Shriveling Watermelons!!!

[Bryan Acred]

Hey folks,

Any idea what is going on here? My melons start to grow and then after about a week, they start to shrivel and turn black? I am posting a pic of one that I had hoped would make it:

The water quality seems fine:

pH = 7.2

no ammonia or nitrites

Nitrates = 60

 

I've got about 39 tilapia in a 300 gallon tank and the system is almost 3 months old now. I add some iron about once a month as well as foliage feed calcium if needed:

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Blessings,

 

Bryan <>/p>

 

 

 

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Hey Bryan,

Try hand pollinating. Pick off the male flowers and just smear them around the females. Or get fancy with a Q-Tip and transfer the pollen from male to female that way...whatever.

Watermelons (which aren't really melons, but cucurbits like cucumbers, zucchini, squash etc...) have both male and female flowers and if pollination is incomplete or doesn't happen at all, you get small abortive "fruit" that looks like that. Though it isn't actually any 'fruit' that is shriveling, just an enlarged un-pollinated ovary... 

The female flowers are the ones with the small bulbous shaped mini watermelon under the yellow flower.

[Bryan Acred]

Thanks Vlad,

I did that yesterday in hopes it will make a difference. I appreciate the advice. You know, it's strange though as I have three bee hives within 150 yards of my system. One would think my bees would be doing their job.

I'll keep you posted.

Bryan <>/p>

[Alpha Aqua]

Any updates?

[Bryan Acred]

Hi Alpha Aqua, sorry for the delay in responding. No, I never got a watermelon to get bigger than a small kids football. I am wondering if my system is still too immature. I have about 39 fish in the 300gallon tank and I'd like to get some more next spring (maybe 40 more). My other plants did well like herbs, malibar, peppers, etc.. Now I am planting for fall now. Thanks for asking! Hope yours is going well!

Alpha Aqua said:

Any updates?

[Chris Smith]

Have you cut one open yet? I had the same issue and found that pickle worms were eating the fruit from the inside. I have had to give up on growing melons and cucumbers because of the worms.

[Bryan Acred]

We cut them and they were just not developed. No worms found. My cucumbers did great this year. By the way, I just uploaded some new pics in preparing for the fall . Let me know what you think.

Blessings.