Watermelon Progress Thread

Hyperfalls · Joined: 19 Aug 2011 Posts: 101

Day 1:
This year im going with three different varieties.

Royal golden- Yellow rind, red flesh, round.

Ali Baba- Green rind, red flesh, oblong.

Black Diamond Yellow Flesh- Green/black rind, yellow flesh, round.

There are 30 plants in the patch, and I will keep this thread updated until I (hopefully) get fruit.

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 7:11 pm Post subject:

A scientific study. Awesome! You know, you do have those kind of close. Watermelons need a lot of room because they really sprawl. They are going to be all tangled up together.

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 7:19 pm Post subject:

You are inspiring me to plant some watermelon now. They sure are fun!

Hyperfalls · Joined: 19 Aug 2011 Posts: 101

Yeah I was really pushing it on space but they should be alright.

myamberdog · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:55 pm Post subject:

this palm springs grower will be curiosly watching
your experiment as well....

amberdog

Hyperfalls · Joined: 19 Aug 2011 Posts: 101

Day 10:

First germination, this type is an 'Ali Baba'.

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 8:55 pm Post subject:

Henry Frankenstein: Look! It's moving. It's alive. It's alive... It's alive, it's moving, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, it's alive, IT'S ALIVE!

Victor Moritz: Henry - In the name of God!

Henry Frankenstein: Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!

Very Happy

Hyperfalls · Joined: 19 Aug 2011 Posts: 101

Ha ha ha

mother of god Shocked

myamberdog · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:21 pm Post subject:

HyperF - I can't help but feel Ali Baba will be "toast" before
he produces any silky sweet flesh. Meaning, by July, 3 1/2 months
from now, the plant will start to suffer.....sorry - I shouldn't predict...I just remembered (just now) that when i planted my watermelon 2 years ago in March, it just didn't have enough time to produce....hope I'm very very wrong....

...and think about some shade/semi-shade covering to perhaps allow the plant to survive/finish ripening fruit when that time hits...

(there I go predicting again...I'm so sorry.....)

myamberwoofie

Hyperfalls · Joined: 19 Aug 2011 Posts: 101

Don't worry about predictions, even if it doesn't produce it's a fun experience. Smile

I've never had any sun problems with melons though, last year I had honeydews in full sun and they never suffered, maybe I have a cooler microclimate.

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:39 pm Post subject:

It's been my experience that melons take the heat very well. It's the white flies that show up in July that I have found to be the real problem. I even used insecticide (yah, some strong stuff) on them and they kept coming back. Insecticide only kills the adults and the eggs aren't affected. Of course were there are adults there are 10 zillion eggs. It seems that insecticide also kills off the other bugs that eat the white flies so the white flies seem to come back even stronger after poisoning.

So my current philosophy for controlling the white flies is to hose down (using a nozzle) the melons every day in July which will drown and damage the white flies. Then let the lizards and predator bugs do the rest. Interestingly, there is a sort of "house fly" like fly that eats white flies. I used to think it was feeding on the melon leaves until I saw it eating white flies. They have bright metallic colored abdomens.

http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/cimg231.html

Hyperfalls · Joined: 19 Aug 2011 Posts: 101

If only the sold those as they do ladybugs! What are the symptoms of white flies? Last year I was able to keep my plants until late August.

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:30 am Post subject:

White flies are like tiny little moths and when they get bad there are 1000's of them on your plant. They hang out under the leaves. Just shake the plant and they'll come up like a cloud. They suck the sap from your plant and will make it wilt.

They are attracted to yellow things. Sometimes in July, in my neighborhood, if you play tennis they will go after your tennis ball. The stores sell sticky yellow traps for them because of this, but I never found that the traps killed enough of them to be significant.

That's really good if you didn't have problems with them. They do seem to be worse some years than others.

Hyperfalls · Joined: 19 Aug 2011 Posts: 101

My watermelon endeavor seems to be over as of now. Only one has germinated, and over ten have been dug out an eaten by bunnies. I think I will be far better of just buying the pre-germinated watermelons.

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 8:50 pm Post subject:

Oh bunnies. Yah that will do it. "Dat darn wabbit!"