Watermelon growing slow

Hi,

I am trying to grow crimson sweet watermelon this year and the plant is growing really slowly. Compared to the pumpkin and cucumber we planted it is really lagging in its growth. We started with only 2 plants and one died and the one that is still hanging in there had some problems with wilting but it pulled through and now its growing ok but really slowly and the stem is still fairly thin.

I am in Northern New Jersey and I started thes plants around the end of may and transplanted them in early june.

I'd appreciate any tips and info on growing watermelons.

Thanks, Steve

Reply to
szeik
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without more details, it'd be difficult to really know for sure why your plants aren't growing well. let's start with a few questions. are you growing the watermelon in the same ground that has grown cucumbers/squash related plants for a # of years? they are in the same genetic line and share many diseases, as well as drawing many of the same nutrients from the soil. so planting the same types of plants in the same area year after year works against u 2 ways - diseases become resident in the soil and the soil slowly loses the nutrients those plants most need. a combination of crop rotation and nutrient replacement (hopefully thru organic means) helps with this problem.

you mentioned that your squash/cucumbers are doing better. it's been my experience that they are less fussy than melons (especially squash).

u're down to a single plant that had to overcome "wilting" during the time it was probably trying to get established. many plants never fully recover from such trama. secondly, it's hard to say melons won't do well in your garden based on a single plant. if u had 10 plants in place the other 9 could be doing very well. i plant around 20 melons every year, it seems there's always a hero and a runt in every batch.

lastly, why are u growing a "southern" melon that far north? nurseries all across the north should be selling watermelons more suited to our shorter growing seasons. for 5 years i attempted to grow crimson sweets. each year i'd get gigantic melons (sometimes 30 lbs or more) that would rarely ripen before our first frost (zone 5 here - 1st hard frost around oct 1st). one year i found a nusery that carried a variety called "yellow doll" (also known as "yellow baby") so i gave them a shot. even in our coolest summers i get boatloads of ripe melons from this variety. don't let the yellow flesh bother ya, they are awesome tasting (ppl prefer them in blind taste tests). my kids are so used to them that they think the reds are the unusual ones.

Reply to
brickled

Nothing grew there except for grass. I dug up the grass and planted the 2 watermelon in this spot by themselves. I had planted a dozen seeds but I only got 2 to germinate.

I just picked this seed pack because our 6 year old son wanted to pick it. I didn't realize this variety was meant for warmer climates. It's been really warm up here lately though.

I think I should have let the watermelons grow a little longer indoors before transplanting them.

Hopefully this one plant will pull through and produce something.

Thanks for the feedback, Steve

Reply to
szeik

Watermelon does not transplant well, They could have been stunted before you transplanted. For transplants you can do little more than germinate them. They also do not like clay soil. Other than that they are a lot easier to grow than squash. Vine borers and their associates don't bother them.

Reply to
farmerdill

Good morning Steve,

Probably the biggest reason watermelons don't do as well in the North, is because most of them need a high germinating temp, 60 or above. Then, if you transplant them and the temp falls to around 50, they get "set back", or stunted in their growing process.

The second reason, and this is just my opinion which is not based on facts, is that when you start your plants indoors, it is critical that you transplant them on time. Melons, squash and others have a tap root. This root goes down several feet to provide the plant with water. I haven't actually compared the results, but melon plants I have transplanted after they were already pretty big, needed to be watered nearly every day. People I knew that raised melons and actually planted the seeds in the ground, didn't water nearly that often. I feel that the tap root on my transplants had gotten root bound with the rest of them, rather than what it was intended to do.

Try planting the seeds in the ground next year, but not too early. If it is too cold, they wont germinate until it warms up enough for them. It that takes too long, they will mold in the ground, unless coated with a fungus preventing solution (some I bought were red from the coating that the supplier had used).

Dwayne

Reply to
Dwayne

yes, in the North there are two solutions to this, one is to do what Steve in the Adirondacks does (make a trench with hot manure, that will heat the soil) and the other is to plant the seed under cover (hoophouse or tunnel). I have myself noticed how much variation there is in my transplants, some cuke plants start pumping cukes by late June, and other plants remain small and start fruiting a month later. Next year I am going to combine both methods, as I will take the plunge with both watermelons and melons. Thanks for the Yellow Doll tip.

Reply to
simy1

well, most melons don't do well in the north. if u pick melons that are well suited to the north, such as the smaller yellow-fleshed varities you'll do fine (assuming all other conditions are good in your garden).

to inspire all you northern gardeners who don't think they can grow melons as far north as michigan (or other zone 5 areas), please check out the following pics i took over the weekend.

first pic is of the 1/2 of my garden that has my melons (90% yellow doll's,

10% dark belle - an asian variety i'm trying out this year):

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next pic is of a dark belle melon fast on its way to maturity, it should triple in size from here:

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one is of a yellow doll variety, this should at least double in size from here:

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's other garden pics in there if anyone's curious. we will harvest far more melons this year than we can possibly consume. even on the chilliest summers here, our transplanted melons perform very well - again, it's a lot to do w/ the variety, yellow doll (or yellow baby).

transplants

Reply to
brickled

Thanks for posting your melon pics! I never grew watermelon so I was expecting bigger leaves and vine. Now that I've seen these pictures I think our plant is doing ok although it is still lagging behind yours. Our plant hasn't produced any flowers yet. Hopefully it will soon.

Steve

Reply to
szeik

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