ATTENTION: Anyone with experience in growing cantaloupes

Hi everyone!! I have a small garden at my house here in fredericksburg, va, and I have some questions about growing cantaloupes. Does anyone know of a cantaloupe variety that has good production, is disease resistant and does not take 90 days to harvest? I know there are several varieties that you can plant that take less than 90 days but I just wanted to get some feedback as to which variety grows well in my area or in similar climates. Any information on this topic will be greatly appreciated. Thanks alot.
Conor

Virtually any cantaloupe (muskmelon) will grow in the Fredericksburg area. The best flavored in my experience fall in the midseason 80-85 day DTM. Very early types like Al;aska, Fast Break etc grow well, look good, but seem to be a bit short on flavor. There are not many 90 day+ varieties and they tend to be extra large types better suited to bragging than eating. More exotic melons like Honeydews, Spanish melons, casaba etc you will have to pick among the earlier varieties. Browse the melons section of Plantfiles. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=cantaloupe&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&searcher%5Bgrex%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

Once you have tasted the sweetness of a Charentais melon you'll be hooked!

To each his own Honeybee. There are a lot of different types of melons out there, besides the popular muskmelon. Galias, Crenshaws, Canarys, Charentais, etc. Each has advocates, my personal taste fits best with Galias and Crenshaws but it is my personal preference.

Thanks for the information. Farmerdill, if you say you like cantaloupes in the 80-85 DTM range, then what varieties would fall into that range and which ones grow well?

Most of them grow well in eastern Virginia. My taste buds prefer Honey rock, Iroquois, hearts of Gold, Rocky Ford ( OP) Supermarket, Burpee's Hybrid, Star Headliner, Harper's Hybrid, Sugar Queen. http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm92/farmerdill/Veggies%202009/Cucumis%20Melo/

I am not in your area but I have been growing Burpee hybred cantaloupe for years, they are very! sweet, soft and my favorite melon. They are also prolific and take my hot summers well. They may be a 90 day melon, but it seems like I am picking melons most of the summer so in the right climate they grow much faster than that. My summers here are hot, dry, and windy. I pick about 20 melons every 3 days. My soil is good and they really produce. They are not available at any of the stores locally. They are not the ambrosia hybred. Just Burpee hybred. Good luck. Cal

Thanks again for all of the advice. I went to a local farm and garden center in fredericksburg and they told me that the Hales Best variety grows well and is the most popular at the store. So, I bought some Hales Best seeds and hopefully I will get a good crop of cantaloupe this year. As far as picking the cantaloupes, the cantaloupe should be slightly yellow on the outside and should come off the vine easily, right? I have not had much experience growing cantaloupes, so any advice is greatly appreciated. Also, are there any diseases or pests that I should watch out for while growing cantaloupes? Thank you for taking your time to read this post.
Conor

I grew Hale's Best last year and I am growing them again this year, too. I have three 1 - 2" tall plants right now. I am in zone 9a, though.

Anyway, the plants vine like crazy and were around 8' long. The vines were about 1/4" wide at most and were loaded with flowers. I did not experience many pest issues. The squash vine borers left them alone for the most part which I thought was odd but I suppose it is due to the fact that the cantaloupe vine is smaller in diameter compared to yellow squash, zuchinni, pumpkin, etc. But, some SVB did attack one of my plants sometime late in the spring. I had maybe 3-4 melons per vine pollenate but not all of them fully developed.

I wish I had watered them more, and more pollenators would have helped as well.

Harvesting is easy, as the mature fruit will slip-off the vine when you handle it. You may want to put a piece of carpet or some other type of barrier under your fruit when they first form so they do not rot on the bottom as they grow. This will only happen if you get lots of rain or if the ground is real moist, I believe. Expect lots of high grass around your vines, too.

p.s. good luck, hope you get a bunch.

This message was edited Apr 12, 2011 2:49 PM

This message was edited Apr 12, 2011 2:51 PM

I have given up on cantelope! Every year two or three plants start from my compost, grow like wildfire, then, despite all my efforts, the fruit gets soft / rots. I've tried hanging them, setting them on boards, using sand. Could it be because I have irrigation?