By Clint Thompson
A substantial amount of rainfall that impacted North Florida last weekend should have minimal impact on watermelon acreage being planted in the Suwanee Valley.
That’s mostly because the majority of acres have already been planted, says Bob Hochmuth, UF/IFAS Regional Specialized Extension agent in Live Oak, Florida.
“I think in the last 10 days, we’ve probably gotten at least three-quarters, if not 80%, of the acreage that has been planted. The remaining acreage, I would say, yeah, it’ll be delayed somewhat because certain fields, they’re not going to be able to get back in as quickly as they would like. I see a delay in being able to get back into some of these fields,” Hochmuth said on Monday.
“There’s always a concern for early season diseases when we get several days of rain and cloudy weather like we’ve had. Those are the things I would be concerned about, but because we’re so far along in the planting stage of things, I don’t think it’s going to mean a whole lot in terms of massive acreage; just that last bit that still needs to be planted is probably going to be delayed.”
Hochmuth estimated that some fields received as little as 2.5 inches of rainfall, and some received as much as 5 or 6 inches.
Hochmuth noted in his weekly email that UF/IFAS plans to update everyone as soon as they confirm foliar or other disease of prevalence.
“The crops generally look very clean right now. We recommend using a weekly Bravo or other chlorothalonil product schedule for this early part of the season, perhaps the first few sprays, while we can use chlorothalonil prior to fruit sizing stage. Banding sprays over the beds only while plants are small is very economical,” Hochmuth added.