By Clint Thompson
Increased rainfall across South Georgia in recent weeks is not ideal timing for the area’s watermelon producers in the middle of harvesting this year’s crop.
“We’d prefer it, obviously, like we’ve talked about many times, the drier the better for most vegetables, especially, all watermelons are (already) under irrigation,” said Tim Coolong, professor in the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “So ideally, particularly during harvests when the crews are out there and stuff, it would be dry, ideally.”
The next two weeks provide a peak harvesting window for growers hoping to capitalize on the July 4 holiday. However, increased moisture can lead to disease buildup and decrease the quality of the fruit.
“I mean, you’d prefer it to be dry during harvest just to drive up sugars and so forth. And so, disease is probably what a lot of folks are worried about, especially as you walk through the fields and so forth; you kind of trample the vines and beat up the plants a little bit. And so when there’s a lot of water, obviously, that can spread disease,” Coolong said. “Sometimes if you are getting a lot of rain, you can’t get the harvest crew in exactly when you want to (either).”
According to the UGA Automated Weather Network, Cordele, Georgia, received 4.59 inches of rain from June 14 to June 21. Tifton, Georgia, received 4.49 inches during that same timeframe. That’s a lot of water for a crop still in the early stages of being harvested. Growers hope to extend their harvest window for a few more weeks.
“It used to be July 4th and then the market immediately almost moved on, but I’ve seen evidence the last few years that some of our growers seem to be shipping a little bit past that Fourth of July holiday,” Coolong said. “I mean, our primary window is still that late June to that Fourth of July week or weekend holiday.”