Melon Basics

I'm trying to do a better job of growing my melons this year.

Last year was better in that I actually got fruit. Some were even edible. But overall, my results were disappointing.

I got nice healthy vines and fruit were appear but several things happened: The fruit got to a certain size and then got soft. If the fruit did get larger, a lot of them split before they got ripe.

Can anyone pass along some basic "to-dos" to grow decent melons


BB

What kind of melons BB. Most types will grow in Georgia, but some are alot more picky than others.

Last year I grew (or rather attempted to grow) Sugar Baby, Jenny Lind Musk Melon, A honeydew (Don't have the name at hand)

This year I'm trying

Charenetais
Sugar Baby
A European Climbing Melon

ANy suggestions would be appreciated

If you have nice loose, sandy, rich soil with good nutrients in a sunny location, you have the right foundation.

I suggest that you plant more of the conventional varieties first and then slowly add the exotic.

Ok

Thanks

I agree, Sugar Baby is relatively easy, about as easy as any watermelon. All watermelons detest clay and love sand. In any case it, has to be loose 6-7 inches deep and for about 5 feet around the vine.Watermelons originated in semi-arid Africa, They don't like water in any great amount. If they are the ones splitting, then watch out for the water and provide raised hills so that rain does not stand around thier roots. American cantaloupes are pretty easy to grow and not very picky as to types of soil. Too much water can make them tasteless but seldom bothers them otherwise. Honeydews and other exotics are more difficult. A lot depends on the cultivar. I have much better luck with the new short season hybrids than the older 100 day melons. I have grown Jenny Lind and it grew fine. Was not worth eating in my opinion, but it produced nice tasteless melons. Whatever you grow, give them plenty of space, don't get near them with a garden hose very often and hope you have plenty of insects to pollinate them. If they tend to rot on the end at about half size, you have a pollination problem. Sunscald is sometimes a problem on cantaloupes, but most of the time healthy vines provide sufficient cover. I just throw a handfull of pine straw over exposed melons. There are some foliar diseases which take the vines out early, so you may need to consider a fungicide. Usually I use a copperbased one at the first signs. Some years I don't have to..My first guess is that your problem is excess water.

Thanks FarmerDill

Do you save seed from your melon crops and do they cross-pollinate?

BB

I try to save a few. Ones that I have difficulty getting new seed, I plant in Isolation (separate field). Usually do one cultivar each year that way. I also save some regular ones that are crosspollinated. They are always good and sometimes quite exciting. I do this more with watermelons than with cantaloupes. I grow mostly hybrid cantaloupes, honeydews and galia melons. I do save seeds from some of the more spectacular ones and use to use them to finish out a planting. Never got a bad melon that way, but each of those hills is like a surprise package. May not be anything like the original cultivar altho most will be.

Thanks

BB

I have clay silt/loam which is fair for melons but not great for watermelons. So I mixed very heavy amounts of sand and local peat moss into the decent existing topsoil which has made fine melon beds. This is great also for potatoes, carrots, and other crops.

I have never raised Sugar Baby. My daughter loved Jade Cross which is listed as a hybrid upgrade of Sugar Baby. While Jade is a very early and good grower, I don't care greatly for the texture and taste compared to some others like Sangria, Raspa, Orangeglo, Dixie Lee, Legacy, AU Sweet Scarlet, Burpee's Fordhook, and a host of others.

In years past I have seemimgly had more than my share of wilts, mature vine declines, cantaloupes not finishing up because the vines lost their leaves, etc. I feel that I have learned some things the hard way. I marvel at people who pop some seeds in and get a good harvest. Well, maybe the first year is not as surprising, but melons, cucumbers, and sqush can just have SO many problems!!!

We grew Jenny Lind last year and it was my very favorite.

Could be the wretched heat here... I read somewhere they are sweeter in the heat.

Quick question on melons. Do the vines need to root into the ground anyplace other than where you plant them? I was going to plant mine on black plastic with a hole cut every 5 feet for the 'hill'. But it occured to me I might have a problem if they need to send down additional roots along the vine. Actually same question for Pumpkins if anyone knows. Thanks in advance.

Jeff

Nope and nope. They will do fine with a hole cut just where they emerge from the ground.

It will probably save you alot of grief. Those doggone little tendrils wrap themselves around EVERYTHING! When I let them spawl over my side yard they got so wrapped into the grass that I could mow or weed-wack. looked a mess out there!

Thanks! I didn't remember the vines rooting when I was a kid but that was awhile ago... I just read on one of the threads here that the vines would grow towards where they would get the most sun and nutrients and it got me thinking. I could see how the roots would grow toward the richest soil but not why the vines would care where the 'best dirt' was at.

I think it can be useful for pumpkins to root down in multiple places...mainly because of SVB and squash bugs.

Jeff:

How's your project coming?

Hi BB,

Going well thanks. I'm still mainly working on getting beds ready. I punctured a tire on my tractor so I'm moving dirt by hand while it's being repaired so it's been slow going the last week or so. I've got a bunch of seedlings started and have run out of space under my lights right when I want to start a bunch of tomatoes and peppers so I'me trying to juggle that. Here's a picture of my first set of seedlings mostly brassicas. I'm really proud of them, but I'm tired of carrying them in/out every day. I was going to plant them out next week, but they're calling for low 20's Mon/Tues.

If you were growing Sugar Baby in a large container, what medium should you use--a soilless potting mix (sphagnum peat moss, horticultural perlite, and horticultural vermiculite) or just regular potting soil? Tamara