Cantaloupes - Need your expertise

My plants gave me beautiful cantaloupes that were grown under ideal conditions but when I ate them they were almost tasteless. The interior was perfectly full and meaty. I can't understand! Can you help me? They were the "Ambrosia " species.

I am not a big fan of "Ambrosia". Never grew one with much taste to it. However canteloupes do have different flavor on different soils. Some areas are noted for flavorful canteloupes. There are other areas where only specific cultivars have taste. There is not much you can do about it except move or experiment with different cultivars.

The seed supplier stated it was the sweetest loupe ever!

Can't prove it by me. But sweetness is only one factor in a good cantaloupe. I like a strong fruity flavor with a good aroma and that one just doesn't do much under my conditions. It is just a sweet bland flavor.

You just explained it EXACTLY.

Tplant,
Farmerdill certainly knows what he's talking about. He has helped me several times. But, I wondered if you have tried using any cow manure around them. I always use it whenever I plant them and after they get going good I pour it around them and hoe it into the dirt all around the vine and main stalk. And 10-10-10. My Grandmother swears by 'Black Cow' brand cow manure, in the yellow bag. I use it alot of the time, unless I am short on $ and trying to pinch pennies. But, I will admit, I could tell a difference in Black Cow and the Wal-Mart brand. Here in Ga, I haven't had that problem. My biggest problem was rabbits, or some type of animal, who loves eating just enough to mess up 5 or 6 of them and really tick ya off. And they always do it whenever you are trying to give it one more day to get really, really sweet. When you can just smell it through the rhine. If you haven't tried it, it certainly wouldn't hurt.

Good Luck & Let me know if you try it and how it turns out!
Happy Gardening,
Traci S

TraciS - I must grow everything in Earthboxes which are self-contained with potting soil and fertilizer. The cantaloupes did quite well. I grew three varities but I can't remember the other names . However, one of the variety was delicious while the other two were yuk. I'm sorry I don't have the name of them for my 16mos. old grandson took the markers and buried them somewhere so he could grow melon.(cute) I used the Black Cow manure in my flower pots and gave some to my DIL for her garden. Wouldn't plant without it!
I can't understand how something that smells so good be so bland....

Tplant

This one (Rocky Sweet) is my current favorite. Has some of the old time nutmeg flavor.

Farmerdill: May I ask where you purchased your seed?

Wilhite:

http://www.willhiteseed.com

Farmerdill...I've had some of the Ambrosia and it was tasty one time and pretty ordinary the next time (neither time did I grow them).

Sometimes I think folks pick their melons too soon...this will have an effect on the taste also. When you pick them they might get softer but the flavor will not increase. I let them grow till they nearly slip off the vine and jump into your hands! Yummy!

That is exactly what I did! I left them on the vine until the connecting vine dried up or let go but they were still very bland.

Wonder if too much water actually dilutes the flavor?

There is also another popular variety grown in Florida, called Athena I believe. Maybe that would be a good one for you to try next time Tplant.

I may be going way out in left field here .... but,
can't melons and lopes cross polinate with other similar garden veggies .. like cucumbers -?- .. Especially if they do happen to be planted a wee bit too close to another?
(Time to dig out my smart gardening books and refresh my ailing memory banks!)

I may could be wrong .. but I do know that last year, my hubby opted to 'arrange' the garden planting positions of the veggies himself .. and planted the cucumbers and cantalopes literally right next to one another.

The cukes were unaltered, and most delicious, but the limited one or two melons that managed to produce .. just didn't look right, and weren't EVEN fittin' to eat! And, we'd had no trouble with them the previous year .. or this year either - being on opposite sides of our garden! I'd wondered if this perhaps could have attributed to the problem. See .. http://davesgarden.com/fp.php?pid=962531 (hope I've done this correctly!)

Also .. crop rotation is a MUST!! Not doing so .. has a whole lot more to do with production and taste - more so, than many folks seems to realize.

Cantaloupes and Armenian cucumbers will cross but not with standard Cucumis sativus cukes. So not to worry if you plant regular cukes.

Crossing shouldn't affect the fruit of the plant unless you save the seeds from them...that's when the following year you'll end up with possibly who-knows-what if you use that saved seed.