Plants don't need a large root system when grown in an EB as they have all the food and water they need and therefore don't have to search for it.
Let's talk melons!
I stumbled across the Melon thread.
Growing some in containers cause I do not have a big tiller to work the ground. I even put them on my deck. I am just playing around with them. Never grew melons before.
Crimson Sweet Watermelon and Athena Cantaloupe.
Using my 1/2 barrel planters for some and using 5 gallon pots for some cantaloupes too.
As for container gardening---the fact is: as long as you give them the nutrients they need and water---they should do well. I have read that melons need a large pot for their root systems and EBs should do wonderful. Of course my containers will need more attention cause they are not self watering. But the trick is to put a water pan under the pot but in addition is to drill a few small holes in the side of the pot for air circulation to roots. And to get better flavor cantaloupes, you should withold some of the water near their harvest time. Not so they wilt but keep them watered. Something about too much water makes them taste bland. Not so sweet. None of this is by experience but by reading articles and books.
The Barrel Planter(dreams of a tiller)
Cricket
5 gallon potted Cantaloupe
1/2 barrel cantaloupes
1/2 barrel watermelons
Some home gardeners around here told me to start cutting off the vines with new production about 30-45 days before our first frost so that all nutrients are applied to the melons that can be harvested instead of the ones that cannot be harvested. Depending on what type melon you have.
Most cantaloupes take about 30-45 days to havest from bloom set/and pollination. So anything that grows after that should be cut off. Hope that made sense.
Our first frost is around Oct 31st so I would cut any new production that appears after Sept 30.
Also--the best fruits are always the first fruits. So many folks plant sessions of melons. The only let the plant vines grow out about 6-10 feet then cut them off. Planting a new crop session and doin them the same way so they always have large fruits worth caring for. The older fruits are smaller. I guess it is up to the individual person on how they wish to grow them.
Amazing how many techniques are out there. Differant ideas.
So--I am playing with my melons to see what does best for me.
Cricket
I haven't been able to go out to check my melons for two days now because of the heavy rain that we are having. Glad I planted them in EBs or they would be washed away. It sure is soggy out there.Been munching on store bought watermelon and watching the rain come down! Hope Flip has his water wings on ?
That sound like a great idea Bernie, easy too
I like how yours is set up cricket, mine are still in 16 oz cups we have had a strange cold spell sweep in, very strong winds too, broke a tomato in two, yikes . So all the plants are in the garage and in the cold frame waiting for the weather to warm up.
I have melons on my mind, for sure.
I have to make some raised beds, kids are stomping over my parsely and strawberries , with his dump truck. ggrrrrrr gotta love em.
sue
I desperately want to grow the melons in the ground. Its just gonna take me a while. Unless I do it like I do the maters. Only break the ground and remove the grass where I plant. Then lay out ground cover on all the grass..
sigh
Cricket
TPlant send some of that ran my way--just got my aerobic exercise lugging the 150' hose around front......dry as a bone here.
Debbie,
Wish I could have given you 2 inches of my rain for 15 degrees of your heat these past 6 days.
Hi Debbie~
Wanted to check if my package arrived yet? Re: Gift envelopes and keychain, for our trade?
Tks~PaperWhiteTulip
I put a few Ambrosias in "grow bags" last summer. I did supply nutrients but they supplied some very tasty melons. Any problems were my lack of either experience to sense. Needed to cut back on water sooner than I did. Gonna put alot of them in the ground this year and a few in the greenhouse in bags. Fun!
TP, I'm glad we finally got some rain. We had more rain on Monday than we've had the entire year. That being said, my roof was leaking big time as it's awaiting inspection to put on the shingles. The roofer came out and we put up tarps during the storms. Great fun!
Flip
ps - my little melons are ok in the dirt
Paperwhite--yes--take this offline...
I haven't seen very many bees lately---maybe cause we had a cool spell. So I tried pollinating my cantaloupes myself. But read online that pollinating them had to be done many many times or you would end up with very little seed cavity. I don't see a problem with little seed cavity cause I am not looking to save the seed from them. But It never said how the cantaloupe meat would turn out by pollinating them your self. The cantaloupe have such small compact pistals. IT was hard to pollinate.
Any suggestions?
madam cantaloupe
Cricket
Ours will go in the ground this coming week.
Went to pickup plastic, & the man reccommended green! I took 1 roll & we will try it. It's supposed to do a better job on the weeds than clear does.
Bernie
Bernie, If the green is IRT 100, it does a good job on weeds, is warmer than black, but not quite as warm as clear. The IRT is brown on the ground but green held up to the light.
Cricket,
Ants do a lot of pollinating too. I have wondered about pollination too, but they get pollinated here whether I see many bees or not. Often the first few fruits on cantaloupe do not "set"....so don't worry yet. If you had an acre or more of melons, bring in hives. Any ovules that don't get pollinated on a melon will not make a seed and fruit quality goes down as the seed produces the reason for the flesh.
Around here some of the best bees for pollinating are so small you can't hardley see them.
The plastic is IRT 100, green thermal.
Bernie
Tplant how have your melons done in the EB? Is it dry enough to take pictures yet?
The melons are doing great. Still small but healthy. I'll be glad to show some pictures a little later.
I said I would take pictures of my melon patch. All my plants are in earthboxes and three to the box. This is a Venus Hybrid. It's a type of honeydew according to the package, if I remember correctly, as I threw the package away. I should have saved them for reference.They, as all my plants, have been sprayed with Messenger and Ortho Garden Disease Control. Being they are a member of the cuke family and subject to mold. I'll not take any chances. All my plants except one are three weeks old.
This is one of my favorites and sells at the supermarket for 89 cents a lb. They grow to about 8-9lbs so you do the math. I used to call this variety Persian melons. They are very meaty and sweet with a small seed cavity. They are called Sweet Barcelona. The white spots you see are the Ortho Spray droplets.
This monster is Georgia Rattlesnake. Supposed to be 20 pounders from this baby. They are the largest and fastest growing. A peculiar happening about this melon. All the other melons are following the sun to the west. This guy and his family are growing to the east, just the opposite of everyone else. Reminds me of myself in my younger days. I would never follow the crowd but set off on my own. Had a very exciting life!
This is a Burpee hybrid cantaloupe, the climbing type. That's the reason for the trellis although I haven't seen any shoots at this time. Hope the package was correct in implying they can be grown on a trellis? I don't have much room in my garden? This is one of the reasons for EBs. More produce in less space.
wow--those are nice melons! I bet you are almost afraid to sleep--they might "wrap themselves around you"....
nice looking plumeria in the last shot too. I want to see it blooming and melons ripening!
Debbie
This is another honeydew. Man I do love to eat melons. I eat a whole watermelon every week and still lose 2lbs per week. Also eat cantaloupe and honeydew in between. I use them as snacks. It takes away my craving for sweets.
Debbie
I promise to show the plumie when it blooms but I think that won't happen till next season.
Honeymoon honeydew. Tricky name. Again supposedly can be grown on a trellis but still no vines? Parks had better be right. Remember that any white spots you see are just from the recently sprayed Ortho Disease Control !!! These pictures were taken at sunset to prevent any glare. There is one more. They are Crimson Sweets a watermelon also in the 20 lber class but I just planted them last week and they are just little sprouts so I didn't think they would be significant at this time. I had another variety there but my 3 yr grandson saw me culling the seedlings so when I wasn't looking he thought he would help! Need I say more??
I forgot to mention that all my plants are from seed and planted on 5/5.
I love melons too...especially good home grown. I might eat a half in two days...
I hand pollinated a couple of blossoms today on my early watermelons. These early ones have been slow this year as they were somewhat mottled even before setting them out. Later melons were very healthy. My second early melons were mostly ruined by the severe cold and wet of mid May. Third set looks very good.
Tp, lookin' real nice. Can't wait to see some fruits on the vines! My melons were just started a week or so ago and I just thinned them out yesterday. When they get a little bigger I'll send a pic or two.
Flip
What are your varieties Flip??
TP
Rockford Honeydew and Iroquois Canteloupe. Orangeglo and Sugar Baby watermelons. I'm gonna plant a few more (Scaleyback and Blacktail Mountain watermelons) when I get back from vacation - going to Disney tomorrow for a week (barf). See ya soon!
Flip
People ? How about showing some of your melon plants and sharing any info on how they are growing? Mine are really moving out and I'm going to move my EBs to give the melons more space.
No pictures...HP photo is not downloading card. Mine range from small to 1 foot long to finally setting melons. I had one male blossom for two female blooms today. Yesterday there was no male bloom for a female blossom.
I have them in 4 places. One place has 4 cantaloupes...2 Sugar Queens, a St. Nick , and a Rocky Sweet.
Another place has 32 watermelons...Raspa [my favorite], Rojo Grande, Ole, Orangeglo, Sangria, SF 790, SF800, Royal Star, Gold Strike, Crimson Sweet, AU Sweet Scarlet, Tiger Baby, and Yellow Doll.
Another place has 8 cantaloupes and12 watermelons.
Another place has 3 watermelons.
And I didn't want to throw out melons so I have 5 more watermelons and 2 cantaloupes [Burpee Crenshaw and Rocky Sweet.
I have most of my melons in raised "beds". They are raised by adding a very large amount of sand to original top soil and adding local peatmoss to most of the watermelon areas. Also well rotted horse manure was added last fall. I also use fertilizer too. I also add Root Shield to the seed starting mix to help prevent fungal disease as I like to reuse such labor intensively made beds again and again. I remove vines and and large roots as much as possible in fall.
As you could guess...I love raising and eating melons!
Aries
I m growing BLktail too , have you done this one before? Are those seedless? I also have Sugar BAby from Sequee.This is my second yr ,the first yr i had a few small ones but ,nothing worth eating. My soil was not all to great.
How far apart do melons have to be 1-3 ft . I have a 8 ft x10' bed and have 4 in there, one at each corner end with a soaker hose swirled in the middle.
I want more melons!!! , I did plant some in a front bed which is more sandy soil and gave a good watering with vitamin B1 added, i ran out of Osmocote. useally i add a Tbls in .
sue
I plant mine 10 ft apart with 12 ft between rows, but that is the standard size watermelon. The personal size 2-6 lb melons can be planted as close as 5 ft.
Our rows are 6 ft apart, plants are planted singlely 27" apart. These are Sangria Watermelons that will weigh 20 to 35 lbs. Cantalope same spacing.
These are all grown on plastic mulch, 3ft wide, about 24" exposed. Some is clear & some is the green we are trying this year.
Squash, pumpkins, cukes, pickles, peppers, eggplant, gourds are all on plastic. Trying to save weeding. Also speeds up maturity. We have summer squash & zucchini ready now.
Bernie
I like watermelon rows about 7 feet apart and 5 to 6 feet apart in the row. ....cantaloupes a little closer. In reality I have used other arrangements too....like a single row with closer spacing.
I have tried different arrangements of IRT plastic mulch. ...from a 4 foot solid strip to 2x4 pieces to 2x2 pieces to no plastic. All have done well.
I had so many questions and too much conflicting info, so I called a place about 20 miles from me that grows melons and commercially. They suggested amending heavily, putting drip under black plastic, planting one melon every 18" if the rows were at least 10' apart. They said this "intensive" planting works best if, as they start to run, you move the runners to the side, away from the neighboring melons. Sounds like tight quarters to me, but i'm going to give it a go.