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MANGAM: By elyjay

Watermelon, citrullus lanatus rank third among the world highly cultivated crops, superseded only by potato and tomato in that order. In fact planting watermelon made me become lazy and mono cropper. Before I started planting watermelon, my chief crops were maize, cassava, yam, cocoyam and rice. But after planting watermelon for two years, I abandoned other crops and concentrated on watermelon till today.
When you are considering quick cash in farming, watermelon is among the crops to consider. The gestation is not more than 80 days, money don come. Kudi yaazo. Cultivated all over tropical climate the largest producers are China, Turkey, Iran, Brazil and U. S. A. in that order. It is produced all over in Nigeria from Maiduguri to Lagos and from Sokoto to Calabar.

Time of planting In southern Nigeria
We have three planting seasons: Early planting is in March, Mid season planting and the most lucrative but risky is June 25 to July 15. Late season planting is August 15 to September 15 in Kwara Oyo and northern parts of Ogun state. Planting in south Ogun, that is Ilaro, Ifo, Ota, Idiropo to Badagry in Lagos is September 15 to October 15. This is
because late rains last till December in these areas.
In the Northern Parts; early season planting is in May and late season planting is July. But with functional irrigation in the north, they are able to plant throughout the year .Lake chad basin in Bornu, Hadeja river basin in Kano are the major irrigation projects turning out watermelon all year round in Nigeria. I am aware that when the price goes so high watermelon is imported into Nigeria from Niger, Chad, Benin and Togo republics.

LAND PREPARATION
Watermelon requires loamy soil or silt loam soil it also perform well on heavy soil if it is well-drained. It does not tolerate waterlogging at all. So if planting on heavy soil, ridging will be helpful to improve drainage. On loamy soil, we normally plant on the flat land. Plowing starts immediately on the first rain. Even if the first rain comes in January, plow the land ready for the second operation.
If the second rain comes any time after February 15th, we can plant in Lagos and southern parts of Ogun state. In other parts, Igbogila, Ayetoro, Abeokuta, Odeda and all parts of Oyo state should plant in March. Planting should stop by the end of March. If you risk planting in very early April, you may succeed but if the June rain should start before 15th of June forget it. The tendency is that either the melon will not ripe or you loose a lot to blossom and it rots. Maturity takes a minimum of 75 days. On the second rain or within the stipulated time, harrow or replow and plant immediately. Experience has shown that portions planted immediately after plowing records higher germination percentage than portions planted the following day unless there is overnight rain.

. I am based in kaduna, what wil be the best time to plant the watermelon in kaduna.

Daniel058: make una na no sell anybody here..haba!. Ebri body dey speak Inglish,but u i dey speak AWSA!!..I dey bes!!

Oga flis make i no bes. Yi hakuri. Turanci mode activated!

MANGAM: Day 2. No rain yet and stil waiting for our seeds to germinate

watz d side effect of not applying herbicide

Interesting! I'm following...
This is one of those things I love doing, just that I'm becoming lazy, or maybe I should say no good land to cultivate. I could vividly remember the time when I will look for a vacant land on my street, plant vegetables and sell. I made my money then o, though I did that with my friend. She did clear the land, while I planted the seeds. I enjoyed doing it those days.

Haba, the seed never germinate ?

and again can't we wet instead of waiting for rain

well done oga magnam. I once planted watermelon in my backyard but not for commercial purpose.

100Cents: Haba, the seed never germinate ?

kilode, e neva reach a week nah..

MANGAM: Day 3: No rain yet but hoping it will rain tonite.

Do you have an alternative water source aside the rains?

following

[quote author=Latty88]


Did I direct my question to you? Why dont you just mind your business. We are all here to learn that is the reason the thread was created.

Madam take am easy. He literally told you the truth. After all the op has not given you the ans but he has.
I also saw that some questions asked later by some people joining newly had already been answered by the op just like he said. Its always good to start reading from begining. If you jump any part you can start repeating questions thereby derailing the thread.

Op. Thank you for sharing.
Pls what is the distance btw one planted seed and another.
Again, must i use herbicide.?
Why can't i water and not wait for rain.
Am only planting for fun,not commercial purpose.

chidyhels: Op. Thank you for sharing.
Pls what is the distance btw one planted seed and another.
Again, must i use herbicide.?
Why can't i water and not wait for rain.
Am only planting for fun,not commercial purpose.

Op, please kindly answer these questions. Especially spacing and watering.

.

Can you create a thread for planting apple?

Just thank your God..
I don't live near where you cultivated those watermelons, i will just wait for the thing to get ripe, then i will come in the middle of the night & kidnap the whole stuff.

Atmmachine: Just thank your God..
I don't live near where you cultivated those watermelons, i will just wait for the thing to get ripe, then i will come in the middle of the night & kidnap the whole stuff.

You in turn should pray that the owner of the farm is not from Ijebu-ode or one village with strong juju. You'll find urself weeding the grass till morning until you're apprehended.

U can start planting around mid september to early october

fun4: oga Mangam how about Rivers or Bayelsa state? Will it do well because there is a lot of rain in these areas?

Sorry for ur lost,

Infomizer: Interesting thread Mangam,
Had a lil experience farming kankana (what the Hausas call it) in Bunkure, Kano early this year. The harvest was poor and I can't really point fingers as I was barely around and left it with some mallos to manage. I also failed to carry out serious feasibility studies as I just got carried away by the fact that almost every TomDicknHarry was planting it there, so I didn't envisage much problems. Fast forward 3 months later and almost a 100k gone (yea! see milking), all I had as harvest were not commiserate with expectations. Apart from the fact that the intense sun affected some (the mallos didn't want to harvest in my absence and I was too damn busy in Lag, they said the harvest was poor generally (I can partly attest to this as their Cucumber and Tomato yields in the part of the village I got were also poor). I'll attach pictures later sha. It was a real learning curve then, though I later came to realise that it is planted down south too. I intend doing it again sha but I don't have the time these days and relying on someone else (which I have to) is quite limiting too. I.might keep you guys posted then. Nice one Mangam.

TL;DR
Been there, done that (with no supervision from me coz I left it in the hands of others). It was crazy, expensive, and not as fulfilling as expected. My bad though.

Distance shouldn't be more than 2 feet and u apply herbicides so as to kill the weeds. Watermelon don't like much water and this is the reason its planted early and ending of the raining reason
Op, please kindly answer these questions. Especially spacing and watering.

chidyhels: Op. Thank you for sharing.
Pls what is the distance btw one planted seed and another.
Again, must i use herbicide.?
Why can't i water and not wait for rain.
Am only planting for fun,not commercial purpose.

I don't grow apple. Take time and study it and create a thread to educate us all abt growing apples

SPSpecial: Can you create a thread for planting apple?

No alternative water source, just waiting for the rain to come. The morning dew is really helping out and it has done the needed miracle. I will upload pics later

Pavore9: Do you have an alternative water source aside the rains?

U ve now to mid september in Kd

Ebi4life: . I am based in kaduna, what wil be the best time to plant the watermelon in kaduna.

It takes abt 80 days. We apply herbicide to prevent weeds fro growing

igbsam: How long does it take this to grow ? And why are you applying herbicide ?

Latty88:


Did I direct my question to you? Why dont you just mind your business. We are all here to learn that is the reason the thread was created.

don't mind that "I know it all" lowlife

Just mixing the required cup full of herbicide with water and spraying over the ridges

temzybabe: how did u apply the herbicide? ?..

Following. ..

Day 4: @ day four stil no rain but the morning and nite dews ve done the needed miracle. Our seeds ve sprouted out. Here are the pics

*following*

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