Growing Watermelons

[Beardog]

Hi guys,

Everything in our garden is growing good & the flowers & trees are doing great(Due to all the great advice you all gave me!)

I can't keep the watermelon growing till maturity. We only got 1 nit naughy sweet one 4 inches round the rest have all made it to curry soup.

I know living in Pattaya area is not the best for citrus,& the garden does get full sun all day. Is it just to hot in this area? would I be better off positioning them in some shade during the day. I have have grown melons in the U.S. & they usually do great.

Thanks again for sharing advice.

Beardog

[sbk]

Off-topic comments have been deleted.

Since this is the Farming forum, may I suggest that if you do not have relevant information to offer then please refrain from posting inane off-topic comments?

Watermelon isn't a citrus beardog

anyway, some shade would be good although they generally like full sun--- perhaps it does get too hot. Also, melons are heavy feeders-- make sure your melons are growing in rich, composted soil and give them lots of water. Also, fertilize regularly. Use a high nitrogen fertilizer until flowers form. Then, switch over to a high phosphorous and potassium fertilizer.

[sweetchariot]

Off-topic comments have been deleted.

Since this is the Farming forum, may I suggest that if you do not have relevant information to offer then please refrain from posting inane off-topic comments?

Watermelon isn't a citrus beardog

anyway, some shade would be good although they generally like full sun--- perhaps it does get too hot. Also, melons are heavy feeders-- make sure your melons are growing in rich, composted soil and give them lots of water. Also, fertilize regularly. Use a high nitrogen fertilizer until flowers form. Then, switch over to a high phosphorous and potassium fertilizer.

The OP said that his melons are small, I said I prefer big melons. How is that off topic??

[sbk]

OP is looking for advice. Do you have relevant advice to offer?

[Gary A]

Just to add a little, most of the watermelons grown here in Thailand are round and about the size of a soccer ball. Once in a while you will see some oblong and a little bigger but not the huge ones you see in the US. The ones we used to call sugar babies do quite well here and are VERY sweet.

[slapout]

Watermelon do best in a sandy type soil, shade is not a requirement except what nature provides (clouds) They can withstand dry times but need about 3 to 6 inches (depending on soil) of rain, after melon has set, to harvest. Most melons can stand temp. up to 40 C. I have noticed packs of seeds for sale in some of the food markets, never looked as to name of them, but locals should be able to answer that. I had pumpkin and watermelon that some nasty would eat them before they were ripe, tennis ball size, bore hole and eat inside. This was not on farm but at home in small garden (now wifes flower) area. Small size sounds like lack of some nutrient that is required for growth of fruit.

[Beardog]

Thanks for the dynamo info- I think it is my soil & nutrients, I found out Bang Sare- Pattaya area has plenty of local watermelon farms & they require a lot of nutrients! Thanks again for the help. I think I will try all the above!

Delighted to be back on track.

Is it similar with cantaloupe & honeydew? It was a lot of years since I grew these types of fruit as Hawaii had so many different kinds of fruit that grew easier,I never bothered trying.

Thanks for the help I m enjoying learning & getting to eat the fruits & veggies from the garden. And my gal is ecstatic about getting to grow her own things she likes to eat. Life is good!

Beardog

Edited November 18, 2007 by Beardog

[exexpat]

Hmm...i thought farming was one of the banned activities for farang.   It makes me think of huge tractors or hordes of workers.  Isn't gardening more appropriate?

[Lickey]

exexpat, i have a choice, i can go to our 40rai {hobby farm ] help pick papaya.banana,chilies,tamarind,lamyai,various salad things from the covered raised beds,mangos,kanoon,modify and move the irrigation sprinklers, burn all the rubbish from bamboo plantation and generally keep the farm tidy, i dont get paid for this, like i say its a hobby for me, OR i could stay in the Mrs beauty Salon all day, girls come in wanting Thai massage/oil massage, wash hair and blow dry,manicure and pedicure, facial mudpacks,full body hair colour change, wedding hair-do and make-up,sauna with herbs and spices specially for chest complaints, so i spend the morning in the salon and the afternoon in the hot sun on farm to cool down,

And now onto Melons, yes, we also grow these in various forms, from honeydew to the squash thick gourd types, we have a red/clay soil and it seems the best are the Squashes, we have had little sucsess with the honeydew types, they grew big but if not checked everyday would soon get full of ants ect, will be trying again soon with plenty of cowshite from Mr Poo, a tractor to rotovate this in and plant the seeds a week later, will keep all posted with the results! Cheers, Lickey.

[Beardog]

exexpat, i have a choice, i can go to our 40rai {hobby farm ] help pick papaya.banana,chilies,tamarind,lamyai,various salad things from the covered raised beds,mangos,kanoon,modify and move the irrigation sprinklers, burn all the rubbish from bamboo plantation and generally keep the farm tidy, i dont get paid for this, like i say its a hobby for me, OR i could stay in the Mrs beauty Salon all day, girls come in wanting Thai massage/oil massage, wash hair and blow dry,manicure and pedicure, facial mudpacks,full body hair colour change, wedding hair-do and make-up,sauna with herbs and spices specially for chest complaints, so i spend the morning in the salon and the afternoon in the hot sun on farm to cool down,

And now onto Melons, yes, we also grow these in various forms, from honeydew to the squash thick gourd types, we have a red/clay soil and it seems the best are the Squashes, we have had little sucsess with the honeydew types, they grew big but if not checked everyday would soon get full of ants ect, will be trying again soon with plenty of cowshite from Mr Poo, a tractor to rotovate this in and plant the seeds a week later, will keep all posted with the results! Cheers, Lickey.

Thanks for the useful info on honeydew types Squashes are doing A ok have the same clay & quai key mixed in. the watermelons at the house we rent the soil is different (like rock & clay pure crap) but grows squash pumpkins & watermelon great. did you ever get the honeydew to ripen & be sweet. I haven't seen any ripe Honeydews for sale since I got here in 2004.

and I agree at whatever level "hobby farming" is a good way to keep healthy & sure & i agree it beats hangin with the gals at the beauty salon. My girl does the same & I would rather be doing rather than hangin out.

Thanks for the help!

[Lickey]

Hi Beardog, no, the honeydew never got sweet, perhaps we over-watered them and they grew to quick to establish there real flavour, and perhaps another reason is that when flowers grow at the end of the creeper{with the little melon bulb underneath} the flowers are cut off and sold on the local market as a special treat for the thai palate?Perhaps this causes the rest of the melons to take on extra water and make the inards tasteless, watery slush is a good description i believe, Squashes, have you tried roasting cubes of this? its a cross between parsnip and swede, no need to par-boil, but beware, it does have the same effect of brussel sprouts or artichokes, vertical take-off, but tasty with roast lamb ect,

Regards, Lickey.

[Beardog]

Thanks for the tip i will try roasting the squash. so far all the veggies short of mahkuas taste great on the BBQ.

I had a feeling Cantaloupe & honeydew might be a bust, as I have never been able to buy either of them sweet.

My girl is cooking up some killer Papaya soup with potatoes squashes & 4 other vegetables we grew(all but the potatoes)

It is good to be back into the soil working again & enjoying the harvest!

Cheers again!

Beardog

[ozzydom]

Watermelons,honeydew,and even pumpkin should be given copious amounts of water until the fruit reaches near full size, then cut right back on the water to the extent of the vines looking distressed ,this allows the fruit to sweeten and actually keeps longer.

Dont pick the fruit until the stalk starts to wither.

Here in Los it is necessary to hand pollinate because of the scarcity of bees to do the job, these type of fruit carry male and female flowers and it is an easy chore with a cotton bud to hand pollinate.

The larger fower on a long stalk is the male, the female flower is smaller ,on a shorter stalk usually near a leaf junction, it is the female that turns into a fruit , the male flower usually withers in a day.

[Lickey]

Watermelons,honeydew,and even pumpkin should be given copious amounts of water until the fruit reaches near full size, then cut right back on the water to the extent of the vines looking distressed ,this allows the fruit to sweeten and actually keeps longer.

Dont pick the fruit until the stalk starts to wither.

Here in Los it is necessary to hand pollinate because of the scarcity of bees to do the job, these type of fruit carry male and female flowers and it is an easy chore with a cotton bud to hand pollinate.

The larger fower on a long stalk is the male, the female flower is smaller ,on a shorter stalk usually near a leaf junction, it is the female that turns into a fruit , the male flower usually withers in a day.

Hi Ozzydom, havent heard from you lately, {had a few PMs to your whereabouts, some were going to send a search party out for you,} anyway, good info on the melons, now, what do you suggest as the melon gets older and sits on damp soil, we tried putting a bed of straw under the melon, but it still seemed to go bad on contact with this, we tried pieces of wood as well, perhaps turning them every day would help? but with nearly 3 rai, this is helluva job!! comments always appreciated, Thanks, Lickey..

[Beardog]

Thanks Ozzydom,

I will give the hand pollination a try, The one vine we grew at our rented home ,the watermellon is 7 inches round. I think the soil is different & the soil on our land is only ailing on the watermelon. Come to think of it though I have seen few bees.

Thank you guys & SBK for the help!!!!

Beardog

Edited November 26, 2007 by Beardog

[chownah]

Thanks Ozzydom,

I will give the hand pollination a try, The one vine we grew at our rented home ,the watermellon is 7 inches round. I think the soil is different & the soil on our land is only ailing on the watermelon. Come to think of it though I have seen few bees.

Thank you guys & SBK for the help!!!!

Beardog

Google "watermelon nematode" and you will see why even with good fertile soil you might not get a crop of melons.

[Beardog]

Thanks Ozzydom,

I will give the hand pollination a try, The one vine we grew at our rented home ,the watermellon is 7 inches round. I think the soil is different & the soil on our land is only ailing on the watermelon. Come to think of it though I have seen few bees.

Thank you guys & SBK for the help!!!!

Beardog

Google "watermelon nematode" and you will see why even with good fertile soil you might not get a crop of melons.

Thanks Chownah , I googled the W N & would not be a bit surprised I might have a touch of that. The leaves wither up for no apparent reason. I am truly amazed at the amount of growth the watermelon grows daily at the house I am renting & it has the most hideous soil Rock compacted clay & a little bit of black soil(very little) & possibly a little key mixed in. it was the worse soil (looking) but it seems to grow most vegetable & watermelons great. anything on a vine grows insane. I think something is maybe going on in the soil or some underlying reason for the problem--By the way did you get your wedding cow Pumpui?

seems like C- sip & Tim A. had some good info.Lucern hay would be better for a cow than the chaff. Horses have a hardier digestive track than cows

Thanks again cheers!

Beardog.

Edited November 26, 2007 by Beardog

[ozzydom]

Watermelons,honeydew,and even pumpkin should be given copious amounts of water until the fruit reaches near full size, then cut right back on the water to the extent of the vines looking distressed ,this allows the fruit to sweeten and actually keeps longer.

Dont pick the fruit until the stalk starts to wither.

Here in Los it is necessary to hand pollinate because of the scarcity of bees to do the job, these type of fruit carry male and female flowers and it is an easy chore with a cotton bud to hand pollinate.

The larger fower on a long stalk is the male, the female flower is smaller ,on a shorter stalk usually near a leaf junction, it is the female that turns into a fruit , the male flower usually withers in a day.

Hi Ozzydom, havent heard from you lately, {had a few PMs to your whereabouts, some were going to send a search party out for you,} anyway, good info on the melons, now, what do you suggest as the melon gets older and sits on damp soil, we tried putting a bed of straw under the melon, but it still seemed to go bad on contact with this, we tried pieces of wood as well, perhaps turning them every day would help? but with nearly 3 rai, this is helluva job!! comments always appreciated, Thanks, Lickey..

Hi Lickey, I had an urgent trip back to Oz for a procedure on the old ticker and have been keeping a low profile while recuperating, but all seems to be working ok now..

The melon growing season is usually a period of low precipitation so melon rot is probably a consequence of the watering regime.

Ideally a sandy soil in which the surface dries quickly is good but we have to work with what we have.

A drip system is good as melons have a fairly small root system,barring that a good thick bed of rice straw will keep the fruit off the ground and also help retain moisture in the soil,water just after sun-up will help the straw dry quickly, whether you use straw or rice husk make sure it is a few inches thick,it will also help suppress weed growth.

Another method with melons is using a two sided mouldboard plough ( they are cheap to buy here) with this implement you plough furrows (diches) at two foot then 5 foot alternates, the idea is that you plant you seed in the 2 foot wide "hill" and the 5 foot wide area is the growing and fruiting area, you can then flood irrigate down the channels which also become an aid to drainage in event of heavy rain..

I am a real fan of flood irrigation as it puts the water only at the roots where you want it therefore saving water if supply is a problem.

[Lickey]

Hi Ozzydom, glad youve back in the saddle again and feeling better, Yes, i think was the watering regime that did it, using overhead sprinklers,Hopefully on thursday a Ford will appear with a rotovator and prepare the ground for the new crop, and flood irrigation would be best but unfortunatley the farm is on a hillside, drops 3 inches in a yard, it is of course possible to do the 2ft trenches, perhaps then make a small gulley off the trench and plant the seed/seeds, once they have started to grow, train them onto the raised ground, and cross-polinate them as you described, Water is not a problem, we have a borehole, holding tank and booster pump, at the moment its on a timer for 6 hours a night watering 12 rai of Papaya and banana through 5 12 mtr dia overhead sprinklers, i just move the sprinklers everyday ready for the night session, now as the old mini-sprinkler pipe is not used perhaps i could adapt this in the melon trenches {not using sprinklers ] but making small holes near the seeds to give some water, not nessacerily at night, can do this anytime in the day. We have a heavy red-clay soil that is fairly water retentive, also rice straw/husks not a problem here, as the harvest is well underway, Thanks for your thoughts on this Ozzy, cheers, Lickey..

[ozzydom]

Hi Lickey, It sounds like you are working your patch up and down the slope.. best practise is to plough and plant across the slope,this allows better water retension and helps prevent erosion.

Take levels at the top of the block and pop in a few pegs to guide the first pass and work down hill using the first cut as your guide, if your using a disc plough, its best to turn the furrow up the slope , with a rotovator it doest matter which way you work .

Cheers

[stellone]

do anyone use this Watermelon forum now?

i am looking for a supplier or a farmer who can sell me canteloupe (Honeydew melon and rock melon) in bulk quantities. I want this weekly.. please contact me for any suggestions and comments. You can private message me if you want.

[c64]

Hi Lickey, It sounds like you are working your patch up and down the slope.. best practise is to plough and plant across the slope,this allows better water retension and helps prevent erosion.

Take levels at the top of the block and pop in a few pegs to guide the first pass and work down hill using the first cut as your guide, if your using a disc plough, its best to turn the furrow up the slope , with a rotovator it doest matter which way you work .

Cheers

In Norway, some of the farmers use to plow uphill when the land is prone to erosion. In extreme cases they use two tractors to do the job - one on the top with a winch attached to it and basically winching the plowing tractor up the hill.

The thinking behind it is that you will keep the dirt in place or in best case dragging it up the hill instead of pulling it down

Regards

[Lickey]

do anyone use this Watermelon forum now?

i am looking for a supplier or a farmer who can sell me canteloupe (Honeydew melon and rock melon) in bulk quantities. I want this weekly.. please contact me for any suggestions and comments. You can private message me if you want.

If you bring a big truck to the Udon area, you can buy the melons you want from 3 to 5 bht for football size and a bit smaller, Pick-ups roam our small town with speakers blaring, trying to sell,

At that price, i dont bother to grow them anymore,