# Growing melons in car tires.



## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

I can't find the tire thread I think was asked here. So I'll just ask a question of my own.

Should melons (watermelons/cantalopes) be planted in hills? If so, could I cut the side off one side of a car tire and fill it with dirt to plant melons in? Just wondering if the tire will get too hot during the hot part of the summer? Temps ranging near 100 or above, would the tires get too hot for the plant roots?


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

Planted Yacon in tires stacked 3 high one year- actually got them to flower before frost (unheard of in zone 5). Then we found out DH hates yacon... oh well

By the time the temp gets that high, the melons should be shading most of the tire. If it looks like the tires are getting too hot, toss some straw on them to shade the tires.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

You've lost me every time I try to start a reply. Yes, growing in hills has long been an American thing originally for squash and pumpkins grown over piles of manure. 

Then you ask about filling a car tire with dirt as substitute for a proper hill. Yes, no problem as long as the required nutrients are below it.

Finally you ask about the heat affecting the roots? The roots will be about 5 or 6 feet below the tire.

With that information, forget the tire. Get 5 gallons of aged manure or rich compost. Work 2Â½ gallons into the soil in a circular area about 2' across. Then dump the remaining 2Â½ gallons right in the middle. Cover that with about 3" of soil and plant a dozen seeds equally spaced in an 18" circle. You won't believe the results!

Edit: The above figures apply only to canteloupe. Watermelons would be fewer seeds. 

Martin


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

Wow, that sounds great Martin. I didn't know you could plant so many melon seeds in such a small area. I guess if you got enough nutrients you can plant that many. Gonna give that a try then. Thanks Martin.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

I should have specified that those figures for nutrients and seed quantity applies only to canteloupe. (That was one of the things which was confusing me and I'll go back and edit it in.) For watermelons, that area would probably only support about 4 or 5 Sugar Babies but only 2 Moon & Stars. Five gallons of manure/compost would be supply enough of what they'd need for maximum production.

Martin


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## Johnny Dolittle (Nov 25, 2007)

If you need to use tires get some from a sprint car or late model stock car racing team. They will be nice and wide but more important the side walls are thin and easy to cut with a utility knife. I cut both sides. If you paint them with white latex paint they will not warm up so easily. These tires are made cheap and only meant to be raced a few times.

Mellons like sandy moist deep well drained conditions .... but you can use what you have.

They are usually commercially grown on black plastic mulch and if your local growers are using black plastic then I would think tires would work without heating too much but the white paint might still help some.

Maybe you need to experiment on your soil with these variations .... in tires and out of tires and on plastic mulch

Good luck and hope I helped


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Johnny Dolittle said:


> If you need to use tires get some from a sprint car or late model stock car racing team. They will be nice and wide but more important the side walls are thin and easy to cut with a utility knife. I cut both sides. If you paint them with white latex paint they will not warm up so easily. These tires are made cheap and only meant to be raced a few times.


They may be seemingly made cheap they sure aren't! I know 'cause we bought our first set in 1970 and helped support M&H, Firestone, Hoosier, Goodyear and half dozen other companies since then. My last late model is now in the process of being restored to what it originally was, Alan Kulwicki's Firebird in which he won the ASA championship and opened the door to NASCAR. In fact, my brother is racing tomorrow on Lake Sinissippi, Hustisford, WI in a Camaro. Watch for number 7L on the videos. www.sinissippiiceracing.com.

Martin


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## salmonslayer91 (Oct 10, 2010)

correct me if i am wrong but wouldnt leeching be an isue with the tires?


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

salmonslayer91 said:


> correct me if i am wrong but wouldnt leeching be an isue with the tires?


No, Maam, no problem!

Martin


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## rowan57 (Sep 30, 2009)

I have worked on a 6ft center for watermelon (and pumpkin etc.). Dig a hole, round about a foot wide and a foot deep, fill it full of (good quality, well composted) compost, so you have a very slight hill already (water this compost heavily), pile all your original soil back on top to make a good size hill. Scrape a small hole in the top of the pile, add your fertiliser, mix it back in with the soil, put clean soil back on top, plant 3 seeds (one plant will be kept), keep well watered. 

I have grown pumpkin like this harvesting 300 per week, watermelon was still a work in progress.

On a side note, this is particularly good for poor soil, I was basically growing in concrete, this gives them a good fighting chance (they have bloody amazing roots).


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## Rockytopsis (Dec 29, 2007)

I have grown onions, garlic, broccoli, chives, spinach, cabbage and kale in tires. I get tractor tires from the co-op. They give them to me free so that they don't have to pay a fee to haul them off. Thinking of getting some small tires for the baby goats to curl up in.


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## Johnny Dolittle (Nov 25, 2007)

salmonslayer91 said:


> correct me if i am wrong but wouldnt leeching be an isue with the tires?


That issue is controversial 
A substance known to leach out is zinc sulfate. Zinc is required by plants but when supplied in large amounts becomes toxic to the plant. The leaching is minimal except when tires are ground up and used for mulch. You can not be organically certified if you grow in them. Search online and you will find the controversy. There could be other substances in the tires also.

I have considered using them but hesitate ... I have only experimented with a few. It is very popular to grow in them and general consensus is they are safe.


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## salmonslayer91 (Oct 10, 2010)

Johnny Dolittle said:


> That issue is controversial
> A substance known to leach out is zinc sulfate. Zinc is required by plants but when supplied in large amounts becomes toxic to the plant. The leaching is minimal except when tires are ground up and used for mulch. You can not be organically certified if you grow in them. Search online and you will find the controversy. There could be other substances in the tires also.
> 
> I have considered using them but hesitate ... I have only experimented with a few. It is very popular to grow in them and general consensus is they are safe.


i have thought about it as well and sounds safe enough but again i hesitate as well but i suppose if everything in the tire died from an unknown cause very quickly etc i would immediately remove that tire from the grand scheme of the garden plot


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

Thanks for the replies everyone. When I was growing up my dad cut side walls out of two big truck tires. My mom filled them up with dirt and planted strawberries in them. We ate good strawberries for years out of those tires. Well when I was thinking of the car tires, I was worried that being small they would transfer heat faster to the center where the melon roots would be. The main reason for my question above. So I wasn't sure how deep melon roots would go, along with whether they would get too hot if they are shallow rooted.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

With something as low as a car tire, you won't have to worry about the roots heating up because they won't be in there. They will be well below it. Strawberries worked in the big truck tires since the bulk of their roots are within 12" of the surface and a foot wide. 

Martin


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