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Alabama Usa

Three week ago the field was beutifull greean couldn't even see the melon.it is a unculled field not hand pollenated just planted a row of carolina cross seed to see what they would do.so far i had to pull one the stem broke that not ripe by far it wieghed 48 lbs but misshaped.i have about 15 that are perfect shaped and all in the 40 to 60 lbs range,i cut one yesterday that misshaped and weighed 55 lbs,it was 14 in long and 23 in girth.there are not many green leaf's left but the vine itself it still alive.how long should i wait.two or three are ready one is 43 in girth and 24 in's long almost twice the size of the 55 lb melon.or should i say how long can i wiat i want them to ripen but not die.any info would be awsome thanks.

7/16/2012 6:25:46 PM

formerly RGG

To be good and ripe (sweet) they generally need around 60 days to grow following pollination.

7/16/2012 9:35:31 PM

Ok

Too many melons on one Carolina Cross plant will exhaust the vegetative parts of the plant of nutrients. That leads to the general rule of leaving one melon per plant. Select the most pretty melon on each plant and cull all others. If you have two or three plants growing at the same hill, reduce the number of plants in the hill to one by cutting off the smaller plants of the hill. Since your plants have lost most of the leaves, put a section of a bed sheet over each watermelon for shade. After that is done, consider whether your watermelons have been watered properly as well as fertilized with the correct nutrients. Since you are growing in the south, a good fungicide is important. If you are not using one, consider using Daconil.

7/17/2012 2:21:23 PM

Rochester, Minnesota

You can of course grow more than one melon per plant, but you should stop after a small number like three or four. You definitely need to cull everything else after that point.

7/19/2012 1:29:46 PM