Growing Watermelon

Organic Vegetable Gardening
Fact Sheet

Botanical name: Citrullus lanatus

Seed

Watermelon

Watermelon Plants
Planting time: SU
Seeds per ounce: 200-600
Ounces per square foot: 0.005
Minimum legal germination rate: 80%
Germination type:

Short Germinating seeds

Notes
Growing Watermelon is easy, but needs plenty of room in your Organic Garden. Watermelons require full sun and warm weather.

It's best to plant seeds as soon as all danger of frost has past in the spring and the soil has warmed to about 65ºF. To get a jump on the season, start your seeds in flats just before spring indoors or in your green house.

Watermelons will benefit from soil rich with compost. Watermelons require a lot of water, as they are 90% water.

Knowing when to harvest can be difficult. One method is the "tendril" method. If the tendril closest to the fruit has turned brown, then it's usually ready to harvest.

Planting
In garden spacing (inches): 12-24
In flat spacing (inches): 2
Planting depth (inches): 1
Maximum number of plants per square foot: .5
Nutrient relationship:: Heavy Feeder

Harvest

Days to maturity: 70-91
Harvesting period (days): 91
Minimum yields in pounds /square foot: .5

Cultural
Diseases: Alternaria lesions, Anthracnose, Bacterial rind necrosis, Cercospora leafspot fungus, Dodder, Downy mildew, Fruit blotch, Fusarium wilt, Gummy stem blight, Monosporascus root rot, Phytophthora, Powdery mildew, Root-knot nematode, Southern Blight, Vine Decline
Insect pests:(Insect Pest Finder) Bean Aphid, Green Peach Aphid, Pickleworm, Spider Mites, Spotted Cucumber Beetle, Squash Bug, Squash Vine Borer, Striped Cucumber Beetle

Varieties
Arikara, Black Diamond, Charleston Gray, Congo, Crimson Sweet, Fairfax, Garrisonian, Georgia Rattlesnake, Giza, Greybelle, Iopride, Kleckley's Sweet, Klondike Blue Ribbon Stripe, Monte Cristo, Moon and Stars, Mountain Hoosier, Mountain Sweet, Orange Flesh Tendersweet, Sugar Baby, Tom Watson, White Seeded Watson, Will's Sugar, Yellow Desert King

 

Organic Gardening Seed and Plant Sources:

 

 

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