What do I Need to Know to Grow Watermelon?

[Nan6b]

Hi all,
I couldn't resist the seeds for cekirdegi-oyali watermelon:
https://uprisingorganics.com/vegetables ... oyali.html

I've never grown watermelon. I have no room for watermelon. I have loads of deer, who presumably are gonna love my watermelon. Here's what I'm thinking: I want to grow them along the length of the garden, just outside the fence. Since this leaves them vulnerable, I'm going to put some fence about 1 1/2 ft. away from the garden fence, about 2' high, covered on top. Just box in a long thin area next to the garden, in the area where there is enough sun. I've got about a 30' long strip there. Can I grow a watermelon vine in a sunny 1.5' wide x 2' high x 30' long space?
TIA
Nan

[Growing Coastal]

Also, a friend was wondering if deer would eat the foliage of melon plants. I've read they will eat the melons but no mention of leaves.

[MissS]

In my yard the deer will eat melon leaves though typically they are not supposed to care for the texture. My yard is grossly over-populated though.

[kath]

I can envision your setup-what kind of fencing are you using, Nan? Deer will definitely eat the foliage, and will try to push on the fence and pull the vines through the holes in the fencing. It's very hard to try to contain watermelon vines-believe me, I've tried, with fencing, stakes, etc. The vines continue to sprout new vines along each long vine as the season progresses- the plant really wants to take over a circle at least 20' in diameter so that the leaves can get as much sun as possible. Containing the vines in the space you're proposing would limit how much sun would reach the leaves.

This year I'm trialing 3 "bush" varieties, so we'll see how that goes.

[MrBig46]

I wonder if I can grow watermelon red led upward spiral. Do you have any experience with this?
Vladimír

[SQWIB]

I plan on doing something similar, watermelon will be planted in the beds with other veggies, then I am running a 36' horizontal trellis on top of the fence that is behind the bed for the watermelon.

I'll be finishing the trellis this weekend. I'll be updating this on my SUGA 2020 page

[worth1]

I wonder if I can grow watermelon red led upward spiral. Do you have any experience with this?
Vladimír

I dont see any reason why not they have tendrils that will grab hold anyway.
I grew cucumbers up strings with great results.
You would need to support the fruit though.

[Nan6b]

I wouldn't mind the secondary vines sneaking into the real garden or sneaking out onto the deer path. We'll see how much "pruning" the deer do.

The fence can be deer fence (plastic covered wire, 2"x3" (?), or it can be 1" chicken wire. I'll probably have to buy more fence to do this. Is anything better?

[kath]

The smaller the holes, the better, I think. It amazed me how fast the ends of the vines managed to penetrate even small holes. I've trellised butternut and cantaloupe- you'll need some major support for watermelons!

[Shule]

I wonder if I can grow watermelon red led upward spiral. Do you have any experience with this?
Vladimír

I'm not sure what you mean, exactly, but I tried growning watermelon with a galvanized steel hog wire trellis (with two panels tied together in a tent-like shape). The plants didn't seem interested in climbing it on their own. They did, however, grasp onto the red bailing twine I had tied between both sides of it, and they did it without encouragement.

It was easier to trellis burr gherkins (and they're not easy to trellis). The reason they're easier is that the vines are smaller (thinner branches and smaller leaves) and easier to manually put places.

I'm sure there must be an effective way to support watermelons, but what I did wasn't it!

I have used giant tomato cages effectively with muskmelons, though. I haven't attempted the same with watermelons, however.

[Shule]

[mention]Nan6b[/mention]
The thing that concerns me about your dimensions is the 1.5' wide part. You'd probably want it to be at least 3' wide, or else the branches will probably be growing over each other a lot. Depending on how big watermelon plants get in your garden, you might be able to get away with 2' or 2.5', but I believe 1.5' is too narrow even in my garden, where watermelon don't take up an awful a lot of space.

2' high and 30' long should be fine.

In my garden watermelon take up about as much total space as sprawling medium-sized indeterminate tomatoes, except they don't need as much vertical space by comparison, and they don't shade the ground as much. In other gardens, watermelons might get much bigger plants.

The less space your plant has, the more prone to disease it could be, due to having so many leaves so close.

[Cole_Robbie]

The year that the deer ate all my cantaloupe, they didnt touch a single watermelon. They carried the cantaloupe rinds all over the field. It was a big party.

[Shule]

[mention]Cole_Robbie[/mention]

Maybe they figured since the cantaloupe smelled fragrant when ripe, the watermelon would, too.

[Nan6b]

Hmm. I can't make the space next to the garden much wider. Maybe if I moved it to the middle of the yard? There is not any area that long, but it can be wider. And probably sunnier. It will make my backyard less attractive looking, but I don't think the Yard Police will get involved. Without going out to measure, I know I can get at least an 8'x 5' area in the middle of the yard.

[Shule]

[mention]Nan6b[/mention]
In my yard, 8'x5' would work a lot better. I'm not sure about in others' yards, especially those from the SE USA. My plants don't get 30' long anyway. They get about 5' to 9' long at the most, usually (and less wide). Red-seeded Citron can get huge plants in my garden, though, even in tough soil. I think it got about 15' to 20' long last year (and got 29 fruits, most of which we still have in storage, waiting to be made into desserts and things; most other kinds of watermelons give like 1 to 4 fruits per plant; you can normally expect 2 fruits).

How many plants are you wanting to grow? I could fit a number of them in an 8'x5' space, but I believe most people would do far fewer plants there. They don't smother each other as much as uncaged tomatoes do.

What's your soil type? You'd probably get bigger plants in looser soil with more organic matter, and smaller plants in clay or clay loam soil.

Don't let dirt dry on the leaves of your plants. It can stunt them in my garden (particularly young plants). If dirt gets on them, gently wash it off each time, and they should be fine.

[Nan6b]

My soil is clay with a few inches of dirt over it. I'd love to grow more than one, if you think I could fit it. And as for dirt on the plants, I can use garden cloth over the whole area. Thank you all; I'm getting a clearer idea of how to do this.

[MrBig46]

I'd like to grow those melons just like Hokaido.
Vladimír
[/img]

[Nan6b]

I can't see the Hokkaido picture?

[Shule]

[mention]MrBig46[/mention]
If you edit your post and remove the outer img tag, it'll show the image. Let me know if you want me to do it.

[stone]

Hi all,
I couldn't resist the seeds for cekirdegi-oyali watermelon:
https://uprisingorganics.com/vegetables ... oyali.html

I've never grown watermelon. I have no room for watermelon. I have loads of deer, who presumably are gonna love my watermelon. Here's what I'm thinking: I want to grow them along the length of the garden, just outside the fence. Since this leaves them vulnerable, I'm going to put some fence about 1 1/2 ft. away from the garden fence, about 2' high, covered on top. Just box in a long thin area next to the garden, in the area where there is enough sun. I've got about a 30' long strip there. Can I grow a watermelon vine in a sunny 1.5' wide x 2' high x 30' long space?
TIA

Everyone should make room for watermelons!

Not sure why you are trying to be so chintzy on the space... My suggestion would be to kick somebody else out of the garden proper into the annex... And grow the watermelon vine(s) along the inside of the fence. Or just rip out more turf!

When I plant my vines along the regularly used foot path... I move the vines out of the path back into the bed... Unfortunately this tends to make the fruit difficult to spot, as the vines get stacked on top of each other... But... Growing along the path, the vines do take up less space than commonly believed...

Your vines are unlikely to stay in that box that you describe... They will try to sneak out the sides... They will grow through the top... Don't try to box them into such a small box... Use a full height fence and go wide enough that you can walk the length of the watermelon row.

Those are some outstanding seeds!

Last summer I grew watermelons that have red seeds...
Baker creek advertised them as ancient... Apparently new world melons.... Which seemed impossible... As watermelons originate in Egypt...