Smallest watermelon
17 years ago
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- 17 years ago
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Culling and pruning watermelon
Comments (2)If you want to prune any variety of melon plant, you can prune off all but three main stems for 2-3 fruit per plant. Prune unwanted stems from the base of the main stem. This is assuming you have enough plants to support the quantity of fruit you wish to yield in total. However, since you don't have 30 plants, but rather less than a handful, I personally would not prune and allow them to do what they wish. You can fertilize with fish emulsion and/or seaweed kelp, side dress with compost, and water regularly without over watering. You can also layer some of the vines by mounding parts that are closer to the ground under soil so they'll root in those areas providing more nutrients....See MoreWatermelons under size
Comments (4)I was told watermelon does not need much water. Thought whenever they need water they take it from the storage in the fruit. I had heard it came from the desert or drought areas. But maybe I had my facts wrong. ==================================================== Absolutely you had your facts wrong. Water melon need water and lots of it. Remember the water melon is 90% water. I water my melon every day and if it is too hot twice a day. The fruit are good size I cut one it weighed 22.5 pounds. The Catalogue said that it can reach 30 to 35 pounds but I am not sure if I can get to that size. I cut it into half it is red and sweet and my kids has afeast with it....See MoreWatermelon for Next Year
Comments (14)Quailhunter - I saw your question to me in the "Um... oops" thread about what kind of watermelons I was raising, but I thought I'd answer here so you could keep all your watermelon info in one thread. Most of my watermelons are volunteers so I'm not quite sure what kind they are. Last summer we ate a lot of watermelons and I convinced my mother to start a compost bin. This spring she brought over the compost and dumped it in one of my flower beds. In a few weeks, I had dozens of watermelon sprouts. I transplanted them around my place and they survived. Also, Dawn had sent me seeds for Black Tail Mountain and Criss Cross. Between her seeds and my volunteers, at one point I counted and had 40 plants. At this point, most of the plants have grown together so I have trouble telling what's coming from where even if I knew what they were. I have the following types: 1. Black tail mountain - these are easy to identify because they're small and dark green with darker green, almost black, stripes. I've eaten two or three and none were fully ripe. Actually, out of the five or six watermelons I've cracked open, I have yet to get one that's dark red and fully ripe. My grandfather said the ones I gave him were perfect, though. Anyway, the black tails I ate were sweet at the core despite being not quite done. They had a lot of seeds, but to me it seemed like the same number as a full sized watermelon. It's just the seeds were very small, like the melon! I've found that if you cut the melon longways, you can scoop out all the seeds at once very easily, which is fine for a small melon like a black tail that you intend to eat all in one sitting. I'd grow these if I had a limited area or lived alone and wanted melons I could eat in a sitting. Two of these that I've eaten have been eaten just sitting out next to the melon patch with a pocket knife. 2. Criss cross - I have at least two plants of this, but have yet to get a fruit. I picked one and it dropped on the ground before I got in and it was totally unripe anyway. All white on the inside. The rind is light green with dark green stripes and it's round, volleyball sized. I have two fruit left, one of which has been savaged by a coyote and might not make it. 3. Black diamond - or so I suspect. That's what my grandfather said they looked like. Solid dark green rind that gets a light sheen of yellow/gold when ripe. I had one that must have been 35-45 pounds that I gave to a neighbor for their son's birthday party. I have 20-30 of these plants around and they're doing fine. I've eaten four or five of them. They taste very good, even if not perfectly ripe. The watermelon jelly was made from them. Big seeds. I'll be pleased if they're open pollinated. Does anyone know? I will save some seeds from them to plant next year. They're a bit big, but I have two kids who like watermelon and I like it too and it makes an impressive gift to give relatives and friends. 4. Gibson's Grey - or at least that's what my grandfather called it. It's an oblong, light green melon with a faint tracery of darker green netting-coloration. I have two or three plants (at least I have three big fruits) and I haven't picked one yet but I'll get one later this week because it has a blemish on the bottom that's starting to rot. 5. Mystery melon - I also have an oblong melon that's light green with dark green stripes. It has the perfect imprint of a coyote's teeth on it, top and bottom, but the critter couldn't get it open or get away with it. It's probably 20-30 pounds right now and should be getting ripe soon. I only have one of these and haven't eaten one. I have had no insect problems on any melons, no particular issues with drought, fungus, splitting, etc. I've had some coyote problems and a lot of issues with figuring out when they're ripe. This is only my first time to grow watermelons. Previously, I lived with a tiny, tiny garden area in St. Paul, with a short growing season coupled with no space. So I never tried watermelons. It seems to me that I'm only getting 1.5 melons per plant, but even now I have new melons forming and growing so maybe by the end of the season I'll have 2 or 3 per plant. Or perhaps I'm not tending them right. I haven't watered my watermelons since the end of June. Partly this is because I no longer have the hoses to reach them, but also I've just been letting them suffer because I'm cheap and it seems like they won't die if I neglect them a little on the water front. I haven't given them fertilizer or sprayed them with bug spray. I did till in tons of horse manure and bedding a couple months before planting where about half the watermelons are. The other half seems to be doing just as well though. Most of the plants are very well mulched. Make of this what you will. Good luck! (and if you're around the NE area, you can stop by and I'll give you all the seeds you want. They're probably Black Diamond, but no guarantees. :) )...See MoreNew:Incredible Edibles - April Big and Small swap!
Comments (25)I like to grow most anything, but tomatoes are my passion right now. I have over 200 tomato plants that seriously need to go in the ground, but my husband broke my tiller this past week :-( I also grow cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, cowpeas, okra, squash, corn, melons, and anything else I can get to grow! Well, the fam doesn't like radishes, so I leave those alone, and I didn't get any lettuce planted this year because I didn't have a garden spot ready....we just moved in Dec., so I am having to start a new space....there was no existing garden plot here....but the good news is I have PLENTY of room and even have another plot almost ready at my grandad's place....he tilled up a spot for me, thinking I would never be able to get this here ready, so I am planning on putting my cowpeas over there....See More- 17 years ago
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