Watermelons. Growing & picking. Questions & comments

Howdy

1. I been raising watermelons (mostly Crimson Sweet) for last couple of years with pretty good results overall. Am planning on trying for a bigger crop for selling as the usual vegetables don't have much of a market here in the SW corner of Wisconsin. Here are a few comments and questions that some of the more involved growers might be able to answer.

2. Hilling! The typical planting guide for watermelons recommends mounding/hilling up the dirt for each "hill" with several plants in each hill. Of course none of them say what dimensions the hill should have! I have tried both ways planting in bottom land next to a creek and did not notice any significant difference in growth. Although I tried making a ridge with a plow this year, but that was a little too high for the drought conditions we had around here. It does seem to be rather inefficient and time consuming to make the hills. The instructions usually call for planting more than one plant in the same hill but that seems to go against common sense for providing maximum nutrient and water to each plant. Anyone compared growth with/without hills? If good growth, what size "hills"?

3. Vine Growth. Next question concerns vine growth. I have grown almost all "Crimson Sweet" melons and did not plant them real early. Consequently the vines probably only got up to a maximum of 10' lengths. Their growth did seem to be terminating around this point but whether this was from change into the fall season, a built in age factor or ? Since they could be growing considerably longer if planted earlier, then spacing would need to be increased. I used about a 6 foot spacing in rows with 8 foot between rows based on the seed companies recommendation. However, with this spacing the overlapping growth was rather extensive and hid many of the melons. After the first frost I found about 24 melons that were missed. Has anyone measured the length of their vines/had vines that exceeded this 10' length. What kind of spacing does any large grower recommend?

4. Living mulch? The vines will eventually take up a lot of space and make it impractical to do much weeding at that point. While it would be nice to mulch with hay, straw, etc, that would take an exorbitant amount beyond the practical application for most people. I have been pondering the use of a "living mulch";ie, something that could be planted fairly thick to crowd out the weeds. But I wouldn't want something that grows very high so that the vine's leaves would still be getting all the sunlight they need. It would also make a nice cushion for the melons. Some of the low growing clovers comes to mind but might be too much of an enticement for deer. Although they haven't nibbled on any of my plants yet, having a herd of them tromping through the patch on a regular basis might not be very desirable. Possibly there are some low growing grasses that might work and might not be so delicious to a Deer's palate! This year, I plan on using plastic or organic mulch (hay/straw) close around the watermelon hill for maybe a 4-5' square area, and then plant the living mulch and mow it up till the time the vines extended. Anyone try anything like this or at least have an idea for some "living muches"?

5. Number of melons per vine. Since the vines were overlapped and I didn't mark them as they first developed, I don't know how many melons were produced per vine. I had about 80 plants in 2011 and got around 120 melons at harvest. So obviously some had more than one per vine. The other thing was that many of the melons were about half size ( the largest about 25 pounds). I suspect most of these were the second melon on each vine. With tomatoes, the later maturing fruits are generally smaller, so I expect a similar effect with melons. Can anyone confirm this? And if so, is it practical to prune any second, third or fourth developing melon if there are any?

6. Pruning: Since the vines take up so much space, would it be practical to prune or perhaps reroute to the vines and plant a late second crop in between the first planting to make more efficient use of the garden space? This would require a slightly larger initial spacing. Would also result in more extensive overgrowth with "hidden" melons but if one doubles output on same area, it might be worth it by insuring melon locations were marked. Comments?

7. Ripeness: I think many people don't really know what a ripe, "crisp" very sweet, home grown watermelon tastes like. The store bought ones typically are brought in from long distances, probably picked indiscriminately with regard to "ripeness" and stored for long periods of time. Many vegetables start loosing sugar & other nutrients as soon as they are picked so this lack of taste is understandible (but not desireable). The process of determining a ripe watermelon can be determined by several means;ie, time, color, tendril growth and thunking. The most common one is the thunking method and there seems to be some misunderstanding on this process. For the newbee, "thunking" is done by rapping on the side of the melon with one's knuckles and listening for the melon's response. However, if you get a "thunk" in reply, I have found this means the melon is too ripe/past its prime. I find that a "high pitched ping" for lack of a better word is the more appropriate response. Unfortunately, a melon that has not reached maturity will also "ping". Thus I find the next best indicator is the condition of the tendril at the flower end of the melon. If it has withered and the melon also pings, then the melon is most likely ripe. I ran across one reference saying to check the second tendril back but haven't really tried this, as it is very difficult to find it amongst the vines. The bottom color change (white to yellow) also seems to be fairly reliable but is not really practical. This entails lifting/turning every melon. In addition to the difficulty of lifting and turning the heavier melons, there is also a good possibility of harming the vines. And there is the problem of determining the "yellowish tint". This also depends on how much of the melon is actually in contact with the ground (sunlight blocked). Another method supposedly works by counting the number of days from flowering. This is quite cumbersome, as each female blossom needs to be monitored and recorded and marked substantially enough for late picking. There is also a slight change in the color/texture of the skin but difficult to determine accurately and I am not sure if it is accurate enough for early picking. Some people also think the "slip" test works on melons (Charles Bronson's movie did!), but that only works with muskmelons and from my experience is not too reliable either! Does anyone have anything to add or clarify on this subject of ripeness testing?

8. Minimizing vine damage. Checking for ripeness, picking and hauling in the melons without tromping on the vines is another problem. It's hard enough to see the vines just wading through them but when carrying the melons out of the patch, it really gets difficult and the unsatisfactory results don't show up till later when the vines that were tromped on start to die. I suspect the commercial growers just pick everything and start over. I usually pick over a 6-8 week period. Training the vines as mentioned earlier might help but would be labor intensive. I have been considering building a 16 foot or so long arm on the side of a tractor. Mounted just over the vines would allow one to walk all the way a cross the row and reach down to check/pick/carry back the melons. This would require another person to operate the tractor or make it remote controlled. This would take a bit of work/ingenuity to fabricate but is in the realm of possibilities. Has anyone came up with a practical "levitation" process or other means to extract the little darlings with minimal "tromping"?

9. Practical storage duration. Nov 12, 2013, I cut up the last of the melons I had laying around. They were picked around the first week in October. Most of the ones I cut up were just past the point of being good eating. They were stored inside in a unheated/uncooled building. (This was just a test!) The weather has been down to high 20s and up to the 60s. I would suspect that most of them would have still been good at the 30 day mark (after picking) although some in the last picking were from dead vines so the 30 days is most likely longer. From observing the melons on sale in local stores, I think they are getting that much or more out of them although I have no way to tell at what stage they were picked at! Course from all I have read, melons like sweet corn start to loose flavor as soon as picked. Was wondering if anyone had done any testing to see what a practical storage time would be? And has anyone tried spaced planting times like is often done with sweet corn to extend the production times?

10. Spring is getting closer and with this year's Wisconsin WINTER, I am really looking forward to it.

I worked on a post here for 45 minutes, then when posting pictures, something froze & post is gone into cyberspace.
Long & short of it. 25 years of growing & selling melons. I use Sangria. Get them from www.jordanseeds.com
Start in greenhouse 6 weeks before plant out date. May 29 here.
Plant into green plastic mulch, rows 19 ft apart, plants 24" apart in the row. 1 per hole.
Row covers used. Cultivate when covers come off. When plants are running.
Weeding crew goes through just before patch is covered with vines.
Best way to tell if ripe, curler by the stem & 1 on each side are dead brown.
When majority are ripe vines will drop, exposing all the melons.
No need to hill or plant in hills. Do not prune or even move the vines.
Pictures,
#1 Green mulch waiting for plants.
#2 Row covers over watermelon plants, June 18.
#3 Watermelons after weeding, July 4.
#4 Don't they look good. Selling for $8 & $9 each.
Our FM customers ask for our melons by name.
We have had the first ones at market for a few years now.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm those look good!

Don't you just hate losing a post you worked on so long! Great info glad someone here had the experience to reply.

Doesn't matter. The person who started this thread must have died.
People do a thread & then you never hear from them again.

Hope they will be back, it's' not that old. Good info, for the rest of us tuning in more often too.

Naw, I ain't dead. But my computer is as well as my Dial-up provider! Died last summer so using local library computer for a while till I find a micro-wave service that can hit my location (big hill on north side). Trolling for information like fishing takes a while to get a good nibble and ocassionally a real bite so figured I would sit and wait for a while. Plus spending lot of time at hospital & nursing home as my mother got a new heart valve for Christmas (88 years and going)!

Anyway, thanks "Country Gardens"! I read a lot of your posts last year when I signed on to Dave's gardens as well as most of the other posts in Vegetables and Marketing. Good to read about other gardens in COLD COUNTRY.

I personally like those big long melons (the first ones I raised long ago when I was about 10 years old) but most of the people around here like the smaller ones. However, I don't plan on going much smaller than the 10-25 pounders - didn't have too good a response from them the last two years. And when I eat a slice of melon, I don't like the rinds sticking in my ears on both sides!!

yeah, Seedfork, that was part of the idea for the detailed data. I got quite a bit of good stuff reading other posts and figured others might get same from mine!

I'll check back later in the week/month for some more nibbles!

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, I keep forgetting some people have problems with internet.
Our Sangria's run about 20 lbs.
We used to cut them at market & sell have's & quarter's, but now the state won't allow cutting.
People are getting used to the whole melons, so we sell out fast.

Thought those Sangria's might be heavier/bigger than that from the picture. My Crimson Sweet get up to 25 pounds. Might have to try a few Sangrias.

You say that is all you grow? sell? What is particularly special about them? Tempt me!

Cheers

Joe

Flavor, taste, sweetness!

Thanks Country Gardens!! I'll give Sangria a try this year and see how they do in Michigan! :)

I always enjoy Country Garden's growing of the melons and market crops ,
Home gardening I am trying MillionBucks Hybrid Watermelon this year ,, I can't grow watermelons though , I'm terrible by success rate ..

Koriput, I am not a production farmer and I think CountryGardens has given you the best advise. I'm just a home gardener.

But over the past few years I have grown more and more watermelons as I have plenty of room and several friends and family who have come to expect several watermelons every month during our long watermelon growing season. So last season I had an eighty foot row of watermelon vines. And, yes, this year will be more watermelons as friends and family said I didn't have enough for them last year! So I thought I would chime in and tell you that I plant my seed right in the ground at about 24" apart. I plant one seed and fill in the gap with another if I get a clunker. I do space out my planting times by two weeks but remember that Texas has a very long growing season for watermelons.

I also have my melons on a drip irrigation (last year I used T-tapes with the emitters 24" apart--thus the 24" spacing). I use the curly-Q method to tell if the melon is ripe--just like CG--but also check the belly to make sure it has turned a tan color. The variety I have been using is Diablo and the tan belly is a dead give away for that variety.

Diablo is the variety my husband loves so I have stuck with that one for the past four years; but, as I am now going to be growing two eighty foot rows, I am also going to plant out Jube-ette, Sangria, and AU-Producer to see if he likes any of those. I've noticed that varieties seem to come and go and I want to have a back up in case Diablo isn't available next year. I don't trim my vines anymore as that is too much bending and stooping. I have used the green plastic mulch and the black plastic mulch. I haven't really noticed much of a difference so now I just use whatever color I happen to have once it is time to plant.

As a final note, I have had to use a double electric fencing system to protect my veg garden and especially the watermelons as the feral hogs and coyotes around here just love watermelons. The first year I grew watermelons I lost almost the whole patch to feral hogs and had to move the entire garden that fall as we did not want to garden over the mess the hogs left. They can carry some nastiness in their droppings so we thought we would rather be safe than sorry.

Hope you have a good gardening season and do post photos if you get the chance!

Sounds like you could have pork with the melons.

LOL! We did shoot one who was "testing" the electric fence while I was out one night checking on the chicken coop.

So glad I found this thread! I'd like to grow watermelons for the first time, and will be following ya'lls advice.

Please explain about using the green OR black mulch. Is this just a ground cover to keep the vines and melons from coming into direct contact with the ground?

There's a patch of bare ground in the corner just inside my yard gate, where I'd like to start the seeds. Probably, no more than 4 vines, with the intent to let the vines run straight ahead down the fence line, about 25'. If they need to continue running, I can turn them along the back fence line, up to an add'l 15-20'. I'd like to grow a nice, full-size melon, about 20-25 lbs.

The plastic mulch warms the ground & also keeps weeds from growing.
We use it on all crops possible.

Gymgirl, check out Willhite's here in Texas: http://www.willhiteseed.com/index.php

They have all seeds but they specialize in watermelons. They have very good descriptions for all their watermelons.

CG and Terri are the experts here, and i have learned a lot from them and other members the two years i have been growing melons.

The only thing i have learned that has not been covered, is if you plant direct, check your soil temperature as it does not do any good to plant before the soil reaches 50 Degrees. I do not hill mine, but plant two or three seeds, and pull any excess plants. I planted two rows, six feet apart, last year, but had too many vines so am going to just plant one row down the middle.

I run two drip tubes, six inches apart, plants between tubes, 12" emitter spacing. automatic timers. I use a Moisture meter frequently on everythinng. No rain here, so irrigation needs to be matched to local conditions.

Melons of different types are becoming my favorite things to grow.

Ernie

Willhites seeds are mostly OP, so the seed is not expensive. Hybrids are expensive.

I was in a supermarket the other day. Lady was passing out samples of a little personal melon.
Only about 8" in diameter. It was seedless & very good. If I can find the right seed, I may try them.

Thank you, so much, for all the helpful information. I am sooooooooooo excited.

One more question. About how many melons should I expect will grow down the 25' run? Or, is the number left up to whatever happens?

I just ordered the Sangria Hybrid Watermelon seeds from Park Seeds.

Jordan couldn't sell me just 5-10 seeds, and Wilhite didn't have Sangria....

This message was edited Feb 28, 2014 2:22 PM