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Canada

Ok for the First time this year I grew watermellons
right from the get go they kinda grew really slow
NO mellons just flowers and plants this Past Month
I got a really tiny watermellon and it stayed on the vine
and grew to the size of an Dime then fell off.. after reading this message board I thought i would try HND pollination.

Ok heres what I did.. On Monday I found a TINY new watermellon BUT the flower still hadnt opened yet.

the day it opened ( wed of this week) i found another flower on the same plant that was Male that had JUST opened as well and i took that and rubbed it onto the one with the small watermellon DID I do this correctly?

how will i know if it took or not?I am totally new to all of this thanks

DaveM

8/30/2003 12:06:54 AM

Md/ Usa

if it does not fall off after 5 days it has taken it also should increase in size.

8/30/2003 3:18:16 AM

Arizona

Sounds like you did it right.
5 days is a long time for a melon to be the same size. You should know in 2-3 days.

It may take a few melons to get a great one set. You should go out there every day(6-7AM) and do the same thing you did to every female you find.

It took a long time and I went threw about 20 melons before I got a good one set on my 176.
Hope this helps a little.

GOOD LUCK!

Jeff

8/30/2003 3:48:31 AM

Cameron,ontario Team Lunatic

Hand pollinating is the way to go, but start your plants earlier in the season. I start mine indoors about the middle of april, weather in Kitchener is getting pretty cold now for growing watermellons to any size. I think we have reached a new PB with ours, but the weigh-off will tell us for sure. Good luck.

Phil from Cameron

8/30/2003 6:49:22 AM