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Bowdon, GA

We finally got some rain down here over the last week or two but the grass in the patch has become overwhelming. You can't see half of my plants except were I mulched in the 12ft circles. On my day off I spent half a day pulling weeds around my two best plants. I don't know if it was lack of sunshine over the last week(very cloudy) or what but my biggest one slowed down growing. Was about 3lb per day now about 2 per day. Seems to be growing more girth than length now. I don't know If I'll get a monster if it don't pick back up. It's day 35 and the OTT is 114. I do have two that are about 32 days at 105 and 102 that are catching up if the grass don't gett um. What do you guys do about grass? Do you think I might still get a big one. Hows everybody else doing.

7/15/2008 6:36:55 PM

formerly RGG

Hi Holloway,

I have used black plastic and straw for my melon plant to run on.So I have no weeds. The only disadvantage I see is that the runners cannot root.Another advantage is that the leaves stay clean when there is a storm as no soil is splashed on the plant by hard rain. My OTT is 131" and the melon is 28" long.It is still a bit skinny on the stem end but seems to be catching up some.I don't know what you can do about weeds at this point other than to keep pulling them. I hope someone else can be more helpful.

7/15/2008 9:04:41 PM

formerly RGG

It has been raining here a lot also. What we need is a lot more sunny days and 90+ degree temps. I forgot to add that tomorrow is day 30 for my melon.

7/15/2008 9:09:11 PM

Bowdon, GA

I've thought about black plastic and was going to experiment with a few plants but didn't find any before time to plant. I'll probablly try some next year This year Iput a thick layer of mulch about 12 ft wide around them and have very little grass in the mulch areas but I couldn't do the whole patch. It really helped with moisture in the drought we are in down here. I think with normal rainfall it might givem wet feet but I kind of expected another dry year this year. I guessed right for once. I've heard of some people growing big ones on black plastic. Did you poke some holes here and there for heat to escape? I think your melon will probablly gain a lot more girth towards the end. Mine are starting to gain more girth than length now it was the opposite to start with. Good luck talk to ya later

7/16/2008 11:26:32 PM

formerly RGG

I put a single hole in the plastic for the hill.It is about3' across.I don't think heat is a problem because I spread straw on the plastic as the plant grows and the plant leaves provide a lot of shade. Also, watermelon plants seem to be very heat tolerant.I am hoping to enter my melon in the Tennessee Valley Fair. What will you be doing with yours Holloway?

7/17/2008 9:11:23 PM

Bowdon, GA

I'll try black plastic on a few next year. I used landscaping cloth on some this year there is no grass were the cloth is. The sun came out here the last two days and I think the growth picked back up. I wasn't seeing but about 1.5-2lbs per day for the last couple of days, but gained nearly four lbs since yesterday. It's measuring around 119. I don't know exactly what I'll do with it. We don't have any contests in Georgia that I know of except in south Georgia and there about a month before our melons quit growing. I don't think our state fair has anything for vegetables. I quess it's all according to how big it gets too. I don't know if it will be big enough to drive to far. I plan to give a few to some local churches.

7/17/2008 10:57:31 PM

Rochester, Minnesota

Don't give up just because you don't have an outlet for the fruit. Here's some ideas on what I have seen others do.
1) Start a contest yourself. Give out free seeds, etc and make is big.
2) Go to another state to register your melon. I drive to Wisconsin myself.
3) Measure it at some grocery store. Ask if they will put it on display to get people thinking about growing them. Work towards your own personal best, even without an AG weigh in.
4) Give it to a nursing home. Call the paper to cover the event.
5) Find a celebration and provide the melon.

That's just some of things I have seen others do.

7/22/2008 3:57:18 PM