By Brad Haire
University of Georgia

Cool, dry weather in early spring slowed the growth of Georgia’s
watermelon crop. But it’s expected to recover quickly. And the
melons may even be a little sweeter than normal by harvest
time.

“We had some below-average temperatures in March and early
April, and that happens from time to time,” said Terry Kelley, a
horticulturist with the University of Georgia Extension
Service. “That put the crop a little behind in growth.”

To recover

But Kelley believes the crop will have no problem recovering now
that temperatures across the state have become consistently
warmer.

Most of the crop was planted on schedule. Planting began around
March 15. A majority of Georgia’s watermelons are planted on
irrigated land into beds covered in plastic.

But the drought postponed the planting of some melons on land
without irrigation. Many of those melons are being planted now,
he said.

“The peak of harvest may come a little later,” he said. “But
consumers will see no real difference. There should be plenty of
melons for the Fourth of July market.”

Georgia melons’ big market is the July 4 holiday, when
celebrating patriots include the sweet fruit in their cookout
plans. Many growers schedule their planting each year to harvest
fresh melons for this high-demand market.

Temperatures across the state have warmed. But despite the half-
inch to inch of rain this week, dry weather remains across much
of the state.

Watermelon growers don’t like drought conditions. But they don’t
like rainy ones either, Kelley said.

Less disease, sweeter

Extremely wet springs and summers tend to increase disease
problems for growers, who have to spend more money to control
things like gummy stem blight. If the weather stays on the dry
side, growers will have fewer disease problems.

Excessive moisture tends to saturate melons, too, and make them
less sweet. In dry conditions, the grower who can irrigate can
better control how much water his crop gets.

Sunshine contributes to melon sweetness, too. Dry conditions
mean less cloud coverage. Less cloud coverage means more
sunshine and sweeter melons.

Georgia farmers historically plant 27,000 to 28,000 acres of
melons each year. But they may end up planting more this year
because watermelon prices were strong last year.

Georgia farmers planted 26,000 acres of watermelons last year
and got an average of 7.8 cents per pound, about 2 cents higher
than in 2002.

No definite estimates have been released for this year’s crop.

Georgia ranks third behind Florida and Texas in watermelon
production. The state’s crop was worth about $40 million last
year.