Watermelons - female flowers first!

GreenThumbGal_07 · July 6, 2021

I'm growing Sugar Baby and Blacktail Mountain watermelons this summer.
Last summer I grew these watermelon varieties: Sangria F1, Crimson Sweet, Bush Sugar Baby. All three varieties had male flowers first, followed by female flowers.
This summer, Sugar Baby and Blacktail Mountain had the female blossoms open first! Blacktail Mountain was the first, followed by Sugar Baby (two female blossoms open today) a day later.
I don't know what caused this, but I do need to have some of the boys show up so we can get the pollination going (and I will have to do it manually, since the bees aren't as enthusiastic about watermelon blossoms as they are about melon blossoms).
I don't know what caused this, the plants were starts set out on May 29 (some Sugar Baby seeded directly outside May 9). This May was pretty overcast and chilly and the weather didn't start warming up until the second week of June. I've never seen an open-pollinated cucurbit with female flowers showing up first; generally there's about 10 days of male flowers before the first girl steps on the dance floor.
Anyhow, the vines look healthy otherwise and I do hope to be able to try a melon or two by September.

July 6, 2021	#1
GreenThumbGal_07 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Northern California Posts: 300	Watermelons - female flowers first! I'm growing Sugar Baby and Blacktail Mountain watermelons this summer. Last summer I grew these watermelon varieties: Sangria F1, Crimson Sweet, Bush Sugar Baby. All three varieties had male flowers first, followed by female flowers. This summer, Sugar Baby and Blacktail Mountain had the female blossoms open first! Blacktail Mountain was the first, followed by Sugar Baby (two female blossoms open today) a day later. I don't know what caused this, but I do need to have some of the boys show up so we can get the pollination going (and I will have to do it manually, since the bees aren't as enthusiastic about watermelon blossoms as they are about melon blossoms). I don't know what caused this, the plants were starts set out on May 29 (some Sugar Baby seeded directly outside May 9). This May was pretty overcast and chilly and the weather didn't start warming up until the second week of June. I've never seen an open-pollinated cucurbit with female flowers showing up first; generally there's about 10 days of male flowers before the first girl steps on the dance floor. Anyhow, the vines look healthy otherwise and I do hope to be able to try a melon or two by September.