I am so happy to begin starting seeds early this year. I am growing Carolina Cross watermelons this year. I grow these organically and for eating. It does take some vigilance and effort to keep the aphids and worms off the young plants but it can be done! I use organocide, oil soap spray, and spinosad.
I washed all my seed starting trays with a dilute bleach, water, and soap solution and let them dry in the sunlight. I started my seeds in Miracle Grow seed starting mix. I will update later on. I put in a tiny pinch of Garden Tone fertilizer in my watermelon seed starter as a supplement. Let’s see if that works well.
When it gets hot over 85 F I hope to have the pests under control by then and I depend on my beneficial insects to come out of dormancy and do the pest control job for me. Once it warms up I scout for pests and the beneficials only spot spraying if I see a need to control an invasion. I don’t want to kill all the insects because my beneficials need to have food. It creates balance when I observe first and sometimes simply watch the prey to predator ratio over time.
Lake Mary Gardens 