Watermelon advice

[Woodland Elf]

Hi All

I am trying to grow watermelon for the first time this year in our polytunnel. I have tried melons before and they failed miserably but this variety of watermelon (Fascino) is supposed to be suited to the British climate.

I have managed to germinate the seed using the heated prop and it is now about 3" tall on the bedroom windowsill. Does anybody have any good advice about what I should do next? I was thinking of planting it in the ground in the tunnel but I have read an article in a magazine that says grow them in pots Last year, at a local show I saw cucumbers in pots and they had trained them up 3 canes and then back down again and the fruits were hanging nicely down the sides - what do you think?

Any advice would be great - they are one of my favourite fruits and I would love to grow them

[Colin Miles]

If you Google 'Growing Watermelons' there is plenty of advice. Apparently doesn't like being transplanted and I would say that you have started much too early.

[Nature's Babe]

i haven't grown watermelons either, but am going to try this year, found this link, in the left margin there is a link for container growing them too.
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/fruit-g ... rmelon.htm

[FelixLeiter]

I have attempted watermelons twice, and have struggled to get them further than producing some, but not very many, attractive leaves. Unless you can give them constant sizzling temperatures and outrageous humidity, they won't progress very far. I believe it is possible to grow them in the UK as long as they can be given enough artificial heat, especially at night. I agree with Colin that you've started them too early.

[alan refail]

I have never tried watermelons (I don't like them to eat). My only experience with them was when an old friend of mine tried them in his greenhouse. Like Felix, all he achieved was a few leaves. His previous experience was as a soldier in the middle east. There they would sow watermelon seeds in the sand and pee on them at night. He did recall it was very warm at nights and the fruit thrived.

The link Nature's Babe gave seems to be a US-based site and the advice on container growing is unlikely to be of use in the UK.

[Geoff]

I don't normally think much of them either except one Summer I worked at my employer's factory in North Carolina. It was frequently over ninety degrees and ninety percent humidity and the Water Melons obviously loved it. People would bring them in and share them and they were amazingly tasty and refreshing, probably one of the many things that ripened on the plant and eaten fresh are so much better. If those are the conditions they like I would agree with the posts that suggest no chance.

[Westi]

I managed to get full size watermelons for the last 2 years outside by using grafted plants. I plant them through black membrane which has lots of well rotted manure under it. I kept cloches - well fleece over hoops over the main plant and only let the vines run out of this when they were filling up the little tunnel. I watered via the upturned bottles near the main plant and also wet the fleece. I also pollinated them to be doubly sure but lots of insects ducked under the tunnels as well.

Yes I know they are expensive but I got 1 very good sized fully ripe and 1 other that was smaller but still ripe right to the skin on all 3 plants - as big as in the supermarkets. I love them and grow them to re-live childhood memories of eating home grown ones in Aussie that were grown on the chicken poo pile. It was not humid where we lived in the bush but we did water well so some humidity due to the evaporation.

Try the same technique as the grafted toms on the forum as likely to be even better in a polytunnel.

Westi

[Nature's Babe]

Alan, that link worked for me last year, my plants produced melons outside and in the greenhouse, but i guess i am lucky being in south east and the garden slopes south and is quite sheltered.

[Nature's Babe]

Are melons grafted on pumpkins or ? mine were not grafted, just interested ?

[alan refail]

Alan, that link worked for me last year, my plants produced melons outside and in the greenhouse,

My apologies; I thought you had said you had never grown watermelons before. I suspect they are considerably more challenging than melons.

[Nature's Babe]

it worked with melons Alan, but this year will be the first time trying it with watermelons, so time will tell.