Hi, I'm growing golden midget watermelon plants and am having trouble getting fruit to grow. The plants themselves have been doing extremely well - big long vines, lots of health green foliage, etc. The plants started putting out flowers about 6 days ago, with tons of male flowers and a couple female flowers each day, and I've been hand-pollinating them. For the first few flowers I used a q-tip to collect pollen from 1-3 male flowers and gently brush it on the stigma of the female flowers. At first it seemed to work - the base of the female flower would start to swell and grow - but after a day or two it would start turning yellow, stop growing, and eventually turn brown and die. I figured it was just inadequate pollination, so I started pollinating with the male flowers directly instead of using the q-tip, but the same thing happened. I tried using 3-4 male flowers instead of just 1-2 and really loading the females up with pollen, but that hasn't worked either. There was one fruit that was actually growing quite well - got to about 1.5 inches long - but now that too is starting to yellow and die.
Some potential issues that I've considered are:
-Not enough water: this is definitely not an issue. the plants get a deep watering every other day and are well-mulched with pine straw
-Too much water: It has been very hot and sunny here (southeastern US) and my soil is sandy and well-draining, so I don't think this is an issue
-Disease: the foliage, vines, and flowers are extremely healthy looking, so I don't think this is the issue, but I could be wrong
-Inadequate fertilization: I've never done a soil test, but the soil I used was a 3 part mix of aged manure, leaf compost, and Eastern NC native topsoil that I got from a local nursery. I think it's pretty rich. I also dressed the plants with Dr. Earth's fruit tree fertilizer (5-5-2) about 3 weeks ago.
-Poor pollination technique: Doubt this is it either, since the flowers are getting lots of pollen on them. Also, hand-pollinating seems pretty hard to screw up...
-Heat: It's been getting into the mid 90s during the day here. Unsure if that is an issue though
I am getting really desperate. I am new to gardening and have been really, really excited about growing my own watermelons, but now I'm afraid I won't even get a single fruit out of my 7 plants. Any help would be appreciated
Some potential issues that I've considered are:
-Not enough water: this is definitely not an issue. the plants get a deep watering every other day and are well-mulched with pine straw
-Too much water: It has been very hot and sunny here (southeastern US) and my soil is sandy and well-draining, so I don't think this is an issue
-Disease: the foliage, vines, and flowers are extremely healthy looking, so I don't think this is the issue, but I could be wrong
-Inadequate fertilization: I've never done a soil test, but the soil I used was a 3 part mix of aged manure, leaf compost, and Eastern NC native topsoil that I got from a local nursery. I think it's pretty rich. I also dressed the plants with Dr. Earth's fruit tree fertilizer (5-5-2) about 3 weeks ago.
-Poor pollination technique: Doubt this is it either, since the flowers are getting lots of pollen on them. Also, hand-pollinating seems pretty hard to screw up...
-Heat: It's been getting into the mid 90s during the day here. Unsure if that is an issue though
I am getting really desperate. I am new to gardening and have been really, really excited about growing my own watermelons, but now I'm afraid I won't even get a single fruit out of my 7 plants. Any help would be appreciated
