Cucumber Beetles – These bugs don’t even try to hide their damage to your watermelon patch, and often feed openly on leaves and flowers.
What do you spray watermelon plants with?
Contact fungicides should be the backbone of most cantaloupe and watermelon spray schedules. Two contact fungicides for this purpose have the active ingredient chlorothalonil or mancozeb. They may be used all season-long.
How do you protect watermelon plants from pests?
Place melon cages over your watermelon plants to protect them from birds and animals. Spread a 3-inch (7.5 cm) layer of cedar or cypress mulch in your garden to naturally deter insects. Spray watermelon plants with insecticidal soap or neem oil to kill pest insects.
Why do watermelon flowers fall off?
If your female watermelon blossoms are dropping, it is likely due to poor pollination. On most varieties, each vine will support (carry) two to three melons, so you may have to remove blooms. If you opt to grow just one or two fruits on each vine, they’ll get all the plant’s energy to be bigger and sweeter.
What is the best pesticide for watermelon?
Use Soap Solutions. Soap solutions are an all-purpose way to get rid of numerous types of garden pests, including aphids on watermelon plants. Mix 1 tablespoon of liquid castille soap in 1 gallon of water, shake it well and spray all leaf surfaces, including the undersides of the leaves. This mixture dehydrates aphids.
What is putting holes in my watermelon?
Animals such as squirrels, chipmunks, deer and woodchucks enjoy puncturing and eating melon crops. Coyotes and domesticated dogs also enjoy biting into sweet melons. Raccoons and birds make holes in the tops of melons and scoop or suck juices from the fruit’s inside.
What animal eats watermelon plants?
Now, will animals eat watermelon plants? Yes, animals like tree squirrels, rabbits, bugs, etc are common pests that damage garden plants such as watermelon plants. Raccoons and birds make holes throughout the melons which helps them to extract the sweet juice from within.
How do I get rid of aphids on my flowers?
Soap and water:
Apply with a spray bottle directly on aphids and the affected parts of the plant, making sure to soak the undersides of leaves where eggs and larvae like to hide. The soap dissolves the protective outer layer of aphids and other soft-bodied insects, eventually killing them.
What does aphids look like?
Aphids are small, 1/16- to 1/8-inch-long (2-4 mm), pear-shaped, soft-bodied insects. They can range in color from green, black, red, yellow, brown or gray. Mature aphids can be wingless or can have wings. Winged aphids are similar in color but are a little darker.
How often should I water my watermelon plant?
Typically, watermelon plants need 1-2 inches of water per week so that the soil stays moist but not wet. If you’re not getting enough rain each week, make sure you give your plants an extra drink.
How do you encourage watermelon flowers?
In some instances, too much nitrogen fertilizer may be to blame. This results in abundant foliage growth with little to no flowering, which means no watermelon fruit. Adding a high phosphorus fertilizer or bone meal around your plants can help offset this.
How long do male watermelon flowers last?
Watermelon flowers only last for one day so there must be an adequate number of bees and other pollinators in the area when the flowers are viable. If your garden is in an area with very few bees, hand pollination may be necessary. Remove the petals from the male flower to leave the pollen-covered anther.
What is wrong with my watermelon plant?
The most common reasons for watermelon plants dying include incorrect soil, watering issues, not enough sunlight, or planting issues. Temperature, weeds, diseases, and pests can also play a role.
What is insecticidal soap for plants?
Insecticidal soap is made with potassium salts of fatty acids, and it’s commonly used by gardeners to curb infestations of insects and pests on their plants. Soap sprays are effective for soft-bodied insects such as mealybugs and aphids. Insecticidal soap does not harm the plants.
What is eating my melon leaves?
The three most dangerous bugs to your melon plant’s health are cucumber beetles, melon aphids and squash vine borers, according to Rodale’s Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening.
When Should I spray my watermelon?
Start spraying when vines start to run, no later than when the first (male) flowers open. From vine run until mid-May, spray every ten days. After mid-May, spray every week through harvest regardless of the weather. Downy or powdery mildew can attack any time a crop goes more than a week without a fungicide.
What pest eats watermelon?
Pickleworm and melonworm rarely attack watermelon. The principal insect and mite pests on watermelons in Florida are aphids, rindworms (caterpillars feeding on the rind, including beet and fall armyworms, cabbage looper, tobacco budworm, corn earworm, saltmarsh caterpillar, and others), whiteflies, and thrips.
How do you increase watermelon fruit size?
To maximize the size of the melon, water the plants regularly in deep water sessions that keep the soil moist. Side dress the Watermelon plants with fertilizer prepared for edible crops or fertilizer tea to feed the plants. Fertilizer encourages growth to produce large melons.
What is a watermelon worm?
Melon worms are elongate greenish larvae with darker head that cause severe feeding damage to vines and fruit of most melons. Closely related to the pickle worm that attack cucumbers. In areas that never receive frost (southern Texas and Florida), melon worms may be a year round problem.
Can you put Sevin dust on watermelon plants?
Answer: Sevin Dust 5% – 3 Pack is not labeled for applications to watermelons. Please provide the targeted pest for an alternate recommendation.
What does it mean if a watermelon sound hollow?
ripe watermelon
A ripe watermelon should have a deep hollow sound when you thump the rind with your hand, similar to a knock on the door. An unripe melon will have a more high-pitched resonance, whereas an overripe melon will sound more like a thud.