What to Do About Watermelon Fruit Abortion? Causes and Solutions

During the growth process, watermelons can develop a physiological disorder known as fruit abortion, which severely affects watermelon yields and can even cause total crop failure, bringing huge economic losses to farmers. So what causes watermelon fruit abortion? How can it be solved? Let's take a detailed look together.

1. Symptoms of Fruit Abortion

Fruit abortion refers to the phenomenon where watermelons, during cultivation, simply fail to develop fruit for a long time. Specifically, it manifests as young fruit turning yellow after flowering, softening, and stopping development. Some may appear to have set fruit, but the fruit aborts within a short time. Others show growth at the top while the lower part aborts, and some simply do not grow at all. Fruit abortion has an enormous impact on watermelon yield. Young fruit with flowers stops growing, the surface turns brown, and the young fruit shrivels until it dries up and drops off.

2. Causes

During the flowering period, prolonged rainy and overcast weather causes abnormal watermelon metabolism and prevents normal pollination and fertilization. Additionally, in high-humidity environments, the fruit-setting rate of watermelons is low. Improper fertilization leads to excessive vegetative growth in watermelons, affecting reproductive growth and preventing fruit set. The same applies to watering: improper timing of irrigation can also prevent fruit set. During pruning, poor pruning technique can cause a single vine to produce 5 or 6 branches, or even more, with varying vigor. These branches compete for water and nutrients between batches, and the canopy has poor air permeability, leading to fruit abortion. In addition, untimely pest and disease control can also cause fruit abortion, such as Fusarium wilt, aphids, red spider mites, and so on.

3. Solutions

First, choose a suitable sowing time according to the different varieties. When planting, try to choose sandy loam soil with good air permeability, and avoid low-lying areas to prevent waterlogging damage. When fertilizing, do so according to the growth condition of the vines, especially controlling the use of nitrogen fertilizer. In plots with good fertility, use less nitrogen fertilizer to avoid excessive vine growth caused by one-sided nitrogen application. During the germination and seedling stages of watermelons, if no special circumstances arise, watering is not advisable. Water once during the vine-extending stage. During the fruit-setting stage, moisture is more important; water lightly once during drought, otherwise do not water, to prevent fruit abortion. Prune in a timely manner, adopting single-vine, double-vine, or triple-vine pruning methods according to different varieties. Control pests and diseases promptly, but when using pesticides, be careful: the pesticide should not be too concentrated, and spraying should preferably avoid the flowering period.

The above is an introduction to the causes of watermelon fruit abortion and solutions. We hope it helps you. For more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.