By Clint Thompson
Persistent rains in the North Florida region amid the current El Niño weather pattern is a potential concern for the region’s watermelon producers.
But as long as growers stay on top of their fungicide applications, any disease inoculum should be controlled, believes Bob Hochmuth, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Regional Specialized Extension agent in Live Oak, Florida.
“I feel like we can typically do a pretty good job early in the season, if it is a little bit more on the rainy side. It certainly would mean that they would want to keep a closer eye out and start looking for early disease detection if there is a lot of rain,” Hochmuth said. “The plants dry out pretty quickly, so if they don’t sit in there for three or four days in a row and we get some periodic drying conditions, then I think typically that we are okay.
“However, the group of organisms where we do tend to have problems early in the season with those cold, wet kinds of conditions would be some of the bacterial leaf spot organisms. That’s the one disease that we have seen increased during those wet periods early in the season.”
Hochmuth said farmers can maintain good spray coverage early in the season since plants do not have deep vines that encourage disease.
Some producers started planting this year’s watermelon crop last week with the planting window continuing into March. Growers also need to ensure that they have clean transplants that do not have gummy stem blight.