Water melon in Puna?

[birdmove]

Anyone tried growing water melons here? I'm talking just on a small scale.

Jon in Keaau/HPP

[Carey]

Neighbors have for years ( decades...) in Keaau town

they all have old tin on the ground & grow the vines up on the tin (we have kabocha pumpkin, no tin, no worries...have no idea if the tin is all that, but also does keep down weeds & barefoot intruders...)

[birdmove]

Thanks, Carey! I think we'll give it a shot.

Jon in Keaau/HPP

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I grew watermelon the first year I moved to Maui. The melons were large & sweet, far better than anything bought at the grocery store. Then the fruit flies discovered my garden and it was more of a struggle from that time onward.

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”
-Joseph Brodsky

[Lee M-S]

we grew them outside one year, they were tiny, the size of baseballs, but tasted good.
Last year, we grew several the size of basketballs in the greenhouse.

><(((*< ... ><(("< ... ><('< ... >o>

[Mr nice guy]

I knew somebody who had great success with watermelons one year and like Hotpe intimated, the following years were not successful due to being stung.

[Kenney]

Same here. First year was great. Second year they got stung even though I wrapped bags around them. They kept growing and pushing bags off. Darn. Need a greenhouse!