How many melons?

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PatriciaS Mendo. County, CA(Zone 8b) Aug 03, 2011

I have planted several watermelons and cantaloupe-type melons. Some of the plants have just a few little melons growing on them, but a couple have many, many (more than a dozen). Do I pinch some off? How many melons can one plant support? If I thin some, will that make the remainder taste better? I think it is "Golden Jenny" that is going crazy out there.

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frogymon Lisle, IL(Zone 5a) Aug 03, 2011

Like any fruiting plant, it takes energy to produce fruit and if your thin the fruit, the remaining ones will receive more of that energy and therefore be larger.

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pollengarden Pueblo, CO(Zone 5b) Aug 08, 2011

Frogymon is right about the number versus the size. The number of fruit shouldn't affect the flavor as long as it has adequate leaves. Since chlorophyll makes the sugar that the fruits store, a good healthy ratio of leaves to fruit may help flavor. Sun light - not heat - is converted to sugar. When the temperature gets above 85-95 degrees, the plants use more sugar than they produce/store. So melons (or any fruit) won't taste as good if harvested right after a heat wave. With your mixed sizes, remember that little melons can be riper than big ones. With vine crops, I start pinching off the late/last new little ones that have no hope of ripening before frost - I don't want the plant to waste the energy on them.

PS - I have had trouble with watermelons not coming true from seed, even seed from good reliable suppliers. So when I grow watermelons and it is time to thin the seedlings, I don't automatically keep the big husky aggressive ones. I look for healthy but average-sized average-shaped plants.

This message was edited Aug 9, 2011 9:42 PM

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Aslan89 Harlingen, TX Aug 13, 2011

I had never grown watermelons before until recently (we finally dug it up) I had planted it right when it started getting warmer down here in the spring. Only one plant survived but it grew over 30 feet wide! We ended up picking 17 watermelons and they were the best tasting watermelon I have ever had :) I believe the seed was 'Jubile' and I will definitely be planting them again next year since it loved the soil in our orchard so much. The largest one we picked weighed 43 pounds O_o

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