Anyone in zone 6b or lower... watermellons?

[silkiechicken]

I drive just 300 miles south and see that short season watermelons are a plenty on family side of the road farms. Anyone in zone 6b or lower been able to grow a watermelon?

I read that watermelon seeds and plants love temps in the 75-85 deg range... but we have all of maybe 30 days of temps that maybe reach the lower end of that range... anyone?

 

[Angie n Maine]

I remember growing them as a kid (we were in zone 4 for sure). I ordered watermelon seeds from Pinetree and am going to try them. Can't hurt to try.

 

[silkiechicken]

That's true, they just take up space

One year I had an accidental jpn squash, and it took over a huge area... and got one, just one squash....

Maybe I'll get a packet and see if I get more than green golf balls. I worry that we don't have enough hot days as weather is relatively mild year long. I can try to start them like the tomatoes! LOL

 

[Gonzo the Great]

This might be of use .

 

[patandchickens]

I read a book wherein the authors described growing peppers and eggplants that needed more hotter summer than their area had (this was in Canada) by surrounding the plants with 'walls' made of old window sashes.

The idea was that on cooler nights it gave you something to throw a temporary insulating cover over, and during the day the glass sides increased heat on the plants while the open tops prevented them from actuallly roasting.

I haven't tried it myself, yet, but might be a thought -- are there any compact or bush watermelons?

Pat

 

[Buff Shallots]

I'm in a cool zone 7, and I've grown the small type successfully. Moon & Stars and the little round ones (I forget their name). Maybe that's the key. Grow a small one that doesn't take as long to grow and mature.

I plant them in the raised bed near the edge, and let them trail over the edge, into the path and into the woods. I do that with all my space-hog squash plants. I don't waste garden soil space on the top (foliage) part of the plant.

 

[digitS']

You are falling into something of a trap, Silkiechicken. You are trying to evaluate and compare your growing season (mostly Summer) by your Winter low temperatures. Winter lows are what have gone into determining USDA hardiness zones.

The key word there is "hardiness" - hardiness zone classification is for the purpose of determining whether plants should survive a Winter. What watermelon do you intend to grow thru your Winter??

To get a better idea and comparison of your actual growing season, take a look at this webpage from the Weather Service.

Steve

 

[Buff Shallots]

How many "hot days" does a ripened watermelon require? I'm wondering if a large number of medium warm days (that Silkie might have in her temperate climate) could serve as well as fewer number of "hot days", or days above a certain temp...

 

[digitS']

You've asked the $64,000 question, Buff!!

How much warmth do common vegetables and fruits require to reach maturity?

Ag researchers, seed companies, and farmers are turning to the idea of heat units or growing degree days (GDD) to answer questions like this about commodity crops. The gardener has been completely outside the equation so far. But, numbers are now known for cotton, soybeans, field corn, even how much heat must accumulate before alfalfa can be cut for hay.

Growing degree days for newer varieties of sweet corn are now given. You may have noticed that the Weather Service is using the growing of corn as their standard in that list for weather stations across the US.

Keep in mind that the seed companies' ideas on days-to-maturity are sometimes just completely made up !! Will a melon that they say takes 87 days, take 87 days in Florida and 87 days in Wyoming? Of course, it will not !! For sweet corn, a 86 to 90 days-to-maturity variety may take 1730 to 2000 growing degree days. And, I think that's about where some early-maturing melons might fit in.

The Weather Service tells us that Bellingham Washington has 1755 growing degree days on average. Casper Wyoming has 2565 GDD. Can Bellingham gardeners grow watermelon? Weeelll, maybe they can - in a warm Summer . Can Casper gardeners grow watermelon? Yeah, they probably can :bun.

None of this means that it's warmer in the Winter in Casper than it is in Bellingham. Nor, does it mean that a rose variety would be safer in Casper than in Bellingham. None of that would be true . . . but it does mean that Bellingham has a cool Summer and it is a challenge to grow melons and sweet corn.

Steve
:tools

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, reading up on stuff about them melons... not even going to try.

I had a hard time getting my 64 day sweet corn to reach maturity...talk about fake numbers, took over 100 days! AND it wasn't even that sweet. If watermelon likes to germinate at 95F, I'll stick to broccoli, short season corns and snow peas. What was I thinking! I guess I'm even in a cool spot too...