Melon 'Hale's Best Jumbo'

Planted a vine June 5th, in a bucketfull of 100% garden compost with a handful of organic all purpose fertilizer.
The vine must be...Read More well watered as the fruit set and grow, but stop watering as soon as they reach full size.

I had 6 melons, 5 of them around 4lb (1.8 Kg), the other 2lb.
The vine spread is about 8 ft.
I harvested my first one August 22.

I found that for best result, you have to wait until all the ribs turn from green to yellow all the way; remove the melon and let it sit in the kitchen for 2 days to soften it up, otherwise it will be crunchy.

The melon had tendency to crack at the blossom end, so don't water it when the fruit is ripening (only water lightly if the whole vine is wilting).

If the melon cracks, pick it before bugs start to infest it, and let it sit a bit longer in the kitchen (4 days or so)

I did not spray anything on the vine, I found cucumber beetles, but they did not do significant damages.

The vine did not show any sign of diseases despite the fact that the sprinkler system was getting some area of the vine wet every night, so it's a good melon vine for hot and humid area.

The flavor and texture was good but not outstanding.