I have a couple of plants of watermelon and I am about to plant a
rockmelon. The watermelon has had a few flowers, but no fruit - and I
have never had much luck getting a lot of fruit out of these. I was
wondering if there was some sort of trick to getting them to fruit. I
live west of Brisbane - near Ipswich

Denise

Perksy wrote:
: I have a couple of plants of watermelon and I am about to plant a
: rockmelon. The watermelon has had a few flowers, but no fruit - and I
: have never had much luck getting a lot of fruit out of these. I was
: wondering if there was some sort of trick to getting them to fruit. I
: live west of Brisbane - near Ipswich

: Denise

On those light soils potassium defficiency is a common culprit.
Be careful of adding too much, as that may also cause problems.

regards


Chris

--
(:

Taking the "paranoid" out of "delusion".
icq #107970956

(Perksy) writes:
I have a couple of plants of watermelon and I am about to plant a
rockmelon. The watermelon has had a few flowers, but no fruit - and I
have never had much luck getting a lot of fruit out of these. I was
wondering if there was some sort of trick to getting them to fruit. I
live west of Brisbane - near Ipswich

Perhaps the problem is bees? Or more precisely, a lack of bees?
You might have to buy a tiny artists brush and start pollinating the
female flowers with pollen from the male flowers. It's a bit fiddly
because they are small. Alternatively, you could consider buying a hive
of native bees to do the job for you. They are stingless and so tiny
that your neighbours won't object because they won't notice them.
--
John Savage (for email, replace "ks" with "k" and delete "n")

Thanks for the replies -I am going to try the potassium first, as I
have seen bees pollinating the few flowers that appeared, and see if
this works. After moving from Canberra a few years ago I find it
frustrating that I can't get watermelons to grow... oh well, at least
I can get tomatoes to grow all year long

Denise


John Savage wrote in message news:021211000111612.11Dec02$rookswood@suburbian. com...
(Perksy) writes:
I have a couple of plants of watermelon and I am about to plant a
rockmelon. The watermelon has had a few flowers, but no fruit - and I
have never had much luck getting a lot of fruit out of these. I was
wondering if there was some sort of trick to getting them to fruit. I
live west of Brisbane - near Ipswich

Perhaps the problem is bees? Or more precisely, a lack of bees?
You might have to buy a tiny artists brush and start pollinating the
female flowers with pollen from the male flowers. It's a bit fiddly
because they are small. Alternatively, you could consider buying a hive
of native bees to do the job for you. They are stingless and so tiny
that your neighbours won't object because they won't notice them.