Posted on 08/03/2018 7:21:28 PM PDT by greeneyes
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“The weather has been weird this year. July and August are usually drought months and really hot, even the nights. This year we have actually had rain and the temps are not as high, especially the nights-which are in the 60s and moderate 70s.”
Same here in my part of Va.
Usually in July/August we just get the occasional thunderstorm to break the monotony of blazing heat and lung sucking humidity.
So far this year it seems like we get a couple of weeks of normal weather followed by a solid week of rain.
Constant flood warnings from the Blue Ridge mtns to Lynchburg and beyond.
We just finished up a solid week of overcast skies and near constant rain.
I pre-plant indoors. Tomatoes, cantaloupe, carrots, b. sprouts, cauliflower, and watermelon and other stuff.
I have success using potting soils. Everything grows well indoors.
But when I then plant them outside early to mid-May, they just do nothing for months. They don't die but they don't thrive or grow much.
It isn't until late June they begin to grow. Some plants better than others.
When I plant them in the ground the plants are stunted. They don't thrive.
I'm most frustrated by watermelon.
I have 4 different varieties I picked for short growing seasons. I have had only one year of moderate success.
Indoors the watermelon seedlings grow beautifully. Dark green leaves and solid stalks. They were a good 4 to 5 inches with full leaves and no yellowing or dying leaves.
But of all the plants I transfer outdoors, watermelon are always the slowest growing. While others grow moderately well, the watermelon just sit there for a couple months with almost no growth. They don't die but they don't grow.
Right now there are many SMALL melons which always appeared late. Too late to fully mature. I picked these 4 varieties because they're smaller and said to have shorter growing seasons.
Also at this point (early Aug), there are hundreds of yellow buds which have appeared too late in the season to do anything (bees love them).
They also suffer from lighter green leaves to yellow leaves.
From my observations and research, I have determined, because of slow growth, stunted plants, and yellow leaves, the problem to be nitrogen deficiency.
Everything else grows fine but they also do not grow quickly or really thrive.
I have tried to avoid using chemical fertilizers but I did use limited and small amounts of Miracle Grow (the lazy mans' 'fertilizer').
As far as I can tell, the problems all point to nitrogen deficiency and I suspect of all the plants I grow, watermelon are most affected by low levels of nitrogen.
After my observations I refined my research and found confirmation:
"Nitrogen (N) deficiency is the most common nutrient problem for watermelon production. N deficiencies at any time during the season can affect crop yield and quality, and deficiencies when fruit size ranges from 4- to 6-inches in diameter can be the most damaging. N uptake from the soil is usually low early in the season, before the runner stage. The uptake of N rapidly increases from early runner to 3-inch melon stages, when N uptake reaches its peak. When fruit reach the 6- to 10-inch stage the uptake of N starts to decline, and this decline continues through to the final harvest.2",/I>
http://www.seminis-us.com/resources/agronomic-spotlights/watermelon-nutrient-analysis/
That's my story.
If you have any personal success or failures growing watermelon or know which varieties grow best and fastest, I would appreciate your wisdom.
I live in an urban setting with a very small space for a garden though I suspect if I find the right fertilizer I would dramatically increase yields. It's the stunted and slow growth that's impeding my success and from all my research, nitrogen seems to be my Achilles' Heel.
No Lowes near me. Only Home Depot. I'll see what they have and ask at garden nurseries.
Thank you. I greatly appreciate your help.
If you have any experience with watermelon, tips and best varieties that grow quickly, let me know.
I’ve used it, but on soil I hadn’t planted before. It wasn’t obvious it was doing any good, but it may very well be that the soil drains so well that the fertilizer leached down below the root zone.
None of the other fertilizers (primarily Miracle Gro) have been of any obvious benefit, and I’m also planning to replace some of the dirt next year to hold water better.
I’m a Master Gardener (but not the snooty kind, LOL!) and I have YET to grow a decent watermelon. So, I gave up and moved on to other successes.
Beau tries, too. This season he has some lovely Honeydew, and I did buy him a watermelon plant, but it is doing the same thing yours are. Lots of blooms, no fruit.
He did have luck a few years ago with ‘Moon and Stars’ watermelon, which is an old heirloom variety...but still, only a few melons off of what seemed to be an ACRE of vines.
I DO know that they need a LOT of water and warm soil; up here on The Frozen Tundra, people put down black plastic to heat up the soil faster, and then mulch like heck with lots of straw in the melon patch.
I have no answers for you, but I agree with the Alfalfa Meal for organic nitrogen. I suppose your watermelon success will depend upon water, nutrition, warm soil, the general weather in any growing season...and how stubborn you are, LOL! ;)
Well...we will see how our garden/yard held up after a 3 week vacation in Montana . It’s small, and mostly perennials. I set up timed sprinklers up...it’s been unusually hot in western Oregon...sooo..hoping the one potted tomato made it, too. It was a test since I lost my good friend (who watered for me in past) to brain cancer in May. And wanted to see if we could make sprinklers work.
Beautiful. .
I love sunflowers...the birds last year planted seeds of the sunflowers I had planted and this year I had sunflower EVERYWHERE and planted more. Hopefully they have survived our absence.
My first year was a moderate success.
My second year wasn't very good for a few reasons. Long, cold, wet spring, and cool summer. Add to this the fact the previous year high-nitrogen demanding watermelons depleted all the nitrogen in the soil.
This year I had great success with indoor plantings using off the shelf potting soil. The seedlings were spectacular. But when I put them in the ground they were stunted.
I suspect the fresh potting soil had the nitrogen needed for the watermelon to grow but the outside soil didn't.
I'm going to try again next year but I will be applying a couple different high-nitrogen fertilizers in the spring while there's still snow and let it slowly disperse as the snow melts.
I strongly suspect watermelon require far more nitrogen than other plants.
Armed with my research I'm going to give it another shot.
Maybe you can give it one more shot using high levels of nitrogen and see what happens.
Do a small planting with extra nitrogen. Ask your friends to try.
You can also order chicken manure from Amazon. I imagine Wal-Mart would carry it too or maybe order it for you.
In an urban area the topsoil was probably removed during the grading and building process.
In the studies in Alabama and Georgia they specifically tested ground that had all topsoil removed.
They tested cow, horse and chicken manure as well as manmade chemical fertilizers.
The manures were much more effective, and cheaper in the long run, than the equivalent amount of chemical fertilizers.
The fields treated with chicken manure reached usable (for agriculture) levels in 2 years, peak in 4 years.
Other manure took longer and had more weed infestation.
Growing up we had 100 laying hens. We always used the chicken manure on our garden areas.
We used to grow melons but as time went by we started buying from fruit stands as the melons grown in the Carolinas matured before ours started growing good.
Try one of the Sugar Baby varieties. Smaller, use less space and ripen quicker. Tasty too.
Mr McGregor's fence round the cake and the perky jonquils can also be made of marzipan.
Marzipan vegetables are work---but fun. Pipe on the green rows. The fence is fancy sugar-work---but try popsicle sticks.
Signature salad of Ex/Chef David Walzog at SW Restaurant,
Wynn Resort, Las Vegas....an exquisite presentation.
INGREDIENTS Romaine Lettuce Mixed greens Butter lettuce Vegetables
(cut no bigger than .25”) Watermelon or red radish Red onion
uncooked green beans, Diced tomato Grilled asparagus Fava beans
Diced avocado
DIJON VINAEGRETTE 3/4 cup Dijon 2 Egg Yolks 1/5 c Champagne
Vinegar 2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice 2 Cups Canola Oil 1 Tbsp. Light Brown
Sugar K/Salt/Pepper
ASSEMBLY Use equal parts veg, crisp chp bacon. Dress w/ vinaigrette,
k/s/p. Top w/ mound of crisp shoestring potatoes.
GARNISH Fried shoestring potatoes, salted, and lightly drizzled with truffle oil.
It’s too pretty to eat!!
They come in various sizes and I re-use the trays from year to year and just buy the boxed pellets.
Zucchini, Green Peppers, Carmen Peppers, Defiant tomatoes, Cherokee Purple tomatoes and some Chef's Pink tomatoes.
Fortex pole beans, Juliet tomatoes, Sungold tomatoes and Carmen peppers.
Rose Gold Taters, two hills, about 1/2 of a 5-gallon bucket.
Lower Garden, which generally gets ignored once planted.
Puffy Pop Popcorn. About 30 plants, total.
Honeydew Melons.
Cantaloupe Melons.
Jarandale Winter Squash. When fully mature, they are the most GORGEOUS shade of gray-blue, EVER! They'll be Fall Decor and then we'll eat them.
Sunshine Winter Squash. Small seed cavity, all MEAT, Baby!
And, my cat, Boyd, because he's so darn HANDSOME!
Our “gardening” off of our canal condo is based on our 28 cup hydroponic “Tower Garden”.
These are known for producing tons of Lettuces. Grew so much we had to give away most of it. No particular bug problem.
Pulled it all out and planted Strawberries but they apparently didn’t like the water nutrient plus the Japanese Beetles got to them.
Now its dedicated to “growing” Butterflies. This past January we started breeding Monarch’s from their eggs laid on our Milkweed. Three 5-gallon aquariums. By last month we had launched 358 of the “flying flowers”.
Got to be too much work so the Tower Garden is now loaded with Dill and Parsley for the Swallowtails and Milkweed for the Monarch’s. We already have eggs laid and are awaiting the hatchlings.
The trick here is to keep the Geckos from eating them. We have mesh bags to cover the plants as soon as we see the eggs hatch. Fun stuff and we’ve got at least 15 various Butterflies in our flower gardens out back at one time, flitting around.
Our Campari Tomatoes are in blossom now. Using a couple 5-gallon containers. The seeds came from washed ripe Campari’s.
The Tower Garden has one “Sweet Golden Mellon” as an experiment. We save all our mellon seeds as well as the seeds from any peppers we buy.
Be sure to try using the Peppermint Extract added to water in a sprayer to keep the squirrels and rats from your vegetables. We had a lot of success with it. Apparently goofs up their smeller internal programs. For a larger garden, just pour an entire 2 oz. bottle (Walmart or any food store) into a 2 gallon pump sprayer and do a light spray, morning and evening. See if it works for you.
Reporting in from hot/humid August Florida. CB
Pretty Peppers! :)
Take a look at this gizmo for making your own planting "Pellets".
https://www.amazon.com/Carrot-Design-Newspaper-Biodegradable-Seedling/dp/B01DE38236/ref=sr_1_48?ie=UTF8&qid=1533412128&sr=8-48&keywords=seed+planter+machine
You just cut some newspaper or any type of rapidly decomposing paper around the plunger, push it into the wooden mold and you have a very nice small "pot" to fill with your gardening dirt mix. We use ours all the time.
Also, here's one more gardening gizmo that I really like. Its a small plastic shovel shaped seed planter with a "clicker" that you turn with your finger while holding the planter over your seed hole or dirt. A couple clicks and the loaded seed travels down the spout and pops out the end. Much more dependable than trying to shake seeds, one at a time, out of a packet or your fingers. The trick is to just hold the planter in your hand and don't let it touch your other hand or the side of the tray. It has to "jiggle" for it to work.
https://www.amazon.com/LUSTER-Rapitest-Vibrating-Seedmaster-Vegetable/dp/B01LWE4M9B/ref=sr_1_46?ie=UTF8&qid=1533412425&sr=8-46&keywords=seed+planter+machine
I've used it for both large and tiny seeds, works great.
CB from mid-Gulf West Florida...
I don't have any problem starting indoors. They grow strong and full.
The problem happens when I plant the seedlings in the ground.
At that point they just stop. It take a good month for them to start showing any growth. And although I do have a few melons growing, most plants are just now (early Aug) producing massive blossoms. The bees are having a field day.
This doesn't happen with any other seedling.
My research tells me they're 'heavy feeders' and I believe the nutrient I'm missing is nitrogen. I could be wrong so I'll be experimenting with other methods as well.
I'm going to try a couple different things next year such as planting seeds directly into the soil. Some people say you shouldn't do indoor watermelon seedlings because they become root bound. I will also test the soil, something I've never done because everything else has always grown fine.
But I believe the problem is with lack of nitrogen.
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