{"id":194,"date":"2009-12-08T09:45:14","date_gmt":"2009-12-08T09:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/?p=194"},"modified":"2018-04-08T06:08:44","modified_gmt":"2018-04-08T06:08:44","slug":"ask-the-experts-what-plant-is-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2009\/12\/ask-the-experts-what-plant-is-this\/","title":{"rendered":"ASK THE EXPERTS: WHAT PLANT IS THIS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>\u201cAsk the Experts\u201d features questions submitted by readers via the Ask the Experts feature in the right hand sidebar. Feel free to ask our panelists anything you\u2019d like about watermelon. All questions will get a personal response and some will be featured here on What About Watermelon!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>KEITH FROM THE CARIBBEAN ASKS: I hope you can help out. I live in the Caribbean and I only started growing watermelon this year and got my seeds mixed up, between watermelon and pumpkin. Now I\u2019ve attached a photo of a plant that I\u2019m confused about (copied below). I don\u2019t know if it is watermelon or pumpkin. Can you help with identification? I have North Carolina Giant White Pumpkin trying to grow down here but I have no idea which plant it might be.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Thanks, Keith<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Good question, Keith. These two plants are often confused, at least until they start growing a pumpkin or a watermelon. The plant in your photo is a pumpkin plant.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few easy ways to determine this. First, <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.flowers.vg\/flowers\/watermelon-leaves.htm\">watermelon plants<\/span> are a vine plant, therefore they grow outwards, not upwards. A pumpkin plant, however, grows more upwards and has bigger leaves (it looks more like a bush).<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of leaves, a <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.flowers.vg\/flowers\/pumpkin-leaves.htm\">pumpkin plant\u2019s leaves<\/span> will be shaped like a spade on a deck of cards (like the ones in your photo). The leaves on your pumpkin plant are rounder with relatively smooth edges, but some pumpkin leaves might not be as round and can be shaped like a large maple leaf, only with smoother edges. Though it can vary based on the type, most watermelon leaves have a more irregular shape and aren\u2019t as round as pumpkin leaves. Watermelon leaves sort of look like oak leaves without the pointy tips.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-457\" title=\"leaves watermelon pumpkin\" src=\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/leaves-watermelon-pumpkin.JPG\" alt=\"leaves watermelon pumpkin\" width=\"525\" height=\"213\" \/>Confusion often sets in during the younger stages of each plant, because the leaves can sometimes take a little while to mature and take shape (again, depending on the type of each plant). But the plant in your photo is advanced enough that I can tell it\u2019s definitely your North Carolina Giant White Pumpkin. Good luck with it!<\/p>\n<p>Best, Josh<\/p>\n<p>ABOUT JOSH: Josh Bailey comes from a family farming background, and he started his own operation called Premier Melon Company in January 2004. Previously, he worked for his uncle\u2019s company for 10 years, gaining experience in watermelon growing and handling. Josh lives in Schoolcraft, MI, and is a past president of the National Watermelon Promotion Board<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cAsk the Experts\u201d features questions submitted by readers via the Ask the Experts feature in the right hand sidebar. Feel free to ask our panelists anything you\u2019d like about watermelon. All questions will get a personal response and some will be featured here on What About Watermelon! KEITH FROM THE CARIBBEAN ASKS: I hope you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[111,112,113,114,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general","8":"tag-farming","9":"tag-josh-bailey","10":"tag-leaves","11":"tag-pumpkin","12":"tag-watermelon","13":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ASK THE EXPERTS: WHAT PLANT IS THIS - What About Watermelon?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2009\/12\/ask-the-experts-what-plant-is-this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ASK THE EXPERTS: WHAT PLANT IS THIS - What About Watermelon?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cAsk the Experts\u201d features questions submitted by readers via the Ask the Experts feature in the right hand sidebar. 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