Growing Watermelons

Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Watermelons

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Everyone seems to love juicy watermelon in the summertime. Native to Africa, melons require warm temperatures and a long growing season. Here’s how to plant and grow watermelons in your garden!

About Watermelons

Because watermelons need a long period of warm weather to grow well, they tend to be more popular in warmer climates with long growing seasons. However, gardeners in colder climates can still have success in growing watermelons by starting seeds indoors or purchasing young plants from a nursery, and by growing shorter-season varieties. Depending on the variety of watermelon, it can take between 70 and 100 days to go from planting to harvest.

Planting Dates for WATERMELONS

Planting Calendar for all Plants

Planting

When to Plant Watermelons

In cool climates with short growing seasons, start seeds indoors 2 to 3 weeks before your last frost date. Plan to transplant seedlings into the garden about 2 weeks after that date or when the soil has warmed to at least 65°F (18°C).
In warmer climates with long growing seasons, sow seeds directly outdoors 1 to 2 weeks after your last frost date, as long as the soil temperature has warmed to at least 65°F (18°C).
Young watermelon plants can also be bought from nurseries. Plant these after there is no longer a chance of frost occurring; they are very tender. Watch the local forecast and err on the side of caution! Consider laying black plastic over your planting area in order to warm the soil even more.
- Tip: Starting with young plants can result in an earlier harvest (usually up to 2 weeks earlier), so consider buying young plants particularly if you live in a cooler climate.

Choosing and Preparing a Planting Site

Amend soil with aged manure, seaweed, and/or compost before planting. Watermelons are heavy feeders, meaning they need soil that is fertile and has a high nutrient level. Learn more about soil amendments and preparing soil for planting.
Watermelons do best in loamy, somewhat-sandy, well-drained soil. They can struggle in soil that contains too much clay and doesn’t drain well.
Watermelons prefer a soil pH between 6.0 and 7.5 (“slightly acidic to neutral”).
Watermelons need A LOT of space—up to 20 square feet per plant. Their vines need room to sprawl, so plant them in a place where they won’t crowd out other crops.
Growing the vines in raised rows, known as hills, ensures good drainage and will hold the sun’s heat longer.
- Plan to space the plants 2-3 feet apart in a 5-foot-wide hill.
- If you’re growing in traditional rows, space them at least 6 feet apart.

Watermelon plant

How to Plant Watermelons

Sow seeds ½ to 1 inch deep outdoors or ¼ to ½ inch deep in seed-starting pots indoors.
- Tip: To allow for more root growth, use larger starting pots than you would for most seeds. Also consider using compostable pots that can be cut away or planted directly in the garden, as this will minimize the risk of damaging seedlings’ tender roots during transplanting.
If direct seeding outdoors, sow 4 to 6 seeds per hill, eventually thinning to 2 to 3 seedlings.

Transplanting Seedlings

Handle watermelon seedlings with extreme care when you transplant. Their roots are very fragile, so try not to disturb the soil when removing them from pots.
After transplanting, cover the plants with row covers to keep pests at bay. Remember to remove the row covers when you see both male and female flowers on the vine, as pollinators will need to access the flowers.
Find even more tips for planting melons in your home garden.

Care

How to Grow Watermelons

Watering

Watering is very important—from planting until fruit begins to form. While melon plants are growing, blooming, and setting fruit, they need 1 to 2 inches of water per week.
Keep soil moist, but not waterlogged. Water at the vine’s base in the morning, and try to avoid wetting the leaves and avoid overhead watering. Reduce watering once fruit are growing. Dry weather produces the sweetest melon.

Fertilizing

If you choose to fertilize (and many do), make sure it delivers more nitrogen than phosphorus and potassium, as this will encourage leaf and vine growth. However, after flowering begins, use a fertilizer with less nitrogen to instead encourage flowers and fruit. We like to use a seaweed-based fertilizer.

Flowering and Fruiting

Vines produce male and female flowers separately on the same plant. They often begin producing male flowers several weeks before the females appear. Do not be concerned if the male flowers fall off. The female flowers (which have a swollen bulb at the base) will stay on the vine and bear fruit.
Blossoms require pollination to set fruit, so be kind to the bees! Learn how to support pollinators in your garden.
As fruit is ripening, prevent rotting by gently lifting it and putting cardboard or straw between the fruit and the soil.

Baby watermelon

General Care Tips

Mulching with black plastic or straw around the plants will serve multiple purposes: it will warm the soil, hinder weed growth, and keep developing fruits off the soil.
Pruning generally isn’t necessary for watermelon plants, but vine productivity may be improved if you do not allow lateral (side) vines to grow and stick to the main vine. When the plant is young, just cut off the end buds as they form (before the side shoots become vines). You can also pinch off some blossoms to focus the energy on fewer melons (though it’s a challenge to kill off a potential fruit).

Pests/Diseases

Harvest/Storage

Watermelons don’t continue ripening after they are picked, so harvest time is important. They generally ripen over a two-week period, so keep your eye on them.

How to Tell If a Watermelon Is Ripe

Dr. Bill Rhodes, professor of horticulture at Clemson University, offers the following advice on how to tell when watermelons are ripe:

Thump it. If the watermelon sounds hollow, it’s ripe.
Look at the color on the top. The watermelon is ripe when there is little contrast between the stripes.
Look at the color on the bottom. An immature watermelon will have a white bottom; a ripe melon will have a cream- or yellow-colored bottom.
Press on it. If the watermelon sounds like it gives a little, it’s ripe. (Note: Rhodes doesn’t like this method because it can ruin the quality of the fruit.)
Check the tendril. If it’s green, wait. If it’s half-dead, the watermelon is nearly ripe or ripe. If the tendril is fully dead, it’s ripe or overripe; it’s not going to get any riper, so you might as well pick!
Stems should be cut with a sharp knife close to the fruit.

How to Store Watermelons

Watermelons can be stored uncut for about 10 days. If cut, they can last in the refrigerator for about 4 days. Wrap tightly in plastic.

Recommended Varieties

‘Sugar Baby’: 80 days to maturity. Produces 10-pound melons with bright red flesh. This variety of smaller fruit can be planted just 4 feet apart.
‘Sweet Beauty’: 80 days to maturity. A 2004 All-America Selection. Bears 6-pound, oblong melons with red flesh.
‘Golden Midget’: 70 days to maturity. Bears petite, yellow-skinned 3-pound melons with pink flesh. Good for Northern gardeners.

Wit & Wisdom

What’s in a name? Watermelons are 90% water.
The pumpkin vine never bears watermelons.
August 3 is National Watermelon Day (U.S.)!

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Reader Comments

turning black and drying up

I was excited to see 5 small watermelons starting on 3 different plants a few weeks ago, but most of those turned black and dried up. Two of them are growing, but still small like a baseball. I have seen more start, but turn black and shrivel up as well. Today I noticed a few more starting, so I am hoping they survive. What causes them to turn black and dry up? I was surprised, since some of them had been golf ball size, though most are very small, like marbles.
Thanks for your help!

turn black and shrivel

Few things are as disappointing as seeing fruit shrivel and die on the vine. Hearing about it is almost as bad. Sorry to say, your watermelon is infected. The disease that your fruit appears to have is Anthracnose. It is a fungus that occurs most often when the season has been warm and there has been a lot of rain (or, possibly, watering). There are numerous steps to take to avoid this—but nothing you can do now. In future, rotate your crops (did you plant this in the same place in last year or in recent years? That is a common mistake.). Do not cultivate or touch the plants when they are wet. If, possible, grow cultivars that have a resistance to this disease. In a move to eliminate any traces of the fungus, you should completely clear the area of this plant——now or at harvest time.
Sorry the news is not better . . .
–Almanac editors

When to Harvest

My watermelon has rough skin is dull and the tendril is dead as well as the tendril on both sides of it. However, the bottom of it is still white. It is growing on black weed blocker could that keep the ground spot from turning yellow. I do not want it to get to ripe

Pick it!

If the tendril is dead, the melon is ready ripe. As we suggest above:
• If the tendril is green, wait.
• If it’s half-dead, the watermelon is nearly ripe or ripe.
• If the tendril is fully dead, it's ripe or overripe; it’s not going to get any riper, so you might as well pick!
It is not uncommon for the bottom to be white; it doesn't get any sun!
Enjoy your fruit.
–Almanac editors

Multiple Fruit

This is my 1st year growing and I have some pretty robust Georgia Rattlesnake vines with one fruit that is yellowing on the bottom so getting ready to pick. No other fruit has set except this past week now I have one that has began to grow. My question is how is the best way to pick the ripe one and keep the other growing? More specifically, reducing the watering to sweeten the ripe one without killing off the other? I'm in the high desert of California, and we see temps in the upper 90s, low 100s in the day and upper 60s at night. Thanks!

Wow—lucky you! By most

Wow—lucky you! By most accounts, Georgia Rattlesnake is on the best tasting watermelons. We suggest that the best way to pick your near-ripe melon is...very carefully. As advised above, use a sharp knife to cut the stem close to the fruit. Be careful not to cut the vine, as it will support the next melon.

As to keeping the new fruit growing: One of our sources suggest that one fruit on the vine inhibits the setting of another plant on the same vine—as if the plant knows that it can only grow one at a time! It sounds like your plant knows that its first harvest is near. Carry on with what you are/have been doing: reduce watering when the new fruits are about the size of a baseball; when the fruit achieves that size, water only when the plant is completely dry.

It sounds like you are having a great summer, with the garden and the weather.

Thank You!

Thanks for the response. Great advice and it looks like I'll have another watermelon to refine my skills (watering & harvesting).

After picking watermelon

After i pick all my watermellon what do i do with my plants? This is my first year to grow watermellon.

After harvesting the

After harvesting the watermelons, remove the plant. Clean-up the vines to keep insects and diseases from overwintering.

Beginner

How do I protect the watermelons from bugs since i have a few thumb sized melons started? And we're suposed to get 3 days of thunderstorms and rain will I have problems with splitting or anything else?

Compared to other crops,

Compared to other crops, watermelons aren't usually attacked by bugs. However, if you wish to be safe, a good control is the use floating row covers for the first few weeks; you must remove the covers to allow pollination of the flowers by bees. If you spot aphids under the leaves, spray with insecticidal soap. If you spot cucumber beetles, a spray application of rotenone or sabadilla is advised, but speak to your local garden center first. Avoid watering from overhead; water at the soil line. In terms of rain, make sure your soil drains well and the roots won't stay wet. If the melon splits, pick right away and cut out the split area.

How do I pick out the watermolen?

Do I pick it out of the vine or just cut the split out but still on the vine,and how do I cut out the split area?Thank You.

Pick the split melon off the

Pick the split melon off the vine right away so it doesn't go bad. Then just cut the split out of your fruit.

How do You prune the Plants?

How do You prune the Plants? Do I need to Pinch off the smaller melons ( size of a lemon)?

You do not need to prune

You do not need to prune watermelon vines. If you want to try and grow an extra-large melon for a competition, you could cut off the lateral vines (as the best fruit is often on the main fine), but there's really no need to prune watermelon vines. You could also pinch off some of the blossoms to focus energy on less fruit.

beginner 2

This my 2nd time growing melons (sweet babys)Last year I planted to late and the frost got to them. this year I planted in March and I have melon thats almost ready to pick and four more that are just beginning get larger. I been wating for the little curly do dad to dry up before I pick the first one. I'm also waiting to see the bottom of the melon turn yellow.I just read on this site to water less about once a week with two inches of water . please advise

Beginner 2

After the fruit stops growing reduce watering and stop all watering a week or two before harvesting. This allows the flesh to crisp and the sugars to concentrate.

beginner 2

Thanks for that advise. I got empatient and cut that first melon too soon,it was ony red around the seeds but still juicey, but I was still thrilled that I even have melons and will wait the full term for the next pick. I've got five more with more comining. Oh by the way I live in lancaster CA. thanks again

burned leaves

I have a lovely watermelon plant that produced a huge and sweet melon then about a week later has sprouted 12 new ones. They are about thumb size now. The plant overall covers about a 4x6 wide area. My son used a mix of soap and water to spray for some aphids (I think) and now half the leaves are burned to a crisp! Should I remove those leaves? Remove some of the fruits? Leave it alone? I will be so sad to loose this plant!! Also, the plant next to it is a smaller one and has bowling ball size fruit but it also is terrible burned! Not sure if the fruit will make it with so much damage!! :(

Burned leaves

You may have a fungal leaf disease. Symptoms begin as small yellow areas on the upper leaves and then turn brown. The entire leaf may wither and die. Remove the "burned" leaves and also remove about half of the small melons. The melons left will then have a chance to grow bigger.

burned leaves

Thank you! I'm pretty sure the burn is from the spray, not any disease, based on the location and quick show up (no yellow at all, just burned on the specific sprayed areas. I'll do the removal and see what happens! thanks!

watermelons

this is my first time growing watermelons im still unsure if im watering them enough are to much. And it has male flowers and i just saw a female flower that bloomed and has a ball on the bottom how long does it to take fully grow once the female flower starts will i see a melon grow? and do you know about pumpkin plants and honeydews?

watermelons

While melon plants are blooming and setting fruit they need 1 to 2 inches of water per week. Reduce watering once fruits are growing. If the female flower is pollinated the fruit will mature in about 60-90 days depending on the variety of melon and your weather conditions.

split watermelon

We did reaally well this year on watermelons we seen about 5 begin to grow but rotted off. However one did make it to about 4 pounds and when I check the garden it was split. Why is that? We have another growing and its about 1 pound and I wanna try to prevent spliting

Watermelons split when the

Watermelons split when the plant absorbs water too fast. The watermelon will channel that extra water to the fruits (which split).
Did you get extra rain? Or perhaps too much irrigation? Cut back and water consistently. Hope this helps!

split watermelon

Unfortunely the one pounder has split! We've been getting lots of thunderstorms lately and havent had to water the garden. Is it too late to start planting again?

my watermelon plant

My watermelon plant fully came out. Its only growing leaves. It sheds them once and while. Is it still alive or no. Please write me back Lilly

Hi, Lilly, On watermelons,

Hi, Lilly, On watermelons, you should see flowers on the vines first (not fruit). The first flowers to appear on the vines are male. The female flowers, which open later, have a swelling at the base that forms the fruit (the ovary). After bees pollinate these female flowers, the fruit develops. Poor fruit set in watermelons is usually a result of poor pollination. Bees are necessary to transfer the pollen from the male to female bloom. Common causes of poor fruit set include lack of bees for pollinating or cool, wet
weather that slows bee activity during bloom. Also, very hot weather or water stress could be a problem.

beginner

Hi! This is my first time planting a garden and we have watermelons, cantaloupe, squash, collard greens, cabbage and okra. My melons are all producing blooms but no fruit. We live in the south and the weather has been alot warmer earlier in the year and we haven't had much rain. I planted in late March and I water them every other day and use miracle grow once a week. Could you please tell me what we're doing wrong?

Melons have female and male

Melons have female and male flowers. Bees have to transfer pollen from one to the other. 1. Check your fruit. Sometimes it takes a few weeks to see the female flowers and you'll just see male blooms. The females have swelling balls (little melons) underneath. 2. If you have female blooms and no fruit, the usual reasons are high temperatures or lack of pollinators. Do you see lots of bees in the morning visiting the flowers? If you don't have bees, you could explore hand pollinating (and planting bee plants next year!).