By Clint Thompson
A South Georgia watermelon scout believes this year’s crop is still more than a week away from being harvested.
“I feel like they are every bit of two weeks off,” said Flanders in an interview with AgNet Media on May 18. “So, I would say it’s going to be two weeks, maybe a little bit longer. And that’ll just be the first of the harvest, you know. So that’s the first part of, I guess, 7th, 8th, 5th of June, somewhere along there is what it looks like to me. It depends on the weather.
“We’ve had some late May melons before, but generally, that’s associated with a lot of heat units. But I would say on average that’s probably about par (with previous years). We get about three to four weeks of good harvest before the (July) fourth comes in.”
South Georgia’s watermelon season follows North Florida every year.
Bob Hochmuth, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Regional Specialized Extension agent in Live Oak, Florida, noted in his weekly email on Sunday that spider mites are being commonly found in fields. Most fields were still relatively clean of diseases, though recent rains could alter the disease landscape.