watermelon shrinking

disneybookmama 8/2/2012, 11:29 am

hello,
I have three watermelon plants I just got two actual watermelons. I made a sling for each one. In one day, one of them shrank to half it's size. help! what did I do wrong? I place pics tomorrow.

CapeCoddess 8/2/2012, 3:12 pm

You mean the fruit shrank, or the plant itself? Definitely need photos of this.

CC

Mikesgardn 8/2/2012, 9:21 pm

Were the two melons growing on one plant, or were they on separate plants? I've noticed that with my watermelon plants, several melons will start to grow on each plant, but then all but the largest one on each plant will shrivel up. It's like the plant puts all of its energy into growing just one melon.

cheyannarach 8/3/2012, 12:27 am

disneybookmama wrote:hello,
I have three watermelon plants I just got two actual watermelons. I made a sling for each one. In one day, one of them shrank to half it's size. help! what did I do wrong? I place pics tomorrow.

Hi Disneybookmama! Welcome to the forum, I noticed it was your first post. Are you square foot gardening? This is my first year trying watermelon because I have a pretty short frost free season but I am sure someone with more experience will be along shortly! Pictures would be very helpful, and does the watermelon seem like it's rotting/shriveling up or just getting smaller? How does the foilage look?

Dunkinjean 8/4/2012, 10:20 pm

I am also growing watermelons - sugar baby. So far I have about 4-5 in slings. They do seem to be doing fine.
I have seen my cucumbers grow a bit and then yellow and shrivel up. I just assumed it is do to the extreme hot weather. But the cucumber plants still have been producing lots of cucumbers. Hopefully the severe heat will soon ease up.

Pollinator 8/5/2012, 12:21 am

If the plant is otherwise healthy, you are looking at abortion from inadequate pollination, due to not enought pollen grains delivered to the flower. This usually means inadequate bee visits. Remember that a watermelon needs about 1000 grains of pollen delivered and evenly spread on the three lobes of the stigma.

yolos 8/5/2012, 12:35 am

Can you hand pollinate a watermellon the same way we hand pollinate a squash ??

**Turan** 8/5/2012, 1:44 pm

Sure. It is the same biology. Even the same plant family, though not close enough to interbreed.

Pollinator 8/5/2012, 5:13 pm

yolos wrote:Can you hand pollinate a watermellon the same way we hand pollinate a squash ??

Well, squash is easier, since its large coarse pollen grains are quite visible. Watermelon pollen is much finer and is very hard to see. Otherwise they are very similar, with male and female blossoms. If you grow seedless hybrid watermelons, be aware that their pollen is sterile, and you need pollen from male blossoms of a seeded variety for pollination.

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