It will be frustrating when you see that some of your watermelons are splitting. You grow them for about a few weeks or months and they start producing fruits and suddenly those fruits start splitting. What are some reasons why watermelons are splitting on the vine?
Watermelons are splitting because of too much water. When the weather is too hot the other day and then heavy rain comes the next day, watermelons can split.
This is because the pressure inside the fruit is built because of too much heat and water coming from the rain which causes them to crack. Weather changes can affect fruits like watermelon and cause them to crack.
Another thing is when you are watering your watermelon plants twice or thrice a week you need to stick to it. Changing the pattern of the watering can also cause watermelons to split.
Avoid changing the schedule from watering thrice a week to once a week. You need to be consistent in watering the plants to make sure the fruits are healthy and avoid cracking.
How to prevent watermelons from splitting?
There are things you can do to prevent watermelons from splitting.
Stick to your watering schedule. Follow your watering schedule to keep the watermelon plants hydrated and healthy.
Changing the pattern of the watering can affect the plant and can cause watermelons to crack while they are still on the vine.
Take note of the schedule so that you will not forget when to and not to water your watermelons. You can write this on paper or save it on your mobile phone.
When rain is available you don’t need to water your plants because it can over-water the plants. Too much water can also cause root rot so just give the right amount of water to your watermelon.
Add straw mulch about four to six inches. Adding mulch-like straw can shade the watermelons. When the fruits are shaded, the sunlight will not be able to increase the temperature of the fruits by much.
The straw mulch can help to prevent watermelons from cracking. Since the mulch is shading the fruits the temperature of them is low and when it rains the next day watermelon cracking can be somewhat prevented.
You can also add mulch to the roots to keep soil moisture. There are many benefits to adding mulch to your plants.
Don’t leave watermelons too long. When watermelons are already ripe and they are ready to harvest don’t leave them too long on the vine.
Letting the fruits overripe can cause them to split. There are many varieties of watermelon and some of them have different harvesting periods. As long as they are ready to be picked, harvest them and don’t let them overripe.
What to do with cracked watermelons?
Commonly watermelons that have cracked are not usable because sometimes they are too young and you cannot consume unripe watermelons because they will not taste good.
If watermelons are cracked and seem to be not edible anymore just throw them. Letting those cracked watermelons on the vine can cause damage to other fruits so removing them from the plant it can make the other fruits safer.