By Clint Thompson
Fertilization rates for Georgia watermelon production is important knowledge for growers to be familiar with, as the new season looms.
Tim Coolong, associate professor in the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, was tasked with enlightening producers about fertilizer rates and why they are set at certain levels, during last week’s Southeast (SE) Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference in Savannah, Georgia.
“Typically, in Georgia, we recommend between 100 and 150 pounds of nitrogen per acre. That’s a big spread,” Coolong said. “We don’t do that (wide range) for most crops. That recommendation encompasses growers who might be on 8- or 9-foot centers all the way down to your growers who are doing melons on 5-foot centers on big bed plastic. Those production systems with fewer melons per acre generally use less fertility, because they’re not getting the yields that the real high intensity systems are getting. That explains some of that wide range there.
“Watermelon growers don’t push the fertility too hard, because they’re worrying about delaying harvest. Still, we want to show growers this is why we’re making the recommendations that we are. Putting out some of that extra fertility isn’t necessary, and perhaps, in some cases, it wouldn’t be good use of money.”
Different Production Methods
The method that Georgia farmers produce watermelons differs greatly from one farming operation to the next. The way the crop is grown in Southwest Georgia may not be the same when compared to the Cordele, Georgia area. That’s reflected in fertilizer recommendations as well.
“We have some farms that do large beds with drip irrigation and heavy fertigation, and then of course, around the Cordele area, a lot of those farms are pivot with small plastic and not even raised beds. We still have a handful of bare ground growers around the state,” Coolong said. “There’s such a difference in production systems across the state, and that’s reflected in the (fertilizer rates).”