Seeking melon advice

ireilly · January 12, 2011

Kath, I'm hardly an expert, but I have the advantage of a longer and hotter growing season here. If you look in the "Selection and Storage" section in this article it says a few things about growing them further north.

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/watermelon.cfm

Mainly, in my opinion, besides varietal Brix rankings, the sweetness comes from heat and sunshine and vine-ripening, so the more light you can give them the better. LIke tomatoes, give N until flowering then more P and K afterward. Many guides say do not skimp on water at all, some people say stop watering at the end. I would suppose the root structure and rainfall plays a part in this too.

And the melon has to be harvested ripe as it will not ripen off the vine to any degree unlike tomatoes. Selection involves - thumping (not 100% reliable), coloration (cream to light yellow on bottom, not white and not yellow), tendril drying up nearest the fruit, dense hardest fruit but not immature (highly smooth), the properly ripe fruit will have lengthwise ridges around the middle that your fingers can feel more than you can see.

I found the Crimson Sweet I grew sweeter than the Jubilee, but mainly better on space in and out of the fridge.

Just noticed you said leaf health was an issue. Since that's what drives carbohydrate production it may be an issue with sweetness. I found that the vines stayed healthier if not allower to turn into a morass of looping vines - more sprawling, if you have room. Otherwise, you may need to prune some to keep things in balance. Pruning is not always desirable though some growers do it routinely. Some do it to keep the late fruit from pulling energy from existing melons.

http://www.lane-ag.org/wm-world/rese...atermelon_.htm

And I had mixed success this season as well, some were better than others. I'm still figuring out where to put everything too, since I don't have a lot of growing area. Hope this helps.

Walter.

January 12, 2011	#17
ireilly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2010 Location: Dallas Posts: 344	Kath, I'm hardly an expert, but I have the advantage of a longer and hotter growing season here. If you look in the "Selection and Storage" section in this article it says a few things about growing them further north. http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/watermelon.cfm Mainly, in my opinion, besides varietal Brix rankings, the sweetness comes from heat and sunshine and vine-ripening, so the more light you can give them the better. LIke tomatoes, give N until flowering then more P and K afterward. Many guides say do not skimp on water at all, some people say stop watering at the end. I would suppose the root structure and rainfall plays a part in this too. And the melon has to be harvested ripe as it will not ripen off the vine to any degree unlike tomatoes. Selection involves - thumping (not 100% reliable), coloration (cream to light yellow on bottom, not white and not yellow), tendril drying up nearest the fruit, dense hardest fruit but not immature (highly smooth), the properly ripe fruit will have lengthwise ridges around the middle that your fingers can feel more than you can see. I found the Crimson Sweet I grew sweeter than the Jubilee, but mainly better on space in and out of the fridge. Just noticed you said leaf health was an issue. Since that's what drives carbohydrate production it may be an issue with sweetness. I found that the vines stayed healthier if not allower to turn into a morass of looping vines - more sprawling, if you have room. Otherwise, you may need to prune some to keep things in balance. Pruning is not always desirable though some growers do it routinely. Some do it to keep the late fruit from pulling energy from existing melons. http://www.lane-ag.org/wm-world/rese...atermelon_.htm And I had mixed success this season as well, some were better than others. I'm still figuring out where to put everything too, since I don't have a lot of growing area. Hope this helps. Walter.