A mellon question. My cantaloupe vines have about eight to ten blossums on them each. Can the plant handle developing all those fruits, or should I pinch a few of them off. I have read in DG that you pinch like this to make large watermellons, I just didn't know if it was necessary just to get normal sized cantaloupes. This is my first year growing them, and I just find it hard to believe how many each plant puts forth. Wowzers.
Ripening melons
They will put out a lot of blooms , most of which will be male. The females( with good pollination) will set until the vines senses a limit in its nutrient supply. At which time it will abort all subsequent females, until the melons mature. Depending on conditions that is normally three to 4 canteloupes at a given time per vine. Smaller cultivars may set more and large 8-10 lb size less. They will take of themselves, there is really no good reason to intervene.
I did pull off 2 Crest [hybrid Charleston Gray type] young [about a pound or 2] watermelons this morning as this made 6 on the poor thing. I am finding a bit of overload on my later watermelons...which the hail did not hurt as badly. That hail made the early set watermelons to nearly shut down and they have not been as good as normal...and now the vines have somewhat missed their cycle and are 'old' vines now.
I pulled two more off today......that would be 8...I have left 4. The three still growing are growing about the fastest I have seen a melon grow....this is one healthy vine.
This message was edited Jul 30, 2006 7:27 PM
Good thing you told me , Indy. At first glance, I though you had gone over the hill and started growing toothpaste. Not familiar with that hybrid.
It's my first trial of Crest.
The Chubby Gray melon looks like Crest. Those old Charleston Grays were really good back there in the 60s and 70s. The breeding stock has lost something since then and they are only fair now....imo.
It not that the Charleston Grey grew worst, the others got better. It was never the greatest tasting melon, but in its day day was top producer of uniform melons that had a reasonable shelf life. Also did not have sunscald which plagues the dark green melons it replaced ( Congo). Congo also has a shelf life problem, getting watery when over ripe.
I raised Congo once. They were the firmest [hardest] melon ever for me......tasted ok though.
Farmerdill
Exactly how big is your garden? Do you sell your vegetables or do you have 10 kids you feed? My mom lives in Augusta, we used to too. I will have to come visit you next trip and come "apprentice" under you. When i grow up, i want to know as much as you do! You are incredible!
I am down to a couple of acres. I do this rather than play golf. All produce is given away. I don't know much, but I grew up as a depression baby on a one horse farm. Learned a few survival skills.
I cut a Sugar Queen muskmelon......wow! These are top drawer in taste.
I cut a Raspa watermelon today..........wow! Why raise any other kind? This one had a very deep dent from the hail.
I harvested a 28 pound AU Sweet Scarlet today. This one set on one, and then when that one was grown, it started another. For larger melons one or two really large and good ones is better than 3 or 4 smallish ones any day ...except last year when my one Orangeglo set on 4 whoppers at once. I thought that was going to be bad but they were 119½ pounds of very good melon.
Sugar Queen is a good melon. I prefer Supermarket for productivity and taste under my conditions tho.
This is the version of Crimson Sweet that I am growing this year. AU Producer, Can't say that it is any better than than Crimson Sweet tho.
I tried AU Producer a few years ago. It was a good producer and average in taste for me.
Last year 2 Sugar Queen plants ripened 22 very good cantaloupes...so productivity is tops up here.
St. Nick is one tasty storage melon...I eat them rather than storing them ha.
I have three unharvested Burpee Crenshaws that are yellowing in color.
This Raspa just keeps amazing me with its taste. Normally 26 pounds and oblong/round. Sangrias are not making big size this year....too many set on usually.
The Burpee's Crenshaw is good. I have been reading grower comments that say SugarShaw is better. Hope to get around to trying it next year. Big problem with Crenshaw melons for me is thier tendency to crack as they ripen.
I know about the diploid hybrid Raspa. ( a hybrid version of Crimson Sweet). However I try to grow cultivars that are not currently in Plantfiles. So I have no plans to grow that one at the moment.
Thanks Farmerdill and Indy, for your detailed discussion of melons. I learned a lot, which is good because I am growing my first ever melons this year -- tiny Ice Box ones called Small Shining Light. I only found out this June that melons would grow here in Northern New Mexico and have been watching with wonder as little melons grow. If they survive to maturity, and it sure looks like they will at this point, I am planting a whole lot more next year. Your discussion will help me chose.
I've got an Orchid Sweet getting some heft to it now! If only I can pick 'em at the right time this year.
Beautiful picture, mimitho. Need pics like that in plant files. Congratulations on getting that one going. That Chinese melon is supposed to be good, but seedless melons are sometimes difficult to germinate. They need higher soil temps than regular melons.
Sounds like my fortae? Being in So Fl and growing in EBs above ground, my soil is always warm and we have plenty of sun.
mimitho -- I have no problem in telling when my watermelons are ripe as the vine that feeds them just dries up. Now when we talk about honeydews and spanish melons, well that's a different story. I'm still learning!
Plant, notice that I have given up on your contributing to Plantfiles. Never had a watermelon vine dry up. Often they will set a second or even third crop as the mature melons ripen. The first indicator that I look is the tendril where the stem attaches to the melon. This is a ripe melon. The tendril is dry and dead. On the first watermelon, it is a good idea to give it an extra week to make sure. It is a better indicator on some melons than others.
Thanks for the tip, Farmerdill. Last year I picked 'em too early, then too late. But I'm a novice! I added the picture to PlantFiles, glad you liked it. Here's my Sugar Baby:
That is what I meant Farmer! The tendril dries up. I said vine for want of a word. As far as Plant Files are concerned I tried to enter many times but you need the latin words and I don't have them? Either that or I'm doing something wrong? I've added comments to the existing threads but can not add any new products for lack of latin knowledge of plant names..Don't know why we need the latin in the first place? Why complicate a simple thing??? We are just hobbyists and not professionals?
We need thae latin names because seed companies rename stuff, things are often refered to by differant names in differant regions of the country or world and we need a "common language". I have a hard time working with latin names too, but I'm learning.
If there is any vegetable that has not already been entered by Latin name, I don't know it. Of course there may be a couple of thousand cultivars with the same Latin name. Tomatoes or Peppers for instance. If you find a new cultivar of tomato, That is not already in the plantfiles, just look at the detail entry fo a tomato and you will have the Latin Name. It is not of concern to farmers, but botanists and other highly educated love it, although they argue among themselves as to the "true" Latin name.
I brought in 2 Burpee Hybrid Crenshaws and cut one...about 9 lbs.....superb flavor.
I brought in a St. Nick cantaloupe ...about 10 lbs. haven't cut it yet.
The Sugar Queens are cranking out delicious melons....4 to 8 lbs.
The Raspa watermelons are putting out my kind of melon....so good. I weighed one today...24 lbs.
Here is an AU Sweet Scarlet..........28 lbs.
Here is the same melon cut.
The Au [Auburn] Sweet Scarlet was very good...very red, and very high colored.
The Raspas have been very good. The Allsweet types......the long Sangrias and such have been smaller this year. Of course the hail hurt them, but also some have just set on too many fruits. For example the two plants beside the above melon set on 8 fruits..I think I took off one. What i got was 15-20 pounders instead of 25 pounders. I would MUCH rather have two large melons on a plant rather than 4 smallish ones...any day. They just are of better flavor, texture, and sweetness. It is hard to be hardnosed at the right time...same as thinning peaches!!
Excellent crop, Indy. Put some pictures and comments in Plantfiles. I don't thin, but I use a much greater spacing to get larger melons.
Indy, that think is gorgeous!
I totally forgot about roasted watermelon seeds in the PI. It's called pokwan, right? I'm sure I spelled it wrong however.
Indy, great job with your melons this year!
FD - fyi the Scaleybark hill has 7 melons on it now and several are getting fairly large. Also, I had a Sugar Baby watermelon and half a Rocky Ford canteloupe while writing this at work - my keyboard's fairly sticky - they were both very good!
Flip
Here is one of this years Mutts, a cross between Klondike Blue Ribbon and Sweet Princess. Sized up nicely and uniformly.
Beautiful melons, as always, Indy and Farmerdill. I can only dream of tasting some of the cultivars that you two grow. We have limited melon choices in the city, even when shopping at the farmers' markets.
This is slightly off topic, but I was traveling through Oregon a couple of weeks ago and saw all these ads touting Hermiston melons. Well, curiosity did get the better of me so I bought myself one. I went for the seeded version, figuring that it would taste better than the seedless. Anyway, maybe I don't know how to pick watermelons but the one that I bought was only sweet in the middle. I was disappointed. It was, however, extremely juicy.
Farmer, Is that Mutt your own cross? Klondike Striped Blue Ribbon grew very well for me. They tended to have some hollow heart for me. I never got around to trying Sweet Princess. I figured those tiny seeds would be a slow starter.
Yes but not deliberately, I planted Sweet Princess and Klondike Blue Ribbon side by side. When Sweet Princess was dropped by Willhite I decided to save seeds and continue the line, since I am quite fond of the cultivar. It does quite well here. Did not care that much for Klondike Blue Ribbon. Anyhow how I am trying to grow out a stabilized Sweet Princess but I still have the Mutts to weed out. Pretty good melon tho, If I can find enogh land to grow it in isolation I might try to stabilize it. This is an F3 and those with these markings are remarkably uniform.
Farmer, Atlas Seeds carries Sweet Princess.
But only to retailers. Can't even buy a lb can from them. There are a couple of other wholesalers, but so far I have not found a retailer.
Here's a pic of some of the Scaleybarks from Fdill's seed
And here's the Blacktail Mountain watermelons getting ready
And one of the Orangeglo's getting bigger
Flip
Flip --- You've got a real nice batch going! One thing about melons is they don't require much attention and it is a good thing for us as it is too hot to work the field. LOL
Here I am eating some of this 25 pound Raspa watermelon. It is so good. Raspa is not so bad as Sangria [which can be so good too] about setting on 5 -10 melons at once which is not good at alll.
It surely pays to let the melons stay on the vine a several days extra with most varieties to get that full sweet taste!!!