Are they getting water? Examine main stem for any kind of damage/insect. What kind of soil are they planted in? They look a little under fed, but that wouldn't make them wilt.

We had a heavy rain this morning and last night, so I'm pretty sure they're not underwatered.

The soil is a mix of top soil, compost, and some of last years potting mix I threw in when I was emptying out containers. The mulch is a wood chip.

I didn't see any damage, but have been fighting pests all season. The cucumber beetles are relatively under control now, I still catch one or two a day. I've been removing squash bug eggs (I don't even know if that's a suspect?) from my squash nearby. I saw the svb moth earlier this week, but smashed one and at least wounded another, but again no stem damage that I could see.

They are probably a little underfed-they were impulse rescues from the nursery down the way as they were closing up shop for the season, and I know at that point they stop taking care of things as well. I've been giving them fertilizer every week or so, and they had seemed to improve and have even started blooming.

Sorry for being so longwinded!

FWIW something seems to be holding them back. The leaves look small. The plants should be a lot more vigorous this time of year. Are they crowded in to close to other stuff? How long have you had them? The wood chip mulch might be cooling the soil too much. They like HEAT, and black plastic or landscape fabric would be much better. They like full sun also.

I think, based on the descriptions, water and food is not the cause. So, either there is a root rot or damage by vine borer.

Fusarum Wilt and similar wilts are a real bugbear for watermelons, but usually don't strike the first year they are raised.

Wayne has it pegged. Up until five years ago, I grew some great melons. The last 5 years, nothing. Wasted space.

Thanks everyone! I'll check again today for vine borer damage. Is there any obvious way to check for root rot? I'm assuming digging them up to look at the roots would only hurt the plants more.

I'm having a serious mole problem this year and have lost more than a couple large winter squash vines to sudden wilting. Each time I check it is because a mole has tunneled under them. It is a new bed, too, which is, I think, why they are particularly a problem there. I don't know if I could have legally gotten more commas in that sentence.

I'm having a serious mole problem this year and have lost more than a couple large winter squash vines to sudden wilting. Each time I check it is because a mole has tunneled under them. It is a new bed, too, which is, I think, why they are particularly a problem there. I don't know if I could have legally gotten more commas in that sentence.

I seem to have the same problem ... Apparently Sugar Baby is not very resistant to Fusarium Wilt. See link below. Next year I intend to try Crimson Sweet... or after a bit of research maybe something else in addition to CS...

Here is a link that might be useful: Resistance to Fusarium Wilt

This post was edited by grandad on Fri, Jul 12, 13 at 16:11

If this is fusarium wilt, will it spread to other plants? Like the acorn squash nearby? I'm not 100% sure that is what I have, and I hate to give up on them too soon when I'm still hoping for a recovery.

FWIW, to answer a couple of questions I didn't see earlier, they are in full sun in that spot, those are 3 separate plants that came out of a 6 pack (gave the other 3 away), and the wood mulch was what I had. I was hoping since my other heat-lovers (eggplant, etc) did fine without plastic, the melon would too. They've been out for about a month give or take, but a lot of June was cool.

Per the reference below, the watermelon contaminating fungus is specific to watermelon.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fusarium Wilt on Watermelon

This post was edited by grandad on Fri, Jul 12, 13 at 16:12

My sugar baby just up and died last year without any warning. I wonder if it was fusarium. Had two softball size fruits at the time, too, which were tiny but ended up being completely edible (and delicious).