Watermelon and compost tumbler

Experiment of growing watermelon in a small space. Also why not to buy or build the tall type compost tumbler.

Has, I like your review of the vertical tumbler - not for wimps. Some day I will not be able to turn the compost pile so I am quietly observing and reading.

+1 Sanderson!

Thanks also for this video, Has55.  Very interesting...

I want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly.  Once you get a watermelon, you cut the main stem of that plant so that it does not continue to reach out?  What about suckers?  And how many do you have in what size plot?

Interesting about the tumbler. I have an old fashioned straight up pile, which I manually toss with a fork periodically. Also free!

AtlantaMarie wrote:+1 Sanderson!

Thanks also for this video, Has55.  Very interesting...

I want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly.  Once you get a watermelon, you cut the main stem of that plant so that it does not continue to reach out?  What about suckers?  And how many do you have in what size plot

Hi AtlantaMarie, 
It took me some time to figure out how to do it from the info LDSPrepper had on youtube. I had many plants with suckers from the base and also side shoot suckers. When this first happen I was overwhelmed, because I'm still working on the house from the storm damage and didn't have much time for it. Sooo ,when I saw so many suckers and trying to find out what went with what plant, I decided to pulled all the plants out and restart. (good thing I live in texas, longer warmer months.)
the next planting, I watched closely for the water melons and cut the stem off and the end  the main stem. One plant put out about 5 main stem suckers, plus side shoots. I cut all side shoots off the each main stem and waited till that stem produce a baby watermelon, then I clipped the end to stop it from growing and allowed the plant to put all it energy into that stem. I did this with each of the main stem suckers from the base of the plant.
Butttttt, next year, I will plant many watermelon, allowing  only one main stem and cutting all other base stem and side shoot suckers. I found I had to keep up with the 5 main stem suckers while they were weaving in and out. The method I will use next year will allow me to just watched one stem from each plant. That's is easy to do. You let that stem grow as long as it wants till it produce a baby melon, then just roll up the vine , sitting it next to where it started.

Gotcha!  Okay, that makes sense.  Again, lots of thinking to do then...

Thanks, Has55!!!

using the mittleider method in my SFG for growing watermelon. seems to be working well. 

I haven't rolled up this plant yet. Waiting to see if the melon will continue to grow after the flower falls off. If it keeps growing, I will cut the end off after the first leaf and node.



The melon grows very fast after the end is cut. I guess it due to it being the only melon the plant has to grow. I had to cut off the new plants that extended from the base plant and a few online extensions.

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Has, I'm wondering how a compromise would work. For each runner that gets a viable melon, snip off the tip. That way there would be more than one melon per plant, but no unnecessary energy going on past the melon.

sanderson wrote:Has,  I'm wondering how a compromise would work.  For each runner that gets a viable melon, snip off the tip.  That way there would be more than one melon per plant, but no unnecessary energy going on past the melon.  

Your comment made me go back to review the instruction. You're right. Thank you for saving me. Something kept nagging me. Now I know why.

You're welcome.  Purely accidental.  

That method sounds good for sprawling plants.  For trellising plants, the extended vine and tendrils are needed for securing to the trellis.

sanderson wrote:You're welcome.  Purely accidental.  

That method sounds good for sprawling plants.  For trellising plants, the extended vine and tendrils are needed for securing to the trellis.

I using the clips for the  vertical plant, but I also going up one string. Some are using their tendrils. 

On the watermelon you need cut off the suckers/runners on whatever main runner that you are following that came from the trunk of the main plant. 

I decided that i will plant in one to two planting period, so as not to have too many melons ripening at the same time. So, I going to start with 5, then add 5 more, etc... In this scenario , I will cut all the runners except one per plant, thus only 5 melon. I finding , even if I cut off the extra sucker/runner that come out later on the main stem until I cut off the end tip is causing to omuch work with finding and  sorting out each line.
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