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Old June 28, 2017   #1
Ann123
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Default Dark spots on young watermelon

I have some tiny blacktail mountains growing. I noticed that some of them have dark spots.
Is this a problem? Was there a bad pollination? Should I remove it (nooooooooooo)?
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Old June 29, 2017   #2
Rockporter
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I've had the same problem and the size never got bigger so I pulled them. I'd sure like to have some knowledgeable person chime in here for us.
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Old June 29, 2017   #3
Scooty
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The picture is a little blurry for me to say for sure, but I almost want to say that's a sugar spot - where an insect has punctured the rind and tried to get to the juice. If it is a sugar spot, the damage should be cosmetic only; some people even use them to distinguish which melon is the sweeter one of the batch, given it's been "chosen" by the bugs over the others. The black should be the sugars oozing out then the fruit sealing the puncture off.

The problem is that a sugar spot should be singular area, literally a spot, and the blurry pictures seem to show scarring widely across the fruit. Still it looks similar. Look up "watermelon sugar spots." There are more detailed pictures online and you can compare with what you have.

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Old June 29, 2017   #4
Ann123
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They are still really tiny. They got pollinated maybe a week ago. I don't think there is any sugar in there already.
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Old June 29, 2017   #5
RayR
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Ann, are the spots hard or soft/water soaked? Any leaf damage?
It looks like it could be insect damage or a bacterial infection of the rind, but I'm just speculating looking at the pictures
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Old June 29, 2017   #6
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They are hard and the leaves look fine.
It is the first time I grow watermelon.
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Old June 29, 2017   #7
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Could it be wind damage? They are on a balcony and thus the vines are moved by the wind. Maybe they got scratched when they were very little and this is scar tissue?
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Old June 29, 2017   #8
mjc
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It looks like some kind of physical scarring to me...whether it's from movement (wind) or insect (not real likely looking at the pattern) I can't say, but I wouldn't worry about it.
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Old June 29, 2017   #9
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Those pictures are much better! I would agree, it looks like scar tissue. The skin is very thin and fragile on those little babies.
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Old June 29, 2017   #10
Ann123
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Thank you! I am happy with the answers. I don't need to remove the fruits.
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Old April 14, 2018   #11
Ann123
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You were right. It was only physical damage. The fruits were sweet and tasty. My first watermelons :-)
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