By Clint Thompson
The calendar says it’s the third week of February. In previous years that has meant watermelon planting time for some growers in the Suwanee Valley region of Florida.
This week’s low temperatures, however, could halt some of that planting time. Bob Hochmuth, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Regional Specialized Extension agent in Live Oak, Florida, cautions producers to wait until after this week’s cold snap to start the planting process.
“I do know a handful of growers were prepared to start (Monday). I’m going to guess that it would be highly risky on their part to put anything in the ground, knowing that this whole week is just not good,” Hochmuth said. “Even if it doesn’t frost, you put them in and they’re just going to sit there. You might as well wait until afterwards. That’s the way I would be looking at it, if it were my watermelon plants that were being pulled out of a nice, warm greenhouse.
“We do have several growers who are finished laying plastic or paper mulch and are ready to go. As soon as the forecast, looking down the road for five, six, seven days, is more favorable, they’ll be ready to roll.”
Low Temperatures
Temperatures are expected to drop below freezing later this week. Plants are not going to grow under those cold conditions.
“It’s Friday morning and Saturday morning that are the coldest. It’s 37 degrees (Fahrenheit) on Thursday, 30 on Friday and 33 on Saturday morning. Then it goes up into the 40s,” Hochmuth said. “Those numbers are probably scary enough. It’s not going to do a lot of good to put (the plants) out there when it’s going to be windy and cold all week and the watermelon plants just sit there.
“I think at the minimum this is going to put the brakes on some of the plans where the folks may have been and are ready to start, but the forecast may suggest they might be better off waiting.”