Texas watermelons enjoy sweet season despite localized challenges

Lone Star State watermelon growers are wrapping up a fairly good season, with a 2025/26 harvest marked by strong fruit quality and limited disease pressure, according to the Texas Watermelon Association (TWA). 

In conversation with FreshFruitPortal.com, industry body President Clegg Smith explained that the combination of favorable weather and staggered production across multiple growing regions delivered positive results.

“Unlike some growing regions that have short or limited seasons, Texas has the longest growing season stretching from Memorial Day through Labor Day, allowing for a lot of opportunity and, in some years, a lot of challenges for us to have a variety of crop conditions. This year has been ideal; we love to see it,” he said.

Texas growers reported adequate sugar content, Smith noted, characterizing the cycle as “a really good season”.

“Sugars have been above average, compared to the last five years, and thanks to good weather we haven’t had a lot of the disease and quality pressures like hollow heart or black seed,” he added.

Texas watermelon growers face localized challenges

Despite the overall positive outlook, results varied across the state, allowing for low production in some areas to be offset by regions enjoying more favorable conditions, Smith stated.

“The Río Grande Valley had a more difficult go of it based on the mild winter and pest pressure, along with heavy imports. But the central region had a lot of luck this year with near-ideal weather and the crop volume hitting at peak watermelon time during the Fourth of July,” he said. 

He stressed that the long Texas watermelon season and expanded growing regions create “opportunities for growers to salvage a bad season by geography alone”. 

“Overall, the season looks to be a win for both growers and buyers; with good fruit in the market that keeps sales velocity up, with consumers getting good fruit day in and day out when they go to the store. And that’s what keeps them coming back,” he added.

Heavy rainfall caused temporary harvest delays in some production areas but did not significantly disrupt the state's watermelon crop. Growers also managed high summer temperatures through irrigation and other production practices that helped protect yields and fruit quality.

“Any place we had some issues, the crop seemed to recover,” Smith said. “Heat is always an issue—it’s Texas. But growers have adopted a lot of good agricultural practices over the years with irrigation and screening to avoid severe heat stress that might limit crop volume or quality.”

And while pest pressures were certainly not absent, they remained limited across most Texas watermelon-producing regions.

“There were some early whitefly issues in the Rio Grande Valley, but overall we aren’t seeing a lot of issues in the other regions. We have recently seen a small amount of rindworm causing some external appearance issues, but that too is limited. It’s been a blue-ribbon season for the Texas Watermelon Association,” he emphasized.

Labor continues to constrict margins

Despite the favorable production season, labor remains a significant concern for Texas watermelon growers.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, labor expenses have become an increasingly important component of specialty crop production costs across the country.

“Although we’ve seen some good market prices, the labor costs, along with transportation, housing, food, and visas, do eat at the margin that growers count on to build capital for the next season,” Smith stressed. “We continue to express our feelings to the Administration on finding a long-term workforce solution that eases the burden on producers and continues to protect our food security.”

*All photos courtesy of the Texas Watermelon Association.

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