August 4, 2000

Melons, pines
not-so-strange bed fellows

By Lana Robinson
Field Editor

Watermelons and pine seedlings may seem like strange bed fellows, but not so in East Texas, where for more than a decade, melon grower Ronnie Borders has teamed up with various timber producers in Shelby County to cultivate the two crops together in the same fields.

The endeavor started out as a winning combination, but too little rain some years, too much rain in other years, and most recently, an unreliable labor force, have made watermelon production less profitable. It’s turned out to be a much better deal for the timber growers, whose first-year trees really get a boost, says Borders.

“In the first 10 years, trees experience 30-35 percent more growth, farming in same row cultivation with watermelons,” says Borders, who first tried the concept in 1986.

“This extra growth is due primarily to the fact that seedlings benefit from the initial weed control and fertilizer offered to the watermelon crop,” John Warner, district forester for the Texas Forest Service, suggests.

Case in point: In 1995, Bob Reeves, a Center-area landowner, planted over 300 acres of watermelons and genetically-improved loblolly pine seedlings simultaneously. Planted on 8 feet x 8 feet rows, alternating rows of pine seedlings and watermelons, his young stand now averages 15 plus feet in height.

“A comparable tract planted only with genetically-improved loblolly pine seedlings without the benefit of watermelons is yielding a 10-foot stand,” Warner notes.

A wet June and July that first year contributed to a 96 percent survival rate of Reeves’ trees. Reeves attributes much of his success to Borders and Shelby County timber producer Murray Mathews, who has experimented with Borders on the melon/timber concept for the past six years.

The Reeves Tree Farm could possibly be thinned for commercial pulpwood used in paper products as early as 2007.

“You get pulpwood on the first thinning, then saw logs and veneer. It will be 18-20 years until trees are worth any money. A real good stand of pine will bring $3,000-$4,000 acre,” Warner, who also advises Reeves, adds.

Reeves left an area of large, hardwood trees and also planted millet to attract and protect wildlife. Other priorities for Reeves are to ensure good water quality and enhance recreational opportunities on his land.

Why watermelons and timber?

“It just looked like it would work,” Borders recalls. “I leased land from timber companies. It was good land, the best land they had, to find out if it would. You only plant the watermelons that initial year for the trees. After that, the trees are too big.”

This year, Borders and his friend, Mathews planted 150 acres of genetically-improved loblolly pine seedlings and hybrid melons together on Mathews’ property near Center. The plastic went down first. Loblolly seedlings were planted December through February. Royal Flush and Sangria melon transplants, obtained from greenhouses in the Rio Grande Valley, went into the ground the first week in April (6 feet x12-feet wide rows, 500-600 plants per acre).

“It was March before we had much rain this year. Winter was dry,” says Borders.

Borders’ watermelons wholesaled for 5-7 cents/lb. this year, but tonnage was down.

Says Borders, “If these had been harvested right, we should have had 20,000 lbs. per acre. If we’re lucky, we’ll get 15,000. We’ve had a lot of loss because these melons haven’t been kept up with. Labor’s going to put everybody out of business...”

According to Mathews, who grows timber on 711 acres (five-year plantations), the improved loblolly seedlings are four cents each from the State nursery and from timber companies.

“It costs $75-$80 to plant trees on pasture. It costs an extra $150-$200 per acre, maybe more, to plant the watermelons,” says Mathews.

Mathews, who is also in the real estate business, says good pasture land in Shelby County sells for $900-$1,000/acre, cut-over land goes for $450-$550/acre.

Once established, trees are fairly maintenance free. Three- to four- year-old trees can typically survive a drought. In addition to drought, other enemies are gophers, fire ants, and leaf cutter ants, which defoliate trees in the winter to build their nests.

“Water is a worry, as well as the pulpwood market. What we need is an OSB paper mill here,” says Mathews.

In addition to Mathews’ 150 acres, Borders planted watermelons in a 175-acre first-year timber plantation at Teneha and 40 acres at Shelbyville, but he says it may be his last year to do it.

“It’s too much of a risk for the reward. Dryland is a gamble. You don’t get enough rain at times and sometimes too much rain in the spring. The high humidity here in East Texas causes downy mildew. When you have to spray, it costs more. You’ve got to have more control. The ideal situation for watermelons is where it never rains with drip irrigation,” says Borders.