Watermelons are a long - growingcropthat can take anywhere from 60 days to over three months to attain ripeness and be ready forharvesting . The last affair any gardener desire to see is their plants or fruit affect by disease , which can decimate a crop and your month of waiting pine away . Fortunately , there ’s precaution one can take to tell those watermelons make from the garden to your dental plate .
Reduce Stress on Plants
Growing your watermelon inpreferredconditions go a long agency in the bar of stress on plants , which aid in reducing problems with disease as well as pests that can lead to disease . Always grow the melons in a location with well - drained soil settle in full sun .
Situations that do stress on Citrullus vulgaris plants that are easily prevented admit :
Expert Gardner Tips : To help prevent disease in succeeding watermelon crops , do n’t plant the melons in the same location yr after class .
Common Diseases Associated with Watermelons
When grown under preferred conditions , watermelons usually are n’t harry with disease problem . However , some of the most common problem let in :
Anthracnose (Collectotrichum orbiculare)
Anthracnose is a fungous disease that affects all portions of the Citrullus vulgaris plant include the yield and can negatively pretend yield , if not contain . It ’s most knockout during tender , humid conditions . The spores are enthrall through the air , infect seminal fluid and through vegetational waste will in the planting website .
Signs of infection include small , rotary tan or brown lesions on the foliage and yield that spring up larger over time . It can look as if the plant has measles .
Prevent and command the problem by cleanse up any leaf junk from the planting situation and treating with a bull fungicide spray just as the works start running . alternating planting internet site every year and use disease - free seed or a resistant cultivar .
Alternaria Leaf Blight (Alternaria cucmerina)
Alternaria leafage blight is a fungal disease that is dispersed through current of air and pelting . The spores can live in decaying foliage debris for several years , so it ’s imperative to use dear sanitisation practices where the watermelon rise . The problem is worse during strong , wet weather .
Signs of a problem include dark spots with yellow halos forming on the older leave-taking . If left untreated , the trouble areas rise larger , spreading through the full works and have a center “ target ” orbit . The Citrullus vulgaris plants eventually suffer leaf drop and decline .
forbid the problem by not watering plants overhead and starting a fungicide programme , applying every two weeks . A copper fungicide works well .
Gummy Stem Blight/GSB (Didymella bryoniae)
GSB is a fungal trouble that causes a grave loss in flora and yield . It ’s spread through diseased seeded player , unsanitized growing surface area , or rain splosh upon works . Wet conditions and temperatures ranging around 75 ° F to 77 ° F ( 23.8 ° coulomb to 25 ° degree centigrade ) are most favorable for the problem .
Tan lesion develop usually on the edges of old foliage , expanding to the vena and stems . Stems and yield grow orange , body of water - plume areas that are slimy . Infected fruits ooze an orangish core , with the areas becoming sink and change state dark .
Control and foreclose the problem by strip up foliage junk , not using overhead watering systems , plant disease - liberal seminal fluid , rotating crop and using preventative fungicides such as copper .
Expert Gardener Tip : Always comply the particular mathematical product you are using recording label ’s instructions concerning amounts , app and frequency of use .
