growth seems to slow down A LOT if not watered enough. this one needs daily waterings. once this is met, it grows at a nice, constant pace. this plant is currently no where near how big it needs to be before growing fruit, so i will need to get back to this as this plant grows.
August 2008:
the sugar baby watermelon plant really took off (growth-wise) after being watered daily. the vines can grow up to 6ft in all directions. when ready to be picked, the grow spot (the spot where the watermelon lies on the ground) should turn from a light green/white color to a yellowish/creamy white color.
don't be too quick to harvest the watermelon!! another way to see if a watermelon is ready for harvest is that the few leaves nearest to the watermelon should start to die. i harvested one way to early...the flesh inside were white with just tinges of red. it was edible - very juicy and sweet, but nowhere near as sweet as it probably could be.
the fruit start off as a lighter green with dark green stripes, and turns to this very dark green color.
note that this variety has a lot of seeds. i, personally, don't mind this since i swallow it all anyways, but for those who dont care for too much seeds, i would recommend not growing this variety.
4 comments:
Very cool! I also live in San Francisco and decided to try the Sugar Baby watermelon and was glad to read that someone, local, was successful in growing them.
I have a couple in a raised bed and one in a tall & wide deep container (about 3 x 4 x 3). The container is all black. I'm betting that the black container will help warm the soil (when the sun is up) and improve the growth of the Watermelon.
BTW, have you had any luck with cantaloupe in S.F.?
Hello! Yes, the black container will probably help it to grow. Just make sure to water daily as it grows. I had 2 good watermelons from my plants. I probably would've had more if I started them earlier and watered them more during the beginning of their growth.
I haven't tried cantaloupe yet. I definitely want to try melons, though. If you do grow cantaloupe, let me know how they turn out for you.
Kate
First off, I'm a beginner and a first time grower of Sugar Baby water melons and cantaloupe this year. I'm in Chicago, and have them in full sun, water them 20 minutes every day. Not when it rains. They seem to be going strong for my first time I have at least 15 ti 20 cantaloupe and 16 Sugar babies total that I can actually SEE. Only thing I'm wondering is how to tell when I can harvest any of them with this being my first time. I don't know.
you can tell by two ways that I know of. 1) the color: I have forgotten which color, but the sugar baby does turn either darker or lighter when it is ripe. (i haven't grown it since the first time i tried). 2) when the tendril/vine with leaf closest to where the watermelon/cantaloupe is attached starts to brown and die indicates ripeness. Also, I have read that most cantaloupes (except charantais) actually falls off the vine when ripe. I've never grown cantaloupe, so you'll have to confirm this for me. :-)
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