what to feed watermelon plants to get sweet watermelon
Download Printable Watermelon Growing Guide »
Well-nigh everything homegrown in the garden tastes better than its grocery store counterpart, simply watermelon might take the cake every bit the most improved. It'south packed full of and then much more juicy, layered flavor than annihilation you can grab at a supermarket—you don't know watermelon until you bite into your own homegrown melon that's still warm from the sun!
The great news: watermelon is relatively easy to grow! Information technology takes a long season and thrives in hot weather condition, merely give it some space to sprawl, and it's mostly maintenance-free! Permit's get you growing some melons.
Are watermelon easy to abound?
If y'all can grow a cucumber or a zucchini, you tin can abound a watermelon! Watermelon plants are remarkably prolific, and every bit long as your climate is hot enough (or you lot can fake it with poly tunnels or cold frames), watermelons are a breeze to get going.
When should I constitute watermelon?
Watermelon requires a relatively long growing season (about eighty-90 days from sowing the seeds), and it wants absolutely nothing to do with absurd weather. Plant your watermelon when the soil has warmed to around 70ºF and there are no longer whatsoever cool nights in the forecast. For many people, this is really two to 3 weeks after their last frost engagement in the leap.
How long does information technology take for a watermelon to abound to full size?
Watermelons require 80-xc days from seed sowing to grow a full-size watermelon. Some smaller-sized watermelons (similar Saccharide Baby) can reach maturity in closer to 70 days.
What watermelon varieties should I grow?
The fun thing about growing watermelon is that there are so many options beyond the standard red watermelon you meet at your grocery store—you can abound yellow, orange, and even white-flesh watermelon! These are some of our favorite varieties:
- Moon and Stars—This legendary heirloom watermelon is named for the interesting markings on its rind. Melons can grow up to xl pounds each!
- Saccharide Baby—This modest-sized seeded watermelon lives upward to its name. It is so sweet, y'all'll swear someone sprinkled saccharide on it! The melons are about 10″ across, and you lot tin can go as many as iv-six per watermelon vine. There is also Sugar Babe Bush, which is the same watermelon but grown on a patio-friendly plant with a bush habitat.
- Orangeglo Watermelon—Many orange and yellow watermelon varieties are fun to look at, only don't offer much in the style of season, simply not Orangeglo!
- Blacktail Mount—For those of you with shorter, cooler summers, Blacktail Mountain might be a practiced option for you lot. It's an early ripener (taking but about seventy days for a full size watermelon) with corking flavor.
Should I abound watermelon from seeds or plants?
Like all cucurbits, watermelon prefers to stay put and not be transplanted. In most climates, you lot'll practice all-time to straight sow watermelon seeds in warm soil in the bed they will grow in.
Nosotros did an experiment in the Growfully Garden a few years back testing transplanted cucurbits versus straight sown, and it but took three weeks for all of our direct sown plants to take hold of upwardly to our transplants that we started 6 weeks earlier!
If y'all live in a libation climate (or just want to ensure germination), yous can start your watermelon seeds indoors, but nosotros do recommend y'all exercise so using a seed starting method that will not disturb the roots during transplanting. Paper pots or soil blocking are both good options.
How do I abound watermelon from seed?
You lot'll have a difficult time tracking downwards watermelon seedlings at a garden center because watermelon plants perform and then well from seed! So take hold of yourself a seed packet, and let's get growing.
How to Sow Seeds Directly in the Garden (RECOMMENDED)
- Meliorate your soil with at least 1-2 inches of compost before planting your watermelon seeds.
- vii-14 days after your terminal frost date, sow seeds 1/2″ deep in the soil in modest hills or rows spaced 36″ apart. In the hills, establish 6-8 seeds; in the rows, plant 2-3 seeds every 36″.
- Once the seedlings have started to abound and the true leaves are formed (not the initial leaves that came up with the bulb), use small-scale snips to thin the seedlings to 2-3 per colina or ane constitute every 36″ in a row.
How to start watermelon seedlings indoors (only recommended for cooler climates or to ensure germination)
- Make full a big seedling pot or soil block with seed starting medium. Nosotros similar to use coco coir (iv parts), vermiculite (2 parts), and perlite (i part).
- Sow 2-iii seeds in each pot (this will ensure formation of at least one), about one/2″ deep in the pot.
- Gently water the seeds (a mist or spray bottle is great for this!), and keep the soil evenly moist until germination.
- Go on the seeds somewhere warm, ideally where the soil tin can stay between 75-85°F. You'll probably demand a heat mat to achieve this temperature. You'll come across seedlings popping upward inside 7-10 days.
- One time you see the first set of true leaves (these are the leaves that look like melon leaves, not the initial leaves that came upwardly when the seed first germinated), use small-scale snips to clip off all but the strongest seedling in each pot.
- 7-fourteen days after your last frost appointment, plant the watermelon seedlings 36″ apart in the garden.
How do yous prepare soil for watermelon?
The most of import thing to remember when preparing your soil for watermelon plants is that they need the soil to be very warm to grow. Soil needs to warm to at least 70°F earlier watermelon plants tin thrive.
Growfully Protip
Having a difficult time getting your soil warm enough for watermelons? Row covers, cold frames, or even just a layer of thick black plastic can warm up soil quickly by trapping warm air near the soil surface.
Watermelon plants prefer a soil pH of betwixt 6.0-7.five—this range covers the vast majority of garden soils, simply if y'all need to ameliorate your soil to adjust pH, practise so before planting.
Watermelons are heavy feeders, and so you lot desire to make sure you plant them in nutrient-rich soil to ensure they can produce lots of delicious melons. Nosotros recommend alteration your bed with at least one-2″ of well-rotted, rich compost or manure earlier planting. You can likewise amend your soil with a counterbalanced, slow-release organic fertilizer.
Growfully Protip
Mulch is very important for watermelon plants to help retain moisture, reduce weed competition, and give cushion for the melons to grow on. We like a base of paper-thin (to really postage out weeds), topped with either weed-free straw or pino shavings.
Download Printable Watermelon Growing Guide »
How do I transplant watermelon seedlings?
Like we mentioned in a higher place, we don't recommend doing watermelon transplants for most folks, but if you are transplanting watermelon seedlings, the primal is to disturb the roots every bit little as possible.
- Make sure yous accept properly hardened off your seedlings to acclimate them to the weather. Ensure that your soil temperature is 70ºF or above.
- Transplant on a warm merely non hot day that is preferably overcast with calm winds.
- Water your watermelon seedlings thoroughly about an hour before you lot programme on transplanting them.
- If using a plantable seed starting method (like newspaper pots, peat pots, or soil blocks), constitute the bulb straight into the soil. You might want to (gently!) tear off the bottom of the newspaper pot or peat pot to encourage root growth.
- Water the plants in well.
- Don't be surprised if your plants become through a bit of transplant shock—yellowing, drooping of leaves, or stunted growth. With a picayune TLC, they'll bounce back and take off soon.
Do watermelon plants need a lot of sun?
Yeah! Watermelon plants require full sun (8 to 10 hours daily) to produce melons.
What temperature do watermelons grow in?
Watermelons like it moderately hot, and they grow their all-time between 75°F and 95°F air temperature.
Do watermelons need lots of water?
Simply like about other plants in your veggie garden, watermelons need i to two inches of water per week to grow adequately. This is specially important when the watermelon plants are setting and growing fruit. A watermelon is fabricated upwards of 92% h2o—if you want big, juicy watermelons, make sure your plants stay well watered!
Growfully Protip
The sprawling vines and large canopy of leaves of a watermelon vine can human action like a mulch to assist retain soil moisture and prevent weed competition around your watermelon plants.
What can y'all found side by side to watermelon?
The virtually important companion establish for watermelon are plants that can repel pests (like squash bugs or cucumber beetles) and can likewise concenter benign pollinators that tin can help ensure your watermelon plant is pollinated and can set fruit.
In full general, almost any flower (particularly a native flower) is a great option for intercropping with your watermelon to bring in pollinators. We also like using marigold, nasturtium, dill, and tansy to help attract pollinators and reduce pest pressure.
How do you grow a watermelon vertically?
We wouldn't recommend you lot try to grow the Carolina Cross Watermelon (which can attain up to 200 pounds each!), but you can definitely grow some smaller babe and personal-sized watermelons vertically on a trellis. Look for melon varieties that have melons under 6-viii pounds, and and then brand sure you provide back up for the growing melons on the trellis in the form of a melon hammock (you can make them or buy them).
Growfully Protip
If yous're low on space, another option is to abound a bush variety of watermelon. Bush-league Carbohydrate Baby watermelon plants simply spread almost 24-36″.
Exercise I need to fertilize my watermelon plants?
Watermelon plants are heavy feeders and tin can do good from a regular fertilization schedule. We recommend using a nitrogen-heavy fertilizer while the plants are growing their stems, leaves, and canopy, similar diluted fish emulsion. Merely then in one case the plants outset to set up fruits, y'all tin can switch to a fertilizer that has heavier phosphorus and potassium content to aid encourage fruit set.
Should I cut dorsum watermelon vines?
If y'all accept a large plenty garden space, we recommend allowing your watermelon vines to sprawl, instead of pruning them. This is generally to ensure that there are enough female person flowers and male flowers along the plant to ensure proper pollination.
If you're low on infinite, you lot can prune your watermelon vines to proceed them in check—but make sure your plant has enough flowers for pollination. Cut back whatever weak or diseased vines, or vines that aren't bearing, first.
Growfully Protip
Pruning watermelon vines too vigorously can cause the plant to put more energy into producing runners instead of setting fruit.
Exercise I need to rotate my crop?
Yes! Nosotros ever recommend yous rotate crops in your garden as much equally possible to prevent diseases and pests. Watermelons should non come up after or before whatsoever other melons, and if possible, whatever other members of the cucurbit family unit (wintertime squash, cucumbers, zucchini, summertime squash, pumpkins).
How practice you tell if a watermelon is sweet or ripe?
Ah, the age-old question—when practice you pick a watermelon? Judging ripeness is ane of the harder parts of growing watermelons, simply luckily, there are a number of ways to tell when a watermelon is ripe. Here are the three methods nosotros employ:
- Field Spot: Flip the watermelon over and look at the spot where the watermelon has been on the ground (AKA: the field spot). If information technology is a gold, vivid yellowish—your watermelon is ready to harvest! If it's a pale yellow, white, low-cal green, or even just the colour of the rind, information technology isn't set yet.
- Hollow Sound: Another proficient way to know when a watermelon is ripe is by audio. Knock on an UNRIPE watermelon with your knuckles (cull 1 you are sure isn't ready yet). And then knock on the one you call up might be ready. When the watermelon is ready, information technology'll audio hollow compared to the unripe watermelon. This can be hard to hear the departure at first, simply after a few rounds of watermelon thwacking, you'll train your ears to know the divergence.
- Browning Tendril: Another clue to look for is that the tendril and leaf closest to the stem of the watermelon should be starting to brown (or fifty-fifty look completely browned or yellowed).
How do yous harvest watermelon?
Unlike cantaloupe, which just slip off the vine when prepare, watermelon requires a little bit of work to harvest. You lot tin can take the melon, and then gently twist until it disconnects, or you tin take some scissors or a garden knife and cut the melon at the stem.
How many watermelon will i constitute produce?
The number of melons you'll get out of your plants will largely depend on the cultivar you lot establish, the amount of bee and pollinator activeness you accept in your garden, and your growing conditions. Merely you lot can estimate that you'll get at to the lowest degree 1-2 watermelons per vine.
Do watermelon plants come back every year?
Sad, but no. Watermelon is an annual and will need to be replanted each summertime.
What about growing seedless watermelons?
Seedless watermelons (AKA: triploid watermelons) are all the rage, but they do require a fleck of special treatment to make certain they produce. Because seedless watermelons are, ahem, seedless, that ways that you can't just have a seed from a seedless watermelon and plop it in the footing to grow more than.
Seedless watermelons seeds are fabricated by crossing a normal diploid melon with a tetraploid parent. This produces a seed that will abound a sterile watermelon plant, simply in order for that watermelon institute to produce seedless watermelons, the female person flowers on the seedless plant must be pollinated by the male person flowers from a fertile pollinator constitute (a regular seeded multifariousness).
In the home garden, this looks similar growing at least one seeded watermelon per 2-iii seedless watermelon plants, and ensuring yous have plenty of pollinator activity to encourage pollination. Most of the time, when you purchase a seedless watermelon seed package, it will come with a pollinator cultivar to plant alongside.
Download Printable Watermelon Growing Guide »
Troubleshooting
Why are my watermelon plants not growing?
The ii main causes of watermelon plants having tiresome growth are transplant shock and cooler temperatures. If you have recently planted your watermelon seedlings, give them some TLC and they should take off again within ane-2 weeks. If your weather has been cool, you tin can take solace in the fact that as soon as the temps pitter-patter up, your watermelon will have off!
I have beautiful plants, but no melons, or the melons that are on the vine shrivel upwardly and dice after a few days.
For many people, pollination is one of the trickiest parts of growing watermelon. Watermelon plants have both female flowers and male flowers, and pollen must make its style from the male flowers to the female person flowers for pollination to occur and for a melon to begin growing.
This means bees (and other pollinators) are your all-time friend for watermelon growing! If your watermelon vines aren't setting any fruit, information technology could be that you take low pollinator action in your expanse. You lot can found companion flowers to attract pollinators, and you can also try hand pollination. To manus pollinate:
- Identify a male flower. These are the watermelon flowers that do non have a tiny watermelon on the stalk.
- Have a soft paintbrush or cotton wool swab and run it forth the middle of the flower. The brush or cotton swab should fill upwardly with yellowish pollen.
- Identify a female bloom—these are the flowers that have a tiny melon growing on the stem.
- Brush the pollen-filled paintbrush or swab confronting the sticky within of the female flower to spread the pollen.
- You'll want to echo this will multiple male person flowers and female flowers. It requires multiple visits from bees to properly pollinate a female flower, then you lot're trying to replicate as closely as possible.
How do I brand my watermelon sweeter when growing?
If your watermelon isn't very sweet, there is a skillful chance that information technology wasn't completely ripe when you harvested it—fifty-fifty if it has deep red mankind and is juicy! Watermelons develop their sweetness towards the end of the ripening process, and so even merely a couple of days also early can mean all the departure when information technology comes to how sweet your melon is.
What well-nigh vine borers, cucumber beetles, and squash bugs?
Watermelon plants are not the favorite plant for most of the common cucurbit pests like squash vine borers, cucumber beetles, and squash bugs. Nevertheless, they will enjoy feasting on a watermelon plant if that'south all that'southward bachelor. If you're struggling with cucumber beetles or squash bugs, we recommend checking out our full troubleshooting articles on how to handle those.
- How to Get Rid of Squash Bugs Organically
- Preventing And Controlling Cucumber Beetles
I take tiny bugs on my watermelon plants!
Watermelon can be decumbent to both spider mites and aphids. If you notice either of these on your plants, yous can remove them with a strong jet of h2o from your hose or past handpicking and not bad. If that doesn't do the fox, diatomaceous earth, neem oil, or insecticidal soap should take care of the infestation, only make sure to read the characterization to ensure your awarding isn't harming beneficial pollinator insects.
Alternaria leaf spot, anthracnose, glutinous stalk blight, fusarium wilt—oh my!
Because of the hot, humid weather they like to grow in, melons plans can be susceptible to a number of fungal diseases including alternaria leafage spot, anthracnose, gummy stalk bane, and fusarium wilt.
While these fungal diseases tend to nowadays with unlike symptoms, the tips to preventing them all are near the same:
- Institute disease-resistant varieties (in particular, this will help foreclose anthracnose and Fusarium wilt)
- Exercise crop rotation. Don't institute melons before or after other melons or cucurbits—specially if disease has been nowadays.
- Destroy crop debris, especially from plants that are diseased.
- Apply drip or other soil-based watering systems. Overhead watering—in particular frequent, short bursts of watering like from a sprinkler on a timer—tin spread fungal pathogens.
- Make sure plants take wide enough spacing to amend air circulation.
Once you have a fungal disease on your watermelon plant, it tin can be hard to control. Some infections can be controlled by organic fungicide sprays. Notwithstanding, many fungal diseases are becoming resistant to commonly used fungicides, so it's important to rotate your sprays if you choose to do this and only choose to apply fungicide sprays equally a last resort.
Download Printable Watermelon Growing Guide »
How To Abound Watermelon
Growing watermelons is a dandy way to have a big, juicy, sugariness treat in the summertime. Larn how to plant watermelons from seeds or starts, and how to abound the best fruits. Download Printable Watermelon Growing Guide »
Materials
- Watermelon seeds
Tools
- Nitrogen-heavy fertilizer
- Phosphorus and potassium-heavy fertilizer
- Rich, well draining soil
- Watermelon growing guide
Instructions
- Brand sure the soil is warm. Wait until the soil is consistently 70°F or warmer earlier planting out your watermelon.
- Remember that watermelon are heavy feeders. Watermelon plants need lots of nutrients. While the plant is growing, utilize a nitrogen-rich fertilizer. One time the plant starts putting out fruits, switch to a fertilizer that has a heavier amount of phosphorus and potassium.
- Water thoroughly. Watermelons are made of 92% water, so make certain your plants stay well watered if you want juicy fruits!
- Water wisely. Water the soil, rather than the leaves and awning, every bit much as possible, to aid prevent fungal diseases.
- Requite your plants infinite. Establish watermelon plants about 36" apart to allow for better air circulation. This will help forestall fungal diseases.
- Don't harvest besides early. A watermelon harvested besides early won't be well-nigh as sweet. Check for these signs of ripeness: a bright yellow field spot, a hollow sound when knocked, and a browning tendril close to the stalk.
- Rotate your crops. To prevent diseases, exercise not plant watermelon in the aforementioned spot year after year, or immediately earlier or after other melon. If you can, avert planting watermelon in the same spot before or after other members of the cucurbit family likewise.
Source: https://growfully.com/how-to-grow-watermelon/
0 Response to "what to feed watermelon plants to get sweet watermelon"
Postar um comentário