How to Grow Watermelon Plant: Best Guide & Instructions

Learn how to grow watermelon in pots. Growing watermelon in containers allows this big, sweet and juicy fruit to grow in smallest of spaces.

Sweet and watery watermelons are without a doubt an iconic summer fruit due of their high water content and soft red flesh. Those supermarket melons can’t be like homegrown fresh and organic melons.

With these tips, though, it’s possible to grow delicious, sweet watermelons in containers on your patio or balcony.

Tips To Grow Watermelon In Containers No Matter Where You Live

1.Container size
Start with a 5-gallon bucket or larger. Watermelons have long taproots and need plenty of room to stretch out in the container. A bucket at least 2 feet deep is best.

   2. Potting soil
Fill the container with potting soil, or a soilless mix brought from a garden center.

Garden soil or topsoil will compact easily, making it difficult for the watermelons to grow.

3. Vine support
If you’re growing it on a balcony or on a roof garden where space is tight, growing watermelon vertically on a trellis is a solution. Trellis should be minimum 4 feet tall and sturdy enough to carry the weight of melons.

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4. Temperature
Watermelons are warm weather annuals but they can be planted in both tropical and temperate regions easily. It is possible to grow watermelons in temperature around 50-95 F (10-35 C). The optimum growing temperature is around 65-85 F (18-30 C).

5. Limit the number of fruits
A plant can take in only so many nutrients from the potting soil. More fruits means these nutrients are divided, resulting in each fruit receiving less. We recommend removing extra fruits from the vine, keeping 3 to 4 per vine for large varieties.

6. Watering
Watermelon requires a lot of water. Keep the soil evenly moist but not wet, the water must drain freely from the bottom.

7. Fertilizing
Start to fertilize the plant with a complete liquid fertilizer. Once, the plant starts to flower and appear to set fruits, use a fertilizer with less nitrogen. Consider liquid seaweed fertilizer.

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8. Fruit support
As fruit develop, use a stretchy material like pantyhose or a T-shirt to create a hammock under them. This will support them as they get bigger and keep them for snapping off the vine.