Ripening melons

Melons are really starting to come in now. This is a white fleshed Galia type (Antalya). Very sweet but much milder flavor than Passport or Rocky Sweet. Several days later than Passport, but earlier than most.

Farmerdill:

When do you put your melons into the ground? Yours are way ahead of mine.

I can smell the aroma from here

BB

April 15 and May 1 or in that neighborhood. Many times like this year, the late planted ones catch up with early ones. Any later then that and I usually lose to the pickle worms.

About all the old body could haul out this morning.

Lookin' good Dill!

Nice Haul Dill!

Every year I wait too long to pull my watermelon. I usually only have a few and I am afraid I will pull them too early and then wait to long.

I wish they had one of those butterball turkey indicators that would pop up when they were ripe !! LOL

You do. It is the little curly tendril next to the stem. When it turns brown and drys, most cultivars are ripe.

I agree with Farmer. I check my melons on that tendril. I let mine stay on for a little longer for full sweetness. Small early melons don't give much other indications...they don't get creamy on the bottom and don't thump well. Large full sized melons do though but that first indicator is the tendril on all of them.
I finally got an early one ripe and a larger one seems to be browning some on the tendril.

That is really good information. Thanks.

Once the melons are growing is there any thing special that should be done to them? Feeding, care etc.

I've never been able to get a melon to grow to maturity. I have some excellent prospects however. One thing I've done is mulch the area heavily, making sure I have some straw under the melons.

Anything else?


BB

After the melons are set on the vine, you don't want them parched. Myself, I don't worry about watermelons lying on bare ground...cantaloupes can use some care to help prevent spoilage and bugs.

I am trying spraying with seaweed extract on the foliage to supply micro nutrients to possibly increase the brix level and taste/sweetness.

A 32 lb Dixie Queen and a 42 lb Verona I pulled this morning. Not too bad considering they have had no water for almost a month. Hope Tplant can conjur up another tropical storm and send it this way.

Geez:

You certainly get your exercise Dill

LOL

BB

Nice going Farmer.

Most of my melons got pounded a couple weeks ago by hail. Many of the set on ones got dents or were cracked. It takes several days for the plant to regain leaf strength and those babies that were set on already didn;t get full feeding I think. Anyway, the picture I posted on "Lets talk melons" with a small Sangria has turned the tendril brownish now and is about ready...only about 20 - 22 pounds I guess.

I appreciate this thread BIG TIME! I planted a row of Charleston Grey and Yellow Doll melons of which only about 6 are showing life and not much of it. I also planted a row of Alaska muskmellons. Two are showing life and one is showing real promise with about 5-6 yellow flowers on the vine. The others did not fare. I will of course, try again next year, but will probably use a different type watermelon. Any advise is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

LostIndian

FDill, those are some mighty nice lookin' melons. I've got flowers on the Scaleybark you sent and the vines are growing well. Thx,
Flip

LostIndian. Yellow Doll is one of the easiest watermelons to grow. Charleton Grey is pretty reliable but may take too long in your climate. Watermelons are particular about soil. They abhor heavy soils like clay and sulk. That is the first thing I would look at for next year. Cantaloupes are not as choosy but do require a deep soil. Double digging is a good technique. Alaska usually is a breeze to grow, nice size visually appealing melons. I give them a D- for taste tho.

Indy, my trial diploid for this year, Pinata. Nice melon, produces well and tastes good. No advantages over Legacy or Sangria for that matter. Good melon, but not good enoght to justify the extra cost of seed.

Farmer,
Yes. the Pinata is a good grower...I had a 45 pounder once. However, I agree that it is no better than Legacy and not as good as Sangria.

Indy, I choose my trial cultivars, partially on blank spots in plantfiles. If some one has grown it and put comments in Plantfiles, then I will move on to one that doesn't have pictures or grower comments. So get cracking on grower comments in Plantfiles.

But Farmer,
I grow the very best seeded ones that I know of...so don't skip those because I grew them!
Raspa has been my best tasting and texured one for two years straight...in my opinion the ideal red melon.

I have bought about 4 seeded melons this year while waiting on mine. Finally I have gotten really good ones after several years of blah... in seeded and seedless. I choose larger ones in the bin...fatter ones too as I have learned by experience that the healthier the melon in a given variety.......the more texture, flavor, and sweetness. There were a couple of huge and fat melons in the bottom at the back that I could not get without climbing in the bin or I would have had a monster.

A fellow worker brought in a muskmelon about 15 years ago at work that was oh so good. This was the last good melon from the store!!!!!! Sugar Queen is always so good with that hint of crenshaw flavor. I have tried so many others in search of that really good melon.

Which one is easier for a beginner to grow, watermelon or musk melon?
I have some seeds for "Ha Ogen" and "Fastbreak", both musk melons, but have been afraid to sow them. I tried to grow an ice box type of watermelon before and didn't do too well.

Both are relatively easy to grow, Cantaloupes are less demanding when it comes to soil, But on sandy soil, watermelons will grow wild, Have not tried Fast Break, Ha Ogen is a great tasting melon that grows well. Has a soft rind tho, so it is very susceptible to insect damage, It is one that the melons have to be held up off the ground as they are maturing. I use black plastic or plywood blocks. It is not a large melon, so it could be trellised and held up with slings. The problem most folks have, particularly with watermelons is crowding them.

I raised Fast Break last year. It was a good melon year, but the Fast Breaks were near the bottom performer for me.....taste, size, and vigor.

I have a Sugar Queen turning color....also a couple of watermelons can be picked this week. These did not size up as well as last year as the ones which were not ruined by hail just did not get fed as well while the plants were regaining their health. That is a shame as the first set/flush of melons has the most vigor. Later sets tend to be 12 - 20 pound rather than 23 - 32 pound.

Thank you for the info, FarmerDill and Indy. Good to know the Ha Ogen has to be off the ground. I'll give them a try. Hopefully I won't have vine borer and mildew problems as I did with the watermelons.

This morning's picking featuring a 55 lb Mountain Sweet.

Farmer, Do you know if the light green two in the back left are AU Sweet Scarlet? I have one sizing up now that looks like that.

Indy the green on white melons in the left background are Dixie Queens. Au Scarlets are almost identical except they are green on green tint. You almost have to get them side by side to notice the difference.

A photo from last year

I believe mine is AU Sweet Scarlet as I am not raising Dixie Queen or Dixie Lee that I know of. Last year I had a plant that had 3 nice sized melons of that color and I didn't harvest them soon enough as I thought they would get a little bigger. Turned out that they were Yellow Doll...a 13 pounder!

Yep, Yellow Doll and Cream of Saskatchewan have similar markings. So does Cris Cross. Au Sweet Scarlet is not as big as the Dixie Queen or Criscross. They average about 25 lbs for me. Just a shade larger than Crimson Sweet or Au Producer which I am growing this year. I do have some Au Sweet Scarlet in the melon pile. I can take a side by side photo tomorrow if that would help.

Today's lunch. Another pre -1900 antique, but still pretty good. The only "yellow meater" available when I was a kid.

Golden Honey - Only melon I have ever grown with tan seed.

Dill, you will outlive all of us on your steady diet of fruits and vegetables. More power to you, that looks like one good tasting melon.

Nice going, Farmer. Have you raised Desert King?
I did once. They were really nice sized...but oh, those seeds were huge.

FarmerDill, how does the yellow melon taste compare to the red ones?

Indy, we eat roasted watermelon seeds.

This message was edited Jul 20, 2006 7:10 PM

It is easy to pick seeds from a large seeded melon. Desert king is a very reliable melon, Not quite as tasty as Tendersweet or Orangeglo in my opinion, but equal to Yellow Crimson, Yellow Fleshed Black Diamond. Most of seed complaints I receive are from recipients of small seeded melons, who like to cut watermelon into cubes before putting it in the fridge. These usually shy away from Sweet Princess, because the tiny seeds are hard to remove. It is a good melon, that I eat the traditional way. Seeds are really too small to spit so I end swallowing them.

Q - I like yellow/orange fleshed melons. They seem to be sweeter but I suspect that if one were blindfolded that they would have a hard time differentiating between flesh colors. By the way, there are several cultivars developed specifically for seeds. Popular in Asia.

oh i m so jealous with melon envy you guys,:( my melons are about he size of a baseball LOL only my second yr ,lost one melon to wilt or something .
hope fully next season i will be a melon maniac.
I planted blk tail Mt, will see what transpires with them .
Looking good Farmer and the rest of you guys with your melons, im huingry already.
sue

A Moneyloupe ready

I had one Moneyloupe seedling...it died. That was the only seedling to die on me I believe! The Rocky Sweet melon was pretty good A lot like a Santa Claus in taste.

Farmerdill --- I have a Rattlesnake watermelon and it only has one melon on it for quite some time. Even though I had lots of flowers and bees doing their job. How many melons is one plant supposed to bear?

Normally two or less often three, depending on nutrients available. If that "snake " is getting huge it might have gotten an early start and hogged the nutrients. Folks who grow specimen melons for fairs like one melon per vine. Usually the vines senses what it can support and aborts the others, until the first ones mature. Healthy vines will set as many as three times, giving you melons well into the fall.