A twelfth-generation farmer and race car driver says his family focuses on growing watermelons. Ross Chastain calls Florida home, and tells Brownfield for the last eight generations, it is the only crop they’ve grown… and the growing season starts early. “We’re putting our plants in the ground about the 5th of January. When most of the country is very cold and frozen, we’re transplanting small, very fragile watermelon plants from the greenhouse into the ground.”
He tells Brownfield it is about a 100-day growing season after plants go from the greenhouse to raised beds, and they use black plastic to retain heat and moisture near the plants.
