By Clint Thompson
Watermelon plantings are starting earlier and earlier in the Suwanee Valley Region of North Florida. That’s concerning to Bob Hochmuth, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Regional Specialized Extension agent in Live Oak, Florida, though he understands why producers are putting plants in the ground at the end of February.
“These watermelon farmers, in general, are risk takers. It’s probably why I chose a different career. It does concern me,” Hochmuth said. “We’ve had some warm springs. It absolutely does concern me that one of these years, what are we going to do if it does get down to that cold (level)? There are some things that farmers can do to protect the crop and cover it if they’ve already been planted. There’s a lot of labor involved in putting in a row cover or cups or something over top of a plant to get it through that freeze event.
“Once it gets through the freeze event, if it survives, then (the next day) you can uncover it and off they go.”
North Florida watermelon farmers are planting earlier in hopes of capitalizing on a favorable market. Also, the earlier they plant, that’s more time they can get ahead of South Georgia’s crop. It seems every year the watermelon plants are planted earlier and earlier.
“There was a fair bit of acreage that was planted (last year) the last 10 days in February. I’ve been with this group for over 30 years. To think back 30 years ago that we’d be planting watermelons in February would absolutely be unheard of,” Hochmuth said. “But they’re risk takers and the payoff is, if because of an earlier planting, if we can hit the market earlier then the price is typically higher.”