Do you know you can grow Watermelons on trees with a bit of creativity, even if they naturally grow as creeping vines?
Watermelons are the close relatives of cucurbits like cucumbers, squash, and pumpkins. These plants love trellis and bear long runners.
So, to find out how to grow Watermelon on a tree, you need to go through this entire article.
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What Kind of Plant is Watermelon?
The Watermelon is a vine that looks like a pumpkin vine with large, flattened, lobed leaves covered with hairs.
Being a creeper, the vine can reach up to 20 feet high, and as the plant gradually grows, it crawls to the sunny spot.
As the Watermelon plant matures, it bears bright yellow male and female flowers pollinated by bees and butterflies.
Further, it produces big, round, and oval-shaped fruit after pollinating flowers. You can harvest 2-4 fruits from each vine.
Do Watermelons Grow on Trees?
Watermelon seeds can germinate and grow on the ground easily as long as the soil is well draining and loamy.
They can grow best from early March to early August, and the weather must be warm for a whole growing season for fruiting.
Moreover, it may take about 70 to 100 days from sowing to harvest if you are thinking of growing Watermelon plants in your garden.
Thus, the Watermelon plant and its close relatives of the Cucurbitaceae family, like cantaloupe melons and honeydew melons, grow on a vine.
How to Grow Watermelon on Trees?
You can start Watermelon seeds indoors in late fall or sow them directly into the ground after 10-15 days of the last frost.
Ensure the soil is workable; this plant prefers warm soil to germinate, grow, and produce fruits.
- Amend the soil with organic compost and sow the seeds 1 inch deep, spacing 36 inches apart.
- Ensure some trees are nearby the growing spot and the soil temperature is above 70ºF.
- Keep the soil moist and only water when the top 1 inch of the soil feels dry.
- Start thinning 2 seedlings every 36 inches in a row once they grow some sets of true leaves.
- After they grow long vines, train them vertically on the nearby trees or trellises.
- If you train them on the trees, the fruits will dangle on that tree, looking like Watermelons fruiting on a tree.
- As the fruit grows bigger, you must support those big fruits by tying them with net or nylon clothes.
From Editorial Team
Benefits of Growing Watermelons on a Trellis or Trees!
Although Watermelons are not tree plants, growing them on the trellis or trees is beneficial and space friendly.
Moreover, those trained plants get enough ventilation and are less susceptible to fungal diseases producing large, healthy fruits.
However, the vines are weak and can’t climb themselves, so you must tie the runners up the trees to help them climb.
