watermelon growth stages

Discussion in 'Fruit and Vegetable Gardening' started by jenny30, Jul 16, 2008.

  1. jenny30

    jenny30 Member

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    garden city michigan united states
    does anyone know how long it takes after the yellow flower blooms on the plant for the actual melon to start to form
     
  2. monkeydog

    monkeydog Active Member

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    S.E. Tennessee, U.S.
    I grow mostly Sugar Baby, but have occasionally grown Crimson Sweet and a few other varieties. I have never actually took a count of how many days it takes from bloom to fruit, but I'm going to say about a week off the top of my head.

    However, the old adage about counting your chickens seems to hold especially true for watermelons. I regularly plant between 12-18 melon plants a year and they consistently turn out a good crop. But, you're not going to get a melon for each flower...perhaps in an ideal, controlled laboratory environment.

    When you first notice the new melons, they'll be about the size of a marble. Personally, I dont count them- don't even pay attention to them until they get about slightly larger than a golf ball. It seems like there is about a 50-50 chance at the marble stage that they will actually continue to develope. once they get to the golf ball stage though, you can start planning on eating them a month a so later. (provided a field rat or chipmunk doesn't bite the vine in half!)

    In my experience you can count on each plant growing 2-3 melons to maturity if conditions are right. Of course this is just my experience, never really researched it. However my melons are consistently disease free, good color, and vigorous, so...

    Good luck with yours, and melons are a lot like tomatoes in that a store bought melon does'nt even compare with a home grown...so happy eating!
     

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