Watermelon

[heavyhitterokra]

If we have a watermelon thread already, I didn't see one, so I started one here.   

This was just a cool video, so I wanted to share it.

[macmex]

I would have thought that there would have been more vine visible. Wonder if there were vines hanging off the balcony?

[heavyhitterokra]

In the video, at the 4:49 mark, the end of the runners were pinched off, so I'm guessing that terminated the vine's growth?  That would be an interesting experiment.

[Tucson Grower]

heavyhitterokra, This season (now past) I grew my watermelon in a similar sized bag pot, but I had too many plants in the one pot, yet I still harvested three volleyball sized melons. It was sad. I may have done better to have only had a single plant in the pot. More details, especially nutrition/fertilizer, would help me figure out what the video shows. I'm guessing they got one melon per plant. I'll plan on that, next season, and plant in the ground.

macmex, I was thinking about where were all the vines, too.

[heavyhitterokra]

I only grew watermelons commercially for one year. It made me crazy not being able to get in there to till out the weeds. Plus I had terrible losses due to animals.  I lost 27 melons in just one week to squirrels.  They'd hollow out a tunnel all the way through a mellon just to get the seeds.  After that one year, I only grew a couple of plants per season. You're right about the space they take up. It's really hard to dedicate that much area to just one plant.

[heavyhitterokra]

Moon and stars did well for me in years past when I still had 4 kids living at home. I didn't have much luck with the striped ones. Probably my acidic soil ... My wife and I don't eat much watermelon, so I haven't planted any in a while.

[hmoosek]

I plant Sugar Babies. I do so for sentimental reasons. Way back in 5th grade, I was out riding my bicycle through the edge of town. There was an elderly gentleman bringing watermelons from his garden to the curb of his drive. Well now...I was crazy about watermelon then and I still am. I stopped my bike and struck up a conversation. He was getting ready to sell them for a quarter each. My pockets were empty, but I was pretty sure I could beg a quarter off Mom. I told the gentleman I’d be right back. He says to me “Whoa there youngster!” “Where you going?” I told him I was going to get a Quarter. He bust out laughing and told me to get off my bike. He took me out to his garden and picked me a nice melon. He told me they were called Sugar Babies. He sent me on my way and told me not to worry about the quarter. I could hardly pedal my bike with that melon under my arm, but I made it home! I told my Mom and she insisted I take him a quarter the next day. I bought several melons from him over the course of a few years. I took my Uncle by there one afternoon and he bought several from him. I always remember that fellow when I grow Sugar Babies. It’s just a good memory. The house he lived in is no longer there, just an old vacant lot now.

[heavyhitterokra]

Moose, thanks, for sharing that.

[june]

Here's how you can tell that the melons are ready!

[june]

Melons love my sandy soil.  I don't actually 'plant' them...just throw my scraps where I want them to grow the following year.  
All these are volunteers...they know when to sprout better than I know when to plant.  When the coons start opening them up, I bring out all my old cages and little baskets that I bought at Dollar Tree years ago for $1 each...The striped melons are Hopi Yellow, the dark green are either Crimson Sweet or Sugar Baby...they have crossed over the years, so always a surprise when I open one.  I do several kinds of cantaloupe, honey dew and piel de sapo  (skin of the toad).

[macmex]

From the time I was 13 until I left for college my best friend was a fellow in his 70s. He taught me a lot of things. He grew cantaloupe the way you grow watermelons, saving seed from whatever melon he liked or which a friend would give him seed for. He kept his seed all mixed in a coffee can, taking out enough to plant a 50' X 50' patch every summer. He lived alone, so he had LOTS fo extras to share. I grew up thinking that any melon serving smaller than half a melon was chintzy!

He had seed from Hale's Best Jumbo, Catawba, various honeydews and some green fleshed melons. Of course they all crossed, so opening what looked like a honeydew and finding orange flesh, or finding a "Hale's Best Jumbo with greenish flesh was not uncommon. Still they were all delicious!

[heavyhitterokra]

June,

Those photos crack me up! That's exactly what it looked like here the year I raised watermelons commercially. The squirrels had a feast! I love the way you figured a way around that. I'll bet that made the squirrels nuts!

[chrysanthemum]

I sure hope that my one (volunteer) canteloupe doesn’t end up with a hole through it. It’s tiny anyway. As I was watering this morning, I was trying to think of some sort of wire basket to put over it. I haven’t thought of one yet, but I’ll keep thinking. That was a great solution, June. Thanks for sharing.

I have some Crimson Sweet watermelon seedlings in a bed that I planted pretty late. The first is just flowering now. I still have a good long hot season to go.

[june]

Chrysanthemum, I put a big rock or chunk of concrete on top of the small baskets.

[heavyhitterokra]

I wish I had thought of that before the chickens found my only ripe cantaloupe and pecked holes in it.