By Shelby Shank
Field Editor

Texas watermelon growers are reporting good yields and high quality for the summertime-favorite melon, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts.

“Overall, we’re seeing more pounds per acre this year,” Dr. Juan Anciso, AgriLife Extension horticulture program leader, said. “Quality is also very high this year with good sweetness levels.”

The season started with growers receiving higher prices per pound compared to last year, but prices have since declined to 18-22 cents per pound.

“This year, the market is softer than it has been in the past two to three seasons,” Clint Wiggins, a watermelon grower from Snook, said. “The market does not look as good as it was the past couple of years.”

Despite the drop in price, the growing season has been positive with minimal issues reported.

The heat and timely rains helped the melons develop good brix counts, a measurement of sugar in the fruit.

“We had a really good start in late winter and the spring. Conditions were favorable, kind of timely rains with just about the right amount each time you needed it,” Wiggins said. “April and May kind of turned a corner, and we had copious amounts of rainfall in Central Texas.”

The Rio Grande Valley has experienced dry conditions for most of the growing season, leading to a later and longer harvest than usual. The drier weather and limited irrigation water in the Valley also shifted some production to the Winter Garden region.

Wiggins, who is a Brazos County Farm Bureau member, partners with other growers throughout the state—predominantly in McAllen, El Campo and Dalhart—giving them a larger market window.

“Yields were pretty decent in South Texas. I would say we were average or a little bit below average. Our yields were a little bit below average near El Campo due to rainfall and weather conditions,” Wiggins said. “Central Texas looks to be on track for an average yield, and then watermelons growing in the Panhandle are growing good.”

He started harvesting the summertime staple at the beginning of May in South Texas and will wrap up in October in the Panhandle.