growing watermelons: what are these runners that have large leaves?
The first sprouts had regular watermelon-type leaves with many lobes, but half my plants soon developed a branch of the vine with large leaves looking like pumpkin leaves. Those runners have been growing faster than the regular ones but for a long time produced no fruit, although some of have flowered. Now the only watermelons growing are on the regular-leaved vines, but a large gourd-like fruit has appeared on one of the strange vines.
I know this family of vines that includes squash, cucumbers and melons all derived from common ancestry; is this phenomenon some kind of reversion to primitive forms?
I assume the odd vines consume more of the water and minerals coming up from the roots, though I wonder if the carbohydrates they contribute to the plant might they be getting to the cultivar melons I’m hoping to eat a bit later this summer?
Should I cut off these weird vines or let them alone?
treat the same as you would pumpkins, leave the runners alone and you might get something no one else as got, just experiment a bit, i do and am often surprised at what turns up
Depending on where you live, you may only have a month or so left for your watermelon to mature. If your objective is watermelons, then cut off the weird vines and their fruit so that ALL the energy can go into your watermelons.
On the other hand, if you already have more watermelon than you can eat or several months to go, you can let the weirdies grow and see what happens!!
Good Luck!!
part of the plant