Watermelon
Also called: بطيخ · رقي · Battikh · Raggi
Sown in February to harvest in May. It needs a lot of room and rising heat — one of the few crops that actually suits the tail of the Qatari season.
The year at a glance
Each month is split in half. The outline marks now.
Stage by stage
Stage 1 of 9
Seed
Days 0–4
Seed
Days 0–4The seed sits in the soil taking up water and swelling. Nothing shows above the surface — everything is happening underground.
Do now
- Water lightly and often so the soil stays damp but never soaked. Letting it dry out between waterings kills the seed before it sprouts.
- Cover the surface with a thin layer of straw or compost to slow evaporation and steady the temperature.
- Label what you sowed and when. You will need the date to work out the harvest.
Watch for
- A hard crust forming on sandy soil after watering, which traps the sprout underneath. Break it gently.
- Ants carrying small seeds away — a very common problem in Qatari gardens.
In Qatar
Wait until the soil passes 20 °C, which is late January here. A December sowing just rots.
Germination
Days 5–11The seed coat splits: a root pushes down and a shoot pushes up. The two seed leaves that appear are not true leaves — they are the seed’s own food store.
Do now
- Keep moisture constant. The first root is very fine and a single dry day can end the seedling.
- Remove any covering as soon as the first sprout shows, or it will stretch thin looking for light.
- Give bright, indirect light. Direct midday sun will scorch a new seedling within hours.
Watch for
- A long, thin, pale stem: the seedling is not getting enough light and will collapse.
- Sudden wilting with a pinched stem at soil level — damping off, caused by overwatering.
In Qatar
Sow four seeds on a slightly raised mound for drainage and keep the strongest two.
Seedling
Days 12–26The first true leaves appear, shaped differently from the seed leaves. The plant is now feeding itself and the roots are branching fast.
Do now
- Thin crowded seedlings and keep the strongest. Crowding gives you many weak plants instead of one good one.
- Start watering less often but more deeply, to drive the roots downwards.
- Harden the seedling off — build up its sun exposure over a week before transplanting.
Watch for
- Yellowing lower leaves: nitrogen shortage, very common in Qatar’s poor sandy soil.
- Small holes or chewed edges, meaning snails or young grasshoppers.
In Qatar
The seedling crawls through February’s cold then explodes in March. Do not judge it early.
Vegetative growth
Days 27–48The trailing stems run fast and tendrils appear. The plant is hunting for something to climb, and training it now decides the shape of the whole crop.
Do now
- Put the trellis up now and train the stems onto it. Getting the vine off the ground cuts disease and pests dramatically.
- Tie the stems with soft, wide strips of cloth rather than thin twine that cuts in.
- Water deeply in the early morning. Evening watering plus high humidity invites fungal disease.
- Check the undersides of leaves weekly for whitefly and aphids.
Watch for
- Stems trailing on hot ground and scorching underneath.
- Lush leaves but no flowers: too much nitrogen. Stop the nitrogen feed.
In Qatar
The runners reach three metres. Coil them round the plant rather than letting them take over the garden.
Flowering
Days 49–60Male flowers open first, then female ones with a miniature fruit already behind them. Only the female flowers bear, and pollen has to reach them.
Do now
- If nothing is setting, hand-pollinate: pick a male flower and dab it into the centre of a female one in the morning.
- Cut back nitrogen and raise potassium and phosphorus to support fruit set.
- Never let the soil dry out completely between waterings. Drought now makes the flowers drop.
Watch for
- Flowers dropping without setting fruit: above about 35 °C the pollen goes sterile. Get shade over it now.
- No pollinating insects at all — common on enclosed roofs and balconies.
In Qatar
A watermelon needs about eight bee visits per female flower to set a properly shaped fruit. Hand-pollinating is laborious but necessary if there are no bees.
Fruit set
Days 61–74The petals wither and the ovary behind them swells. Small, hard green fruits appear and grow day by day.
Do now
- Make watering perfectly regular. Swinging between dry and drenched causes most fruit cracking and rot.
- Support the fruiting branches before the weight breaks them.
- Add calcium if your irrigation water is brackish, to head off blossom-end rot.
Watch for
- A sunken brown patch at the base of the fruit: calcium shortage from irregular watering or salinity.
- Small fruits yellowing and dropping: the plant is carrying more than it can feed, or it is thirsty.
In Qatar
Keep only two fruit per plant in Qatar. The plant cannot find enough water in May’s heat for more.
Ripening
Days 75–88The fruit stops growing and starts changing colour, turning its starch into sugar. Heat speeds this stage up.
Do now
- Ease off the water slightly to concentrate the flavour — but never to the point of wilting.
- Shade exposed fruit with the plant’s own leaves to prevent sunscald.
- Pick as things ripen. Leaving fruit on the plant stops it setting new ones.
Watch for
- White or leathery brown patches on the sun-facing side: sunscald.
- A small hole with rot inside, meaning fruit worm.
In Qatar
May’s heat speeds ripening and raises the sugar. This is the best thing Qatar’s climate does for any crop.
Harvest
Days 89–105The fruit is ready. The plant is at peak production and will keep bearing as long as you keep picking and the weather holds.
Do now
- Pick in the early morning when the fruit is full of water and will keep longest.
- Use scissors rather than pulling by hand, so you do not tear the branch.
- Keep feeding potassium every two weeks to stretch the picking season out.
Watch for
- New fruit coming smaller: the plant is exhausted and needs feeding.
- The seasonal heat rising, which will shut production down within weeks.
In Qatar
Harvest May–June. There is no ripening after picking — cut it early and it stays tasteless forever.
End of cycle
Days 106–130Production tails off and the leaves yellow. As the heat builds the plant stops setting fruit altogether.
Do now
- Bring in the last of the fruit, even the ones not fully ripe.
- Save seed from the best fruit on the strongest plant if you want to grow it again.
- Pull the plant and compost the healthy remains; bin or burn anything diseased.
- Work compost into the soil now, ready for the next Al-Wasm.
Watch for
- Leaving diseased plants in the ground carries pests over to next season’s crop.
- Bare soil under the sun goes dead. Cover it or sow a green manure.
In Qatar
The season ends as Al-Bawarih arrives. The ground now needs to rest until Suhail.
- Water
- High
- Salt tolerance
- Medium
- Heat tolerance
- High
20 L/week in winter, 45 L in summer
Soil preparation
Needs deep, free-draining soil and 2 m² per plant. Put the compost in the planting hole only, not across the whole bed.
Pests
Aphids
- Sign
- Clusters on the running tips and curling new growth.
- What to do
- Blast with water. Avoid insecticides — they kill the pollinators watermelon depends on completely.
Fruit fly
- Sign
- Small punctures in the rind that turn into internal rot.
- What to do
- Bag the young fruit in paper, and hang pheromone traps around the edge of the plot.
Common problems
Bland or watery fruit
- Cause
- Heavy watering in the last fortnight before harvest, diluting the sugars.
- Fix
- Halve the water as soon as the fruit stops getting bigger.
Rot on the underside
- Cause
- The fruit sitting on damp soil for weeks.
- Fix
- Slide a board or a pad of straw under each fruit as soon as it forms.
Picking
Three signs together: the tendril nearest the fruit is completely dry, the ground spot has turned creamy yellow, and it sounds hollow when tapped.
Keeping
Two weeks whole somewhere cool. Once cut, three days refrigerated.