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Organic Gardening

black spots on watermelon leaves

18 years ago

I've never done this before, but I'm trying to grow a moon and stars watermelon in a container on my deck. It's been doing really well, with guite a few blossoms and one baseball size watermelon fruit so far. Yesterday it looked fine. Today there are small black spots all over every single leaf. What happened and how do I save this plant?!!! It's set in full sun, and is getting plenty of water with the soil being allowed to dry out slightly, but not completely, before watering again. The basil next to it is fine, but the mint on the other side of the watermelon also has the black spots.

Help!!!

Comments (3)

vstech
18 years ago
can you post a picture of the spots? it could be mildew, or some other fungus. is it fuzzy?
Kimmsr
18 years ago
Probably a whole lot more about watermelons than you wanted but this is what Texas A & M has to say about probelsm with them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Watermelons
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I will guess that the ants are growing fungus as food for the ants to eat. You can kill the fungus with Serenade, Hydrogen Peroxide and Zero Tolerance safely and effectively. When the fungus does not grow I assume either the ants will die of starvation or move elsewhere. ZT is hydrogen dioxide a stronger form of HPeroxide. Basically it is close to water but an oxident that is safe for humans. but dont spray yourself. it might burn the skin etc. but it is safe in the sense it is not a poison that is around once it dries up. after drying it is gone. H2O is water HO2 is a concentrated oxidizer hydrogen dioxide. H2O2 is hydrogen peroxice an oxidizer this stuff all breaks down into water and dries up. Serenade is my favorite of the above. Here is a link that might be useful: serenade on garden web
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since don't know the variety that really is a problem because several varieties of watermelon normally have yellow spots on the leaves. But since have not given enough information about the plant or the spots I really can not give you an answer. well best luck next time provide more info.
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Thanks for all the suggestions. I did finally get a fungicide / insecticide combination spray. It wasn't organic, although the label states that it's safe to use on fruit and vegetable plants. (I'll have to wash the fruit really well before cutting into it.) The stuff smells horrible, but I think it may have done the trick. There is still leaf damage, but I have a new shoot starting from the main vine and the watermelon fruit doesn't seem to be as soft anymore. Here's for hoping. Next year I'm going to use a fungicide before the plant starts to flower and hopefully that'll prevent this from happening again. Thanks for your help!
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Thanks for all the suggestion. I did finally get a fungicide / insecticide combination spray. It wasn't organic, although the label states that it's safe to use on fruit and vegetable plants. (I'll have to wash the fruit really well before cutting into it.) The stuff smells horrible, but I think it may have done the trick. There is still leaf damage, but I have a new shoot starting from the main vine and the watermelon fruit doesn't seem to be as soft anymore. Here's for hoping. Next year I'm going to use a fungicide before the plant starts to flower and hopefully that'll prevent this from happening again.
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ickysgirl70
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks for all the suggestions. Couldn't find the information I was looking for to cure this organicly, so I did finally get a fungicide / insecticide combination spray. It wasn't organic, although the label states that it's safe to use on fruit and vegetable plants. (I'll have to wash the fruit really well before cutting into it.) The stuff smells horrible, but I think it may have done the trick. There is still leaf damage, but I have a new shoot starting from the main vine and the watermelon fruit doesn't seem to be as soft anymore. Here's for hoping. Next year I'm going to use a fungicide before the plant starts to flower and hopefully that'll prevent this from happening again. Thanks everyone for your help!

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