Table of Contents
How do I protect my watermelon plants?
Keep ripening watermelon from direct contact with soil to prevent rot and protect fruit from pests and rodents. When fruit is about the size of a softball, place it on a bed of straw or cardboard. Setting fruit on a light-reflecting surface, such as aluminum foil, will concentrate heat and speed up ripening.
How do you protect watermelons from pests?
How to Keep Bugs Off Watermelons Avoid planting the watermelons too early in the season when the soil is cold. Use floating row covers to keep the soil warm and to protect the plants from green peach aphids (Myzus persicae), a common watermelon pest. Prevent additional watermelon stresses, such as infertile, dry soil.
How do you protect watermelons from rodents?
Step by step: How to keep rodents off your melons with melon cages Get hardware cloth. Cut square-sized pieces of hardware cloth large enough to complete encircle your mature melons. Secure a cylindrical shape with metal string. Create your wire end folds. Close one end of your melon cage. Cage your melon.
What is the best fertilizer for watermelons?
When fertilizing watermelon plants, use nitrogen based fertilizer at the onset. Once the plant begins flowering, however, switch to feeding the watermelon a phosphorus and potassium based fertilizer. Watermelons require ample potassium and phosphorus for optimal melon production.
What do you put under watermelon?
In order to grow great watermelons, you’ll need to put a barrier between the watermelons and the ground. This is to reduce the risk of rot and disease. Good ground barriers are straw, or even cardboard.
How do you protect watermelon from worms?
Soil Preparation Deep plowing well in advance (around two weeks) can be effective at preventing many pests such as the seedcorn maggot and cutworm. You should also avoid planting melon seeds in areas coming out of pasture.
What grows well with watermelons?
Plants That Are Compatible with Watermelon Garlic, Onions, or Chives. Alliums, such as onions, chives, and garlic, all make good companion plants. Nasturtiums, Marigolds, Lavender, and Other Flowers. Dill, Mint, or Other Herbs. Lettuce. Radishes. Squashes and Zucchini. Cucumbers. Pumpkins.
How do you keep melons off the ground?
Use a cage, plastic mulch, stakes, straw mulch or other materials to protect the fruit from the ground. You can even use a wooden board for the fruit to rest on as it matures.
How do I increase the yield of my watermelon?
Provide the Right Nutrients To maximize the size of the melons, water the plants at the base in regular, deep-watering sessions that keep the soil moist. Side dress the watermelon plants with fertilizer designed for edible crops or compost tea to feed the plants. The fertilizer encourages growth to get larger melons.
How much money does a watermelon farmer make?
Watermelon Crops Guide Estimated Cost $700 to $1500 per acre Yield Potential 10,000 – 70,000 lbs/ac Profit Potential $0 to $2,000 per acre Adapted Areas Statewide Labor Requirements 1 to 2 man-days per acre during harvest, hand harvested.
What is the lifespan of a watermelon plant?
How many watermelons per plant? About 2 to 3 melons can be obtained per plant in its single lifespan of 3-4 months. Usually, gardeners purposely keep only one watermelon per plant to harvest big sized fruits.
What animals will eat watermelon plants?
What Wild Animals Eat Watermelons in a Garden? Coyotes. Coyotes are notoriously good hunters, says the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, but they also love a good watermelon – and they’re sneaky. Raccoons and Deer. Birds. Deterrence.
How do you keep squirrels away from watermelon?
You can prevent tree squirrels from damaging watermelons by covering them with freestanding, cage-like covers made of chicken wire. However, as with a fence, bend the bottom edge outward and bury the base of the cages in the soil to prevent them from digging beneath.
How do I protect my watermelon seedlings?
Transplanting Seedlings Handle watermelon seedlings with extreme care when you transplant. Their roots are very fragile, so try not to disturb the soil when removing them from pots. After transplanting, cover the plants with row covers to keep pests at bay.
How do I make my watermelon sweeter when growing?
Sweetness Starts in the Soil To encourage strong growth, blend 4 to 6 inches of composted manure into your melon beds prior to planting. Then add a balanced organic fertilizer (such as a mixed blood meal/bone meal product) every 3 to 4 weeks.
How do you make watermelon fertilizer?
Add 2 to 3 inches of organic fertilizer such as manure, compost or peanut hulls and mix them in with the tiller. These will aid in drainage and also in the fertility of the soil. This prep work should be done as soon as the soil is workable in spring.
Is chicken manure good for watermelons?
An organic matter, manure is commonly used to amend planting soils. When incorporated correctly, manure helps to replenish the soil’s nutrients while promoting aerated, water-retentive soils. These benefits are especially promising for melons, which demand well-drained, fertile soils for healthy development.
