By Clint Thompson
Intense heat in recent weeks quickly led to the conclusion of this year’s watermelon harvests in most of South Georgia fields. The two-week deluge of rainfall in June also contributed to the crop’s shortened harvest window this year.
“The extreme weather events really beat the vines up and it also introduced disease. That coupled with, once they go through and harvest one time or two times, it really beats up the vines; so just the wears of crews walking through and harvesting and moving vines and all of that, it exposes the melons even more,” said Ty Torrance, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension vegetable agent for Colquitt, Tift and Worth counties. “The sunburn is going to happen a lot faster in that scenario.”
Harvests began in mid-to-late June following a significant delay to the start of the season. That coincided with two weeks of heavy rainfall in most of the region. It left most watermelon growers with a sour taste in their mouths.
“I know the season is being cut short. People are already having to walk away from fields, not getting the normal amount of harvest that they would in a typical year,” Torrance said.
“The weather has significantly impacted the crop from start to finish. It was just the wrong weather at the wrong critical point in the season as far as the early season starting off slow, didn’t set the crop that we normally would.
“When harvest season came around it was heavy rains, wind, and now we’re getting the heat and sunlight. It’s like a perfect storm.”