pruning watermelon vines

15 years ago

I would like to get some input on how everyone grows thier watermelons. Are there some of you that prune your vines? One other question, is it normal for the plant to produce an abundance of male flowers before seeing even one female flower.

Dale

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Comments (10)

justaguy2
15 years ago
The flowering thing is normal. I haven't pruned watermelon, but I have pruned pumpkins. I generally wait until the vine sets the number of viable fruit I want and then prune the growing tip to stop further growth. I do this to conserve space, but it has a potential cost. Reduction of photosynthesizing mass which means less energy for the plant.

In practice this probably isn't a huge thing, but if you have the space I would just let them run.
thepodpiper
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you for the reply.

Dale
wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
15 years ago
The female flowers will be further out on the vine [near the end] several days after male blooms begin. The female bloom will usually be paler in petal color and green in the center instead of gold.
engineeredgarden
15 years ago
This is good information. I'm growing melons for the first time this year, and this info will be helpful to me. I'm getting tons of blooms on mine, but didn't know what to look for in a female bloom - or that they were typically toward the end of the vine. Thanks for sharing, all!
dirtdauberz5mo
15 years ago
The female bloom will also have a little baby watermelon at the base of it, which when pollinated by the male blooms, (via bees, flying things) will become a nice big, juicy watermelon. This is the same for most all squashes, melons, gourds, etc. The blooms also have a different stamen/center thing inside the blossom, take a good look and compare them when you're sure you have both.
And per the original question, yes, the guys always come first before the ladies, and I've never pruned/pinched watermelon, but I do pinch back gourd vines.
thepodpiper
Original Author
15 years ago
Right now I have many many female blooms and am trying to pollinate them. How can you tell if a female has been pollinated.

Dale
guitar7100
15 years ago
If your watermelon continues to grow then it most likely is pollinated. If it seems to stay the same size for 2 to 4 days most likely it did not get pollinated. I ended up hand pollinating mine...... so far so good. good luck and happy gardening!!

Karl
wanda101
14 years ago
How do you pollinate a female watermelon flower?
Thanks,
Wanda
gabrant_bellsouth_net
13 years ago
OK so it's not good to cut back watermelon vines. Is there anyway to "contain" them because my plant is growing like crazy and going into the horse pasture.
patricia_burk_yahoo_com
12 years ago
I've got a very small space i only want 1 melon 1.5 feeet x 1.5 feet should i dig it up completly. thanks