Mini Love Watermelon (F1 Hybrid 70 Days)
The Mini Love Watermelon is an early, personal-sized watermelon for small spaces. This AAS winner has short 3-4 foot vines and can produce up to 4-5 fruits per plant weighing in around 4-7 lbs. A thin but strong rind envelops a deep red interior with a high sugar content resulting in sweet, juicy flesh. Crack and split resistance.Â
10 seeds
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PLANTING
Citrullus lanatus
Germination:Â 4-10 days
Germination Temperature: Optimum soil temperatures 70-85ºF
Seed Sowing Depth:Â 1/2" deep
Sowing Indoors: 3-4 weeks before the last frost. Provide 70-85ºF soil temperature. Sow 2-3 seeds per cell/pot. Sowing into individual biodegradable peat/cow pots reduces root damage when transplanting. Transplant after last frost, 36-48" apart.
Sowing Outdoors: After the last frost when the soil temperature is over 70ºF.Â
How much does a packet plant: 18-20 foot single row, 5-6 hills
Harvest:Â Look for the following signs as it does take some practice on telling when they are ready to harvest. The closest tendril to the stem dries, there is a crack in the stem that attaches the watermelon to the vine, where the watermelon touches the ground it should be a butter yellow color, give it a knock with your hands it should sound hollow, the skin is dull, and slipping of the stem from the melon with slight finger pressure.
Tips:Â Plant the Mini Love Watermelon in fertile soil, amended with compost or well-rotted manure, and keep well watered. They benefit from growing on black plastic and by using row covers for weed, insect control, and more rapid growth.
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