# Watermelons



## Wado (May 15, 2011)

Has anybody else got a late crop of melons going on? I planted two rows on July 25'th, one of Jubilee's and one Sugar Babie's. The Babie's are about softball size right now and The Jubilees are a foot long or so. How do you tell when the Babie's are ready? A friend of mine told me to look at the stems, when they turn brown next to the melon pull it. Ding dang rats ate a bunch of the vines and killed them so I lost a few already. I knew the rats were coming after they started bailing hay next to me. My cats are falling down on their jobs. I guess the heat has them lazy. It came a shower or I would shoot some pictures. Plenty of skeeters too.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

I have a great crop of Ogen melons growing...picked up the seed from Rubberback....but they are still a few weeks from harvesting. 

What your friend said is what I always do...except here the '***** usually get them before I do...but not going to allow that on my Ogen melons.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

*Watermelon Pic's*

Sprayed some skeeter stuff on and took some pictures. I thought I had one variety of ice box melons but one is striped and one not and I already threw the seed packages out. I know one is a Sugar Babie. That one that looks like a gourd is a Jubilee, several of them look like that anybody know what causes that? I might need snake waders to find these things.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

I think that there is a chance that the "gourd" effect is caused by irregular water to that spot on the plant. I get cucumbers that do that once in a while, so I did some reading about it. That was the only cause that I could find at the time. Cukes and melons are in the same family, so that might be it.

Those are some nice looking watermelons. Wish I could grow them up here. Our season is just a little too short. The Ogen melon that Rubberback (and now Meadowlark) grows is just an 80 day melon. I'm looking forward to trying to growing them next year.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

*Water Woes*

The last few weeks the Houston weather gave us chances of rain on a regular basis. I waited and waited on it and it would thunder and raise all kinds of heck and then about three minutes of spit. I woke up five mornings in a row to thunder and got one decent shower. Finally I broke down and watered after seeing some melons about the size of a vienna sausage, I guess I waited too long now they are big on one end. The ones by the sprinkler heads look good. The round ones look fair and I have pumpkins blooming also. My first time for pumpkins. Live and learn. ( I just found a seed package, the round striped ones are Crimson Sweet. )


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## Rockin'2 (Sep 26, 2008)

I just pulled the last of about 65 beautiful black diamond and Sun moon and stars melons. Not a one of them were really worth eating. We did eat a few and gave a few to friends but, none of them had that bright red, super sweet taste I wanted. I read enough to know that I need to fertilize and water differrently next year. I had quantity but no quality. The deer never complained about anything at all. They ate about 50 of them. Live and learn.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

I know cantaloupes are sweeter if you starve them for water when they are almost done. Just enough to keep the vines alive. I don't have any choice now it's been coming little showers daily and is saturated. Rats are eating mine up and chewing the vines in half killing the plants. Maybe I will get a couple.


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## Rockin'2 (Sep 26, 2008)

I had read that part about starving them for water, and some of them were not watered or rained on for two weeks before I pulled them and they weren't any different than the rest so, I guess my mistake was not using fertilizer. Next year I'll use some 6-20-20 on them. We'll see! Also I'll use a sprinkler head on them like someone on here said.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Dick Hanks said:


> .... The Ogen melon that Rubberback (and now Meadowlark) grows is just an 80 day melon. I'm looking forward to trying to growing them next year.


 I'm saving seed this year...and if you need any Dick, or anyone else for next spring, just send me a pm w/address.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

I didn't fertilize these but they were planted where I tilled in peas. I usually put triple thirteen down in the beds but I just plain forgot. My cousin and his dad used to grow melons commercially in Frio County I may ask him what they used.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

This sauna I live at got a bunch of my melons. Big moldy globs everywhere and the survivors have fire ants making mounds around them. If this norther will blow a little and dry it up I may try to get some of the survivors up on top of the grass. I can't even see the pumpkin plants for the grass, it sure is tempting to nuke the entire mess.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

Meadowlark said:


> I'm saving seed this year...and if you need any Dick, or anyone else for next spring, just send me a pm w/address.


Thanks for the offer Meadowlark, but I did get some seeds from Rubberback. I decided to do a germination test with 3 seeds when I got them, and they did very well. If we have a normal or warmer summer, they should do well here. Have you picked yours yet?


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Dick Hanks said:


> Have you picked yours yet?


Picked a few...and got a big rain which caused several to rot. Probably about finished now.


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## Paul Marx (Nov 13, 2009)

Do any varieties still have thick rines ? My mother has a market for her water melon rine pickles , but cant seem to find thick rines . I know Black Diamond's have them or did years back .


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## Rockin'2 (Sep 26, 2008)

Black diamonds I raised this year had thick rinds.


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## Paul Marx (Nov 13, 2009)

That what mom has been buying . I'll plant those. Thank you .


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

*melon time*

This morning a friend of mine brought a watermelon expert over and looked mine over. He showed me the way to judge ripeness by looking at the little curly tossles next to the melons. If they are dried up and the melons are yellow on the bottom they are close to ripe. Sixty days in the ground and we pulled a few today. The Jubilees are on the small side but they are sure sweet. Looking at the one we cut I can still go a few more days. Big old nasty thunderhead in the south right now. Hope it doesn't rain too much if it does. A couple of pic's.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

I picked a few more yesterday. Sure not having much luck with pumpkins.


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## Rockin'2 (Sep 26, 2008)

Nice harvest. I see some green stems on those melons. I thought the stem needed to be brown. I see where the melon expert said the tendrils needed to be brown. I have to admit I did not check the tendrils. I pulled some that the whole vine had turned brown. They may have been ripe but, they sure weren't sweet. Next year, just wait till next year.


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

Rockin'2 said:


> Nice harvest. I see some green stems on those melons. I thought the stem needed to be brown. I see where the melon expert said the tendrils needed to be brown. I have to admit I did not check the tendrils. I pulled some that the whole vine had turned brown. They may have been ripe but, they sure weren't sweet. Next year, just wait till next year.


This is my first experience with melons so I am all ears. We stomped around last week in them and he said when the tendril, I called them tossles, closest to the melon was dried up it's ready to go. I tried making the vine pull off like a cantaloupe will do and ended up cutting them loose. None of them have dried up stems. The funny thing is I really don't like the dang things and have only tasted a couple! I got a hold of one that tasted rotten so it went over the fence to the quail. Only one person said one out of four I gave them was bad and it was over ripe, whatever that means. Mushy or grainy I guess. Next year I hope I have better control of the grass. I have got a mess and more seeds.


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## Rubberback (Sep 9, 2008)

Meadowlark said:


> Picked a few...and got a big rain which caused several to rot. Probably about finished now.


Those melons were tasty. I'll be planting them again. I let them fall off the vine before eating man they were sweet. You could smell the sweetness in them .


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

Wado said: "Next year I hope I have better control of the grass'

I wonder if you rolled out landscape fabric on each side of the melon plants, would that stop the grass? Supposedly the rain drains through the fabric, so the vines and melons shouldn't rot either. I haven't tried it that way, has anybody tried it that way?

I think that I might try wood chips, out a ways from the roots, for the vines and melons to set on.


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