Watermelon and canteloupe in containers?

Has anyone had success with watermelon and canteloupe/muskmelons in grow bags, stackers or EBs? I'd love to grow some but I'm not sure about the logistics. I suppose you could trellis the canteloupe and net the fruit. I have no idea about the watermelon.

That's exactly what I'm doing this year...Growing the plant in grow bags, training the vine down onto the ground and supporting melons with styrofoam meat trays...

Dreamer I might join you. I have a huge philodendrun in the corner of the patio. I could plant melon seeds in a container and let the vines spread underneath that plant. Or do the melons need sun hitting them? LMK. Linda

Linda (Pugzley) would be a great one to answer that, as melons are the crop she raised in the jungles of Guam for years....All I know is to ease off on the watering and give them lots of sun in their last days to increase the sugar content.

Last year, I grew honeydew melon in a container. One plant per large (16") self watering container. I used a trellis (which was anchored to my fence) to train the vines, although they eventually got taller than my 4' trellis (I then gently wove them through the top pickets of our fence). Had to net the melons, as they would have been way too heavy without support. I only got two melons from one plant--don't know if that's a good yield or not, as I'd never grown melons before. With the self-watering container, they got the consistant water supply they needed and were great! Planning on doing it again this year.

mom2goldens: I've never planted watermelon in the EBs yet and want to try this summer; but when do you start them from seed? It is still too early isn't it? I mean, they are supposed to be for summer?
joy

Instead of being trellised, could they be let to creep along on top of a tarp or something right on the ground? I was thinking of that. That way they are not directly touching the soil, yet I don't have a trellis. I was going to plant them (cantelope as well) in a small raised bed, but the bed wouldn't keep the vines in very long due to the small size size.

I'm thinking some weed barrier under the planter and on the ground for the melons to rest on.

Joy--not sure about starting from seed. Last year, I bought my one lonely little plant that I found at a big box store growing in a little paper cup. I did save some seeds (as well as purchasing one additional heirloom variety) and am going to try starting from seed this year. I'm going to use the general "6 weeks before last frost date" rule to start my seeds. I'm in a much cooler zone than you, so even though I planted my melon plant in mid-May, I did not harvest until probably mid-September. It was a long wait for those 2 melons, but they were so good! I actually used some strips of row-cover fabric to fashion slings for the melons once they started getting big. It was all I could think of at the time, and seemed to serve the dual purpose of keeping birds/insects away from them, while still letting ~95% of the light through the fabric. As you can tell, I'm kind of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants gardener at times! LOL My husband thought the slings were pretty funny, but he sure enjoyed the melon.....

2 melons is just sad. There can never be enough melons. Like corn, two to a plant, is there a rule about melon vines?
Karen, I think the meat trays are a good idea. I just happen to like weed barrier cause it is clean. Maybe I'll put the meat trays on the barrier.

Forgot to add that someone here on DG suggested the meat trays to me...maybe Tubs? Anyways, that's my plan. I'd like to have weed barrier but my garden spending has officially ended this summer...yeah...right....LOL!

I need to watch the spending, too. BUT Today I came across a sale on Cantaloupe seeds. What could I do? Never mind that I have only so much space.

And when I have online such easy access to things I might never otherwise get it is hard to tell me "no." I sat right here and watched me order 6 Sunshine Blue Blueberry plants yesterday and did nothing to stop me.
What was I thinking?

Devota, I agree--2 melons was just too few! I can't even stagger my plantings, since they took so long to mature. 2 plants should provide us with all of the melons we can eat before they go bad. I wish I had more space, but am limited by my suburban subdivision-sized lot. We have a beautifully landscaped yard (flowers are my first passion). Now that I'm getting intrigued by growing vegetables, I just don't have enough space. I have only a 8' x 16' bed dedicated to veggies, then I must rely upon container gardening to stash them wherever I can. About 1/4 of my garden space is devoted to garlic--it is planted in the early fall here for mid-summer harvest. I will be up to 6 EBs this year (although 3 of them will go into my veggie area for tomatoes, to give my soil a rest--not enough room to rotate crops). The other 3 as well as some other large containers get put here, there, and everywhere!! If our homeowners association ever noticed, they'd have a fit. Fortunately for me, my next door neighbor is also an avid gardener, so we are very tolerant of each other's experiments. My neighbor to the other side has a 6' privacy fence, so can't see into my yard :)

Devota--we must be related somehow. I keep waiting for my husband or FedEx guy to just say "enough". This year, in addition to extra EBs, coco coir from Boca Bob, seeds from I don't know how many sources and DG coops, I decided to expand my seed-starting set-up. That entailed extra lights, extra shelving units, and extra trays. I think there should be a 12 step program for addicted gardeners....

My garden space is also limited to maybe a 10 by 16 sideyard that gets lots of sun. My neighbors don't garden. I did put 3 Steerlite 30 gallon containers near another side fence for some peas and beets. You have to buy out the space I guess, mom2goldens.
The young couple on the beet container side have never even spoken to us, so if they complain about the powder blue containers, it might be a good opening to converse.

I hear that. I am right now trying to figure out where I can put some more seedlings but I live in a small cottage with a man who doesn't relish bumping into anymore grow-systems.
But is there anything more fun, [on a sustained level] than answering the doorbell for UPS or Fed ex ?

Did you make your own EBs with the sterlite containers, or are you just using them as regular containers?
Buying out space here is out of the question (although it would be a lovely thought). We live in one of the fastest growing communities in our area. Land is at a premium and becoming scarce. I am grateful for tolerant neighbors. The lady next door (behind the privacy fence) does ask me gardening questions from time to time, and comments on how much she enjoys my flowers. She can see my front yard, obviously, and I'm sure she can see my backyard from the 2nd floor of her house. We have very restrictive neighborhood covenents, so a picky neighbor could get us in a lot of trouble! I am very fortunate my neighbor to the other side and I are very compatible--we share advice, seeds, and produce. She's a much more organic gardener than I, but we appreciate each other's efforts and differences. We've traded more than a few "volunteers" to each other's yards, and just try to have fun with it.

Unfortunately, I rarely get to see my FedEx or UPS guy, although they always go above and beyond the call of duty. Occasionally, when we have to receive a package that requires a signature, we ask my 84 year old mom to come over to wait for it (my husband and I both work outside of the home). FedEx guy got kind of used to seeing my mom. On a few subsequent occasions when my husband was working from home (and signed for his own packages), FedEx guy got worried about mom, and started asking if she was OK. Everytime we see him, he still asks.
I'm sure they dread coming to our house during the early spring season. I think I've had 1-2 packages arrive almost every day for the past few weeks.
Devota, what is your last frost date in TN? Just wondering how different your climate was than ours. We are just barely north of Indianapolis.

Back on topic---so what kind of melons is everyone growing? I have some seeds from my nameless honeydew (purchased at big box store last season), as well as a heirloom honeydew "Green Nutmeg". Personally, I'm not a fan of the orange melons, although my husband loves them (however, he is not the one growing them). Kind of ironic as I live in what seems to be the muskmelon capital of the world. How much space do watermelons take?

I grew some heirloom banana melons in plastic pots last year. I started them in styrofoam cups and then transplanted them. I only got one melon per plant off them. But they were pretty good sized ones. I was having some squash pollination problems and found out on DG that was why my zucchini were not producing. Looking back on it now, I think I could have had more banana melons if I'd have known to pollinate them by hand. I stuck them inside a pot with potting soil, watered them a lot until the melons got pretty big and then slacked off on the watering at the end. They took forever to mature, it seemed. I just let the vine hang over the side of the pot and I fertilized by using granular fertilizer made for tomatoes and vegetables.

This year I am growing Minnesota Midgets. The vines are supposed to be short, the fruiting prolific and you can trellis them.

Here's the list of vining fruit seeds I have:

MINNESOTA MIDGET
PEPINO GARDEN BERRY BUSH TYPE
PINEAPPLE MELON
SLEEPING BEAUTY MELON
SAKITA SWEET MELON
TIGGER MELON

I may not grow the tiggers since the reviews are less than "sweet". I don't want a cucumber like melon, I want the sugary sweet ones. Don't know if I'll do the Pepino Garden Berry either.

All of these can be grown vertically because the fruits are very small.

I also have this one that I simply must sacrifice a few feet of space to try and grow at least one plant in ground, from Baker Creek:

Ginger's Pride MELON
The largest melon we carry. Huge, oblong fruit averages 14-22 lbs. each! The skin is green, turning yellowish when ripe. The flesh is very sweet, melting, and of excellant quality. The vines set heavy yields. This variety was sent to us by a retired minister from Indiana. It has been in his family for many years, originating in Kentucky. This is a melon to give any grower pride.

I believe watermelons take about 4 square feet per plant if they are on the ground. Maybe someone else knows better.

This message was edited Mar 13, 2009 8:19 PM

Pugzley--never heard of a banana melon. What is it like? How large was the pot you grew it in? You have some intriguing varities, are they all from Bakers Creek? I may have to do another seed order :)
Sorry for all of the questions--except for my one lonely honeydew last year, I've never grown them before.

Yes, I got them all from Baker Creek. I love their seed selection for melons. Be sure to look under all the different melon sections and read the descriptions carefully if you are looking for sweet tasting ones, I've found that many "melons" are much like cukes.

The banana melon is long and has salmon colored flesh. It is very sweet. They are actually pretty ugly looking. LOL! I can't really describe the taste, they do not taste like cantaloupe or honeydew and certainly bear no resemblance to a watermelon. The texture is more like a cantaloupe, though. It is a very old heirloom. Here's what mine looked like:

http://gstuff.co.nz/shop/garden/images/Banana_Melons_Seeds.jpg

The descriptions say that they smell like bananas, but I didn't think they did. Smelled more like a cantaloupe than a banana, but still not a good description. LOL!

OOps! Forgot to say that the pot was about 4 gallons, I believe. I would do it in a 5 gallon pot though, it would probably do better in one a bit larger.



This message was edited Mar 13, 2009 8:33 PM

Pugzley--one last question if you don't mind. How large was the styrofoam cup you grew them in before transplanting outside? Would a 4" container be large enough? Sorry for all of the questions--this is my first year growing melon from seed, and am trying to get all of the information I can.

mom2goldens, I'm thrilled I am able to help someone else! I've gotten so much help here already.

Yes, a 4" container would be plenty big. My styrofoam cup wasn't even that big and I planted them into the pots when they were really little, I should have let them get bigger.

Oh, I never let them start to vine out before transplanting them, though. You don't want to do that, they are very fragile and do not like transplanting very much, so you have to be very gentle with them.

Good to know, thanks. I have some 3" coir pots--those might be just the thing for starting melon seeds, as I could transplant them directly into the growing containers.

That sounds like it would work really well. We always transplanted all the melons into the field when we were doing lots of them, we didn't want them to be rootbound, so always tried to plant them before that happened. I think those would be great for that. You will probably end up with some very happy melons!

Pugzley could you reply 2 my post above re planting them on the patio and letting the vines creep under a large philodendron that has a carpet of compost underneath it? Compost is from the decomp leaves that blow into the patio and stay under the philo. I harvest it once a year. Already got annual harvest so not very much there. Just a light covering. Cool N shady underneath the philo for vines. Main stem would B N a 24" planter in the sun on the patio. LMK. Thanks. Linda

I have a question about watermelons, I have a package of charleston jr. watermelon, 10 seeds, will it grow in an EB how? And shouldn't I plant the seeds now in a seed starting kit, since it takes so long for it to grow?
joy

Hi Gymgirl, I've only grown melons in blazing hot sun, from start to finish, except for the germination stage, so I don't know if the melon vines would like that shade or not. One rule of thumb is that if cucumbers or squash like the situation, then the melons will, too. I've never put melons in any shade at all once transplanted. The melons themselves need to be in the sun for them to ripen and sweeten. I'm thinking that if they were in the shade there wouldn't be much of a sugar content to them if they grew and fruited, probably end up a lot like a cucumber for taste?

Joy, I don't know about your EB question, but watermelons and all melons grow very fast once germinated, like cukes and squash do. What takes a long time is for the fruits to ripen on the vine. They'll vine out and make babies pretty fast, but it's the maturing and ripening stage that seems to take forever for me. I wouldn't start those yet if I were you. You'll end up with gigantic vines if you're not careful.

Pugsley, is there a set number of melons that each vine can produce? Devota

I don't know the answer to that Devota. They will stop growing vines at some point and just stop and the fruit matures and ripens. They are not really like tomatoes where they will grow indefinitely (indeterminates that is).

Oh, by the way, I meant a watermelon or just about any other melon would take a 4x4 foot area to grow comfortably on the ground not 4 square feet. They get really big.

Check out this article on extreme melon growing:

http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/melons

This message was edited Mar 14, 2009 1:20 PM

Thanks Pugsley, that is a wealth of info. I have a raised bed 4 x 6 and now I am wondering if I have room for 2 ambrosias. What do you think?

I'd try it and see if you can't train the vines to stay where you want them. The main thing is to not step on the runners and vines. You can have them going back and forth over one another, shouldn't hurt much I wouldn't think. My growing experience is mainly where we had a huge field and could really spread them out and didn't have to worry about space at all. (those were the days!) I'm going to go vertical except with that one giant Ginger's pride. I'm going to put it in the back and see if it'll grow back there. It'll probably take up way more space than I want, but I'm just going to see if I can't train it a bit. I have NO space here at all to speak of to grow on. Now I wish I'd have got a house with a much bigger yard area.

I wonder if you couldn't let it sprawl and then trellis part of the melon plant if it gets too invasive? Hmmm. I might try that if mine gets too out of control.

Thank you. I gathered that the root system was so extensive that I might have trouble trying to raise one in a container. Hmmm but that can't be right. Tplant and other have grown melons in the EBs and the EB comp[any even recommends 4 melons to a box. Thoughts?

This message was edited Mar 14, 2009 8:13 PM

Devota: I am hoping for an answer to that question too, as I just planted my watermelon (charleston Jrs), ambrosia melons and cantaloupes today into seed starting kits and wanted to grow all in EBs and HEBs.
joy

Thanks Pugzley!

My contingency plan is to sow the seeds in my small bed and let the vines sprawl out on the grass next to it. There's sunshine there.

You're welcome Gymgirl.

Devota, I grew in pots, what I noticed happening was my roots were showing on the top of the potting mix in the pot. But I mulched them and they did all right. I thought it was a lot of work to only get one melon off the plants, but like I said in another post above, it might have very well been a pollination problem over here. I had trouble with zucchini producing too, if you can imagine.

When I yanked the plants at the end of the season, the roots were growing all through the pot, but I don't remember them getting rootbound and whatever was going on in there didn't stop vine growth on them. The pots were about 4 gallon in size that I used, this year I am using 5 gallon growbags and going to let them climb because the melons are very small on the plants I'm using this year.

They were trying to make more babies than just the ones I ended up harvesting, but the news ones that kept trying to form aborted just like my zucchini did and when I asked on here about the zucchini, many seemed to think it was a pollination issue. Come to think of it, I had the same problem with my Kabocha squash, too, I only got 3 off 2 plants, they were in the ground and growing trellised. Guess I'll be out there hand pollinating a lot this year.

Ok my ambrosia melon plants are doing well, so are my charleston jr water melon plants, my okras and my bush beans and lima beans and snow peas. So here is the question, since they are up under the lights waiting for this answer, when do I plant them in the EBs and HEBs? They are all now about 3 inches tall.
joy