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South Finland pumpkinfinland@gmail.com

Okey, its challanging to grow pumpkins here near north pole but I will also try watermelons this year too. Season here is short and kind of cool;) I could plant watermelons out somewhere beginning to mid June and keep them alive maybe till mid Sept.

What I think was if planting them in big pots and let them grow quite big before transplanting them out. Rootbound will be problem but here I need to make compromize. No big goals, if I get 50 pounder I will be more than happy. When plants are outside I will cover them with big hoops and use dark plastic to warm soil up.

Question, when to germinate and how big you could let them grow in pots without causing major damages?

Any other thoughts how to try watermelons here are greatly appreciated.

2/9/2008 11:33:01 AM

Mt.Pleasant,Iowa

There are several things you can do. Like you said start them early inside in gal pots or 2 gal. You must have a good grow light or they will get leggy. I would only keep them inside once up only 3 weeks 4 tops.I think you start going backwards then.Get soil warm a big hoop and soil warming cables and heat lamps. Make the hoop Big enough to cover most of the growing area. I had one up last year and it was not big enough and when I took it down the plant stopped growing for 2 weeks.If the hoop is 8 foot by 20 foot long would grow you a nice watermelon. You could also add a grow light in the hoop to add the daylight.
Hope that helps,
Marty

2/9/2008 1:20:49 PM

South Finland pumpkinfinland@gmail.com

Marty, thanks for infos, I probably start 4 plants in two weeks gap and see which too make it to hoops. Not so scientific method but gives me some results. Patch is too far away to use soil cables or lamps but I have glassed balcony where I can avoid them to get too leggy and harden them before planting out.

Miika

2/11/2008 4:47:41 AM

Rochester, Minnesota

Well, I have to counter the seedy one. I have found that I need to start my plants in early March. So I have plants in pots for a solid 7 or 8 weeks. I use large pots and good lights, and then a green house. The plants are often 3 to 5 feet long when they go in the garden mid May. The problem you will have is trying to get the melon to ripeness. It's tough when you have a short season.

2/11/2008 10:34:29 AM

Boulder County Colorado USA planet Earth

One yr I put a hoop house over my mellons, this bought me 2 weeks.

2/11/2008 11:55:28 AM

South Finland pumpkinfinland@gmail.com

Thanks MMM,
its just experiment to see what happen, I realize that most likely they dont ripen before frost.Just want to see if its possible to grow "giants" here. I tried regular early varieties last year on balcony and get them ripen mid July. Gonna grow couples of those this year too in bigger pots and hope to get something to give my son. Also will try those early varieties in patch. Diary will tell this year if I succeeded or not...

2/12/2008 2:52:04 AM

Rochester, Minnesota

When my melons go in the garden, they always have a hoop house over them. The hoops come off in early June when I start pollinating.

2/12/2008 10:47:45 AM