I have a few seeds both watermelon and pumpkins from a friend of mine. I was going to plant them and decided it was a bit late, so maybe next year if I find extra time on my hands. Here’s a picture of the watermelons the seeds came from. My pumpkin seeds are also from one of his giants. Bill is a well known pumpkin and watermelon giant grower in in Ohio.
NICE! I’m 99.9% certain those are Carolina Cross watermelons and I’m sure he employs all the giant melon tricks (1 melon per vine, put sand under it, build a shade over it, etc). The neat thing is that those giants are still great eating! I grow them every year, and even if you just plant them like regular watermelons and let them grow normally without special care, they will often reach 75 pounds and I’ve broken 100 several times- but of course that is nothing compared to your friend. I’m sure those are 200-300 pounders. Thanks 4 posting!
So wait… Am I wasting my time with moon and stars? I’ve never really grown melons… Not enough room
ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Not at all. Moon and stars are good melons,borderline GREAT melons in my experience. Now, there are round and long melons that have the moon and star look but different names. I’ve had pretty good luck with them all.
As for space, I plant mine in rows 8 feet apart and space the watermellon plants about 6-8 feet apart, with 2 plants at each location. So for every 2 plants they get around 50 sq feet. (6 x 8 = 48) but f I was short on space I feel strongly that you could put them considerably closer.
That is all i have growing this year. I’ll see if i have any success with this one.
Can a watermelon be trellised or is that just not a good way to do it? I suppose having some 30lb fruit hanging in the air isn’t a good idea?
I have tried it few times just for fun and have had terrible resuls every time. No matter how I support or arrange them, I can never get my melons to size up much at all. That being said, some giant watermelon growers put their fruit up on a stand of some kind about 2-3 feet tall to keep them off the dirt. But no, I don’t think watermelons are a candidate for trellising at all. IMHO
I’ve been busy and just came across this thread. I’ve tried to grow melons in the past and we generally just get too much rain. The melons taste terrible.
I’m trying again this year on a raised planting to see if that will drain some water off. I noticed you have some black material down for you melons. Is that black plastic or weed barrier?
One of my wife’s relatives used to grow melons on black plastic (which would of course restrict water). I’m thinking about trying this. Do you ever water your melons Fruitnut or Cityman?
What types of soils do you guys have Rayrose, Fruitnut, Cityman? The reason I ask is that I’ve heard it’s easier to grow sweet melons on sandy soils (probably because it drains better).
My soil is clay loam but acts more like sandy loam. Water and nitrogen drain away rapidly. I need to water about every 7 days in summer when it doesn’t rain. If I wait longer the plants start to lose leaves.
I think you are right about soil making a big difference, and certainly everything I’ve ever read and heard says just what you did- sandy soils are better for watermelons. I’m not exactly sure how to define my soil, but its certainly not clay and it is somewhat sandy (though not like Georgia and Florida soil I’ve seen where sand seems to make up most of the soils).
I’m surprised to hear you think maybe you get too much rain for watermelons…but maybe that rain in combination with your soil type is a problem. For me, I’ve never felt too much rain was a problem for growing my watermelons, no matter how much we get. That being said, I do think that something Fruitnut says quite often is true…a deficit of water results in sweeter watermelons. However, in my own experience/opinion, the perfect situation is to get lots and lots of rain while the vines and then the melons are growing, then have it turn very dry about 2 weeks before harvest. I even try to create that scenario to some degree by watering when it gets too dry during growing season, but never water as harvest approaches.
I can also tell you that my experience with lack of rain (and lack of my watering them) is much less severe that fruitnut’s experience of loosing leaves in 7 days. Of course, we don’t the extreme heat he probably does in Texas, and our soils are not as sandy or porous I don’t think, so they probably hold moisture better. But some years my watermelons have gone as much as a month without rain, and they actually do quite well for 2 weeks an even up to the month time period, they don’t really die or even loose leaves, they just stop growing, and any forming/growing watermelons are much, much more likely to be deformed during drought conditions.
To answer another one of your questions, I actually plant my watermelons on “hills”. To some people with tractors and the right equipment, than can mean just a long row of raised dirt mounded up. To me, its done with a steel rake or hoe and I just make little individual “hills” about 2.5 foot x 2.5 foot. Allows proper drainage, makes finding the plant base much easier when I walk through patch to apply fertilize and all you can see are vines everywhere in a big mass. Also its just how I was taught to plant watermelons and have always done it, so I cannot swear it makes a big difference. In fact, this year I planted a lot without “hills” so I can evaluate if they help or not.
Finally, you ask about black plastic. Yes, lots of people grow watermelons that way, especially large commercial watermelon farms in GA and FL. (Cordell, GA is sort of the watermelon capital of the world if you didn’t know that). They have a big machine that does many of the things you just asked about all at one time: I goes through the field with an attachment that creates a long row of dirt piled up about 1 foot about the dirt around it- ie a long raised row of dirt. As the same time, the machine also lays down a long, long section of soaker hose, and then (in the same pass) spreads out black plastic that covers the raised row of dirt (ie the hill), So in one pass they create the long “hill” of dirt, put down soaker hose on or in that hill, and cover it with plastic. I think some even cut a place for the plants and might even insert plants or seeds, but I’m not sure on that last part.
I really don’t think I’m doing anything dramatically different from what you probably do to grow watermelons, which leads me to think weather, climate, soil, and other things must be the difference. That said, I’m a little doubtful rain is one the big reasons I have more success than you because- as I stated above- I have pretty good luck whatever the rain does (to a certain extent, anyway) hope some of that helped!
My soil is very loamy, so when I moved to this house, I took up
all of the grass and trees in two large areas in which I wanted to
grow melons. Since I don’t have sand, which melons love, I brought in
several truck loads of aged horse manure mixed with sand and tilled
it in. Since melons do best in loose soil, I till mine every year and add
whatever fertilizer, usually 10-10-10, is needed along with enough lime
to keep the ph around 6.5. After raking it smooth( I don’t grow on hills),
I lay out 4 ft. wide commercial grade permeable black plastic strictly for
weed control. Then I lay out my irrigation system, which consists of regular
garden hose, with an emitter about every 4 ft. Then I plant my seeds on 4 ft.
centers in between the plastic. Usually 2 seeds placed a foot apart. The irrigation is crucial. I know watermelon farmers that rely strictly on rainfall, and when there’s a drought, I have a full crop, while their crop is ruined. I wait until the soil temps are consistently above 65 degrees, before I plant. Otherwise, the seeds will rot in the ground. After germination and the plants start to run, I feed them high nitrogen Miracle Grow through the irrigation system, and nothing more the rest of the season. If you feed them too much nitrogen,
they’ll develop “white hearts.” The plants will tell you, when they need water, by the way they stress under the heat. That’s when I give them a good soaking. Water is especially needed before blooms appear, because
that is when they are most vulnerable to failure.
Once the melons set and develop, they may still need water, and will stress out, if they do. It is important that you water ONLY in the early morning, before the heat builds up pressure in the fruit. If you water after the heat builds up, the melons will usually split in the field, due to the increased pressure build up.
Melons are very easy to grow and take very little care. I never hand pollinate, because any insect will pollinate them. But you must cull the ones that don’t fully pollinate as soon as you see them, or they will retard the growth of the others. The hardest thing about growing watermelons is carrying them into the house.
The only time that I’ve had problems with too much rain was several years ago, when it rained almost every day all summer. The vines rotted, but I still had a decent crop of average tasting melons. The loose soil is extremely important, as it helps with drainage.
@Derby42 I’d bet that light green rind on that yellow meat your grandpa grew was dessert king it’s big in that area. Ours are small we just planted them on June 1st from seed.
Mine hasn’t even set a fruit yet…am i doomed?
Warm,
That picture of the melon is not from this year :0)
I harvested two 33 lb Star Brite yesterday. One I’m eating this is the other. Brix of heart running 13-14. Have an Orangeglo looking to be about 30 lbs that will be ripe soon.
That made me laugh Ray. You make it sound pretty easy, but my guess is your know-how is worth more than you know!
The best melons in our area are grown up around Norfolk, NE (about 100 miles or so away) in sandy ground. We always anticipate the roadside vendors popping up with signs that simply say NORFOLK MELONS.
I put in two measly hills of something called Sugar Baby bush for smaller areas, or something similar. I think it’s supposed to take up less room, and since I’ve never had much success growing melons I didn’t want them taking over my fenced in garden area, reasoning that they’ll probably disappoint me anyway…
Little melons in the stores are under $3 now, but I can’t seem to pick out a ripe one to save me.
You could be correct, but I think dessert King is a little smaller and the color of the flesh and rind don’t seem quite right.
That’s a little one in the picture but they get 20 lbs with no problem and bigger with water. That melon in the picture got watered twice.
Many years ago (back before the seedless took over) i remember finding a 40LB+ seeded out of one of those bins for like $3.99 (i think it was Aldis)… that was an insanely good melon… Now all i buy are seedless. I just bought one (everyone has them for $2.99 right now) and it was very good, but i’ve had more then my share of stinkers (generally the early season melons blow, but maybe its just my bad picking skills)…now i just grab one and go.
They’re devilish hard to get started from seed
I did it once, got some decent fruits, but too much trouble
6 ft wide ground cover on each side of a row, put down a few weeks in advance to kill the weeds and then till just enough to mix in fertilizer to the row, about 12" wide and 3" deep. Almost no-till, might be enough time to get in a cover crop also after pulling up ground cover.
