A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Baby watermelon and bush cukes

Hi all I am from Pa and planted from (plant) the baby watermelon in May. Something is wrong with the leaves the baby watermelon is there but the leaves do not look right. We planted in a raised garden bed this year and had mushroom manure delivered and mixed with lime. The watermelon does not look like it is getting bigger. Ask mom she said stem should be brown when ripe and melon green and where it is sitting an ground yellow. Well the melon is green and yellow if it is lying in grass. Cukes got a few this year 5 at the most but brown and yellow leaf and ended up pulling out of bed because it looked really bad and no more cukes. What the heck am I doing wrong?the raised bed is in full sun and i water every day . Help.

You might be over watering..

..........planted from (plant) the baby watermelon in May. Something is wrong with the leaves the baby watermelon is there but the leaves do not look right.

What does it look like? The leaves should be dark green.

We planted in a raised garden bed this year and had mushroom manure delivered and mixed with lime.

The baby watermelon grow best when the soil pH is close to neutral [pH 7].
[pH 0 to 6 acidic, pH 8-14 alkaline] Adding lime increases the pH; not sure what the soil pH was before you added the lime. The pH may have gone over pH 7.

The watermelon does not look like it is getting bigger. Ask mom she said stem should be brown when ripe and melon green and where it is sitting an ground yellow. Well the melon is green and yellow if it is lying in grass.

The mature fruit should be green about 8 inches in diameter and should be ready for picking about 5 weeks after full bloom. The portion of the fruit that touches the ground will be yellowish in color because it was not exposed to the sunlight.

Like Tamara said in her post, you are over watering. Deep watering once a week should be enough. You mentioned mushroom manure; you could also apply liquid fertilizer every 3 weeks.



Cukes got a few this year 5 at the most but brown and yellow leaf and ended up pulling out of bed because it looked really bad and no more cukes. What the heck am I doing wrong?the raised bed is in full sun and i water every day . Help.

Part of your cukes problem is over watering. They don't like standing water and constant soggy roots; leaves will also turn yellow from too much water. Water once a week. Cucumbers have both male and female flowers; to get more fruits, you can help in pollination [using cotton swab] by transferring the male pollens to female flowers [female flowers are the ones with little cucumbers under the flowers].

Credit: gardening tips-idea dot com

Dont know about you , but in zone 5 cukes grow best after 4th july.

No Points Cindy????????????