Watermelon works are a labor - intensive works to grow in a garden ; however , many gardeners look at this work to be a labor of dear that is deserving the openhanded harvest . watermelon vine plants demand large amounts of water system and plant food in Holy Order to produce healthy watermelons . Gardeners who are short on garden space sometimes opt to mature watermelon vine on trellis systems . When you raise Citrullus vulgaris in this fashion , be indisputable to prune the watermelon works for optimum harvest . Pruning watermelon vine that do not grow on treillage system is optional .
Step 1
Examine the watermelon plants when they are well established . discover the primary stem of each plant . This primary stem will have many sidelong branches offer out from it on both side .
Step 2
Keep the elementary stem of each watermelon works intact . In addition , keep the top sidelong ramification widen off from each primary prow .
Step 3
Cut away the lateral branches between the top lateral arm and the 8th leaf node sidelong branch from the top . This will enable you to train the watermelon vine to the trellis using this bare part of the vine .
Step 4
Allow all lateral branches below the 8th leafage node to spring up without pruning .
Step 5
Monitor the watermelon vine plants on a regular basis and cut away any branches and fruit that appear unhealthy or diseased . Dispose of these removed parts immediately to prevent a spread of disease . strain to observe a proportion of vine and yield on the watermelon plants .
Plants Should Not Be Planted Next To Watermelons?
Because they grow so with child , watermelon involve more time on the vine than many other nutrient item in your garden , often 100 days . This duration , as well as the large amount of ground space required by watermelon vines , stand for you should take peculiar care to plant the watermelons in just the right spot to forestall disease , pests and electronegative changes in the fruit from the showtime . This substance strip into the ground and harms most nearby plants . aphid often wish to jump out their lives on plants such as mustard greens greens or unfolding perennial such as roses , so keep those plant away from watermelon vine ; the aphid can easily move their home over to the watermelon leaves , do leafage curl and destruction . This means they often transfer pollen from one eccentric of plant life to another . This is n’t usually a big problem with watermelons , since watermelons do n’t cross - pollinate with many flora , include closely relate ones such as cantaloup . Keep different varieties of watermelon and the citron melon as separate as potential in your yard to help prevent crossbreeding - pollination . At least , they should n’t be placed flat next to each other .
Things Needed
Tip
The goal of pruning watermelon plants is to make certain there is an equal figure of vines and fruits . When pruning is accomplished decent , each watermelon will be declamatory and of higher timber .
