From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Western PA

Do water melons act the same way as pumpkins, in putting on most fruit growth at night ? Just curious, and trying to put together a watering plan.
Lee

2/10/2011 12:07:48 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Yep...

2/10/2011 1:26:34 PM

Muddy Waters

If you water at night you will have disease issues.Plants shut down at 90 degrees & 55 degrees.So depending where you are,growth at nite is best in 60s & 70s. 80 degree nites are rare in Mich.I water 6am- 9am or 6 eve to 8 pm.

2/10/2011 2:05:13 PM

Southeast Texas

i have 78 to 80 at nite from the end of june to mid september.my plant's grew good at 100..but they were in shade mostly but this year in full sun in the good pumkin dirt.AWWW Dammit

2/10/2011 2:31:39 PM

Muddy Waters

I may be wrong but a I believe a plant is shut down at 100 you are getting growth when temps drop under 90.If this is incorrect please set me straight.I dont want to be miss informed.I would love to have those hot nites you get in texas.we drop into the 50s at times.

2/10/2011 2:39:26 PM

sevierville, Tn

The same was told to me , 100 stops the plant...
They don't like it cold.

2/10/2011 3:23:23 PM

Fenton, MI

After 35 days old the melons do 95% of there growth at night. But i don't water at night.

2/10/2011 4:00:06 PM

Muddy Waters

Really Been keeping secrets EH!!LOL What time of nite???

2/10/2011 4:49:39 PM

Muddy Waters

LOL LOL I thought I read you did water at nite,back to get some more focus factor lol lol

2/10/2011 4:52:33 PM

formerly RGG

If watermelons shut down at 90 degrees it would have been awfully unlikely for Chris to have grown a world record last season. We had many days last summer with temps in the mid to upper 90's.I think they will grow just fine up to a temp that makes them wilt.I believe a healthy and well watered plant will grow very well up into the upper 90's and perhaps a little beyond that.

2/10/2011 6:12:50 PM

Southeast Texas

i had days of 115 heat index and the watermelon plants and okra is the only plants that didnt flag

2/10/2011 7:35:50 PM

Muddy Waters

I have never seen a melon leaf wilt does this happen??

2/10/2011 9:15:02 PM

formerly RGG

A melon will wilt in a hurry if it is water stressed.For a melon to wilt just from pure heat I know would take a pretty high temperature.Of course all living things have limits to the amount of heat they can tolerate.

2/10/2011 9:57:19 PM

Muddy Waters

Ive seen Kins Wilt from Heat at about 88 to 90, had 100 degrees once or twice but never saw melon a Wilt.If it gets that hot this summer.I will turn on drip tape at mid 90s to cool plant.

2/10/2011 10:27:47 PM

Bowdon, GA

I don't know when or at what temp a plant "shuts down", but I have noticed that on days when daytime temps exceed 95, the weight gains decline. 100's bad news for gains. I think most of us measure no more than once a day or every few days. Would make a neat experiment to measure in the morning and afternoon( before and after work for me) for several days and document day and night temps. Might help answer some of our questions.

2/10/2011 10:40:53 PM

Muddy Waters

I dont think melons have to flag or wilt to be shut down,Does anyone know if this has been proven?At what temp does a melon stop storing energy & shut down,Id really like to know as I will be growing 2 plants in green house this year.I have a furnace & lots of fuel!LOL

2/11/2011 6:47:28 AM

Muddy Waters

Have others had the same results as Holloway exceeding 95???

2/11/2011 6:50:03 AM

Rome Ga

they will wilt from water stress when the temps get in the upper 90s. I agree with Holloway that they slow down on growth when the temps get in the upper 90s down here. The humdity gets high down here and it does seem to affect them some.

2/11/2011 8:06:29 AM

Bowdon, GA

The only time I've seen one wilt in the heat was when something was wrong with the plant or wasn't enough water. I think we had a discussion back in the summer about tempreture. Mr. Bright said that he though low 90's was optimum but they still did well in upper 90's if I remember correctly. Great and well in Mr. Bright's patch translates to OK and bad in my patch LOL

2/11/2011 12:23:45 PM

Bowdon, GA

Beeman, Doug told me one time that a plant pathologist said Georgia was a dream land for diesease because of the humidity and warm temps.

2/11/2011 12:27:43 PM

Bowdon, GA

Looking back at that last post it didn't look like what I ment to say. What I ment to say was Mr. Bright's melons are going to be growing faster than mine anyways!

2/11/2011 5:36:31 PM

California central valley

Fastest growth I have ever seen was when daytime temps were over 105 for 3-4 days in a row and night time temps were also elevated.

2/12/2011 10:15:16 AM

Sevierville,tn

mid west was that dry heat?

2/12/2011 9:18:31 PM

Kentucky, U.S.A.

Mark, it was a pleasure meeting you! I'm going to try one melon plant this year(if I can find a little more real estate). It may be a bit shady but I think it will work for the first attempt. Of what we learned at the seminar, learning to read the plant seemes to be the most important tool. Whether its too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, underfeed, overfeed or infeasted, without an experianced grower on hand, we'll have to cross that learning curve on our own. Thank goodness we have this tool to help us along! Best to you till we meet again! BSD, David

2/13/2011 9:40:59 AM

Muddy Waters

It was well worth the drive to meet everyone,Best prime rib Ive had in Quite awhile.Its awesome,everybody looked different than I had pictured,Chris Kents Melons must be bigger than they look in pictures.He certainly is (TALL).Kentucky Seminar done very well,Thanks HHG

2/13/2011 6:47:29 PM