More varmints!

So this year I decided to try my hand again at growing some watermelons. Haven't had much luck in the past, but I'm trying things a little differently this time and hoping for the best. Planted two mounds in the area near some fruit trees, one of a variety called "Giant" and another of "Congo". This area gets a lot of sunlight, since it is a bit more open than the rest of our property. Put another section back behind the garage in one of Connie's raised bed planters. This area gets some direct sun, but the garage tends to block the harsher afternoon sun somewhat.

Anyway, the other day Connie saw that the mound with the Congo watermelon plants just starting to come up got torn up and destroyed by something. I figured probably armadillos, possums, rabbits, deer or maybe even raccoons digging around in the mound. Surprisingly, the other two areas weren't touched, even though the mound with the Giant variety had much larger plants coming up already.

So I put out the game camera to see if I could capture images of what was going on out there.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHHW-x0Drl0

I have to admit, I NEVER expected to see a couple of foxes there dancing around on that mound. What in the world they find so fascinating with that planted mound just beats the heck out of me. Basically just sand mixed with Miracle Grow planting medium, and the seeds. But they apparently are out there every night. Got one plant coming back, and I planted a few more Congo seeds just a day ago, just to see if they will make it without getting torn up too.

Anyway, I like having the foxes around, as they might be helping to keep the squirrel population in check somewhat, but not too keen on them going after the turkey chicks nor messing with my watermelon plants. :face_palm_02:

They could be attracted by the Miracle Grow if it contains any nitrogen. They may believe it is mouse or rat urine and dig for the tasty morsels. I cut down a Bismarck that was infested by palm grubs and hollowed out the remaining stump so I could plant flowers in it.

I used Miracle Grow potting soil and planted the flowers. The next day all the flowers were thrown on the ground and all the soil was dug out. I replaced everything again and the next day found it torn up again. I finally put some regular soil in the stump and planted the flowers and that worked.

Well, heck, we have been using Miracle Grow around here for years for all of our plantings, and never seen this happen before. And the other watermelon mound pretty close to it has the same soil in it, and that was was completely ignored. :shrugs:

Of course, I like the idea of the foxes going after mice and rats. I still haven't forgotten the year those damned rodents tore up the wiring in several of our vehicles and the generator we have. Actually they were the reason I had the garage built.

Speaking of which, before the garage, I remember popping the hood on Connie's vet she used to have and there was a rat sitting right on top of the engine. I had a .22 in my pocket, but heck, not really a smart idea firing a gun into the engine bay of a plastic car.... :laugh: Or ANY car, for that matter. But darn it would have been an easy shot, and one less rat in the world.

The rats chewed the wiring of my son's truck in several places. He had to buy a new wiring harness. He's got a war going on with them now.They eat the rat poison in his yard containers like it was candy.

Twolunger said:

The rats chewed the wiring of my son's truck in several places. He had to buy a new wiring harness. He's got a war going on with them now.They eat the rat poison in his yard containers like it was candy.

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Is he sure it's the rats eating it? Possums will eat the stuff too, and it doesn't seem to affect them at all. So for them, it's a free meal!

He finds the dead rats. He also uses live traps for the possums. Catches a lot of them.

It’s not uncommon for them dig in fresh turned soil. They will eat grubs, mole crickets and worms. If they find any, they’ll return.

Dennis Gulla said:

It’s not uncommon for them dig in fresh turned soil. They will eat grubs, mole crickets and worms. If they find any, they’ll return.

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Well, the soil wasn't that freshly turned. It took till a few of the watermelon plants had sprouted leaves before they become interested in the mound. And the mound planted at the same time and same conditions fairly close to it was completely untouched.

Yeah, I know, know way to tell what was on their minds, but it was just darn odd.

Consider it Divine intervention. I'd put treats out to keep them coming back. Your prayers have been answered.

Twolunger said:

Consider it Divine intervention. I'd put treats out to keep them coming back. Your prayers have been answered.

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If only those foxes could climb trees to get at the squirrels..... But of course, we also have flying squirrels around here, and I kind of like those little critters. Only really see them in the game cameras at night, however.

I had a pet flying squirrel when I was a kid. He would run on the hampster/rat wheel all night. I had to constantly grease the wheel shaft or it would squeal and my dad would complain. One day the squirrel was gone and it didn't take much to figure out who got rid of it. LOL

Rich Z said:

So this year I decided to try my hand again at growing some watermelons. Haven't had much luck in the past, but I'm trying things a little differently this time and hoping for the best. Planted two mounds in the area near some fruit trees, one of a variety called "Giant" and another of "Congo". This area gets a lot of sunlight, since it is a bit more open than the rest of our property. Put another section back behind the garage in one of Connie's raised bed planters. This area gets some direct sun, but the garage tends to block the harsher afternoon sun somewhat.

Click to expand...

Well, things weren't looking very good for my watermelon crop again this time around.





This is only one of two that went through the same process. Looking good for a while, then a black spot appears, gets larger, then the melon bursts open.

So I was thinking this was going to be just another washout in my plans to grow my own watermelons.

So I happened to be putting in some fertilizer spikes for some of the fruit trees, and had one left over, so just for the heck of it, I embedded it into the side of one of those mounds the watermelons were growing out of. Kind of just forgot about it, since I had given up on the watermelons already, but I happened to glance at that hill a couple of days later and noticed that there was a bunch of new leaf growth that was lush, rich, and deep green in color. Earlier all the leaves in that area had become yellowed and basically fell off of the plant, with only fresh paler green leaves on the tendrils running every which way from the root area.

Hmmm..... Maybe I was on to something. So I found some concentrated liquid fertilizer I had laying around and mixed up a couple batches of it, and poured it onto both of the watermelon mounds. The plants seemed to perk up pretty much over night, and started putting out some fruits again. I didn't get my hopes up too much, but when some of the watermelons started getting some size on them without blackening up and dying pretty much immediately, well, things ARE looking promising.









We used Miracle Grow planting medium mixed with the sandy soil normally here, and I guess I thought that would be enough in the way of fertilization. In past attempts I had used Black Cow manure with the plantings, and that didn't seem to make any difference at all. But based on what I am seeing now, I am thinking that watermelons just must be VERY hungry plants and need to be fertilized heavily. Perhaps without that treatment, the plant is just so weakened that the fruits cannot resist any assaults from natural pathogens, so they get black spots, then split open to rot.

So I am now applying this fertilizer once a week now, and hoping for the best. I guess I could over do it, but what the heck. I sure wasn't getting anywhere before.

Not to the point where I have at least one ripened and ready to eat, but darn, this is looking pretty promising. With any luck, I just might be able to become a watermelon farmer after all some day...

NEXT year I may try more plantings if this works out, and start right off with the fertilizer once I get seedlings sprouting to see how that works out. Maybe they will be able to get bigger than what this year's crop is turning out to be. Maybe these got stunted from that earlier starvation period.