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Hooksett, Nh

hello all,

i'm new to watermelon growing and planted a bunch of seeds not expecting them to grow. low and behold their growing and i'm pretty excited about it. the problem is i live in new england and we have a short growing season and this year we've had alot of rain and not much hot weather. in terms of fertilizer the only thing i've done is add slow release miracle grow pellets. i have about 10 sugarbaby watermelons and more growing with my largest being about 6-8 inches around. the growth has seemed to tail off a bit. i have some questions i'm hoping you pro's can help me with. how much longer will it take for these to reach maturity? should i transplant them and move them inside during the night. the nights are getting cooler into the 50's. should i add more fertilizer? should i add a heat lamp? do they grow again like grapes? should i prune the vines and how do i? i noticed some leaves turning yellow with brown spots should i be concerned? my mouth is watering thinking i'm going to have home grown watermelon. any help and advice is welcomed. thanks in advance!

9/8/2008 10:51:11 AM

Rochester, Minnesota

I do not know what will "save" this years crop, so I will talk about next years. I also deal with fickle weather, and short growing season. I would say that you really need to make the best use of the last couple weeks in May and all of June. That means you need to start those plants indoors early. I think you should have plants growing at that time, and not seeds sprouting.

I use good sized pots for my plants and try to achieve a 3' vine before they go in the garden in mid May. Now this is for giant watermelons. For the smaller varieties, I would be doing the same, but just not starting them so early.

Furthermore, I think it's important to limit the number of melons on the vine. There is no reason to keep a melon on the vine that can't possibly get ripe before the end of the season, so you need to start culling the small ones in August. They just sap the strength of the plant, and produce nothing for you.

I hope this helps.

I won't tell you how to tell if the melon is ripe after that "thumping" incident.

9/8/2008 1:47:33 PM

Hooksett, Nh

Minn MM,

thanks for the advice, what i'm getting is forget about this years crop huh? didn't realize they need to be started so early...wow. i guess i'll let them go and see how far they get this year and hope for the best. maybe i'll get lucky, i wasn't expecting anything to grow. thanks again for your help.

9/8/2008 7:09:37 PM

Mt.Pleasant,Iowa

Ok you have sugar babys growing and 10 of them. The plants are small probably and you can cover with a small plastic hoop maybe 8x8 or so. Cover most of the plant and melons and with some sun it will warm up a lot in there.If it gets hot outside then open it up to let it cool off. Sugar babys do not need as many days to mature and if the plant dies back let the stems dry some then it should be ripe.As for the yellow leaves and brown spots you have a blight and need to apply a fungicide to control it.The melons you have on should mature now even if the plant dies.As long as they are growing in size the plant is ok.Once they stop growing I would wait 2 weeks and try one and see if it is ripe.If you have more questions e-mail me at mnmschnicker@farmtel.net

9/8/2008 7:32:31 PM

Hooksett, Nh

seedy one,

thank you for your reply!!! i do have more questions and i will email you. thank you much!!

9/9/2008 8:15:56 AM