How rootbound were your transplants? From the size of the one surviving, they appear to be fairly large plants, too big in my opinion. How long were they growing in the pots? Were the pots small? Squash (not sure about Watermelon) can be difficult to transplant from a pot into the garden. They are typically direct planted because they are so senstive to transplanting and do not like their roots disturbed. If you are transplanting, be extremely gentle with the roots (were you?). It is recommended to plant them in peat pots/newspaper pots and only rip the bottom off (gentley) at transplanting. Also, they should only be grown in pots for about 2 weeks, 4 week max. As they are so sensitive to transplanting, your seedlings should be given extra protection when put in the garden. What time of day did you transplant? Did you give them any protection? You mention wind, which can be death to a plant. Your transplants will have the best chance if you transplant in the evening/on a cloudy day and then cover with an open milk jug or Remay row cover for a few days. If you grew them for 8 weeks in little cups to a rootbound state, then plopped them in the ground on a sunny/windy day....well...gardening is all about learning! :) Don't feel bad! Just go tell your survivor plant what a strong little plant it is. You'll do better next year. Unless there is something I don't know about Florida (possible), you should still be able to directly seed your squash right in the garden. Good luck! Bellatrix

All the common summer squash varieties in the US are bush types. Check the descriptions in the seed catalogs to see which ones are marked as suitable for containers. The normal black zucchini and yellow straightneck squash I grow are very large bushes and I wouldn't plant a hill of those in anything smaller than a half barrel but I know that seed companies have developed a lot of compact varieties of the larger veggies for container gardening.

I've got lots and lots of plants from that family growing. They seem to do really well for me when planted in mounds of mushroom compost and provided with good drip irrigating to keep the roots moist and cool. Only struggles I seem to have with them is potassium deficiency which tends to make them more prone to powdery mildew and I'm trying to combat with maxicrop. I have also had some trouble with caterpillars, vine borrers and squash bugs (actually several types of bugs in the same general group squash bugs, stink bugs, and leaf footed bugs) but there is little to be done about them. The caterpillars I can battle with thruicide. The main problem I'm guessing for your poor little squash might be the vine borrers. They can kill off a whole plant pretty quickly. The moth (or whatever it is) lays an egg near the base of the plant or along the stem. When the larva hatches it eats into the stem and then eats along the inside of the stem killing any part of the plant above the larva within the stem. They can cause really quick death of a plant if they start boring in near the base of the plant. You may find a hole near where a leaf meats the stem and if the whole plant isn't already dead, you can use a pin to stab the larva inside the stem or just split open the stem to find the larva and kill it so it can't develop and re-produce. BT or thuricide isn't very effective against vine borrers since they only eat a small hold into the stem and then are safe inside the plant. BT only really works if the caterpillar eats the stuff. The comments about the sun are good. Most squash and cucs I've known don't like complete full day sun though I have some doing ok in mounds of mushroom compost with drip irrigation in my back yard (however they were direct seeded and not transplants.)

My best bet for growing is using containers where I can place them in optimal sun. I bought peppers, zucchini, squash and eggplant and would love to get them going in containers vs. trying my luck planting them in the ground. Any thoughts??