Good day fam. I started a backyard watermelon farm a while back, and the results were encouraging until recently, I noticed the biggest watermelon stopped growing and began to rot, and also the flowers didn’t get to bear anymore fruits.. it’s been weeks they’ve been flowering and no new fruit has sprouted.. what could be wrong concerning the rotting and refusal to fruit? Thanks.

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Maybe our soil is cursed too

Most probably due to excessive rainfall

Maybe it is due to the fact that melon is called ogbanje crop for a reason, problems can just come out anytime without sign,cause or remedy in sight,a healthy greenish melon farm can turn yellow overnight and die completely in 4-5 days,it is unlike cucumbers that if you plant you must harvest,melon farming is 50/50 probability.

Immortalel:
Good day fam. I started a backyard watermelon farm a while back, and the results were encouraging until recently, I noticed the biggest watermelon stopped growing and began to rot, and also the flowers didn’t get to bear anymore fruits.. it’s been weeks they’ve been flowering and no new fruit has sprouted.. what could be wrong concerning the rotting and refusal to fruit? Thanks.

This is the work of melon flies. If you check inside the spoilt fruits, you will likely find maggots. Let me ask.... Do your area have history of melon cultivation? Try and gather the spoilt fruits fast and BURY them.

Do u apply fungicides and insecticides?

okoroemeka:
Maybe it is due to the fact that melon is called ogbanje crop for a reason, problems can just come out anytime without sign,cause or remedy in sight,a healthy greenish melon farm can turn yellow overnight and die completely in 4-5 days,it is unlike cucumbers that if you plant you must harvest,melon farming is 50/50 probability.

Wow.. didn’t know about this. Thanks sir.

FarmTech:
Do u apply fungicides and insecticides?

No, not at all.

Oluaso:
Most probably due to excessive rainfall

Yes, this can be a factor.. It was doing well until the rain restarted...

bosagro23:


This is the work of melon flies. If you check inside the spoilt fruits, you will likely find maggots. Let me ask.... Do your area have history of melon cultivation? Try and gather the spoilt fruits fast and BURY them.

Uhm.. I really don’t know about the history of melons over here, and what are melon flies? Is there any remedy for the plant?

Thanks for your contribution, It really helps.

Oluaso:
Most probably due to excessive rainfall

Correct

Immortalel:
No, not at all.

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The first time I planted watermelon I experienced sth like this when the rain intensified. I did not harvest any, the young fruits all turned black and the leaves got black and yellow spots. Then, I was applying only mancozeb - a contact fungicide and insecticides. I might have gotten better result if I had used fungicides like red force or saaf. It is safer to plant them during dry season.

maybe two reasons. 1. Too much rainfall. 2. Melon flies attack

Obviously, it's raining and due to the rain there is a lot of splashing forcing the crop to interact with pathogens in the soil, it won't do well naturally if you've got no fungicide spraying regime, that's why some farmers tend to grow water melons in the dry season with drip irrigation to minimize such an interaction with the soil that hosts abundant pathogens. Next time, prepare for a fungicide spraying regime and fertilization. To successfully grow water melon, you will also need to fertilize them, you can give npk at younger stage but when you start to notice flowering, give PK, the N is no more needed but the PK which will boost fruit production. Water melons could be nutrient hungry hence the need to fertilize