Baby watermelons falling off (flowers, growing, fertilizers, grass)

[NM posts]

Hope someone has some advise! I'm growing Jubilee watermelons for the first time, raised garden bed - I live in NC - they seemed to be thriving, but then my baby watermelons disappeared. I blamed squirrels, but yesterday I was poking around the bed looking for them and saw one baby watermelon fall off. It had actually started to rot on the vine and it was maybe an inch long.

So bummed!

We have had record rainfall and everything is very humid and moist. I wonder if that could be part of it?

In the garden bed I used organic soil, plus some leaf litter/grass clipping compost inadvertently made by the former owner of my house (who dumped it all behind a fence). The actual watermelon plants seem incredibly healthy and have spread far beyond the garden bed, but the little watermelons...premature death

[Hemlock140]

That is almost always caused by lack of bees pollinating them. If that's your problem you may have to go out daily and hand pollinate them, as I do with the zuccini in my greenhouse. It' easy to identify the male and female flowers, with the female having a tiny watermelon below them and the male having a longer stem.

[NM posts]

Hm, I already have fruit though and it's the fruit that's dying off/falling off - so it would already be pollinated?

[tasmtairy]

We've had over 11" in July and it's only the 12th!! Could be the water!! My yard is a swamp, lol

[kinkytoes]

Originally Posted by NorasMom

Hm, I already have fruit though and it's the fruit that's dying off/falling off - so it would already be pollinated?

Not necessarily.

For most (if not all) cucurbits, the male flowers are plain, but the female flowers have what looks like a little baby fruit at the base. The little baby fruit-like thing will grow for a bit, but if the flower's not pollinated, it will shrivel up and drop off.

You can wait until you have a critical mass of male and female flowers, or you can move pollen from the male to the female flowers yourself with your finger or a q-tip.

[NM posts]

Wow, so interesting - I had no idea! Thanks so much. I'm definitely going to try to pollinate tomorrow.

[uncleharley]

Pollination is good.

uh

[brokencrayola]

My first thought was too much moisture. Between the rain and the humidity I think you might have your answer.

[1965bari]

Hi my watermelon plant is producing almost all male flowers. its the end of july. whenever a female flower grows the little watermelon falls off before flower opens. any suggestions whats going on. are more female coming out or is it too late in the season. plant is very healthy

[antinimby]

Watermelons need lots of fertilizers. If you don't fertilize enough, all the things mentioned in this thread will occur.

I learn this from experience. Check out my watermelon pics from a couple of years ago. BTW, they were so sweet.