Pruning Watermelon vines
Loretta Castillo
watermelon vine if it was getting too big or long! I got mixed response.
Some people said it would never set fruit if I did, and others said if I
didn't cut them back, they would never set fruit. So... I had already done
it a little, but I stopped doing it, and since then I've gotten 4 to 5
watermelons started on the vine.
I'm in California, by the way. Does anyone want to discuss this further?
Loretta
duerr@horta
I believe that watermelons don't care if you prune or not. Sure
pruning might kick them in a little earlier, but they will set fruit if
you do nothing also. You will get big melons if you prune all but
one melon from the vine....in some cases. Some varietys of melons
don't give a rat's butt how many melons are on the vine. They grow
to the size they want, and there ain't nobody gonna change their mind.
The biggest effect I am seeing is a combination of water, heat, and
amount of fertilizer (possibly). We had some real nasty (in the 90s)
weather a few weeks ago and my melons went crazy. I got about 30
melons to set fruit very nicely. Then things cooled off to the 80s
(low) and my plants are not too happy. The number of female blossoms
has dropped to practically zilch, and many small 1' melons are dropping
off. Today I noticed two Charleston Grays (about 4-5 inches long) had
turned soft and were beginning to rot. I have also found two vines
wilting during the last few days. My plants are planted pretty close
so there is a possiblity that they have sucked up all the food in
the soil. The cooler temps are not helping my situation either. I was
thinking of giving my plants a jolt of Miracle grow, but oner person
just posted that their plants are sick after a hit of M-G. I am a bit
nervous at this point and I am keeping my fingers crossed. I KNEW
things were going too well....DARN!
Brook
Internet: bfd...@mmm.com
mer...@engvms.unl.edu
for long vine watermelons there could be 5 melons per plant. It seems
Black Diamonds set fruit better than crimson sweet and sugar baby. My melons
seem not growing as big as I expected. The largest black diamond melon
is only about 8" in diameter. They occupy too much space, but I will
plant them again next year. I'd like to know the secret of growing big
watermelons.
Steve Klitzing
Secret to growing big watermelons. Mix sand into your heavy soil
so that you have good water penetration and drainage. Dump lots of
manure into your soil. Watermelons are heavy feeders. Lay down
black plastic to put heat into your soil. Watermelons don't produce
without heat. Water heavily. I live on the cool side of the San
Francisco Bay Area. One year, I successfully grew a 15 pound watermelon
in a cool climate by following the preceding instructions. It was
a large, but early, variety of Watermelon - a variety by
Park's seed. Whatever watermelon variety you plant, make sure it
is resistant to viruses and mildew. In addition, for extra growing
time, start it in a large peat pot indoors late winter/early spring.
If you sow seeds directly into the soil in early May, chances are you
won't get anything before fall unless, of course, you live where it's
110 degrees every day for 4 months.
---Steve
duerr@horta
As I stated in another post, watermelons are VERY dependant on
the temperature in order to set and maintain fruit. Yesterday
afternoon I found 3 more fruit that were schriveled up and rotting.
They ranged in size from 3" to 5" in length. I am hopeing that
this fruit drop off is the result of some cool weather we have been
having???? Anyone have any comments or has seen this before.
As for large fruit, you need to plant special varietys in order
to get large fruit. Crimson Sweet, Charleston Gray, Icebox
and Fordhooks have never gotten huge when I have grown them. They
reach a certain size and then that is it. I worked on a farm when
I was a kid and we routinely found 200# plus watermelons in the
field "hiding". They were long like a Charleston Gray, but they
had very dark striping much like a Chrimson Sweet. Gurney's sells
seeds for a variety that they call Carolina Cross(??) that they
say gets huge. This looks alot like the ones I remember as a kid.
They would be worth a try. I believe you need to seek out and
find special varietys in order to grow some monsters. As a side
note, the farmer could not sell the huge melons because people
automatically thought they were "no good." They were absolutely
fine by us pickers, and so we would break them open right in the
field and scarf them up. I must say there is something really
wild about using a hollowed out 200#+ watermelon as a fruit "boat".
YOu had better have a LOT of guests over because that is one large
amount of fruit in one that big.
Anyone know what would cause watermelons to stop developing on the
vines and schrivel up? The bigger melons are doing fine, but there
seems to be a huge drop off in the number of female blossoms. Are
these things related?
Brook
bfd...@mmm.com
Malcolm Bebb
> The cooler temps are not helping my situation either. I was
> thinking of giving my plants a jolt of Miracle grow, but oner person
> just posted that their plants are sick after a hit of M-G. I am a bit
> nervous at this point and I am keeping my fingers crossed. I KNEW
> things were going too well....DARN!
> Brook
> Internet: bfd...@mmm.com
I'm growing a couple of watermelons in my greenhouse - three fruit set so
far. They're in ring culture pots, in a coir based medium and fed with
Miracle Gro. They are not sick - they're threatening to take over.
However, I'm not certain that the product I buy as M-G and the one that you
might buy is actually the same stuff.
Malcolm be...@ferndown.ate.slb.com (Usual disclaimers apply)
Tech Pubs be...@embetech.demon.co.uk