The Grass Doctor

My Watermelon Plants are Wilting?

I have 4 rows of watermelons that are around 6 weeks old. They are around 5-9 inches tall with many leaves but no vines. 2 rows get full florida sun all day long, the other 2 rows get about 80% of that much sun. The rows with less sun have bigger and healthier plants than the full sun rows. Some of the full sun plants are turning black on the edges and are wilting majorly - they look like they are about to die. What I've done is I use six 10 minute watering schedules , 10am-11:30am - 1pm -2pm - 4pm - 6pm. Ive used this for about 5 days now and I havent seen any results as far as healthier plants. My question is, Is the direct sun wilting the plants, or to much water or to much fertilizer? We used a spreader over each row of 30-30-30 that put probably 2-3lbs on each row of 15 hills. we also mixed 10 lbs of manure with 30lbs of dirt for each hill. All the fertilzer was watered into the soil before planting - and manure was tilled. When can i expect vines to grow?

Public Comments

1. i think the sun is doing it. florida is very warm in the spring, so it may be too much for the water mellon re put the plants where there is some shade and water alot. they are not dead
2. HEY--YOU PUT THE WRONG FERTILIZER ON IT AND TOO MUCH AT ONE TIME--WE USE 13-13-13--AT THE RATE OF COUPLE HANDS FULL ON EACH HILL--NOT SPREADED ALL UP AND DOWN THE ROW--IT S NOT DOING ANY GOOD 5 FT. FROM THE HILL-ALSO THE MANURE IS LOADED WITH NITROGEN AND THIS IS BURNING THE PLANTS--30-30-30 IS LOADED WITH NITROGEN ALSO---ALL THIS COMBINED WITH THE DIRECT SUN IS BURNING THEM UP-- IF I REMEMBER RIGHT--YOU SET OUT PLANTS AND NOT SEEDS-- THE GROUND IS STILL A LITTLE TOO COLD TO PLANT MOST ANY THING--THE AIR MIGHT BE HOT BUT IT TAKES THE GROUND LONGER TO WARM UP--ESPECIALLY WITH ALL THAT WATER YOU PUTTING ON EM-THE WATER IS COOLING THE GROUND MOST PLANTS DO GOOD WITH BOUT AN INCH OF WATER PER WEEK---MELONS DON'T NEED A LOT OF WATER TIL THEY START GITTING SMALL MELONS ON EM- THEY NEED HOT GROUND---IF THEY SURVIVE THEY SHOULD START RUNNING AS SOON AS THE GROUND TEMPERATURE GITS BOUT 65 OR 70 DEGREES--I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO ABOUT TOO MUCH NITROGEN FERTILIZER---YOU MAY HAVE TO REPLANT SOME OF THEM--I HATE TO SAY--HOPE THIS HELPS A LITTLE