Watermelon

I got one small Watermelon this year. I am pleased considering how difficult it is to grow them here. I hope it is super sweet. The Watermelon I took the seeds from was rated at a level 13, which is super sweet for a Watermelon. 

Watermelon (Suika)

I planted seeds from a super sweet Watermelon in early September and pleasantly surprised to find a few small Watermelons. I hope they are as sweet as the original Watermelon.

Watermelon (Suika)

This Watermelon plant is growing out of season, but it is starting to flower and I hope the fruit matures.

Watermelon (Suika)

I planted Watermelon (Suika) seed on 7 March and they just started to sprout. 

 

Watermelon (Suika)

I planted Watermelon (Suika) two days ago. They should start to sprout in about a week.

 

Watermelon (Suika)

(9/27) I planted these Watermelon seeds about a month ago.

I planted these about two weeks ago.

 

Watermelon (Suika)

(8/29) I planted these seeds about three weeks ago and they are growing quickly. My last batch of Watermelons did not grow very large, but they were sweet (level 12).  

 

Watermelon

 (8/12) I picked a watermelon today since its vine dried up. It has been really hot so it is not large (398 grams, little less than a pound), but I'm sure it will be delicious. 

Watermelon (Suika)

(7/30) My Watermelon (Suika) plants are really starting to develop. 

Watermelon (Suika)

(7/11) Today I found a new Watermelon. 

Watermelon (Suika)

(5/14) I built a trellis using Pampas Grass stocks I gathered from behind my house to place my Watermelon plants. I have six pretty healthy plants and plan to grow one Watermelon per plant. I typically only grow one Watermelon per plant to try and get a sweet Watermelon. I hope my trellis holds up.

(5/16) There are a lot of flowers and a few little Watermelons seem to be growing.

(5/19)

(5/21) 

I see more Watermelons growing. I will have to trace the vine, because I only want one Watermelon on each plant to ensure all the nutrients go towards one fruit to make it sweet.

(5/23) Found a second Watermelon. I have six plants in this container, so hope I can get one fruit per plant.

(6/3) I've lost a few Watermelons to caterpillars so decided to wrap them. It has been about a week and it looks like the wrapping has worked. 

(6/7) The Watermelon are growing quickly. 

(6/7)

Watermelon (Suika)

(3/28) I planted Watermelon seeds about 10 days ago and they are starting to sprout.

(4/4) Grown so much in the past 7 days.

(4/12) The sprouts are one month old, so I thinned them down by selecting the strongest looking plant in the group and removed the rest.  

(4/13)

(5/6) 5-weeks old

(5/12) Starting to flower after 6 1/2 weeks

Watermelon (Suika)

Well, I ate my little baby Watermelon (Suika) and surprisingly it was very good. I’m pleased! I will try to grow more.

Watermelon (Suika)

Well, living in Okinawa has some benefits, but it's not all rosy. A recent typhoon damaged my watermelon plant and I had to remove my cute little watermelon early since the vine died.

Watermelon (Suika)

My lonely little Watermelon (Suika) is still growing and looks so cute. 

Watermelon (Suika)

The Watermelon (Suika) looks like it will make it and in fact it has nearly doubled in size over the past week.

Watermelon (Suika)

I've had a couple fruit develop, but they all have died. This is the only fruit left and it is at the top of the vine. It already has a spot on it, so I do not give it much chance to make it. Okinawa is not the best environment to grow Watermelon.

Climbers

All my climbers are doing well, but a little worried about the watermelon. In front is the Red Cucumber (Moi), center is Watermelon and furthest away is Bitter Melon (Goya). I also have Japanese Pumpkin (Kabocha) at the end of the balcony, but cannot see, See waiting on the Moi to blossom. The Moi I have in my side garden started to blossom a few days ago.

Watermelon (Suika) Blossoms

Watermelon (Suika) in full bloom. Balcony gardening is a paradox. The good and bad thing is few bugs. Few bugs to eat your plants (good), but also few bugs to pollinate your flowers (bad). 

Some flowering plants, like Watermelon, create both male (red arrow) and female (blue arrow) flowers in which pollinators, like bees, pollinate them as they travel about gathering nectar, while the flowers of some other plants contain both male and female parts, like Strawberries.  

With regards to the Watermelon female flower, fruit develops with a flower on the end waiting to be pollinated. If it is not pollinated, the fruit will wither up and fall off. Today, I found a number of small fruit falling off and realized they were not being pollinated, so I removed a male flower, pulled the petals off and rubbed it on the female flowers. This generally works, but I'll have to monitor the situation and be a little more attentive.

Watermelon (Suika) Album

I planted the seeds from a store bought Watermelon (Suika) that was really sweet in hopes to produce many sweet watermelons. The seeds were planted in mid-May and started to sprout on 1 June.

As with the other climbers, I attached cords to the roof for them to climb and when they produce a fruit, I will suspend them in a basket. I will keep only one fruit from each plant in an attempt to produce a sweet fruit, Originally I had three cords, but decided to add three more.

9 days old and starting to climb.

2 weeks old and climbing.

15 days old and starting to flower.