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Mini watermelons
I'm growing mini watermelons for the first time and I have a few tiny melons
that have set on my vines so in the current heat we are getting I should be able to get them to harvest if I can keep up the water to them. Does anyone know if theyd need anything at this stage of summer other than heat and water to keep them ramping along? |
Mini watermelons
Farm1 wrote:
I'm growing mini watermelons for the first time and I have a few tiny melons that have set on my vines so in the current heat we are getting I should be able to get them to harvest if I can keep up the water to them. Does anyone know if theyd need anything at this stage of summer other than heat and water to keep them ramping along? wish i were a melon expert. :) i'd say you're doing fine if you can keep up with them. will you have enough time yet to set more fruit and get it to ripen? if so i would lightly feed at the outwards nodes with your favorite liquid fertilizer. songbird |
Mini watermelons
"songbird" wrote in message
... Farm1 wrote: I'm growing mini watermelons for the first time and I have a few tiny melons that have set on my vines so in the current heat we are getting I should be able to get them to harvest if I can keep up the water to them. Does anyone know if theyd need anything at this stage of summer other than heat and water to keep them ramping along? wish i were a melon expert. :) so do I! It's never been reliably hot aroudn here for logn enough for me to become a melon expert and i love watermelosn and rockmelons (which you'd call canteloups) i'd say you're doing fine if you can keep up with them. will you have enough time yet to set more fruit and get it to ripen? if so i would lightly feed at the outwards nodes with your favorite liquid fertilizer. the biggest is now aobut the sice of my two cleched fists held together and they are supposed to be 'mini' watermelons so I'm hoping htye will hav enough time to get to harvesting. We should still get a full 2 or even 3 more months with a frost. I've been keeping the water up and I've given some food but not a lot. I figure little and not too often might be better than too much food. I'll let you know how they go. |
Mini watermelons
In article , "Farm1"
wrote: "songbird" wrote in message ... Farm1 wrote: I'm growing mini watermelons for the first time and I have a few tiny melons that have set on my vines so in the current heat we are getting I should be able to get them to harvest if I can keep up the water to them. Does anyone know if theyd need anything at this stage of summer other than heat and water to keep them ramping along? wish i were a melon expert. :) so do I! It's never been reliably hot aroudn here for logn enough for me to become a melon expert and i love watermelosn and rockmelons (which you'd call canteloups) i'd say you're doing fine if you can keep up with them. will you have enough time yet to set more fruit and get it to ripen? if so i would lightly feed at the outwards nodes with your favorite liquid fertilizer. the biggest is now aobut the sice of my two cleched fists held together and they are supposed to be 'mini' watermelons so I'm hoping htye will hav enough time to get to harvesting. We should still get a full 2 or even 3 more months with a frost. I've been keeping the water up and I've given some food but not a lot. I figure little and not too often might be better than too much food. I'll let you know how they go. Fran, glad to see you getting chatty again. Excitement isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I have about as much chance of winning the Lotto as being able to get a watermelon to ripeness given my terroire;O) Consequently, I don't have any firsthand information for you. However I do have the "Vegetable Gardener' Bible" by Edward C. Smith. http://www.amazon.com/Vegetable-Gard...-Gardening/dp/ 1580172121/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206815454&sr=1-1 (Available at a library near most of us.) and he suggests moderate and even watering until the melons have reached full size, and then little to no watering while they ripen. I hope that helps some. -- Welcome to the New America. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA736oK9FPg or E Pluribus Unum Next time vote Green Party |
Mini watermelons
On Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:08:29 +1100, "Farm1"
wrote: "songbird" wrote in message ... Farm1 wrote: I'm growing mini watermelons for the first time and I have a few tiny melons that have set on my vines so in the current heat we are getting I should be able to get them to harvest if I can keep up the water to them. Does anyone know if theyd need anything at this stage of summer other than heat and water to keep them ramping along? wish i were a melon expert. :) so do I! It's never been reliably hot aroudn here for logn enough for me to become a melon expert and i love watermelosn and rockmelons (which you'd call canteloups) i'd say you're doing fine if you can keep up with them. will you have enough time yet to set more fruit and get it to ripen? if so i would lightly feed at the outwards nodes with your favorite liquid fertilizer. the biggest is now aobut the sice of my two cleched fists held together and they are supposed to be 'mini' watermelons so I'm hoping htye will hav enough time to get to harvesting. We should still get a full 2 or even 3 more months with a frost. I've been keeping the water up and I've given some food but not a lot. I figure little and not too often might be better than too much food. I'll let you know how they go. 1"- 2" of water a week, and a bit of a boost - compost tea or mild fertilizer every 3 weeks or so. These are the instructions I have used..this has encouraged melons to the point that the critters have found them irresistible. I never get any. I gave up a few yrs ago after many tries. Boron |
Mini watermelons
Farm1 wrote:
songbird wrote: Farm1 wrote: I'm growing mini watermelons for the first time and I have a few tiny melons that have set on my vines so in the current heat we are getting I should be able to get them to harvest if I can keep up the water to them. Does anyone know if theyd need anything at this stage of summer other than heat and water to keep them ramping along? wish i were a melon expert. :) so do I! It's never been reliably hot aroudn here for logn enough for me to become a melon expert and i love watermelosn and rockmelons (which you'd call canteloups) i'm only getting experience by accident. i've not even read up on them. i'd say you're doing fine if you can keep up with them. will you have enough time yet to set more fruit and get it to ripen? if so i would lightly feed at the outwards nodes with your favorite liquid fertilizer. the biggest is now aobut the sice of my two cleched fists held together and they are supposed to be 'mini' watermelons so I'm hoping htye will hav enough time to get to harvesting. We should still get a full 2 or even 3 more months with a frost. if you have 2 to 3 more months of frost free weather then you have a longer season than we do (by about a month). the limitation is leaf area to melon size given all other things being ok. if the plants are big and only have a few fruits then you're good. we have only grown rockmelons here the past few years, but the melon size is about the same as a mini watermelon so i think the amount of sugars needed for ripeness is also going to be similar enough that the comparison isn't too bad. we could get melons to finish if we had them up to size before early to mid August. we didn't let new fruits set after that as we wanted sugars to go into the fruits already set. a few plants that didn't have any on to begin with we let set fruits just to see what would happen, but they didn't make it to full size or any edible ripeness. are you well above sea level? what is your late season normally like? for us we'd be just about done with any new fruit setting. i think you have up to two more weeks where you can let plants put on more fruits if they will. after two more weeks i'd pull most plants that don't have fruits already and reuse the space for something else. leave one test plant and let it fruit if it can but only one fruit as i think the weakening light will make it a waste anyways. I've been keeping the water up and I've given some food but not a lot. I figure little and not too often might be better than too much food. sounds ok from here, except i'd make sure that plants putting on new fruits have more water on the nodes that have rooted closest to the new fruits. you want those to get up to full size as quickly as possible. I'll let you know how they go. :) good luck. songbird |
Mini watermelons
"Billy" wrote in message
... In article , "Farm1" wrote: "songbird" wrote in message ... Farm1 wrote: I'm growing mini watermelons for the first time and I have a few tiny melons that have set on my vines so in the current heat we are getting I should be able to get them to harvest if I can keep up the water to them. Does anyone know if theyd need anything at this stage of summer other than heat and water to keep them ramping along? wish i were a melon expert. :) so do I! It's never been reliably hot aroudn here for logn enough for me to become a melon expert and i love watermelosn and rockmelons (which you'd call canteloups) i'd say you're doing fine if you can keep up with them. will you have enough time yet to set more fruit and get it to ripen? if so i would lightly feed at the outwards nodes with your favorite liquid fertilizer. the biggest is now aobut the sice of my two cleched fists held together and they are supposed to be 'mini' watermelons so I'm hoping htye will hav enough time to get to harvesting. We should still get a full 2 or even 3 more months with a frost. I've been keeping the water up and I've given some food but not a lot. I figure little and not too often might be better than too much food. I'll let you know how they go. Fran, glad to see you getting chatty again. Excitement isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I have about as much chance of winning the Lotto as being able to get a watermelon to ripeness given my terroire;O) Consequently, I don't have any firsthand information for you. However I do have the "Vegetable Gardener' Bible" by Edward C. Smith. http://www.amazon.com/Vegetable-Gard...-Gardening/dp/ 1580172121/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206815454&sr=1-1 (Available at a library near most of us.) and he suggests moderate and even watering until the melons have reached full size, and then little to no watering while they ripen. I hope that helps some. Well that sounds like good advice and even makes sense. I know that things that couldn't be grown in this area 40 years ago, can now be grown so each year it's a case of trying something new. This year the new, is the mini watermelons and physalis. The physalis are looking great - now I just need to figure ut what to do with them when they are ripe and also finding out if they are ripe when the calyxs (sp?) go papery or is it before then? |
Mini watermelons
"Boron Elgar" wrote in message
... On Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:08:29 +1100, "Farm1" wrote: "songbird" wrote in message ... Farm1 wrote: I'm growing mini watermelons for the first time and I have a few tiny melons that have set on my vines so in the current heat we are getting I should be able to get them to harvest if I can keep up the water to them. Does anyone know if theyd need anything at this stage of summer other than heat and water to keep them ramping along? wish i were a melon expert. :) so do I! It's never been reliably hot aroudn here for logn enough for me to become a melon expert and i love watermelosn and rockmelons (which you'd call canteloups) i'd say you're doing fine if you can keep up with them. will you have enough time yet to set more fruit and get it to ripen? if so i would lightly feed at the outwards nodes with your favorite liquid fertilizer. the biggest is now aobut the sice of my two cleched fists held together and they are supposed to be 'mini' watermelons so I'm hoping htye will hav enough time to get to harvesting. We should still get a full 2 or even 3 more months with a frost. I've been keeping the water up and I've given some food but not a lot. I figure little and not too often might be better than too much food. I'll let you know how they go. 1"- 2" of water a week, and a bit of a boost - compost tea or mild fertilizer every 3 weeks or so. Aha! That sounds close enough to what I'm doing now. These are the instructions I have used..this has encouraged melons to the point that the critters have found them irresistible. I never get any. I gave up a few yrs ago after many tries. I might have to put a plastic milk crate over the fruits then as they fet nearer to harvest. I've not had any strawberries for weks and weeks but I have several very fat and huge Blue Tongued Lizards hanging round my strawbs so I know just what you mean about critters: http://www.outback-australia-travel-...ue-lizard.html |
Mini watermelons
"songbird" wrote in message
... Farm1 wrote: songbird wrote: Farm1 wrote: I'm growing mini watermelons for the first time and I have a few tiny melons that have set on my vines so in the current heat we are getting I should be able to get them to harvest if I can keep up the water to them. Does anyone know if theyd need anything at this stage of summer other than heat and water to keep them ramping along? wish i were a melon expert. :) so do I! It's never been reliably hot aroudn here for logn enough for me to become a melon expert and i love watermelosn and rockmelons (which you'd call canteloups) i'm only getting experience by accident. i've not even read up on them. i'd say you're doing fine if you can keep up with them. will you have enough time yet to set more fruit and get it to ripen? if so i would lightly feed at the outwards nodes with your favorite liquid fertilizer. the biggest is now aobut the sice of my two cleched fists held together and they are supposed to be 'mini' watermelons so I'm hoping htye will hav enough time to get to harvesting. We should still get a full 2 or even 3 more months with a frost. if you have 2 to 3 more months of frost free weather then you have a longer season than we do (by about a month). the limitation is leaf area to melon size given all other things being ok. if the plants are big and only have a few fruits then you're good. we have only grown rockmelons here the past few years, but the melon size is about the same as a mini watermelon so i think the amount of sugars needed for ripeness is also going to be similar enough that the comparison isn't too bad. we could get melons to finish if we had them up to size before early to mid August. we didn't let new fruits set after that as we wanted sugars to go into the fruits already set. a few plants that didn't have any on to begin with we let set fruits just to see what would happen, but they didn't make it to full size or any edible ripeness. are you well above sea level? what is your late season normally like? for us we'd be just about done with any new fruit setting. i think you have up to two more weeks where you can let plants put on more fruits if they will. after two more weeks i'd pull most plants that don't have fruits already and reuse the space for something else. leave one test plant and let it fruit if it can but only one fruit as i think the weakening light will make it a waste anyways. Now that is excellent thoughts! I was thinking that I might need to stop more fruits starting or even remove some to ensure that what I do have on the plant can get to harvest. Nice to know that I was on a similar wave length. I've been keeping the water up and I've given some food but not a lot. I figure little and not too often might be better than too much food. sounds ok from here, except i'd make sure that plants putting on new fruits have more water on the nodes that have rooted closest to the new fruits. you want those to get up to full size as quickly as possible. I'll let you know how they go. :) good luck. Thanks bird. This gardneing caper is always about holding one's tongue in the right position - either that or it's just plain dumb luck. |
Mini watermelons
Farm1 said:
The physalis are looking great - now I just need to figure ut what to do with them when they are ripe and also finding out if they are ripe when the calyxs (sp?) go papery or is it before then? If these are the sort that go by the common name "ground cherry" or "cape gooseberry" then they are ripe when the husks are dry and papery. Shake the plant and the ripest ones will fall right off. They make a good jam and can also be dried. I was less fond of them fresh. -- Pat in Plymouth MI "Yes, swooping is bad." email valid but not regularly monitored |
Mini watermelons
In article , "Farm1"
wrote: "songbird" wrote in message ... Farm1 wrote: songbird wrote: Farm1 wrote: I'm growing mini watermelons for the first time and I have a few tiny melons that have set on my vines so in the current heat we are getting I should be able to get them to harvest if I can keep up the water to them. Does anyone know if theyd need anything at this stage of summer other than heat and water to keep them ramping along? wish i were a melon expert. :) so do I! It's never been reliably hot aroudn here for logn enough for me to become a melon expert and i love watermelosn and rockmelons (which you'd call canteloups) i'm only getting experience by accident. i've not even read up on them. i'd say you're doing fine if you can keep up with them. will you have enough time yet to set more fruit and get it to ripen? if so i would lightly feed at the outwards nodes with your favorite liquid fertilizer. the biggest is now aobut the sice of my two cleched fists held together and they are supposed to be 'mini' watermelons so I'm hoping htye will hav enough time to get to harvesting. We should still get a full 2 or even 3 more months with a frost. if you have 2 to 3 more months of frost free weather then you have a longer season than we do (by about a month). the limitation is leaf area to melon size given all other things being ok. if the plants are big and only have a few fruits then you're good. we have only grown rockmelons here the past few years, but the melon size is about the same as a mini watermelon so i think the amount of sugars needed for ripeness is also going to be similar enough that the comparison isn't too bad. we could get melons to finish if we had them up to size before early to mid August. we didn't let new fruits set after that as we wanted sugars to go into the fruits already set. a few plants that didn't have any on to begin with we let set fruits just to see what would happen, but they didn't make it to full size or any edible ripeness. are you well above sea level? what is your late season normally like? for us we'd be just about done with any new fruit setting. i think you have up to two more weeks where you can let plants put on more fruits if they will. after two more weeks i'd pull most plants that don't have fruits already and reuse the space for something else. leave one test plant and let it fruit if it can but only one fruit as i think the weakening light will make it a waste anyways. Now that is excellent thoughts! I was thinking that I might need to stop more fruits starting or even remove some to ensure that what I do have on the plant can get to harvest. Nice to know that I was on a similar wave length. I've been keeping the water up and I've given some food but not a lot. I figure little and not too often might be better than too much food. sounds ok from here, except i'd make sure that plants putting on new fruits have more water on the nodes that have rooted closest to the new fruits. you want those to get up to full size as quickly as possible. I'll let you know how they go. :) good luck. Thanks bird. This gardneing caper is always about holding one's tongue in the right position - either that or it's just plain dumb luck. So, it is a "C peruviana". Another Solanaceae, for those other gardeners trying to figure out a crop rotation for their garden beds. Just the term Physalis is a little vague as there are over half-a-dozen of this genera: Tomatillo, Physalis alkekengi, Physalis minima, Physalis heterophylla, Physalis peruviana, Physalis longifolia, Physalis coztomatl, Physalis angulata. Our garden is only 600 sq. ft. (57 sq. m.), and tomatoes, and peppers (Solanaceae) are already staples there. Calculating in something like eggplant (melanzana), or tomatillo (physalis) into a 3 year rotation is intimidating. I'm constantly lusting after more garden space, especially flat land (as I get older), and with full sun. Good luck with your experiment. "There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments." -- Janet Kilburn Phillips -- Welcome to the New America. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA736oK9FPg or E Pluribus Unum Next time vote Green Party |
Mini watermelons
"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
... Farm1 said: The physalis are looking great - now I just need to figure ut what to do with them when they are ripe and also finding out if they are ripe when the calyxs (sp?) go papery or is it before then? If these are the sort that go by the common name "ground cherry" or "cape gooseberry" then they are ripe when the husks are dry and papery. Shake the plant and the ripest ones will fall right off. They make a good jam and can also be dried. I was less fond of them fresh. Thanks for that info Pat. And yes, they are the Cape gooseberry. I've tried them raw at a friends and he also made some into a tart. I too preferred them cooked. |
Mini watermelons
"Billy" wrote in message
So, it is a "C peruviana". Another Solanaceae, for those other gardeners trying to figure out a crop rotation for their garden beds. Just the term Physalis is a little vague as there are over half-a-dozen of this genera: Tomatillo, Physalis alkekengi, Physalis minima, Physalis heterophylla, Physalis peruviana, Physalis longifolia, Physalis coztomatl, Physalis angulata. Our garden is only 600 sq. ft. (57 sq. m.), and tomatoes, and peppers (Solanaceae) are already staples there. Calculating in something like eggplant (melanzana), or tomatillo (physalis) into a 3 year rotation is intimidating. I find any rotation intimidating and I'm not the least bit restricted for space. I'm constantly lusting after more garden space, especially flat land (as I get older), and with full sun. LOL. I can theoretically understand that Billy. You wouldn't want that full sun if you'd had a summer like I have had. And it's not even February yet when it usually gets really hot. I'm lusting for shade all the time at the moment but even moving to follow the shade around and try to do the gardneing that way has meant that one has to be inside by 10 am or otherwise it's heat stroke territory. Good luck with your experiment. Thank Billy. I checked the watermelons this morning and they would now be about the size of 3 clenched fists. They are cranking along now. One physalis plants is covered with fruit and the other one has lots of flowers and although I dind't look all that closely, it doesn't look like it has any fruit. Must check more closely tomorrow. |
Mini watermelons
In article , "Farm1"
wrote: "Billy" wrote in message So, it is a "C peruviana". Another Solanaceae, for those other gardeners trying to figure out a crop rotation for their garden beds. Just the term Physalis is a little vague as there are over half-a-dozen of this genera: Tomatillo, Physalis alkekengi, Physalis minima, Physalis heterophylla, Physalis peruviana, Physalis longifolia, Physalis coztomatl, Physalis angulata. Our garden is only 600 sq. ft. (57 sq. m.), and tomatoes, and peppers (Solanaceae) are already staples there. Calculating in something like eggplant (melanzana), or tomatillo (physalis) into a 3 year rotation is intimidating. I find any rotation intimidating and I'm not the least bit restricted for space. I'm constantly lusting after more garden space, especially flat land (as I get older), and with full sun. LOL. I can theoretically understand that Billy. You wouldn't want that full sun if you'd had a summer like I have had. And it's not even February yet when it usually gets really hot. I'm lusting for shade all the time at the moment but even moving to follow the shade around and try to do the gardneing that way has meant that one has to be inside by 10 am or otherwise it's heat stroke territory. Good luck with your experiment. Thank Billy. I checked the watermelons this morning and they would now be about the size of 3 clenched fists. They are cranking along now. One physalis plants is covered with fruit and the other one has lots of flowers and although I dind't look all that closely, it doesn't look like it has any fruit. Must check more closely tomorrow. You mates look to be having an interesting time. Fires to the South, and floods to the North. I'll be starting some lettuce, and snow peas this week-end. -- Welcome to the New America. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA736oK9FPg or E Pluribus Unum Next time vote Green Party |
Mini watermelons
"Billy" wrote in message
You mates look to be having an interesting time. Fires to the South, and floods to the North. Yes, we had to leave one night because of one of the fires near us and they have had a right rollicking up north today. Some people have now been flooded twice in 2 years. I'll be starting some lettuce, and snow peas this week-end. So it must be getting slightly warmer? |
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