Slinging Watermelons

As I have never tried to grow watermelons before and mine are a little over the size of a softball now and the packet says they will grow to about 25 lbs. I'm starting to think about rigging up some sorta sling, anyone with a good idea for slinging watermelons?  Every time I think of a 25lb. melon hitting the ground from 5-6' up it brings Humpty Dumpty to mind.

I'm thinking that big watermelons should be allowed to wander on the ground instead of slinging. Same with "pumpkins". There was a thread with ideas but I don't remember the title. I personally don't sling anything.

You could put it in one leg of panty hose tied to the top of the trellis and it will ease itself to the ground as it gets bigger. I can't grow melons so this is just a theory.

I would let those babies sprawl.  Too big IMHO.

newbeone wrote:As I have never tried to grow watermelons before and mine are a little over the size of a softball now and the packet says they will grow to about 25 lbs. I'm starting to think about rigging up some sorta sling, anyone with a good idea for slinging watermelons?  Every time I think of a 25lb. melon hitting the ground from 5-6' up it brings Humpty Dumpty to mind.

Just got back a few hrs ago from San Antonio, Tx. Celebrated Mother day with my 86 young Mom. 
newbeone, 2014 and 2015,  I had my small melons on trellis with bra and pantyhose slings. They produce fair. Last year I tried the pruning mehod by mittlider method and allowed them to grow on the ground. It was a lot of work because I didn't realize a single plant can put out so many runners. I finally took Sanderson advice and let them sprawl. This was the best method. I had many, many melons like sugar baby and the large yellow and red meat type of melons. That is the method I using this year. My melon plants are just starting. too many projects and still repairing from the tornado 2 years ago.
here's that thread-The SFG Journey-How Do You Know When Watermelons Are Ripe?

Thanks to All for Your Help! Sanderson, I'm to far gone or the vines are for this year I will try Your method next year, Hass thanks for the video on how to tell when a watermelon is ripe and your pictures of the beautiful yellow watermelon. I just went out and took this picture of my trials so far I saved the onion bags tied some carpenters string on two sides and slipped it over the melon so far so good  They are Crimson Sweet the package says 80 days to harvest, I set these out on March 1, as  transplants the soil was 68* a little cool for watermelon Next year I will just plant seed outside. Oh! and the pantyhose well that's another story I will just say I don't have access to any.

awesome picture. Looks great.

Just had to post a picture, The message I got when I asked about slinging watermelons was to let them sprawl, well I never realized how big a watermelon plant could get, The trellis there on is seven foot tall the shade cloth there sprawling on is eight foot. I guess it's safe to say Crimson Sweet is not a plant for Square Foot Gardening.

newbeone wrote: I guess it's safe to say Crimson Sweet is not a plant for Square Foot Gardening.

It's too wild a beast to contained in a SFG bed. Looks great.

How's the mulch working out in controlling thatTexass grass in your walkays?

The only problem with the mulch is the nut grass coming through and the Bermuda grass trying to spread over the edges, A little white vinegar helps with that

newbeone wrote:The only problem with the mulch is the nut grass coming through and the Bermuda grass trying to spread over the edges, A little white vinegar helps with that

I had to put cardboard down to stop the nut grass and put up a border for the bermuda. this year I put down plain leaves after watching it done by Patrick on the one yard revolution channel on youtube. with the mulch I would still get occasional nutgrass. i think it was brought in when the tree trimming companies dump it on my lot. i haven't seen any nutgrass since i started using the leaves.I guess the leaves are mostly clean.
 I got the cardboard from walmart between 1100 pm and 100 am using a uhaul. they will let you go around the store and get the boxes as the employees empty them out. I also put the cardboard down on my recent front yard project after I installed the aquajet irrigation.

Yes I have two layers of cardboard under the wood chips and yes I got most of my wood chips from a municipal facility never thought of the nut grass coming in that way. I always had nut grass in my yard anyway.

pull up every 2-3 days till the nut run out of energy or spray it with sedgehammer. get from feed store.  your plants are a raised bed, so it ok. any nut grass within the bed, you need to manually dig it out. once eradicated you should be fine, except for Bermuda grass unless you put a border up. it will keep trying to creep in. 


sedgehammer FAQ

Has, I think this is the first photo of your new road side area. Looks nice!

Thanks for the info on sedgehammer and the nut grass, What do you use for a border to stop the Bermuda? Love the photo with all the trees makes it look nice and cool, what do you have planted in the strip out by the road?

in the picture above, I use a wood border. in the garden, I use cinderblock which is visible in the "comfrey" thread. Then use the weed eater on the other side.

types of plants. 
Actually, I'm not sure. Several came from Lowes clearance shelf.  After reading ginger blue response to putting a food garden in front, I decided to tone it down and plant drought resistant perennial and some annuals.
 Off the top of my head, there is Silvia, upright knockout roses and drift knockout roses, lantana, some type of grass, rosemary, differently colored potato ivy and Malabar spinach and okra. I'm training the vines to cover the right of way of the yard. I will probably move to some type of ground cover next year which I will maintain by drip in the area. remember I removed the aquajet after the telecommunication company hit it. they repaired it, but I saw it as a problem in the future. The okra plants will turn into huge mini trees because they are growing by themselves and not pressured by other okra plants. they shouldn't produce any fruit. will post pictures later.  spinach will be food and decoration. 
we'll see has it goes.