By Clint Thompson
Georgia’s watermelon harvests are expected to pick up this week amid an unfortunate market decline for the region’s watermelon growers.
Ty Torrance, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension vegetable agent for Colquitt, Tift and Worth counties, discussed the status of the watermelon crop in his region. He believes the lack of rain in some areas impacted the crops, both negatively and positively.
“Right now, everything looks fairly clean (without disease). There’s a little bit of vine decline in some areas that growers couldn’t keep up with irrigation. They were using a large pivot or a reel. It stayed so dry for so long. We’ve gotten some rain now but there was a time there where it was pretty dry for a stretch,” Torrance said.
North Florida growers have been harvesting their crop for more than two weeks. Supply is high, though the market is not. But that could soon change amid the summer months.
“Everything looks pretty decent right now. The price that we’re hearing is not the best. I know there’s a bunch of watermelons in Florida that haven’t moved. The price is a little bit lower,” Torrance said. “I had hoped that Memorial Day would have pushed some of those melons out, help move them out. I’m not sure it’s done that the way we needed it to.
“The hope with summer kicking in is everybody starts thinking about watermelon and they think about summer.”