Can you tell me why our watermelons go black and drop off when they get to about big as a 5 cent piece?

Question

This is our first time growing watermelons and its dissapointing to see them dropping off when we have put in the effort to grow them.

Answer 1

Your watermelons are not getting pollinated. What appear to be "baby" watermelons are simply the ovary for the female flower. If the flower is not fertilized, it can't go any further, and the whole business drops off. Squash, pumpkins, watermelons, and cucumbers are all plagued by this problem, especially now when there are problems with colony collapse among bees (at least in the U.S.)

Watermelons have both male and female flowers; you can use a soft, round cosmetic brush to hand-pollinate. I'm including a link for distinguishing male from female flowers; these are photos of pumpkin blossoms, but they're pretty similar to blossoms from the other plants I listed, and hopefully will be enough to help you figure out "who's who" among the blossoms.

Good luck!

Answer 2

If you have planted seedless varieties
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a pollinator variety (another type of watermelon) will need to be planted for good fruit set. Honeybees are also important and care should be taken when applying insecticides to pollinator safety.
http://www.ipmcenters.org/cropprofiles/docs/VAwatermelon.html
***Not all watermelons
have a male and female blossom some are what is called hermaphrodite (they self pollinate)
When you hand pollinate you must be very accurate about how you do it, or below is what can happen. Check your source for honey bees they seem to be the best pollinator for watermelons.
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if an insufficient amount of pollen is deposited on any lobe of the stigma, an asymmetrical melon results. It may be lopsided or it may be smaller on one end than the other.
http://ag.udel.edu/enwc/faculty/dmcaron/Pollination/watermelon.html
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You might want to use this URL for info
University of Illinois Extension.
Watermelon
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/veggies/watermelon1.html#6

Answer 3

Dropping off from what? They grow on the ground.

Answer 4

I think MaryAnn is right.
Its some sort of fungus or disease.
Nothing you cant handle.
Throw a little seven dust on them through the growing season.

Answer 5

It sounds like disease. Where are you growing them??

In Florida they are in season in the summer.

Answer 6

You have "Blossom Rot" stop watering them so much!!