zone 13, Phoenix AZ and planted on March 11th... at this point (74 days) the vines are just 2' long at most, there are blooms on the vines but no fruit. They get watered twice a week and get direct sunlight from morning to 4PM. I would expect them to be ripe by 90 days.. What do you think? I still have time to plant something else there if they aren't going to work out. This is the second year I've been trying to get them to grow.
On Mon, 24 May 2004 13:02:55 -0700 in , "Rich" graced the world with this thought:
I'm thinking that when they give you an estimation of time until ready to go, they figured you wouldn't plant them in Feb/March, regardless of the zone. The photoperiod is still pretty damn short back then, I'm not surprised they didn't get very big yet. My guess would be, if they're healthy, and you leave them in, they'll go berserk because they've got such a strong foothold. Just a guess, don't hold me to that. What happened last year?
Last year I planted too late... they grew from to October and the vines were
8' long.. they looked healthy as could be but *no* fruit at all. Same thing is going on this year but I planted on time.When I planted on 3/11: Daylength: 11:49 hours Max. height angle was 52:49 degr at noon time 04:42 Declination of Sun: -3:28 degr Sun altitude -53:12 degr, azimuth 320:26 degr (UTC 14:56) Solar power 956 W/m2 at noon Date: Thursday on 2004-03-11, the 71. day of the year Location: input, latitude 33:43, longitude 112:02
Today (74th day): Daylength: 14:07 hours Max. height angle is 77:21 degr at noon time 04:29 Declination of Sun: 21:04 degr Sun altitude -29:57 degr, azimuth 27:59 degr (UTC 14:57) Solar power 1200 W/m2 at noon Date: Monday on 2004-05-24, the 145. day of the year Location: input, latitude 33:43, longitude 112:02
On Mon, 24 May 2004 15:00:48 -0700 in , "Rich" graced the world with this thought:
hmmm... honestly, I've never had a hell of a lot of luck with melons, myself, mine always seem kind of puny, and not very many of them at all. Do you have any gardening acquaintances around your area that have had any luck with watermelons? Maybe your local agricultural annex or nursery could help you out with some specific info, like good strains for the area, things like that... let us know if you find anything, I'd like to find a key to this myself. How late did you wind up planting last year, anyway?
I do not know the soil or climatic conditions in your area so I am able to make only general comments.
Hi,
melons,
About one year ago, I bought few difference type watermelon, eat them and keep their seeds, mixed all together, sow to every part of my land, two of them grow well, the fruit are one time bigger and sweeter than what available on the market.
From what I tested out, watermelon like full sun, moist soil but not water log, air circulation should be good in between the leave. The soil should be easy to penetrate by root(I think their root are not strong enough for pentrate heavy soil)
I heard people here said, rotation are very important for watermelon. A land have to wait about five year to plant again watermelon. Not tested myself yet.
By the time I do this, I know not much of agriculture. I believe will find out more from my next experiment, may be by next year.
I do suggest you do exactly what I do, buy a few type of full ripe watermelon, mixed their seeds, sow to everywhere before a light rain are coming. This will tell you which place are best for what type of watermelon.
Regards, Wong
-- Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m
Hi FarmerDill,
resistant veggies I
I also donot irrigate my watermelon, but from what I observe, those at moist soil are grow faster and the leave are larger than those at dry soil. May be this is due to I donot mulch them.
I think a soil with good infiltration, non irrigate will be better than deep watering by forcing the root to grow deep for water, this as well will make the nutrient at the deeper part of soil available to plant.
I think this is due to watermelon root does not strong in penetration. Amend heavy clay with high lignin organic matter like rice hull will solve this problem.
Regards, Wong
-- Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m
Everyone here in SoCal had that exact problem last year. The few that set fruit had little things no bigger than a baseball. Might be the odd spring, or lack of it (we had June weather in February, and are now having February weather, and last year was similar).
~REZ~
July... it was way too late.
Well that's a good idea. Trouble is I don't have a big yard. I live in the city and my "garden" is 5' x 5' (think more along the lines of kitty litter box) so I have to get it right the first time, or my 5 measly watermelons won't work out. My wife tells me to just go to the store and buy a watermelon. I'm starting to think that's a good idea. I'll buy some watermelons and place them in my garden, and tape the vines to them. That's not cheating is it?
il Tue, 25 May 2004 12:42:33 -0700, "Rich" ha scritto:
Forget the melons, grow tomatoes. Much nicer. Or peppers. Or grow something you can't buy easily. A heritage fruit maybe, fresh greens, or get a log and grow mushrooms :-)
On Tue, 25 May 2004 12:39:22 -0700 in , "Rich" graced the world with this thought:
yow! lol... one extreme to the other!
watermelons
Hey that's a good idea. I like mushrooms.. the edible kind, I think they were called Morel mushrooms but they only grew in the mid-west. I made one heck of a pizza with 'em. But nothing grows here except crab grass, oranges, grapefruit, and cactus. I'm about ready to move back to the mid-west just so I can get something to grow... I used to have a 2-acre garden and the only problem was keeping the deer out of it.
Rich
il Tue, 25 May 2004 15:02:29 -0700, "Rich" ha scritto:
What? No roast venison on the menu, with a side dish of fresh veggies? :-)
well, Dill, I am tempted. I do have a new garden that is beach sand (I dumped several tons of compost on it), and next year I do want to grow either melons or watermelons. But will melons grow in sand (heavily mulched/composted)? What about vine borers (plentiful here)? And twice a week watering too much? Sand in midsummer around here dries in two days.. (this is Michigan, Zone 5.5). Oh, and finally: what about cover (hoophouse) for early starts? Does it help? I do have that.
Hi Rich,
If you feel happy in this way, just do it.
Cheers, Wong
-- Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m
1.Watermelons will grow on a sandy soil so poor that it won't sprout Blackeyed peas. They have lots of feeder roots that extend laterally the lenght of the vines and if conditions are suitable down to six feet. They need aeration and cannot go deep into a heavy soil. An old sandy field that won't grow hay, with the addition of 300lbs /acre of 10- 10 -10 grows beautiful watermelons here in GA,
I agree with Loki. With a plot that small, any kind of sprawling, vining plants like melons or pumpkins is the worst possible option. Definitely tomatoes. Throw in some basil and pole beans.
If you insist on melons, I think others will agree that melons generally like abundant fertility, in addition to the other requirements. DaveH
thanks. It sounds ideal and I will keep one tunnel up until June next year. Territorial Seeds has all the latest short season watermelons.
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