How to Properly Raise Watermelons

Watermelon is one of the most popular fruits in the world. You can cultivate this tasty treat in areas that possess warm weather. You can also cultivate short-season watermelon varieties if you are living in an area that possesses a cool weather.

MATERIALS NEEDED IN CULTIVATING WATERMELONS

The materials needed are fertilizers, compost makers, garden hoses and trowels, floating row covers, plants, seeds, mulch and shovels.

STEPS IN GROWING WATERMELONS

Pick a location that receives a lot of sunlight, protected from the danger of cold winds like in fall and receives good circulation of air before planting your crops. Place a lot of fertilizer into your plot since watermelons needs a good soil to grow and develop. The crop also thrives in a soil that has a balance ph but it can tolerate a 5.5 ph.

You can acquire your seedlings in a plant nursery. Place it in your plot after the soil temperature and the air temperature is exactly sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit. It is advisable to directly place your plants in your plot especially if you maturing period are very long. This type of crop also does not want to be move around unnecessarily.

Create a hole that is 2 ft. in diameter and 1 ft. deep for each seedling and add a trowel of well-process manure or bone meal. Place the transplant into the plot at the exact depth that they have been thriving into their containers. Soak them with the help of compost tea. Remember to give the plants enough area to grow. The space should be three feet for smaller varieties and twelve ft. for bigger varieties.

Place a lot of mulch to help maintain the moisture content of the soil, prevent weeds and keep the crops free from any dirt as they develop. You can also use dark plastic mulch with holes cut for the crops since it is good in maintaining the temperature of the soil.

Protect the crops with covers to maintain the temperature of the air and give young watermelons one inch of H2O every week. Remove the plant covers as the flowers of the crops grow so that bees can pollinate them. Use compost tea on the crops every 3 weeks. Wait for an additional thirty-five days after the plants are fully grown.

ADDITIONAL TIPS

If you live in a cool climate, choose smaller varieties to plant. The interior of the plant also comes in different colors like orange and yellow aside from the standard pink color. The color of the fruit has no effect on the flavor of the fruits but some gardeners said that the non-traditional fruit colors are more difficult to cultivate.

You can also keep the seeds of your crops for the next planting season by cultivating only one watermelon variety since it can cross-pollinate without any problem. Remembers that watermelons are susceptible to fusarium wilt. To prevent this problem, change crops each planting season and pick varieties that are not easily susceptible to diseases.




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