By Clint Thompson
Cost reduction is near the top of watermelon farmers’ priority lists heading into the 2026 season. It was the subject of a presentation at the recent Suwanee Valley Watermelon Institute in Fanning Springs, Florida.
Bob Hochmuth, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Regional Specialized Extension agent in Live Oak, Florida, was one of two speakers who highlighted the need to cut costs and provided ways for growers to do so.
“The 2025 crop year was tough, especially at the end of the season for here in North Florida and probably throughout South Georgia. I think the growers are going into this year looking at, what are some ways they can be a little more efficient, little more economical, make good choices in regards to some of the investments,” Hochmuth said.
“If you can reduce costs by $100 an acre and you’ve got 200, 300 or 400 acres, it can be very meaningful. The thing we don’t want to mislead people is it’s an expensive crop to grow period. We can help on the margin, but nonetheless, it’s still a very expensive crop.”
Fertilizers
Still, watermelon growers can be more efficient with regards to fertilizer use.
“I think we’re doing a real good job of being efficient, especially in nitrogen use. A lot of that has to do with reducing the amount of soluble nitrogen in the bed because of our vulnerable sandy soils here. If you put high rates of nitrogen in the bed and then you lose it from irrigation events or leaching rain events, then that’s an investment that you’ve paid high dollar for that the plant never sees. There are ways to mitigate that,” Hochmuth said.
Fungicides
Fungicide applications can also be reduced if growers were more dialed in to UF/IFAS’ weekly updates.
“Let us collect all of the information from a scouting standpoint and make sure that we don’t start using expensive fungicides that we do not have the justification for at that point in time,” Hochmuth said. “We’ve got some inexpensive broad spectrum materials that we can stick with. We just want to make sure that the more expensive materials, if they’re going to be used and many times they’re needed, if and when they’re going to be used, then they really are justified.”