants got 'im.
We have slugs too, but very rarely are they a problem in the garden. I’ve seen posts about peas eaten off to the ground by slugs. It has never happened to my peas. It might be too hot for them to get out of control here. Then again, maybe the fire-ants think they are tasty.
3 Likes
In Seattle, we have what seems like dozens of species of slugs and snails, and at least one of those absolutely loves cucurbits, beans, pawpaws, and potatoes (though only the leaves, the potatoes themselves turn out fine). It’s slug egg hatching time now, and the one going after that watermelon seedling is likely a tiny baby. It was hiding too well in the soil, I’ll have to catch it in the act before it gets big enough to kill the plant.
1 Like
Trying watermelons for a second time this year, I got one big red moon and stars watermelon but the taste was all water no sugar, all in all a failure. I messed up pretty much everything to be fair.
This year I’m trying for Crimson sweet, Moon and stars red, and moon and stars yellow. As well as some kajari melons and delice de la table melons.
Zone 5 here in the northeast, will be interested to see how some of you in similar climates fare. Will be starting indoors and trying to direct seed as well to compare.
1 Like
The germination test on Ledmon seed gave 100% (10 out of 10) after 10 days. That is for 2019 seed so they were 3.7 years old. Now I have 10 watermelon seedlings to put in containers. A lot of luck will be required for these to make anything as this is nearly a month too early. I’ve got a good chance of ripe watermelons in early July.
2 Likes
Two weeks ago my melons were covered in snow and it didn’t get above 45 for four straight days. Then we had another day of near freezing all day. Now look at them 25 days after planting…!!
Not many ways to do better in 25 days. I’ll give them some extra heat until mid April. After that the main danger is hail.
5 Likes
So I have a few questions about growing melons on black plastic. I have never done that before.
I am expanding my melon and pumpkin growing area this year, and will use compost from a neighbor’s ranch to enlarge my area. The compost is full of all kinds of nasty weed seeds waiting to germinate.
I plan to cover as much of the new area as I can with black plastic. But this is not permeable stuff, it is actually silage tarp remnants intended to keep water out.
As long as I monitor the plants and water when needed, does this sound like a reasonable plan?
Do pumpkins do well on black plastic too?
If I don’t cover the soil, the melons and pumpkins will be overtaken by weeds in no time. I know I won’t have time to keep up with the weeding in that area.
IME, if you cut some 6” wide x’s and fold that material under, then water the plants in well, they’ll thrive. I was concerned at first about water, since I didn’t have any drip irrigation, etc. set up. In practice, I watered them well a few times initially, and maybe 2-3 times while they got established, then they were basically on autopilot. While that silage tarp keeps water from soaking through, it also keeps it from evapotranspirating. My observation is that the ground loses more through evapotranspiration than it gains by precipitation, on balance, at least in my locale, soil, etc. I’ve played around a bunch with occultation with tarps and if applied in fall, the soil is still nice and moist underneath the following summer. Snowmelt and runoff that makes it’s way under the tarp stays in the soil for a surprisingly long time.
1 Like
That sounds promising. Thank you!
Squash bugs and cucumber beetles love to hide under the plastic near the stem and come out at night to feed on squash, cucumber, and pumpkin. Take abundant precautions to spray for bugs. I use pyganic which is organically accepted but deadly pyrethrum. If the stems are sprayed at least 1 time a week, you will keep the bugs in check.
4 Likes
Knock on wood, we have cucumber beetles, but they don’t seem to bother the watermelons much. Cucumber on the other hand… Likewise with squash bugs. We have a ton most years. They decimate our zucchini and can be a problem on some of the winter squash. They seem to leave our pumpkins alone. Maybe/probably a trap crop type situation. They are going for the more tender types that they prefer. Cucumber beetles in particular seem to be real generalists, though. I’ve seen them go after all sorts of garden veggies, though never in numbers to cause much issue.
1 Like
Plastic sheets will catch the wind and can be lifted up with hundreds of pounds of force. Either anchor them down with wire loops into the soil or put something heavy on the edges. I’ve also had to tie down the plastic at each location where a plant is put through the plastic.
Cucumber beetles go through boom and bust cycles. Some years there are only a few. Other times they swarm in the hundreds. They will attack many members of the Cucurbitaceae family including cucumbers, squash, melons, etc. Their feeding can kill the plant or can spread deadly viruses. Growing can be challenging when the beetles are active.
1 Like