Too Much Water for Watermelons: Rochelle Farmer Copes with Heavy Rain

ROCHELE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Last year, there wasn’t enough rain and this year there’s too much. After heavy showers this spring and summer, watermelon farmer Don Wood just wishes the rain would go away.

“The main thing the rain has caused is delay,” Wood said.

This June was Middle Georgia’s rainiest on record. The Rochelle watermelon farmer said the summer soakings have caused a slower season.

“It causes more diseases,” he said, “the plant tries to take up all the water that’s available.”

The downpours have created several challenges for Wood Farms. This year, the watermelons took longer to ripen, causing the producer to ship out a month late.

“So 2/3 of our fruit, we were shipping after the 4th of July,” Wood said.

The fruit took longer to grow forming larger melons but they’re aren’t as sweet as last summer. The prolonged process’ troubles have trickled down to high prices in the store. He said the prices are steady now, but at the start of the season they were above average. Wood now looks forward to a season where there is a steady amount of storms and sunshine.

“Last year was so hot, we did all we could to protect it,” Wood said, “and this year we’re just trying to push it to get it ripe.”

This year, he’s learning the hard way that there is such a thing as too much water, even for watermelons.

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