Growing various Melons 4 D Novices

The Luffas withstood the damage. Two of the fruits will be saved for seeds and sponges making.

Winter melon sure is a longgggggggg melon. :-))

It's an odd looking one! LOL But it's so much fun to watch it grows.

Looking great! I'm so curious to know how it tastes.

The two melons pictured are the last from the vines in the pot. Those vines were just about dead, I was waiting on the melons to slip. So today they did and I pulled out all the potted melon vines.

The ones in ground are still growing well. I have some melons coming on them.

The melons were so successful this year that I am planning on growing lots more next year. Have already picked out a spot.

Rita, those melons/cantaloupes look so good. I'm glad you've had success. My cantaloupe vines are still growing, but there aren't many flowers being produced. I guess they are too on the decline.

There is no evidence of melonworms on the vines today, there were no cucumber beetles either. But I did find at least a half dozen SVB caterpillars today. Some of which have tunneled inside young fruits, whatever that's left on the vines. Grrrrrr!!!!

I hate those SVB. Vile creatures!

They're something else! Vile creatures is a good description lol they're competing with us for food sources! If only they take two and leave me one I would hold a kinder opinion about their vile nature. lol

The 'yard-long melon' this evening.

I see smaller melons set in my in ground melon section. I look carefully and they sure don't look like cantaloupes. So maybe that means the Sweet Sakura melons have finally set. There were a few vines planted between the cantaloupes but all summer I saw no fruit set other than cantaloupe so figured maybe those vines died out or something.

I'm looking forward to see your SS melons development. Better late than never. I sewn several winter melons seeds couple of weeks ago. I went off on vac. and returned to find the 2 seedlings were killed off by SVB. Luckily one La-Kwa vine is growing strong. Today I hand pollinated the first fruit. There is another nearly mature female flower, I'll see about pollinate it tomorrow. Also, the Luffa vine continue to send out many flowers. I hand pollinated one while I was working on the La-Kwa. So hopefully I'll have more Luffa fruits to cook again soon.

The yellow-flower winter melon is def. on its way out. The white-flower winter melon ceases to make any more flowers. The oblong melon is showing glimpse of hope, new growth and flowers. I so hope to get at least one edible cantaloupe. At the mean time, Publix is enjoying my patronage for their fresh produces. lol

I hope I get some from Sweet Sakura. Then I would know if I should grow them again next year or not.

Rita, what does a Sweet Sakura melon look like? I'm curious.

Oh my! Just before sundown this evening. I believe I came face to face with the SVB moths. I counted a dozen of them flying. They're-- to my surprise, smaller than I thought. Roughly bigger than a mosquito, and equivalent to a housefly, or maybe a tad smaller? Black wings, and orange bodies beneath the wings. I tried to take some picture, but the camera didn't cooperate. What say you?

Finally I captured a few pictures of the culprits. I.D. verification is needed please. SVB? These moths were trapped by spider webs.

The SVB moths are not big moths but I think bigger than a fly or maybe you have large flies! They kinda remind me of a wasp but orange body with black wings sounds correct. Sorry I can't say from your pictures.

Here is a closeup picture-
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www1.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/squash-vine-borers/img/squash-vine-borers-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www1.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/squash-vine-borers/&h=432&w=650&sz=85&tbnid=A_BY3y_uhLfxdM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&zoom=1&usg=__jJ5VYrb9D4WMSNEqXKhTXi3YHeM=&docid=8FTob97qwkkFmM&sa=X&ei=kCQeUvfdOLSrsATNq4G4CA&ved=0CDMQ9QEwAQ&dur=4432

and another
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.whatsthatbug.com/wp-content/uploads/


Sakata Sweet melon-
http://www.rareseeds.com/sakatas-sweet-melon/?F_All=Y

Thank you Rita for the links. Even with those pictures from google, they really have 'beautified' the vile critters. lol I'm pretty sure, those are Squash Vine Borers that I've seen. I'm ecstatic that I've found the lake is acting as an eco-balancing system. I just saw dozens of these bugs floating on the water surface. Apparently some yellow reflection from trees/shrubs nearby have attracted those bugs into the water!

Oh I've discovered that these moths are not discriminating; they even try to deposit eggs on other ornamental plants such plumeria and angel trumpet. I found a trumpet flower with holes drilled trough, I cut open the affected flower and found 1 of those tunneling caterpillar inside. As far as the plumeria? I think the tree's bark is too tough, the bug couldn't penetrate the sebum layer to deposit the eggs. But, I'll find out eventually if there will be evidence of borers infestation during the growing season.

The Sakata sweet melon looks very attractive. Thank you for sharing the link.

I have to see if I get melons on those Sakata Sweets or not. I mean if they get ripe. Then to decide if I want to try again next year. Not sure now but I have plenty of time to decide.

My Sugar Cube (a melon from Burpee seeds) did really well so I am going to grow them again next year. Sweet and tasty. In fact I ate one with lunch today.

Planning for melons next year.

I found this at Johhnys and thought at first I would want to grow it. But reseach on the net showed it got very poor reveiews as in almost impossible to get a ripe melon.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/showproduct.aspx?ProductID=6695&SEName=savor-f1
It is a Charentais called Savor.

So intead I found two types that are a Charentais cross.

French Orange.
http://www.harrisseeds.com/storefront/p-390-melon-french-orange.aspx

Sivan CHARENTAIS with reliable fruit set (so they say).
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-sivan-f1-hybrid-melon.html

I'm interested in that melon Sakata, do let me know how it turns out please. Here is my winter melon. As of yesterday, it measured 42 inches in length.

One long melon! Will report on the Sakata Sweets.

Thank you Rita, hope y'all are enjoying the nice safe holidays. In my corner of the garden. New developments. 1) Those numerous bugs I saw were not SVBs, those are actually sciarid fly as identified by DG member. 2) My La-Kwa vine is taking off; the fruits are growing at a fast pace, especially after a soaking rain that we had last night. Pictures are those of the mentioned La-Kwa vine, its flowers and fruit. The vine is trained on a horizontal rope.

This message was edited Sep 2, 2013 7:31 PM

OH my. You sure do grow the most unusual vines!

These vines are unusual, and grow very rapidly during the summer months. Here, Luffa and La-kwa mingled/suspended on the same supportive rope. They're fun!

The growing season has wound down to harvesting time. I'd like to close out this thread with these pics. Thanks each and everyone that followed my adventure with growing vegetable vines in the garden 2013.

1. Two Luffas, the large one is ripe for sponge; all I need to do is peel the dried skin to reveal the sponge within. Oh, don't forget about hundred of seeds inside that large ripe fruit. The smaller one is ready for cooking and I took the vine off the arbor.
2. The mentioned arbor back to its original free standing -- 'til early spring next year, it will be adorn with more of these edible/ornamental fruits.

Happy Harvesting everyone. ^_^