Photo by Rick Gush
My wife and I go on an almost dailywatermelon - eat binge during July and August , but I do n’t even trouble oneself trying to grow watermelons in our own garden . We leave that craw to growers in warmer , inland area . Watermelons can be prominent performers , often yield 40,000 pounds of yield per Akko , but they really do require more heating than we get here on the seacoast of Italy .
Growing watermelon vine can be complicated , too , not only because there are three canonic types : normal , intercrossed and seedless triploid . Each character need a different polish .
When found watermelon come , the first , most important factor in growing watermelon vine is that the soil should be healthy and warm . In fact , many growers do n’t direct come , and prefer to plant well - establish seedlings into the field . This is particularly true of cultivator examine to get early crops .
The next significant factor in watermelon vine civilization is accumulated estrus . Once cross-pollinate , if it gets sufficient passion , a Citrullus vulgaris will mature within four months . watermelon grown privileged polytunnels , or a ring theatre , can mature even more quickly . The best and sweetest melons raise very cursorily and bring forth a lot of sugar at the moment of maturity . Slower maturate melon produce less sugar .
Another important consideration is the fact that Citrullus vulgaris vine appreciate sufficient water , but overwatering can be a job if the vines are not grown on fast draining flaxen soils .
Probably the single most common modern cultural practice in watermelon polish is the use of black plastic to cover the elevate beds on which the melon plants are engraft . The black plastic ignite up the soil , and this is quite good . Citrullus vulgaris fruits produced on black charge plate will usually produce earlier and more speedily , with sweeter fruits .
Here in Italy , a lot of growers now spring up watermelons in polytunnels . The tunnels significantly improve the focal ratio of growth and sweetness of the fruits , as well as protect the fruits from physical damage .
The biggest trouble in Citrullus vulgaris culture is probably pollination . Some growers are prosperous and they grow where there are abundant wild pollinator , others regularly hire beehive for the pollination period . It requires perhaps seven or eight pollinator louse visit to fully pollinate a distaff watermelon bloom . Unfortunately , though , watermelon flowers are n’t very tasty to bees , so they will often select other eating sources and ignore the Citrullus vulgaris flowers . Growers who use polytunnels are almost obligated to hired hand - pollinate , just because attracting enough bee inside the tunnel is a unmanageable project .
It ’s almost a joke how many unlike potential pests and disease can be problem for watermelon vine . Just about everything can make problem . In general , the good the land drainage and the drier the environment , the better the opening that a vigorously growing watermelon crop wo n’t be seriously affected by a pest job .
Timing the harvesting of a craw of watermelons can be assisted greatly by testing the sugar levels in some sample melons with the use of a deal refractometer . melon vine harvested at an unripe microscope stage may spring up a much redder color after harvest , but the sugar tier will never rise after harvest .
