Pruning Watermelon plants?

Terriann 7/9/2013, 4:14 pm

Hello everyone,
Can I cut back on un-producing vines on my watermelon plant? thinking

Thanks,
TerriAnn

cheyannarach 7/13/2013, 9:26 pm

I am pretty sure you can but maybe someone with more watermelon experience than me will be along for more thorough advice!

**walshevak** 7/15/2013, 10:42 am

I don't know about pruning watermelons, but my melons are not growing as well or as large as last year. Last year the plants grew enough to start them on the cattle panel before they started setting fruit. This year all the fruit is inside the bed and the vines are barely starting up the panels. But I do have several watermelons and about 8 cantaloupes.

Kay

quiltbea 7/15/2013, 8:53 pm

I've never pruned my watermelons in the past since I had them growing in the community garden beds, not SFG. This year I have a couple plants in a pot so I'll use the advice I read about pruning.
After you have some tiny melons forming on the vine, cut off the vines about 3-4' beyond the last melon. That way the plant will put its energy into growing your melons instead of spreading further.

**sanderson** 7/16/2013, 1:10 am

Terriann, You could call this the year of the Great Experiment and trim off a couple of the side vines. ??

batmap 7/16/2013, 3:30 am

quiltbea wrote:I've never pruned my watermelons in the past since I had them growing in the community garden beds, not SFG. This year I have a couple plants in a pot so I'll use the advice I read about pruning.
After you have some tiny melons forming on the vine, cut off the vines about 3-4' beyond the last melon. That way the plant will put its energy into growing your melons instead of spreading further.

Try trim/clip any new blooms once you have fruit set (exact timing varies), preventing small unusable fruit from growing too close to harvest/first freeze.

jjocsak 7/16/2013, 11:29 am

Take a look at this video.
It's about cucumbers but may work with melons as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGkFJh5bKGg

Jeff

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