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Bowdon, GA

I started by hand crossing everything this year. Most of the ones that set did not have a good shape or looked lumpy. Some of the open pollinated melons that I missed look fine. Is my technique off or is this common.

6/21/2010 3:32:08 PM

Corryton, TN

This is my first year hand pollinating. I've noticed several slightly miss shapen fruit when they bloom, just pulled them. For me it seems if they set the shape is ok. I've found I get more sets by using more blooms and not putting the brush very deep into the male. I've had poor results when the brush got wet with nectar. Art paint brush works better than disposable lip gloss brush made of goat hair.

6/21/2010 7:57:08 PM

sevierville, Tn

I pick the males the night before, bring them inside. They open around 9am. I take off the petals, and put the pollen directly onto the female. You can touch the male with your finger to confirm you have pollen & you should see it go onto the female at a minium.
I agree, if the female is poor shape/small, don't bother unless your doing a genetic cross or just want one to eat ;)
I like Dave's idea of marking female with a flag. Helps me remember where they are. I had to start using a small book to keep track of who is ready & where !

6/21/2010 11:01:28 PM

Corryton, TN

I put the yellow flags out for the ones to pollinate the next AM and use it for record keeping and a different color flag when I first find one.

6/22/2010 12:18:49 PM

sevierville, Tn

note, they seem to open when the sun hits them, i don't get sun till 9am ;)

6/22/2010 2:51:32 PM

Bowdon, GA

I am having a hard time gettin them to stick, hand pollinated or open. Way to hot for this time of year. I'm 0 for 4 on the 246 Bright. It has some really long females some over 3.5 cm at pollination. Shading has helped some but I'm think about putting a bottle of frozen water under the box in the morning.

6/23/2010 11:00:42 PM

Deep South, USA

When covering the flowers to prevent cross pollination, does the cover have to actually be impregnable to the bees, or is it enough to simply hide the flowers from the bees so they don't see them underneath?

My neighbor's watermelons are about 500 feet away, give or take 50. Is that close enough to warrant hand pollination if I want to try and save pure seed?

6/30/2010 1:26:23 AM

sevierville, Tn

If your goning to save "pure seed" you would have to cover to keep the bees away. Hand pollination gives better pollination & more seeds too.
I cover so the bees can't get to the flower.

6/30/2010 2:58:01 PM

Carrollton, Ga.

You will have to cover the males also.

Doug
Jn 3:16

6/30/2010 4:36:57 PM

formerly RGG

I think that's a little bit crazy Doug. To cover all the males in a big patch just isn't practical.Covering the female bloom effectively keeps it from being pollinated by any of the male blooms. Besides, if I wanted to eliminate sources of pollen I would simply pick the male blooms and remove them from the patch instead of going to all the trouble of trying to cover every one of them.

6/30/2010 6:01:01 PM

Bowdon, GA

You just need to cover the ones your going to use before they open.

6/30/2010 7:11:35 PM

sevierville, Tn

Well, pick or cover the males, either way works or else the bees get it 1st.

7/1/2010 4:05:00 PM

Carrollton, Ga.

I didn't say to cover every male in the patch. Just cover the ones you are going to use the next morning or pick them and bring in house. You must keep the male blooms from getting pollen from another plant on them before you use them. Some new growers don't know to protect the male blooms also.

D Adams
Jn. 3:16

7/1/2010 4:21:03 PM

formerly RGG

Sorry,I am not a new grower,I am 58 and have been in a garden since I was old enough to walk and I've been growing watermelons most of my life also. I just never considered second hand pollen on a male bloom from another male bloom. You are absolutely correct and I am sorry I misunderstood what you were getting at. I will try to think a little deeper about your meaning the next time I do not understand what you are recommending.

7/1/2010 6:38:41 PM

Deep South, USA

I think I'm going to have a female open tomorrow, but I'm not sure how to cover it (and the open males) effectively. I have some small mesh jewelry bags, but I'm afraid foreign pollen would get through that. What about a small plastic bag similar to a sandwich bag? I could probably get a decent seal against the flower stem, but would the plastic and harm the flowers?

I should have at least one open male, I'm hoping to have two. I didn't know you could take them off the plant and they would survive long enough to open. Were I to bring one or two in the house, would they need water to sustain them through the next day?

I waited too late for the first female. It opened a day earlier than I was expecting, and by the time I got to it the bees were busy nearby. I did go ahead and assist the bees with pollinating it. IIRC, the first few females didn't set last year. If it sets, can I cull it if I change my mind?

In any case, how long does it take to confirm a set? Yesterday's female is a bit larger today, the stem is thicker and it is "laying down" toward the ground.

7/1/2010 7:00:43 PM

Carrollton, Ga.

Yoshi,
I would tie some ladies pantyhose over the female bloom and put a styrofoam coffee cup over that. Sometimes on my female pumpkin blooms I will stick 4 sticks in the ground and put a piece of cardboard on them to shade the whole thing. I have always been afraid to use a plastic bag also. You need to pick some male blooms that are going to open tomorrow and put them in a cup of water to use.

7/1/2010 7:23:04 PM

Carrollton, Ga.

Yoshi,
I usually set three or four mellons and when they get about 12" long I pick the one I want to keep and pull the rest off. You would want to consider which one is shaped the best, in the best location, and growing the fastest. You pick the best one overall. Not sure how long before you first know one is set. Not saying any of this is the only way to do things. Hope this helps. Doug Jn. 3:16

7/1/2010 7:34:21 PM

Carrollton, Ga.

Tn. Dreamer I didn't mean you were a new grower. Hope things go well for you.
Doug
JN. 3:16

7/1/2010 7:38:12 PM

Bowdon, GA

You will know soon if they set, if it sets it will start growing fairly quick. I had a few that looked like they grew a little the first day then aborted. I like to leave them a few days also to see how the shape turns out. Sometimes they will look good and then deform on you. Good Luck

7/1/2010 9:57:31 PM

Deep South, USA

I haven't decided for sure to save seeds. I'm using the standard #183 from Burpee, so the genetics are probably not the best out there for the big ones. I didn't
know about this forum and so many different named strains
(e.g "225 Bright") until recently. I want to have the option of saving seeds though, so I will try hand-pollinating and covering whenever it's feasible. I covered the flower, and I found one male that should open tomorrow and brought it in. I found another one that's iffy for tomorrow, but males near opening are rather scarce at the moment so I took a chance.

While I would love to grow a 200 lb melon, I'd be pretty happy just to get something around 100 lbs. If it makes it to ripe, even a 50-lb or maybe 2 wouldn't be bad. I'm trying to be realistic with my skill level and resources, but I'm learning, and I hope to go for the really big one someday.

I found a third female, est open 6/3, and I can't rule out the vine complex hiding one from me. Meanwhile, the cross-pollinated female looks like it might be starting to change shape. Looks like things are about to get interesting.

7/1/2010 10:09:10 PM

Deep South, USA

Change that whenever to wherever its feasible; Once the vines really spread out, I won't even know about some females until they reach several pounds.

Last year, I completely missed the #42 until it weighed at least 25 lbs.

7/2/2010 12:26:40 AM

sevierville, Tn

How big is you plant now in sq ft ? if you transplanted it recently, it may still be too small to grow a big one.

7/2/2010 2:27:00 PM

Deep South, USA

They were transplanted on June 10.

I've been thinking. I made some errors that may have cost me my chance to grow a big one this year. The single biggest one perhaps is planting the three plants I have in the same spot.

I haven't been able to take a measurement of area coverage, and I'm afraid to guess. I will say this, the three females I have now are the first ones the plants have made as far as I know, and two have bloomed with ovaries less than an inch long, I expect the same tomorrow. They may all even be on the same plant. I'd hoped the pollinated female from 2 days ago would be over 2 inches by now, but it's only about an inch long or so.

I also made the mistake of not attempting to quickly resolve a daytime leaf wilting issue, as I thought it was simply transplant shock.

I remember I didn't find my first female last year until July 4. I don't remember when the larger females started showing up, but it was probably at least mid-July.

Best I can figure a set that late would be near mid-October maturity, dangerously close to frost.

I haven't had the season I hoped for; most of it was me being ignorant, and sometimes a bit lazy. I started in early April with 8 seeds, and only one of those is alive today. I planted 4 more seeds in another pot on May 2, and only 2 of them came up. Then I didn't get them into the ground until early June. I've likely planted them wrong as well.

I wanted to have at least one 100-lb by August. I must admit, it doesn't seem likely at this point.

I apologize for going off-topic it just seems to happen sometimes.

7/2/2010 9:43:19 PM

Deep South, USA

A quick update. I don't know if this is significant or not, but I wasn't expecting it at all so I'll post it.

A little while ago I pulled the cover off the hand-pollinated female that bloomed this morning. I wasn't as careful as I should have been, and I was worried about leaving it on so long. I probably waited a little too long, but I wanted to make sure the bloom was closed.

As it was getting dark, I brought a flashlight outside to check for possible damage. The vine around it looked okay, but the flower itself has changed noticeably, and it looks like for the better.

The bloom was closed, but I'm sure the ovary beneath was bigger, rounder mostly. The stem has already thickened, and seems to be laying the bloom over. I don't know if the cover had anything to do with it. I didn't see anything broken though. This bloom looks like it had changed as much if not more in the roughly 12 1/2 hours since pollination than the first female has in two and a half days.

I don't want to get my hopes too high, especially after some of the issues I've had, but should I take this as a good sign?

7/2/2010 10:29:36 PM