We have Crimson Sweet planted. We planted from seed around the first week in May. The vines look healthy and we have several melons on them, two of which are getting pretty big (size of a cantaloupe) now. Tonight we noticed a couple of the smaller ones had shriveled up like a prune. We had rain the first of the week and ran the soaker the night before last. The heat (heat index around 105) is bad right now, but has just been for the last couple days. Do we have a disease or is it just the heat getting to them? Should we continue to water and water maybe more? Any advice is appreciated.
Need melon advice please!
Melons will abort due to lack of pollination or to stress on the vine. They will usually set two three melons per vine and then abort others until the first set are full grown. Heat does not bother melons, Drought much less than other plants. Mine are sizing up nicely, when everything else is burning due to lack of rain. Too much water is much more detrimental than too little. If it rains (one inch) a week kill that soaker hose. A watermelon in good sandy soil will tolerate much less water than three inches a month.
Thank you Farmerdill! I had a feeling you would be the one to respond...you seem to be the expert on melons! I'm going to ask another question. We have Cantaloupe also. I think they are Hale's Jumbo. The largest is bigger than a grapefruit but smaller than one you would buy at the store. We went away for a couple days around the 4th and when we came back the fruits had formed. The two biggest ones have already started putting on rind. Is this normal? Can we do anything to make the others grow more before they mature? Sorry to be so needy but we do appreciate your sage advice! I've only tried to grow melons one other time and they didn't do so well. At least this time we can see some results but want to maximize if we can. Thanks again!
If you do have Hales Best, They take about 5 weeks from set to maturity. At this point, about all you can do is keep the vines healthy ( keep off the squash bugs and cucumber beetles). This type will grow netting as they reach full size. Usually the first set (crown set) are the largest melons. If they matured small, You might look at spacing ( are they too crowded) and soil amendments for next year.
We spaced them according to direction when we planted but these vines have gone nuts. Since the ones I planted a couple years ago didn't really make it and I've forgotten the ones we grew when I was a kid, I didn't have much to go by. Now that I have seen these, I will definitely give them more space next year! What kind of amendments should we make to the soil. We did till really well and added some bag manure (but not a lot). This is our first year with this garden so it is the trial year. Does the soil for melons need something special? Also, do you plant in rows or in patches? We were thinking of sectioning off next year to keep separate from everything else. These vines have taken over a half row of my beans and are now heading for the peppers and tomatoes! If I catch them early enough I try to redirect before they have attached to the ground but that is not always possible and these vines still seem to be growing. Will they keep putting on fruit as long as there are flowers?
It's shaping up in to a great year in our area for vining crops. I got few cucumbers, *one* zuccini, and no cantelopes last y ear. I'm growing Crimson Sweets this year and the largest right now are about the size of a football. I have Hales Best and Kansas cantelopes sizing up nicely. The largest Hales started netting a week ago. I've got cucumbers out the ears and the squashes are doing very well for themselves. All these vines are trying to take over the world but my bean crop was a real *bust* this year. :)
I just got seeds for hales best. Are they good? What size at maturity? Thanks
Hales is pretty good but not near as good as Kansas in my opinion. They are just a normal sized cantelope in my garden. Kansas is a lot larger. It is an heirloom. I got the seed from Bakers.
Thanks vashur.