No watermelons?

[janey99]

This year I planted moon and stars watermelon, and I have no fruits whatsoever of any size/age on the vines! The plants seem healthy otherwise, and there are plenty of flowers. I'm stumped. Are there supposed to be male and female flowers like pumpkin and squash? If so, it seems I only see male flowers

In the same garden, I have pumpkins, zucchini/squash, tomatoes and peppers producing like crazy. There are millions of pollinators out there.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Jane

[Owen'nZoe]

For how long have you been seeing flowers? Usually there is a flush of all male flowers before the female flowers start appearing. Hopefully you'll see some soon!

[janey99]

It has been three weeks at least that I've been seeing the male flowers. My Dill's pumpkin patch is kind of encroaching on my watermelon patch - could the pumpkins be overcrowded by the aggressive pumpkin vine and not happy?

[richella]

Funny, I have the opposite problem. I have a few watermelons, but no pumpkins. Plenty of flowers. When a tiny pumpkin appears, it turns yellow and falls off in a day or 2. gotta go, baby crying . . .

[JamieCatheryn]

I planted watermelons this year and it took a long time for a few little fruits to show up. I planted in mid April, zone 6 here. Mine said 80 days, moon and stars say 95. Could it just be taking some time?

[richella]

The watermelons took a bit of time to fruit, but then I got one. The next few fell off when they were very small. Weeks later I have a couple newer ones that look like they're going to get big. The pumpkins have been just as long, but not one fruit. They fall off when they're tiny.

[janey99]

Originally Posted by richella

The watermelons took a bit of time to fruit, but then I got one. The next few fell off when they were very small. Weeks later I have a couple newer ones that look like they're going to get big. The pumpkins have been just as long, but not one fruit. They fall off when they're tiny.

Some of my newer baby pumpkins have been rotting and falling off - I think it's the huge amount of rain we've been having (I'm in NJ). We do have about 10 well established ones that are doing ok - I guess they're big enough to survive extra moisture (I think they're sucking it up - our biggest one is already 2.5 feet in diameter!)

Still no watermelons, though.

Jane

[Nature]

Have you tried hand pollinating? My squash were just falling off and dying until i started doing the bees job and pollinating the female flowers.

[richella]

Hm. We have had an unusual amount of rain here. (Kansas) But it dried out in between, mostly, in July. Will try pollinating if I get a chance. Any special tricks I should know?

[JamieCatheryn]

Do it with a smallish paintbrush. Make sure it stays dry (morning dew or raindrops can make the pollen stick on the brush and not go on the female flower) I had trouble with that with my squash I tried it on. Though with the squash it didn't help, the bees were already around too, no idea what was up with that.

My biggest watermelon is about 1.5in diameter now, anybody else getting progress?

[janey99]

Pollinating sounds really cool, but I have tons of bees in my garden, and everything else is bursting with veggies, so I don't think this is the problem.

I am going out tomorrow to check for some baby watermelons. Spent the day today making three types of pickles and then some ratatouille with all fresh veggies!

Jane

[richella]

Well, janey99, sounds like you have something, if not watermelons! I made 1 batch of fridge pickles, with cukes from a friend. I went to pollinate pumpkins today but I guess I missed the flowers. Then I stepped on one of the few little watermelons and broke it off while watering. ARRGGGH!

Here we usually have plenty of bees, but I've seen far fewer this year.

[janey99]

Originally Posted by richella

Well, janey99, sounds like you have something, if not watermelons! I made 1 batch of fridge pickles, with cukes from a friend. I went to pollinate pumpkins today but I guess I missed the flowers. Then I stepped on one of the few little watermelons and broke it off while watering. ARRGGGH!

Here we usually have plenty of bees, but I've seen far fewer this year.

Oh no, your baby watermelon! : (

I love that my garden is a jungle, but I hate it when I accidentally step on things that are spreading across the paths!

Our most giant Dill's pumpkin broke off the stem last night (stem got mushy from the ridiculous amount of rain we've had). I thought DS would be traumatized but he's taking it pretty well. At least we still have two more (not as big) that are still growing. DH hefted the broke off one and thinks it was about 80-90 pounds!

Jane