For those of you wondering about plants versus seeds. With plants you don’t have to guess whether or not your seeds are going to germinate. This gives you a head start ESPECIALLY If the area you live in has a short growing season. If you plant seeds and a couple of weeks go by before you realize nothing is going to happen, you’ve wasted a couple of weeks. And again if you’re in an area with a short growing season, time is a precious commodity. It’s fun growing things from seed, and I really enjoy doing it. But I start my seeds indoors early enough (heated seed mats and grow lights) to know how many plants I’m going to have and plan my garden accordingly. I love making my own fishing lures, reloading my own ammunition, and growing things from seeds. It’s just something special to me knowing that I caught fish on a lure that I made. Taking game with ammunition that I loaded. Or eating vegetables that I grew from seeds. When I was a kid we grew, hunted, raised or caught almost everything on our dinner table. Flour, corn meal (there was no mill nearby to grind our own cornmeal) sugar and salt are about the only things we bought from the store. It was hard, but good times. Farmers do a very hard and often thankless job to keep food on our tables. From the bottom of my heart I want to give a big THANK YOU to our farmers for keeping us fed!
My man just saved me from an entire season of disappointment with some expensive seedless watermelon. Definitely earned my like and subscription and I'll hit up your seed store to finish off the rest of my needs this spring.
I don't understand why you're saying he saved you from an entire season of disappointment in regards to watermelon but how in the world are there seeds for a seedless watermelon. I really was confused why any tomatoe seedlings would get set out days after a 30° night (grounds no where near warm enough). Tomatoes are warm weather plants and don't go in the ground in Michigan until last week of May when it's at least 70°.
I grew up on a sheep farm in the sand hills of Kansas. We would grow fields of black diamond watermelons that we would sell out of the back of our old pickup anywhere we could find a place to park it. Sometimes they were so big we couldn't get them out of the field either. We would just cut into them and eat the hearts. Loved your stories about your daddy and growing watermelons.
Did you use the 70-79 day yellow baby doll? I’m starting seeds tomorrow. I’m trying to decide how many starts are too many. I have five trays clear lol. Never thought about selling watermelon starts.
I started my 2nd year of watermelons in small poop cups on 2-20 -21. They all came up, out in the front in a wood box on concrete. Los Angeles weather has been especially nice this year. I had good success last year. Thanks for the advice on tomatoes too.
This gets us ramped up and excited to Grow! Love HOSS TOOLS! ON our trip from from Southern VA to Florida I'd love to stop by and say hi! Shed Wars is upon us! Time to step up our game!
Travis, glad you are feeling healthy and well again. You sure do resemble both your dad and your mom in the looks department. *cheery smile* You all look like a nice family team. Oh, by the way...you said something about "nuked" in your most recent video. Yikes! My hubby said you meant it as a slang term. Your future is so bright you have to wear sunglasses (because of the wholesome forecast)! *kind LOLlol*~Respectfully in the Love of our Beloved JESUS always, Dr. Lady S. ['Golden Rule' Farmstead - {Matthew 7:12}]
Since asked, I live in Nebraska so seed starting can be less predictable. I start pretty early because sometimes you can get plants in before May 1...Last year closer to June 1...snow on Cinco De Mayo. I started 15 trays today. Hope to start Watermelons in a few weeks. Gonna stagger plant to take a risk and get a few in early. I use low row covers to deal with the lack of predictable weather. Hope to incorporate high tunnels next year. Great videos. Keep up the thoughtful content!
I am up in New England so we are just starting our cold weather crops at a rented greenhouse space. In a couple of weeks we will start our peppers, then tomatoes on April 5th and then the rest of our warm weather starts go into the greenhouse on April 20th. Our main challenge in Massachusetts is determining the last frost date. My dad always used Memorial Day but I use May 23. If the 10 day weather forecast is looking warm I may sneak in the warm weather crops a few days early. It's gonna be 16 degrees tonight so it is still plenty cold. My main question is do you have heaters for your greenhouse to keep over night greenhouse temperatures at a certain point? Up here we have to use supplemental heat at night to keep starts from getting too cold. Keep up the good work with the videos as I really enjoy them and i always learn something during every video.
SUper glad I found this channel. Now I don't have to sort thru 10k 'growing guides' that are just somebody opening a seed pack and putting them in starter or the ground like that's the hard part. You strike me as a farmer, now that I'm done with dairy and corn and grain I'm loving the garden plants. Even an alfalfa grower generally knows more about planting than any urban container garden host.
Thanks for the video - Now I know I need to start my watermelons rather than trying to direct sow, which has had mixed success in the past. I’m going to be trying to grow watermelon again this year. 2 years ago I had a volunteer fine that popped up and produced lots of some little melons that never ripened - tasted like cucumber. I worked on this bed and tried planting watermelon last year but ended up with water problems and everything drowned. Trying different types this year, in a bed that we covered in about 2 inches of compost and tarped to keep the grass and weeds down. Just put about another inch of good garden soil in, and I am planning to do a type of no-till garden for these using straw to cover them after planting. Building in a better watering system - hopefully things will work better this year. Wish me luck!
Try the Blacktail Mountain if you don't need a huge watermelon. Grew them for the first time last year, they did well, and I followed the 'pinching method' I found on a video to get more melons in a smaller space.
I tried some Charlston greys few years back but couldnt get any size outa them.Remember seeing them along the aisles in the grocery stores when i was a kid.Maybe this year i'll bury that soaker hose & try melons again.
Perlite is good for water and it’s really good for it’s ability to hold fertilizer. Perlite is similar to say a diamond as it has many sides that the fertilizer can attach to. When you trans plant, that perlite will go into the ground and feed the roots directly. This will give your transplant a nice boost. Haven’t watched your shows much yet, but seaweed is good for holding plant stress down. And liquid seaweed can be applied to the plants as a feeding with a regular fertilizer. You feed your plants more of a nitrogen base while hey grow then switch to higher phosphate base when they begin to flower. I have grown tremendously large harvest from small gardens. And as your garden adjusts it will make the harvest taste better and be more healthy. I had a friend that simply loved yellow tomatoes but they would make his mouth full of sores. He said with mine he could sit down at his picnic table with a salt shaker and a couple of my tomatoes and just chow down.
Hey Hoss love your videos man just got a couple questions to ask ya #1 how much does that mini greenhouse cost #2 how much does it cost in electric (monthly) to run at optimal temperature Thanks Hoss
It has been over 10 years, I'll attach the link below. atlasgreenhouse.com/?matchtype=e&network=g&device=c&keyword=atlas%20greenhouse&campaign=1362503482&adgroup=58175602247&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw_LOwBhBFEiwAmSEQAa5ych_sK6F6xHHorXGB4yytuOb95uN5w39mPwcEW51-UwR-rG2pmBoCyBIQAvD_BwE
@@gardeningwithhoss I just got 10 x 16 Atlas greenhouse based on an earlier recommendation by you. I'm loving it, and Atlas has great customer support.
I got a small portable greenhouse this year from the wife at Christmas, this will be my first time around a greenhouse, what temperature should the nights be before I try to start plants? 40s? The next 3-4 weeks are forecasted to be down in the 30s, but Im itching to try it out!
You'll definitely want to use a heat mat and maybe even a small portable heater if you can get one. Put a thermometer in the greenhouse and wait until it's getting in the 60-70s.
I just discovered your channel as I was searching for knowledge on how to get my seedless watermelons going, great job you’re doing here, congratulations! Do you sell the pepper seedlings? For all those peppers in your description box? I have learned much, thanks
I have some leggy watermelon seedlings that I didn’t catch in time to give enough light. Once I finally caught them I was able to stop the leggy growth , but they are still quite long. Do you recommend planting deeper at transplant to remedy the legginess?
From what I remember growing the larger melons as a kid, the plants weren't much larger than other varieties -- just the end product was massive. So I don't think it will be an issue.
Oh man, we just had two days with a freeze warning. I thought we were past all that and planted 112 carrots (small plot). Hoping that I didn't just lose them all.
they should be fine. I've planted carrots a month ago, and it snowed twice.. they are now coming up. same with the spinach. as long as it wasn't a hard freeze for an extended amount of time, you should be good.
Travis its good to see you up and about. I planted some mountain vineyards tomatoes on 2/20 in my greenhouse on the blue heat mat with the thermostat set at 99 degrees. Used the 162 trays. Out of the 10 seeds eight came up. But only three have some true leaves. I did water well and used seed starter mix and perlite. At the base of the plant there is a dark spot and the first leaves look dry. Any advise
I learned something about greenhouses this year...you can have one or the other but you cannot have both at the same time...cats and greenhouses. At least, not the plastic-covered type.
You can add goats to that list. I rolled my plastic down on a simple tunnel greenhouse one summer a let goats to clean up in the fall and saw the had found the plastic under a protective trap. I haven't put it back up since. I'm planning on a large leanto greenhouse on the south side of a metal barn and block it from the goats. Wish me luck. ;-)
I live in southern Alberta Canada. I want to put watermelon transplants in the ground in mid May. When would be a good time to start them under lamps, on a heat pad in my garage. We have had limited success with watermelons from seed in the garden, but I want to give them a head start this year to increase the yield. Thanks for your help.
First year growing them? You are going to have so much fun! They do great in the deep south where it's hot, especially if you have fairly sandy soil and don't get too much rain. I've always wanted to try the Carolina Cross 180, that's still the variety that holds the record for world's largest watermelon, ya? I wonder how they taste when they are hundreds of pounds. Never tried the summer breeze, but hopefully it will be good. Standard diploid varieties do great direct sown, but you are 100% correct that the seedless triploids need to be started in a greenhouse on heating mats as they require much more delicate conditions to germinate, need to be kept very warm and fairly dry to get good germination, just keep the trays on the dry side (there's a small gap between the embryo and the seed coat in the seedless triploids where too much moisture can accumulate which can lead to damping off if too cool or too wet, where the standard diploids don't have this space and thus can tolerate some cooler wetter conditions). I grew watermelon two crops per year every year for a long time and ate watermelons almost every day, now I'm allergic, go figure. I sure do miss them! Maybe I'll try some next year and make the melons into wine and see if I can enjoy them that way. Hope yall have a great growing season!
Is it better to plant watermelon plants for the growing season inside the greenhouse or outside in the sun?? Don't melons need more sun than they get growing in a greenhouse?? Just curious! God Bless for a good growing season!
You'd definitely want to grow them outside as they take up quite a bit of space. But planting from transplants as opposed to direct-seeding outside gives you a head start and a better germination.
I’m going to transplant my peppers into vertical towers. Our nights are still in the upper 30s, low 40s. If I transplant them out and throw a frost cover over them, will they be okay until it gets warmer? What temperature range should you shoot for when putting your peppers out? I’m eager to free up some space in the house to start more seeds, but so don’t want to jump the gun. Great video, thanks.
I saw your segment on onions question. I am in the Texas Hill Country and we get some freezing temps here in the winter. If we plant onions here in late fall will they survive a freeze or two? Not like last Feb 7 degrees killed even some cactus
I make this totally delicious tortilla soup with tomatillos! Just plz plz plz wash them off real good b4 you cut them. The sticky outside will mess with your belly!
I noticed that you have a greenhouse that has roll up sides. It appears that the rolling part of the sides don't go all the way to the ground. I was curious what brand of greenhouse it was, and the name of the distributor. I am between greenhouses, and looking around for my next one.
I just set up one of those little greenhouses to start my seeds in. Where about are you in south GA? I used to live in Calvary, GA (north of Tallahassee), but am now in NC. This week we'll still have really cold nights, but the days are warm again! I'm prepping the ground where my chickens were for my next garden. Picked up some wood fencing to make some raised garden beds. : )
Quick question that is off topic. My tomato seedlings are about 3 and half weeks old (that’s from germination) and they range from about 2 inches to 2 1/2 inches tall. They seem healthy and stalky. How tall normally are tomato seedlings at about 3 1/2 weeks old? Every year I forget and never seem ask and they always seem to turn out fine, but thought I’d ask.
Thanks I enjoyed this. I live in Washington state on one of the smaller Islands, I keep promising myself that I'm going to give watermelon a try, LOL. I just subscribed thanks again God Bless
@@gardeningwithhoss I actually grew watermelon in the SHADE by accident last year. They didn’t do well at all so i wrote them off and put up cattle panels with beans on them that blocked the sun. I had a SURPRISE when I took the garden down in the late summer. 5 big watermelons from a single mound of 3 plants!
@@chipsammich2078 Apparently some of the super-hot peppers can take up to 4 months to germinate, which is pretty crazy... and these are old seeds we're talking about, so the normal expectations don't really apply. Having said that, I'd definitely overwinter plants like that if I liked the fruits because that's a long time to wait for new plants. Not sure they'd take 6 months to fruit, once they germinate they should be in the typical 60-100 day range for first fruits but who knows, nobody has any idea what those particular seeds are. My only experience with pretty hot peppers was last year with my habaneros which took a month to fully germinate, and I had fruits within 3 months after that.
We use a portable heater in the greenhouse on the rare occasion that outside temps drop below freezing, but that rarely happens down here. Watermelon does like warmer temps.
You say don't put the seeds in the ground. I'm already in for five minutes and you're yaking away. How long do I need to find out what to do with the watermelon seeds?
100 degrees on for the heat mat? Seems high. I have a heat mat with temp probe for soil. I usually keep it around 75 to 80 degrees. Should I have it set to 100?
Our soil doesn't get that hot considering the cooler temps in the greenhouse when we're starting these seeds. So we set it high to compensate for that. So although it's set at 100, the soil actually doesn't get that hot.
i'm sure some other plants can grow well without thinning if desired however, herbs for sure dont mind at all and grow just as well if two or three come up together in a cell/plug.
Can you please tell me where I can purchase and which is the sweetest watermelon ? I see these tiny watermelon at the market but don't know what type they are called, but that's what I would like to plant this year. Appreciate any info you have thank you
@@gardeningwithhoss please help are Anguria Crimson Sweet watermelon varieties suitable for Zone 10 and 11.? Or you can tell me which varieties are best suitable for these hotter zones
Hello. Very Informative! Without reading 311 comments, I would like to know about how long it would take to germinate the different melon seeds by using your heat mats @ 100*? (Then i can figure starting times,,,, & how long before they are large enough to plant outside? ;>) Thanks
Hello, thanks for all advise Geogia nieghbor. I have a question that may sound odd. I have babydolls sprouted. There is a sandy spot by my raised beds. Can I ready this area to transplant? My thought was no weeds, less bugs. I'm I wrong in my thinking?
You can. Although if it's sandy, it probably doesn't have a ton of nutrients. Might want to supplement with some compost or some of our Complete Organic Fertilizer before planting.
We like to plant watermelons with a 4-5' row spacing and plants 2' apart along the row. Don't plant them any deeper than twice the diameter of the seed.
I don’t have the space to grow 2 different kinds of watermelon, but could I grow cantaloupe with my watermelon as the pollinator? I want to grow sweet baby watermelons, only 1-2 seeds. I think my space is 4X5.
Blacktail Mountain is a smaller watermelon for small spaces. I grew them alone without another variety, they did fine. They are seeded and a round melon rather than long and fat. Look them up. They were nice and sweet.
