watermelon vine is one of my favorite fruits and I was rum if it ’s possible to maturate them in a pile . That ’s why I decided to research uprise one using the Sugar Baby smorgasbord .
you’re able to originate Sugar Baby watermelons in a container or toilet that is at least 18 to 24 column inch in sizing . You ’ll need to use a trellis to support the vine . You ’ll need to provide frequent lacrimation and food so the Sugar Baby plant turn well .
I ’ve tried to find out all you need to do to grow the Sugar Baby watermelon vine in a container . This station will help you startle growing them from cum till the time you’re able to harvest the watermelon .
Plastic containers I used to grow plants
What is Sugar Baby watermelon variety?
The Sugar Baby is a mixture of watermelon that has smaller vine and yield equate to some of the other varieties . This makes it well - suited to grow in a container without worrying about the industrial plant not grow well or not producing yield .
you’re able to mature this watermelon vine in yourcontainer gardenwhether it ’s outside or in the flat balcony . You do involve to provide support to the vines and the fruit . But this is quite feasible to do compared to some of the declamatory watermelon variety .
If you have a really low space to grow the watermelon vine , you even have the choice to break up the Sugar Baby bush variety . This flora has vines that only mature about 4 - 5 feet in length but produce
Organic fertilizer I use for my plants
you may even pick out the Sugar Baby bush variety that has vines that only grow about 4 - 5 foot in distance . This will still give you a good harvest of Citrullus vulgaris even with the compact size .
1. Choose the best time to grow Sugar Baby
Citrullus vulgaris are a warm - time of year plant so the good time to produce them is when the temperature is higher than 70 ° F.If the temperature is too cold , the watermelon cum wo n’t germinate . And if you ’re using seedlings , they will not spring up as expected .
If you have a retentive summertime in your area , you’re able to plant the Sugar Baby watermelon vine seed one week after the last freeze date has passed .
But if you have a short growing time of year , it ’s good to eitherstart the seed indoorsor grease one’s palms the seedlings from a local garden nitty-gritty .
How long does Sugar Baby watermelon take to grow?
Watermelon takes a long time to farm from cum to harvest because of it ’s declamatory fruit . But the Sugar Baby has a seemly harvest time time . you could start the seeds and get the fruit after about 75 days .
It ’s best to see the seed packet that will tell you exactly how many day it will take for the Sugar Baby watermelon to attain maturity for harvest home .
you’re able to not glean the watermelon before it ’s ripe because it does not continue develop if you do that . You take to expect for the right-hand time as testify by the fruit that it ’s quick .
Once the harvest dates amount airless , you’re able to check the Sugar Baby watermelon vine for star sign that it ’s ready . This could be picture by looking at the bottom of the watermelon that is touching the support or ground . It will plough pale sensationalistic in coloring material .
you could also fit the tendril closest to the yield as they will plough brown and dry out . The yield also turns dark green in color with light light-green grade insignia .
2. Pick the right container to grow Sugar Baby
The container will be one of the most important choices that make up one’s mind how well the Sugar Baby Citrullus vulgaris will grow . You need a container that is at least 5 - 10 gallons when growing this mixed bag .
I would recommend using a pot that is 24 inches deep and 16 inches wide to turn the Sugar Baby watermelon plant . And produce just one flora per pot otherwise they will end up competing for food and moisture .
The textile of the pot does not matter and you may expend plastic , terracotta , ceramic , or metal as per your liking . Just make trusted the pot is potent enough that it can support the watermelon plant .
It should be durable to withstand the weight of the vines and the Sugar Baby watermelons along with the potting soil and water .
While you could utilize terracotta , I do n’t favor it because the material is porous and run to misplace moisture fast . And that ’s not a respectable situation to grow a watermelon industrial plant that needs a lot of water system .
I like to use a charge card pot because it is durable and cheap . It does not suffer wet tight so the Citrullus vulgaris roots can get enough moisture and not dry out out fast .
Whatever container you cull , make certain it has plenty ofdrainage holesat the bottom to remove the excess water . The Sugar Baby watermelon flora choose good moisture but does not care soggy roots . If the container do n’t have such holes , you ’ll need to drill some yourself .
3. Prepare the container for planting
Now that you have picked the correct sized container for your Sugar Baby watermelon plant , you require to clean it up before enjoyment .
My suggestion is to imbue the stool in a mixture of 1 part bleach and 9 parts water system for at least an hour . This will assist get rid of any unwanted pests and disease that may be present in the sight . you could then wash the container well with water supply and dry out it out in the sunshine before use .
Check that the good deal has some drain holes at the bottom . If not , you may use a recitation to make some yourself . This is crucial so the excess urine can drain out and keep off rotting the roots of the plant life .
You need to add potting soil to the container . So cover the bottom of the plenty with a rag or newspaper . This will prevent the potting soil from washing aside when you water the pot .
Always usegood potting soil or else of using your garden soil . This helps forbid issues that may occur due to excess clay orsand in the gardensoil . It may also curb pest , diseases , and chemical .
The only situation where you may apply garden soil is if you have created a in effect , productive dirt with the addition of compost in your garden .
you may make your own potting land using 1 partcompost , 1 part vermiculite , and 1 part perlite . The compost provides nutrients , microorganisms , and grain to the soil . The vermiculite and perlite make the soil permeable which helps it retain wet while draining the supernumerary water system .
Fill the container with the potting dirt till there ’s a space of 2 inches left from the rim . This will preclude the territory from disgorge out when tearing .
4. Add support to the container
The watermelon even if it ’s the Sugar Baby variety is a plant that has plenty of vines and weighed down fruit . That ’s why you want to add keep to the container when groom it .
The unspoilt support you’re able to tot is atrelliswhere you’re able to tie the vine and the Citrullus vulgaris . you could make one yourself using a tomato John Cage and a pair of wooden stakes .
Invert the tomato plant cage and commit it in the potting soil . Tie the top of the inverted John Milton Cage Jr. so it forms the shape of a teepee . Weave the wooden stakes through the wire of the tomato cage and eat up them late inside the potting soil .
It ’s best that youadd such reinforcement when preparing the containerrather than when the flora has grown . This will help you prevent disturbing or damage the roots of the Citrullus vulgaris as you bury the wooden stakes .
ensure to have at least 2 - 3 stakes on unlike English of thetomato cageto give the most stable living to the watermelon plant .
5. Plant the Sugar Baby seeds in the container
you could buy the Sugar Baby watermelon seeds from an online store , a local garden mall , or order it from a ejaculate catalogue . It ’s cheap to grow watermelon vine from semen and you could try out dissimilar companies .
you could start the seed indoors or you could flat sow the germ in the pot outside . This depends on your orientation . It also depends on the duration of your produce time of year .
If your realm has a short maturate season , it ’s better to set off seeds indoors . you’re able to then transfer the seedlings outdoors when the atmospheric condition has warmed up enough .
If your region has a long growing time of year , you do n’t demand to worry much about the atmospheric condition . As shortly as the last date of frost has passed , you may consider engraft the germ outdoors .
If you want to start come indoors , you take to use seminal fluid initiate trays . Put some seed start mixture in the tray . Then plant 2 - 3 Sugar Baby watermelon seeds 1/4th column inch into the mix .
you may expend a atomizer to irrigate the pot grime and keep the seed moist . Be careful not to dislodge the seed from their location while watering .
You need to maintain the temperature higher than 80 ° F to give the watermelon seeds a full hazard of sprouting . you could use a heating system mat underneath the tray to make such an surroundings .
Make trusted to keep the soil moist but not marshy otherwise the seeds will waste . You also require to provide plenty of light for the seedlings to bourgeon . you may aim the tray near a windowsill that receives plenty of sunlight or use indoor lights .
The watermelon seeds will pullulate after 3 to 10 twenty-four hour period when you give them suitable stipulation as mentioned above .
Once the seedlings have get 3 - 4 inches tall , you may graft them to a container . But before you do that you need to harden the seedling .
2 - 3 day before transplant the seedling , set off to move them outdoors for a few hour every day . check that they are not in full sun or fart .
Once the seedlings are hardened , you may transplant them to a pot . mildly squeeze the tray till the soil ball catch loose .
Make a hole in the center of the potting soil in the pot and place the seedling in it . Cover the roots with pot soil so they are not exposed to air .
weight-lift the stain near the nucleotide of the flora to give it steady support . Water the soil well so that the etymon get enough moisture and adjust to the transplantation .
6. Plant the Sugar Baby seedlings in the pot
If you have a short growing time of year or just want to avoid the effort of starting semen , you’re able to buy seedlings from a local garden kernel or baby’s room .
you’re able to transplant the seedling to the batch after you have hardened them for the outdoor conditions . start up incite them out of doors for a few hours every day . After a hebdomad , your seedling will be ready for the transplantation .
Once the seedling are hardened , you’re able to transfer them to a container . Gently shove the tray till the soil ball gets loose .
Make a hole in the center of the potting soil in the container and place the seedling in it . Cover the rootage with potting soil so they are not exposed to line .
7. Put the pot in the right location for sunlight
Sugar Baby Citrullus vulgaris like other form need full sunlight if they are to develop well and explicate yield .
I would paint a picture prevent the pot outdoors in a localisation that get under one’s skin at least 8 - 10 hours of sunlight every day . As the season pass , the position of the sunlight will change and you may involve to move the pot so the Citrullus vulgaris plant gets the requisite sunlight .
This also means that the watermelon flora and the potting soil will dry out faster and you postulate to give the plant plenty of water .
8. Provide the right water to the plants
The Sugar Baby watermelon may carry 96 % or eminent water content which intend you need to ply lots of water as the yield is growing .
You need to forfend the problem ofoverwatering or underwatering the plantsin the container . Underwatering will not provide sufficient wet so the watermelon will not grow well or even cash in one’s chips . Overwateringwill swim the ancestor , leading to settle rot and fungal diseases .
I would propose watering the plant every day because this is a very thirsty plant . You may demand to irrigate more than once when the temperature is eminent .
It is good to check the grime in the pot once in the sunrise and once in the evening . you’re able to dumbfound your finger’s breadth about 2 - 4 inches in the soil and check off the moisture . If the tip of your finger is not dampish , you require to water the potting dirt .
irrigate the potting soil tardily and good so the water can reach the low levels of the container . you could practice a watering - can for water your watermelon plants . You could even practice a drip mold irrigation arrangement if you have several plants in your container garden .
It ’s good to put some mulch like forage clippings , hay , woodwind chips , or dried folio in the Mary Jane . This will assist insulate the potting soil from the heat and keep it moist for a prospicient time . So you wo n’t need to water the flora as often .
9. Thin the Sugar Baby watermelon seedlings
When we start the Sugar Baby watermelon vine seed either indoors or in the good deal , we plant 2 - 3 seed in a single spot . This is done so that we increase the chances of at least one come germinating .
But if more than one seed germinate , you need to keep one and remove the unwanted seedling . This is known as thin the seedlings .
you could do this thinning once the seeds have germinated and at least 3 - 4 leave have originate on the seedlings . They may have make a height of 2 - 4 inches when you could do this .
When you buy the seedlings from a garden center or glasshouse , you wo n’t have to worry about this . You require to spend your efforts on choosing the sound flora you may recover at the garden center of attention .
10. Add fertilizer to the Sugar Baby plants
The seeds of Sugar Baby watermelons contain enough nutrients to give the plant till the seedling have germinated . So you do n’t need to occupy aboutfertilizing the potting soilfor the 2 weeks of sprouting .
But once the seed have germinated or you ’re transplanting the seedling to a container , it ’s good to utilize fertilizer . Watermelon is a thirsty plant that needs a portion of nutrients to mature well .
If you may get some compost , it ’s best to mix it with the potting soil when preparing the pot . The compost has a deep , constitutive matter that provide the right nutrients to the watermelon plant .
It ’s also good to add together an organic plant food to the potting ground every few week to give the plant life the required nutrients .
you could choose a balanced fertilizer that has an N - P - K of 5 - 5 - 5 or 10 - 10 - 10 . This means it hold back adequate quantity of N , phosphorus , and atomic number 19 for your plants .
If you use a boring - release fertilizer , you’re able to mix it in the potting soil when ready the tummy . And then you’re able to supply it to the soil every month . Thefertilizerwill departure tardily into the soil when you irrigate the plants .
Once the plants have ripen to about 4 calendar week , you could add together an organic liquid fertiliser to the filth and foliage . you may spray this plant food every week to get the best growth of your Sugar Baby watermelon vine plants .
11. Pollinate the Sugar Baby watermelon plant
The female peak of the Sugar Baby watermelon plant need to get cross-pollinate so they can develop yield . The good thing is you have both male and female blossom raise on the plant .
If the plants are institute out of doors , the pollinator like bees can work on get the pollen from the male to the female flowers .
But if there is a lack of bees in your sphere or you ’re growing the watermelon vine in an apartment balcony , you need to pollinate the flowers yourself .
ensure the efflorescence are heart-to-heart before you may start pollinating them . Only when the flowers are undetermined are they able of pollination .
you may either pluck the male flower and pollinate the female blossom . Or you’re able to use a paintbrush to collect the pollen and unfold them in the female blossom .
Once you deplumate the male bloom , remove the petals so only the stamen is available . you may then sweep the stamen in the stigma or gap of the female bloom to pollenate them .
The other option is to gently use your paintbrush to garner pollen from the stamen of the manful efflorescence . Then use the paintbrush to apply the pollen on the mark of the female flower .
12. Prune the Sugar Baby plants
There are several understanding rationalise your watermelon vine plant can help it . Pruning the works will keep it short and worthy for growing in the potty .
Pruning the vines encourages the watermelon vine plant to focus more energy on turn flowers and fruit .
Pruning any diseased or tardily - rise watermelon will help the industrial plant pass more muscularity on the healthy , well - developing fruit .
You do need to be heedful not to rationalise too much of the vines because that will repress the amount of male and female flowers .
And if there is a lack of either male or female flowers , the Citrullus vulgaris plant will not recrudesce fruit .
The best agency to rationalize the watermelon plant is too observe it every Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . If you see any diseased or dead leaves , vine , or fruit , you may dress them . you’re able to also prune any vines that are weak and not bearing any flowers .
you could expend a pair of pruners to cut off the part of the works . This aid bring down the chances of the plant getting infect by a fungous or bacterial disease .
13. Add support for the Sugar Baby watermelons
The Sugar Baby watermelon vine plant life is small but it ’s a vining plant and you need to provide financial support to it . You also need to give good living to the watermelon so they do n’t break from the vine .
We already used an invert tomato batting cage and wooden stakes to create good financial backing for the plant . As the vine spring up , you need to tie them to the support for stableness .
Once the watermelons start to develop on the yield , you take to lend support to them as well . you could use any stretchable material like an old T - shirt or pantyhose ,
attach the material to the livelihood social organisation so it can mould a sling . And allow the watermelon grow in the slingshot till it ’s ready for harvesting .
14. Harvest the Sugar Baby watermelons
You postulate to glean the watermelon at the correct time . If it ’s raw and you cut it from the plant , the watermelon will not mature like some other fruits . There are sure sign that will point when the watermelon is ripe enough for you to harvest .
The easiest sign is to check the location of the watermelon where it touches the land or livelihood . This portion will wrick pale yellow in color when the Citrullus vulgaris is ripe .
Another way to work out out whether the Citrullus vulgaris is good is to check the tendrils closest to the watermelon vine . These are the short , curly , prow - like vines you find on the flora .
If you see that the tendril closest to the yield has dried out and stagnant , that ’s a preindication that the watermelon is mature enough to harvest .
It ’s not easygoing to pluck the Sugar Baby Citrullus vulgaris from the vine . You need to apply a twain of pruners to trim down them off the vine .
Make indisputable to abridge some portion of the stalk along with the watermelon . This will help keep it sweet for a farseeing time period of clock time .
The good thing about watermelon is it can store for a long geological period of time , unlike some other fruits . If you cut down it open , you may store it in a refrigerator so it lasts for a few days .
A undivided Sugar Baby watermelon vine plant will only turn a distich of watermelons . And some of them might produce larger than the others .
You may also find that the watermelon vine plant may uphold to raise more yield or just die after a exclusive harvesting .
Fact Checked , Written , and Published by Kevin Rodrigues
Kevin is the founding father of Gardening Mentor , a website that aims to teach people to grow their own solid food in a modified quad . As a self - teach gardener , Kevin has spent several years arise plant and create horticulture substance on the internet site . He is manifest in Home Horticulture and Organic Gardening from Oregon State University . He has a Post Graduate Diploma in Horticulture and Landscape Gardening from Mumbai University . learn more
