zone 13, Phoenix AZ and planted on March 11th... at this point (74 days) the
vines are just 2' long at most, there are blooms on the vines but no fruit.
They get watered twice a week and get direct sunlight from morning to 4PM. I
would expect them to be ripe by 90 days.. What do you think? I still have
time to plant something else there if they aren't going to work out. This is
the second year I've been trying to get them to grow.

On Mon, 24 May 2004 13:02:55 -0700 in
utssc.22344$PU5.8283@fed1read06, "Rich"
graced the world with this
thought:

zone 13, Phoenix AZ and planted on March 11th... at this point (74 days) the
vines are just 2' long at most, there are blooms on the vines but no fruit.
They get watered twice a week and get direct sunlight from morning to 4PM. I
would expect them to be ripe by 90 days.. What do you think? I still have
time to plant something else there if they aren't going to work out. This is
the second year I've been trying to get them to grow.

I'm thinking that when they give you an estimation of time until ready
to go, they figured you wouldn't plant them in Feb/March, regardless
of the zone. The photoperiod is still pretty damn short back then, I'm
not surprised they didn't get very big yet. My guess would be, if
they're healthy, and you leave them in, they'll go berserk because
they've got such a strong foothold. Just a guess, don't hold me to
that.
What happened last year?

"belly" wrote in message
nk.net...
On Mon, 24 May 2004 13:02:55 -0700 in
utssc.22344$PU5.8283@fed1read06, "Rich"
graced the world with this
thought:

zone 13, Phoenix AZ and planted on March 11th... at this point (74 days)
the
vines are just 2' long at most, there are blooms on the vines but no
fruit.
They get watered twice a week and get direct sunlight from morning to
4PM. I
would expect them to be ripe by 90 days.. What do you think? I still have
time to plant something else there if they aren't going to work out. This
is
the second year I've been trying to get them to grow.

I'm thinking that when they give you an estimation of time until ready
to go, they figured you wouldn't plant them in Feb/March, regardless
of the zone. The photoperiod is still pretty damn short back then, I'm
not surprised they didn't get very big yet. My guess would be, if
they're healthy, and you leave them in, they'll go berserk because
they've got such a strong foothold. Just a guess, don't hold me to
that.
What happened last year?

Last year I planted too late... they grew from to October and the vines were
8' long.. they looked healthy as could be but *no* fruit at all. Same thing
is going on this year but I planted on time.

When I planted on 3/11:
Daylength: 11:49 hours
Max. height angle was 52:49 degr at noon time 04:42
Declination of Sun: -3:28 degr
Sun altitude -53:12 degr, azimuth 320:26 degr (UTC 14:56)
Solar power 956 W/m2 at noon
Date: Thursday on 2004-03-11, the 71. day of the year
Location: input, latitude 33:43, longitude 112:02

Today (74th day):
Daylength: 14:07 hours
Max. height angle is 77:21 degr at noon time 04:29
Declination of Sun: 21:04 degr
Sun altitude -29:57 degr, azimuth 27:59 degr (UTC 14:57)
Solar power 1200 W/m2 at noon
Date: Monday on 2004-05-24, the 145. day of the year
Location: input, latitude 33:43, longitude 112:02

On Mon, 24 May 2004 15:00:48 -0700 in
%busc.22853$PU5.8024@fed1read06, "Rich"
graced the world with this
thought:

"belly" wrote in message
ink.net...
On Mon, 24 May 2004 13:02:55 -0700 in
utssc.22344$PU5.8283@fed1read06, "Rich"
graced the world with this
thought:

zone 13, Phoenix AZ and planted on March 11th... at this point (74 days)
the
vines are just 2' long at most, there are blooms on the vines but no
fruit.
They get watered twice a week and get direct sunlight from morning to
4PM. I
would expect them to be ripe by 90 days.. What do you think? I still have
time to plant something else there if they aren't going to work out. This
is
the second year I've been trying to get them to grow.

I'm thinking that when they give you an estimation of time until ready
to go, they figured you wouldn't plant them in Feb/March, regardless
of the zone. The photoperiod is still pretty damn short back then, I'm
not surprised they didn't get very big yet. My guess would be, if
they're healthy, and you leave them in, they'll go berserk because
they've got such a strong foothold. Just a guess, don't hold me to
that.
What happened last year?

Last year I planted too late... they grew from to October and the vines were
8' long.. they looked healthy as could be but *no* fruit at all. Same thing
is going on this year but I planted on time.

When I planted on 3/11:
Daylength: 11:49 hours
Max. height angle was 52:49 degr at noon time 04:42
Declination of Sun: -3:28 degr
Sun altitude -53:12 degr, azimuth 320:26 degr (UTC 14:56)
Solar power 956 W/m2 at noon
Date: Thursday on 2004-03-11, the 71. day of the year
Location: input, latitude 33:43, longitude 112:02

Today (74th day):
Daylength: 14:07 hours
Max. height angle is 77:21 degr at noon time 04:29
Declination of Sun: 21:04 degr
Sun altitude -29:57 degr, azimuth 27:59 degr (UTC 14:57)
Solar power 1200 W/m2 at noon
Date: Monday on 2004-05-24, the 145. day of the year
Location: input, latitude 33:43, longitude 112:02

hmmm... honestly, I've never had a hell of a lot of luck with melons,
myself, mine always seem kind of puny, and not very many of them at
all. Do you have any gardening acquaintances around your area that
have had any luck with watermelons? Maybe your local agricultural
annex or nursery could help you out with some specific info, like good
strains for the area, things like that... let us know if you find
anything, I'd like to find a key to this myself.
How late did you wind up planting last year, anyway?

zone 13, Phoenix AZ and planted on March 11th... at this point (74 days) the
vines are just 2' long at most, there are blooms on the vines but no fruit.
They get watered twice a week and get direct sunlight from morning to 4PM. I
would expect them to be ripe by 90 days.. What do you think? I still have
time to plant something else there if they aren't going to work out. This is
the second year I've been trying to get them to grow.
I do not know the soil or climatic conditions in your area so I am able to make
only general comments.

1. I planted in early April over a two week period. Plants are now vining. Most
years and I don't expect this to be an exception I pick the first ripe melons
by the Fourth of July.

2. The time frames stated are for comparison. An 80 day melon should ripen
earlier than a 90 day melon, but cool weather heavy soils etc slows down the
growth process considerably. As a result a watermelon planted very early may
bear at the same or later time than one planted later under optimum conditions.
I learned this when I tried to push the season and had to replant a lot of
missing hills. The replants finish at the same time as the originals.

3. I know Arizona is supposed to be desert like but twice a week watering?
Despite popular conceptions watermelons really do not like a lot of water. I
grow without irrigation and they are among the most drought resistant veggies I
grow,
Deep watering on an extended interval is far better than repeated shallow
watering.

4. Lastly watermelons will grow happily in beach sand but sulk in heavy clay
and mud soils.

Hi,

"belly" wrote in message
nk.net...

hmmm... honestly, I've never had a hell of a lot of luck with
melons,
myself, mine always seem kind of puny, and not very many of them at
all. Do you have any gardening acquaintances around your area that
have had any luck with watermelons? Maybe your local agricultural
annex or nursery could help you out with some specific info, like
good
strains for the area, things like that... let us know if you find
anything, I'd like to find a key to this myself.
How late did you wind up planting last year, anyway?

About one year ago, I bought few difference type watermelon, eat them
and keep their seeds, mixed all together, sow to every part of my
land, two of them grow well, the fruit are one time bigger and sweeter
than what available on the market.

From what I tested out, watermelon like full sun, moist soil but not
water log, air circulation should be good in between the leave. The
soil should be easy to penetrate by root(I think their root are not
strong enough for pentrate heavy soil)

I heard people here said, rotation are very important for watermelon.
A land have to wait about five year to plant again watermelon. Not
tested myself yet.

By the time I do this, I know not much of agriculture. I believe will
find out more from my next experiment, may be by next year.

I do suggest you do exactly what I do, buy a few type of full ripe
watermelon, mixed their seeds, sow to everywhere before a light rain
are coming. This will tell you which place are best for what type of
watermelon.

Regards,
Wong

--
Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m

In article utssc.22344$PU5.8283@fed1read06, "Rich" wrote:
zone 13, Phoenix AZ and planted on March 11th... at this point (74 days) the
vines are just 2' long at most, there are blooms on the vines but no fruit.
They get watered twice a week and get direct sunlight from morning to 4PM. I
would expect them to be ripe by 90 days.. What do you think? I still have
time to plant something else there if they aren't going to work out. This is
the second year I've been trying to get them to grow.

Everyone here in SoCal had that exact problem last year. The few that
set fruit had little things no bigger than a baseball. Might be the
odd spring, or lack of it (we had June weather in February, and are
now having February weather, and last year was similar).

~REZ~

Hi FarmerDill,

Despite popular conceptions watermelons really do not like a lot of
water. I
grow without irrigation and they are among the most drought
resistant veggies I
grow,

I also donot irrigate my watermelon, but from what I observe, those at
moist soil are grow faster and the leave are larger than those at dry
soil. May be this is due to I donot mulch them.

Deep watering on an extended interval is far better than repeated
shallow
watering.

I think a soil with good infiltration, non irrigate will be better
than deep watering by forcing the root to grow deep for water, this as
well will make the nutrient at the deeper part of soil available to
plant.

4. Lastly watermelons will grow happily in beach sand but sulk in
heavy clay
and mud soils.

I think this is due to watermelon root does not strong in penetration.
Amend heavy clay with high lignin organic matter like rice hull will
solve this problem.

Regards,
Wong

--
Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m

"belly" wrote in message
nk.net...
On Mon, 24 May 2004 15:00:48 -0700 in
%busc.22853$PU5.8024@fed1read06, "Rich"
graced the world with this
thought:

"belly" wrote in message
ink.net...
On Mon, 24 May 2004 13:02:55 -0700 in
utssc.22344$PU5.8283@fed1read06, "Rich"
graced the world with this
thought:

zone 13, Phoenix AZ and planted on March 11th... at this point (74
days)
the
vines are just 2' long at most, there are blooms on the vines but no
fruit.
They get watered twice a week and get direct sunlight from morning to
4PM. I
would expect them to be ripe by 90 days.. What do you think? I still
have
time to plant something else there if they aren't going to work out.
This
is
the second year I've been trying to get them to grow.

I'm thinking that when they give you an estimation of time until ready
to go, they figured you wouldn't plant them in Feb/March, regardless
of the zone. The photoperiod is still pretty damn short back then, I'm
not surprised they didn't get very big yet. My guess would be, if
they're healthy, and you leave them in, they'll go berserk because
they've got such a strong foothold. Just a guess, don't hold me to
that.
What happened last year?

Last year I planted too late... they grew from to October and the vines
were
8' long.. they looked healthy as could be but *no* fruit at all. Same
thing
is going on this year but I planted on time.

When I planted on 3/11:
Daylength: 11:49 hours
Max. height angle was 52:49 degr at noon time 04:42
Declination of Sun: -3:28 degr
Sun altitude -53:12 degr, azimuth 320:26 degr (UTC 14:56)
Solar power 956 W/m2 at noon
Date: Thursday on 2004-03-11, the 71. day of the year
Location: input, latitude 33:43, longitude 112:02

Today (74th day):
Daylength: 14:07 hours
Max. height angle is 77:21 degr at noon time 04:29
Declination of Sun: 21:04 degr
Sun altitude -29:57 degr, azimuth 27:59 degr (UTC 14:57)
Solar power 1200 W/m2 at noon
Date: Monday on 2004-05-24, the 145. day of the year
Location: input, latitude 33:43, longitude 112:02

hmmm... honestly, I've never had a hell of a lot of luck with melons,
myself, mine always seem kind of puny, and not very many of them at
all. Do you have any gardening acquaintances around your area that
have had any luck with watermelons? Maybe your local agricultural
annex or nursery could help you out with some specific info, like good
strains for the area, things like that... let us know if you find
anything, I'd like to find a key to this myself.
How late did you wind up planting last year, anyway?

July... it was way too late.

"nswong" wrote in message
...
Hi,

"belly" wrote in message
nk.net...

hmmm... honestly, I've never had a hell of a lot of luck with
melons,
myself, mine always seem kind of puny, and not very many of them at
all. Do you have any gardening acquaintances around your area that
have had any luck with watermelons? Maybe your local agricultural
annex or nursery could help you out with some specific info, like
good
strains for the area, things like that... let us know if you find
anything, I'd like to find a key to this myself.
How late did you wind up planting last year, anyway?

About one year ago, I bought few difference type watermelon, eat them
and keep their seeds, mixed all together, sow to every part of my
land, two of them grow well, the fruit are one time bigger and sweeter
than what available on the market.

From what I tested out, watermelon like full sun, moist soil but not
water log, air circulation should be good in between the leave. The
soil should be easy to penetrate by root(I think their root are not
strong enough for pentrate heavy soil)

I heard people here said, rotation are very important for watermelon.
A land have to wait about five year to plant again watermelon. Not
tested myself yet.

By the time I do this, I know not much of agriculture. I believe will
find out more from my next experiment, may be by next year.

I do suggest you do exactly what I do, buy a few type of full ripe
watermelon, mixed their seeds, sow to everywhere before a light rain
are coming. This will tell you which place are best for what type of
watermelon.

Regards,
Wong

--
Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m


Well that's a good idea. Trouble is I don't have a big yard. I live in the
city and my "garden" is 5' x 5' (think more along the lines of kitty litter
box) so I have to get it right the first time, or my 5 measly watermelons
won't work out. My wife tells me to just go to the store and buy a
watermelon. I'm starting to think that's a good idea. I'll buy some
watermelons and place them in my garden, and tape the vines to them. That's
not cheating is it?

il Tue, 25 May 2004 12:42:33 -0700, "Rich" ha scritto:

Well that's a good idea. Trouble is I don't have a big yard. I live in the
city and my "garden" is 5' x 5' (think more along the lines of kitty litter
box) so I have to get it right the first time, or my 5 measly watermelons
won't work out. My wife tells me to just go to the store and buy a
watermelon. I'm starting to think that's a good idea. I'll buy some
watermelons and place them in my garden, and tape the vines to them. That's
not cheating is it?

Forget the melons, grow tomatoes. Much nicer. Or peppers. Or grow
something you can't buy easily. A heritage fruit maybe, fresh greens,
or get a log and grow mushrooms :-)
--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

On Tue, 25 May 2004 12:39:22 -0700 in
rdNsc.32213$PU5.26735@fed1read06, "Rich"
graced the world with this
thought:

"belly" wrote in message
ink.net...
On Mon, 24 May 2004 15:00:48 -0700 in
%busc.22853$PU5.8024@fed1read06, "Rich"
graced the world with this
thought:

"belly" wrote in message
ink.net...
On Mon, 24 May 2004 13:02:55 -0700 in
utssc.22344$PU5.8283@fed1read06, "Rich"
graced the world with this
thought:

zone 13, Phoenix AZ and planted on March 11th... at this point (74
days)
the
vines are just 2' long at most, there are blooms on the vines but no
fruit.
They get watered twice a week and get direct sunlight from morning to
4PM. I
would expect them to be ripe by 90 days.. What do you think? I still
have
time to plant something else there if they aren't going to work out.
This
is
the second year I've been trying to get them to grow.

I'm thinking that when they give you an estimation of time until ready
to go, they figured you wouldn't plant them in Feb/March, regardless
of the zone. The photoperiod is still pretty damn short back then, I'm
not surprised they didn't get very big yet. My guess would be, if
they're healthy, and you leave them in, they'll go berserk because
they've got such a strong foothold. Just a guess, don't hold me to
that.
What happened last year?

Last year I planted too late... they grew from to October and the vines
were
8' long.. they looked healthy as could be but *no* fruit at all. Same
thing
is going on this year but I planted on time.

When I planted on 3/11:
Daylength: 11:49 hours
Max. height angle was 52:49 degr at noon time 04:42
Declination of Sun: -3:28 degr
Sun altitude -53:12 degr, azimuth 320:26 degr (UTC 14:56)
Solar power 956 W/m2 at noon
Date: Thursday on 2004-03-11, the 71. day of the year
Location: input, latitude 33:43, longitude 112:02

Today (74th day):
Daylength: 14:07 hours
Max. height angle is 77:21 degr at noon time 04:29
Declination of Sun: 21:04 degr
Sun altitude -29:57 degr, azimuth 27:59 degr (UTC 14:57)
Solar power 1200 W/m2 at noon
Date: Monday on 2004-05-24, the 145. day of the year
Location: input, latitude 33:43, longitude 112:02

hmmm... honestly, I've never had a hell of a lot of luck with melons,
myself, mine always seem kind of puny, and not very many of them at
all. Do you have any gardening acquaintances around your area that
have had any luck with watermelons? Maybe your local agricultural
annex or nursery could help you out with some specific info, like good
strains for the area, things like that... let us know if you find
anything, I'd like to find a key to this myself.
How late did you wind up planting last year, anyway?

July... it was way too late.

yow! lol... one extreme to the other!

"Loki" wrote in message
...
il Tue, 25 May 2004 12:42:33 -0700, "Rich" ha scritto:

Well that's a good idea. Trouble is I don't have a big yard. I live in
the
city and my "garden" is 5' x 5' (think more along the lines of kitty
litter
box) so I have to get it right the first time, or my 5 measly
watermelons
won't work out. My wife tells me to just go to the store and buy a
watermelon. I'm starting to think that's a good idea. I'll buy some
watermelons and place them in my garden, and tape the vines to them.
That's
not cheating is it?

Forget the melons, grow tomatoes. Much nicer. Or peppers. Or grow
something you can't buy easily. A heritage fruit maybe, fresh greens,
or get a log and grow mushrooms :-)
--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

Hey that's a good idea. I like mushrooms.. the edible kind, I think they
were called Morel mushrooms but they only grew in the mid-west. I made one
heck of a pizza with 'em. But nothing grows here except crab grass, oranges,
grapefruit, and cactus. I'm about ready to move back to the mid-west just so
I can get something to grow... I used to have a 2-acre garden and the only
problem was keeping the deer out of it.

Rich

il Tue, 25 May 2004 15:02:29 -0700, "Rich" ha scritto:

Forget the melons, grow tomatoes. Much nicer. Or peppers. Or grow
something you can't buy easily. A heritage fruit maybe, fresh greens,
or get a log and grow mushrooms :-)
--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

Hey that's a good idea. I like mushrooms.. the edible kind, I think they
were called Morel mushrooms but they only grew in the mid-west. I made one
heck of a pizza with 'em. But nothing grows here except crab grass, oranges,
grapefruit, and cactus. I'm about ready to move back to the mid-west just so
I can get something to grow... I used to have a 2-acre garden and the only
problem was keeping the deer out of it.

What? No roast venison on the menu, with a side dish of fresh
veggies? :-)

--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

(FarmerDill) wrote in message ...


3. I know Arizona is supposed to be desert like but twice a week watering?
Despite popular conceptions watermelons really do not like a lot of water. I
grow without irrigation and they are among the most drought resistant veggies I
grow,
Deep watering on an extended interval is far better than repeated shallow
watering.

4. Lastly watermelons will grow happily in beach sand but sulk in heavy clay
and mud soils.

well, Dill, I am tempted. I do have a new garden that is beach sand (I
dumped several tons of compost on it), and next year I do want to grow
either melons or watermelons. But will melons grow in sand (heavily
mulched/composted)? What about vine borers (plentiful here)? And twice
a week watering too much? Sand in midsummer around here dries in two
days.. (this is Michigan, Zone 5.5). Oh, and finally: what about cover
(hoophouse) for early starts? Does it help? I do have that.