GrowLog
Failed

Sugar Baby Watermelon Indoor Hydroponic Trial

Grow log by serri588 · Original thread

7 visual updates7 photos17 replies
View recap
CropWatermelon
VarietyBurpee Sugar Baby
MethodAeroGarden hydroponics
EquipmentAeroGarden Farm 3, hand pollinator
Plants1
AudienceExperimental

What you can learnA rare indoor-watermelon attempt showing restart logic, light-distance troubleshooting, early flowering, pollination risk, and failure to size fruit.

Actions:1 Equipment1 Pollination
Useful practices
  • restarting after unexplained plant loss
  • raising the light when leaf decline appeared
  • attempting hand pollination
  • testing a smaller-fruited watermelon cultivar
Problems encountered
  • first plant decline
  • possible root-zone mold contamination
  • light positioned too close
  • damaged flower during pollination
  • fruit failed to size

*The days were calculated automatically and approximately.

Day 72
UPDATE#7
Grower update

Update #7

Actions taken

PollinationUsed a pollinator on the first flowers but accidentally broke one flower.

S By serri588

I know I just posted a few days ago, but I have my first flowers! Of course, in my excitement, I promptly broke one off with my pollinator, but the other one survived my bumbling.
Conversation
S
Shawn

Getting exciting now !

S
serri588

I never got any melons bigger than my thumbnail, and the plant started dying back, so I went ahead and pulled it.I will try this again at some point in the future, but I want a break first.

Day 68
UPDATE#6
Grower update

Update #6

Actions taken

EquipmentRaised the grow light after suspecting that it was too close.

S By serri588

I figured out why the old one died- I had the lights too close. This one started to go too, and I raised the light on a whim. It seems to be working out, to say the least.
Conversation
M
MaryL

What a difference!

Day 49
UPDATE#5
Grower update

Update #5

S By serri588

So far so good. The demise of my celery due to some sort of mold solves the mystery of why the previous plant died- it probably had the same mold since they were in the same container for awhile.
Day 18
UPDATE#4
Grower update

Update #4

S By serri588

It doesn't look like this little guy is going to make it. I'm not sure why- nutes are okay, ph is good, roots are decent sized and clean. I looked it up real quickly, and watermelon is supposed to do just fine in hydroponics so I really don't have much to go on. There are some good leaves yet, but it it dies I am going to try again.
Conversation
S
Shawn

I will try to take a look tomorrow. Sorry i have not done it yet. I totally forgot.

K
Kate

Wow, that's sad! It looked good too! I hope someone can help you. Surprisingly, I've never grown watermelon in my outdoor gardens, so I can't help you even with general advice.

S
Shawn

I took a quick look and it was in y cache so I need to find the exact link but someone was growing sugarbabies. it was 62 days old and growing'EDITED: Ok it was a friend of mine who belongs to a private area. I asked her for the name of it and can PM it if needed. But that was the extent. nothing about nutes or lighting,

S
serri588

I sprouted a new plant last week, and popped into the Farm today. Fingers crossed this one does better.

Day 14
UPDATE#3
Grower update

Update #3

S By serri588

Not much to report on this one other than it is slowly growing larger.
Day 5
UPDATE#2
Grower update

Update #2

S By serri588

It's got its first real leaves!
Conversation
M
MaryL

Woo hoo!!!

Day 1
UPDATE#1
Grower update

Update #1

S By serri588

Variety: Burpee Sugar BabyYup, I'm going to try to grow watermelons. I actually don't think this will work, but I'm going to see if I can get at least 1 watermelon out of this baby. It will have 1 1/2 grow decks from the farm or around 2 feet, and I'm going to try to tolerate giving it about a foot of space on the floor. I tried to find the variety with the smallest melons I could- these are supposed to be around 12 lbs, which is still a sizeable fruit. If I'm lucky the fruit will mature at a smaller size, so I don't have to give it the entire space between my couch and the AG.
Conversation
S
Shawn

I read a while ago somewhere that someone is growing one of these. I spoke try to find it and see how they did.

M
MaryL

I admire your brave and adventurous experiments. This will be very interesting.

K
Kate

You are definitely an adventurous indoor gardener. It's pretty exciting to see somewhat exotic choices for an AG. 12lb fruit! Wow!

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