Watermelon Not Growing Well: Causes & How to Fix It

Check these first

• Are the stems stretched with long gaps between leaves? That is a lack of light.
• Are new leaves curled, twisted, or unusually small? Think virus or sap-sucking pests.
• Are the leaves dark and lush but there are no flowers or fruit? That is too much nitrogen.

Most likely causes

From the pests and diseases recorded for this plant, the ones whose symptoms match, most serious first. Symptoms alone rarely confirm a cause, so use the linked page to check the signs and treatment.

Other possible causes

• Melon Yellow Spot Virus — Numerous small yellow spots appear on the leaves and later turn necrotic so the leaf dies.…
• Blossom End Rot — The blossom end of the fruit turns water-soaked, then dark brown, and sinks in. It is most…
• Cucumber Mosaic Virus — New leaves show a yellow-green mosaic, crinkle, and the whole plant becomes stunted. Fruit…

Other symptoms on this plant

What other growers did about it

A page like this one can tell you what watermelon not growing well is and what to try. What it cannot tell you is what actually happened to someone who had it on the same plant, at the same point in the season, and what they did next.

Gadenin is a free garden journal built around that. You photograph the plant, tag what you are seeing, and the entries line up by date for each plant you grow.

• Tag the problem and the app tells you how many other growers have logged the same thing on the same plant.
• Growers who make their records public can be followed, so you can read what they did and how it turned out.
• Next season your own entries come back at the same point in the year, so you check the plant before it starts.

Written byYasuGrowing vegetables and fruit in Chiba, Japan, and building Gadenin. Corrections are welcome. 15 years of growing.