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Watermelon is one of the most famous summertime yield . Unfortunately , not everyone gets pleasure , specially when Watermelon flora disease otherwise derail well - placed garden labor . watermelon are easy to grow , and no matter what case you pick , you bed you are for a real treatment until you determine Watermelon plant pests . Let ’s check out a few mutual problems of Watermelon plant below .
It is easy to keep Watermelon from get sick once a disease or cuss attacks . Diseases are frequent and can limit Watermelon quality and production . Diseases can occur during the crop production wheel and affect all parts of the plants , from stem to fruit . disease are most stark when vine are attacked and killed untimely .
However , diseases that attack leaves boil down yield calibre by discover melons to burn . Moreover , yield sweetness and normal ripen depend on healthy leaves . Therefore , when the disease affects fruits , they are generally unmarketable and are prone to disintegrate , resulting in damage during shipment and transit . Fortunately , it is generally possible to manage Watermelon disease and achieve consistent production and quality .
22 Common problems of Watermelon plants
There may not be enough pollenation , mostly bees .
root – Hand - pollinate using a paintbrush . The activity of the fly front may be reduced due to cold weather or pesticides .
You look closely at the plant and find the stem turn wilt where it comes out of the ground . take out the seedlings one , and it comes out with a barbed and icky root net .
solvent – One of the best ways to prevent damping - off is to stave off sow Watermelon seed directly into the soil . rather , you could come out them indoors in a pocket-sized pot or seedling tray . It allows you to provide warm temperatures for delicate seedlings . Then , when the soil alfresco gets quite hot , you could transplant the seedlings . Another root is to eliminate fungi from fungicides , include azoxystrobin and metalaxyl . move around the dirt before put on antimycotic and allow it sit under the sunshine for two calendar week before transplanting the Watermelon seedlings .
On the Watermelon vine , male flowers first open , and after about two weeks , the female bloom bloom . Male heyday are spendable . They have only one task , producing pollen to cross-pollinate the subject matter , and , after that , they pass off and fall . But sometimes , they descend long before the female prime opened . While it may seem serious , it is pretty received for virile flowers to fall before they attain their foreign mission in sprightliness .
It should not be a movement of danger unless you lose a lot of male flush simultaneously . On the other hand , female peak do not tend to fall because the fruit will develop at the heart of the flower . So if your female flowers start falling , it may intend that the efflorescence do not cross-pollinate in time .
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Solution – If your garden does n’t attract many pollinators , pick a manful flower and ensure the pollen - filled stamen sticks out . Then , drop the stamen in the female flower and shake it some . chafe it from inside the pistol for good amount . Repeat with other female bloom using different male blossom . vine can be malnourished , and to protect zip and resources , it start up shedding flowers quickly .
Feed the plant with sluggish - handout organic manure as soon as the first buds issue . satiate your garden with Lavender , purulent willow tree , Blue Borage , Crocus , Marjoram , Lilac , and Abelia that pull bee and butterfly stroke . The more pollinators you have , the better the chances of the male cross-pollinate the distaff flowers before it falls .
Any pathogen does not cause Watermelon blossom last rot ; it results from yield that lacks the calcium to grow properly . When fruit grow fast , they demand a lot of Ca , but it does n’t move very well through the plant , so they will lessen if it is not available in the soil . Calcium insufficiency finally induce speedily develop cell in fruit to fall on themselves , turning the end of the Watermelon flower into a black , leathery wound . blossom rot in Watermelon is a calcium deficiency , but impart more Ca alone will not help the state of affairs .
Solution – move out the damaged fruit from the vine as quickly as possible to encourage your plant to start new flower , and check the stain around your vine . ascertain the pH , it should be between 6.5 and 6.7 , but if it ’s less than 5.5 , you ’re having a problem , and you ’ll postulate to modify the bottom quickly and gently .
If the stain and industrial plant solution are allowed to dry , the vine and leaves will wilt , shrivel up and die .
Solution – impart a thick layer of mulch around the plants to conserve piss and protect the vapor tardily from the soil .
Watermelon vines have no peak , and you will have no fruit , and the vines are not cosmetic enough to justify the trouble you go through . arrest your vine is rise in the best of stipulation .
Solution – Soil is loamy , rich , and well - drained . Mulch maintain wet in the soil severally and keep weeds from compete with the vine on resources . A high density of nitrogen have the growth of leaves and radical at the expense of flowers . Use more fertiliser on P and less fertilizer on N to further flowers .
The problem of a hollow heart is common , peculiarly in Watermelons without seeds . One theory is that the rise conditions around the vine were not the just , specially during the pollination , which causes this job . In improver , not enough pollen in the female flower after rubbing the manly flower affects the growth of the yield well in the terminal stages .
Another aspect of the problem is nutrition in the dirt . Boron is an all important factor for Watermelon as it boosts the increase of healthy seeds . A lack of Boron can preclude seed formation inside the yield that leaving a gap in the centre of right Watermelon .
root – Make certain the vine has enough male flowers to cross-pollinate the female person . If you grow a variety that does not acquire male and female flowers , apply other vines to supply pollen . Side dress the Boron as a plant food postscript . You should lend oneself it around blooming time and long before yield ontogeny .
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Possible reasons are short pollination , wry soil , in high spirits temperature , and hapless soil prolificacy .
Solution – insure that bees and pollinator can turn over flowers , keep filth evenly moist when melon are developing ; use drouth and drip irrigation in mulch to conserve land moisture , add cured compost to bed , and side - dress melons with aged compost .
As a raging zone plant , Watermelon thrive in temperatures between 30 to 32 ° ampere-second a day and 15 ° blow at night . Unexpected weather conditions that cause temperature to flow below these ideal levels can prevent the growth of the vine and its produced fruit . If you seek to turn vine clay or heavy land , you will get unwanted termination , including small fruits . The land must be loamy , fertile , and well - drained .
you’re able to raise it on mounds about a foot high to improve drainage . piteous pollinated female flowers will make stunted fruit . check that your garden is buzz with pollinator , and the vine has enough virile flowers . Different pest and diseases move the size of it of the Watermelon yield .
Solution – Make certain the vine grows sizable and has a root system . you could wrap the vine with a tarpaulin to keep the soil warm if the temperature spend at dark . Get rid of pests and verify there are no competitive plants near the vine .
The problem occurs after the Watermelon yield grows to full size but is yet to ripen . There is a deep crack towards a utterly healthy yield . The main reason behind this is unequal piss samples . If you allow the soil to dry out , teem more water on it , and the yield will spread under the pressure of more water . It can also chance after heavy rains , which leave alone the soil waterlogged . Watermelon may also break open due to a sudden temperature rise . Heat make pressure inside stark naked yield , causing the heavy shield to burst .
result – Observe the water samples of Watermelon faithfully . It is another reason you should rise Watermelon in well - run out soil . Even if it rains too much , the soil will absorb water supply before the vine ’s roots can take too much wet to create a accent unbalance within the fruit . As far as the sudden rise in land temperature is concerned , you may use mulch to split Watermelon . Cover the filth around the vine with a thick mulch surface to act as insulating material and protect the racy orb .
Pests
Small and appearing in almost any color you’re able to think ; the aphides do damage for their size . In addition , Colony suck the juice from your watermelon vine farewell and emit a gluey residue that can attract a sooty mould .
Solution – If you focus a hose on them every day until their numbers are shell back , you could treat the Aphids without chemical . If you ’re leaving gruelling chemicals out of the garden , you ’ll have flock of predator to take out the stragglers .
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armyworm are a big job if they are in your garden . Unlike other cat , armyworms eat up as a mathematical group for most of their sprightliness , quickly skeletonizing leaf and scarring fruit .
solvent – Like any caterpillar , they can be picked up by bridge player when feed . Still , if your Armyworm problem is very serious , you may be better off applying Bacillus thuringiensis or spinosad to your watermelon vine plants .
These pest do n’t even seek to hide their damage to your Watermelon piece and often feed openly on leaves and blossom .
Solution – If your Watermelons are working on arranging fruit , they ’re believably sometime enough to bear the departure of the cucumber mallet . Still , if the beetles start eating flowers , you ’d like to devote some metre to spray them with insecticidal scoop and plunk any pest by hand . Next time of year , use the floating row covering fire on your Watermelon before helping to prevent cucumber mallet problems .
Leaf miner produce some of the most striking visible damages in the garden without damaging most plants . Watermelon leaves will take care like something painted whitened , with rambling line of products on their surfaces and lily-white dirt to go along these tunnels .
result – If it bothers you and is limited to a few foliage , you could always nibble them up .
These pest suck the juice from Watermelon leaves , make small yellow dots to appear on all affected levels of the leafage .
Solution – Treat wanderer mites hebdomadally with neem oil colour until your plant are healthy again .
Diseases
The parting may be brown , but the most spectacular foretoken is on the yield . The peel can explode , and a sticky , yellow liquid can flow .
Solution – atomic number 29 antifungal agent can control if their program detects symptom of bacterial fruit blotch .
Downy mildew is celebrated for the angulate leaf spots as it shape through Watermelon leaves . They may start as yellow-bellied surface area but soon turn brown with purple seed under the affected leave .
root – Fortunately , fluffy mildew wo n’t attack fruit , but it can reduce production by damp your flora . Neem oil color can control this mould .
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Old tissue are usually more bear upon by unexampled ones when gummy stem blight fungus is involved . Black , furrow spots on leaves and inscrutable or submerged areas on trunks and yield are the first mark of disease .
resolution – Control is difficult , but copper fungicides can be effective if used as presently as gummy stem blight appears .
Cercospora leaf is a fungous disease that is mostly of minor grandness but can induce defoliation and yield exit . Vine defoliation can reduce yield and fruit quality when it becomes intense . The disease is mostly limited to leaves , but stem and petiole can be prostrate to disease . The disease does not directly affect the fruit .
root – Crop rotation , the incorporation of honest-to-goodness craw residues in stain , and rotation of craw with non - cucurbit craw for three years effectively limit the carryover of pathogens . In plus , fungicide spray plan are very effective at Cercospora folio spots .
Watermelon is attacked by fusarium wilt at all point of development . seed can rot in the territory . The seedling collapse and dies before or after emerging . Old plants wilt and die at any time during the spring up season . Melons are usually small and unsavory if mold .
Solution – Use resistant types if available , expend disease - devoid seeds , and avoid the spread of the fungus through contaminated farm implement and groove irrigate water supply .
Anthracnose is a very crushing disease of Watermelon and other cucurbits . Anthracnose attacks all the upper part of the plant . Watermelon can be affected at any microscope stage of growth ; however , the symptoms of the disease are first image as a round of drinks of slant reddish - brown spots on old leaf .
solvent – Use certified disease - free source , handle your seeds in hot piddle at 43 ° blow for 20 arcminute , industrial plant insubordinate varieties if available , and practice harvest gyration with non - cucurbits .
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symptom first develop into a lily-white talcum - similar powdery growth at the low leaf control surface . Powdery growth consist of the muckle of a fungal spore . Covered with white powdery growth , these areas can grow large and join to cover the surfaces of both low-spirited and upper leave . sternly bear on leaves dry , brown , and strewing . The secondary result of the disease admit sun burning at the stake and previous ripening of fruits .
solvent – If available , utilise resistant types , and spray atomic number 16 - based fungicides , which provide good control and destroy sens belonging to the cucurbit family .
