Seeking melon advice

[ireilly]

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.

[dipchip2000]

Kath,

That was my post. I was just giving credit to the quote of information which had been previously(2009) written by Brokenbar.
I used an old 24ft round swimming pool cover that was worn out and threadbare and therefore let rain seep through it. I cut three planting holes in the cover and dug the holes with a posthole digger 3ft deep. I filled the holes with sand, peatmoss,and compost and formed a hill at the surface where I planted three plants per hill.I eventually removed the weaker of the three plants and left two plants per hill. Any vines growing off the tarp were mowed off with lawnmower. I watered once a week in the hill/hole area and thats all. I did prune off down to only three melons per runner. I really did not do much labor after planting except weekly watering.
Melons were sweet and very good. There were no pest or disease and the produced till October. I dont know what I did right or wrong but hope I can repeat this year. Just my experience of one year and I definitely am no expert.

ron

[Barbee]

It's GOT to be with that watermelon! Without a doubt the biggest I've ever seen! Did you enter it in a competition? Did you win?

Actually, I did not win with that melon. I came in 4th place at the competition. The winner was 213 lbs But 168 lbs is a respectable melon for a first year grower so I was happy!

This was my first year with success growing watermelons. Our summer was HOT and DRY. From what I noticed during the growing season, the hotter and drier it is, the happier the plant was. Nothing scientific to back that up, just a gardener watching a plant grow and reading leaves. I suspect if we had a cool wet summer, I would not have been able to have the same success.

[kath]

Yeah, you helped a lot, Walter! Thanks very much for the links, too. So much to learn for each veggie and fruit that you grow. Think I can rightly be accused of ignoring my melons and just hoping for the best! As with lots of things, conflicting advice from different authorities is to be expected, I guess, and the variables of soil and what the weather brings in any given year keep it interesting, if unpredictable.

Last year the watermelons got full sun until about 4 pm. With a fenced garden a must here, I built a 'corral' last year to keep the watermelons in bounds and there was quite a bit of 'looping'-maybe I'd have been better off pruning off ends and little fruits. Also, the edges of the corral were made of black woven material ~ 30" high that cast some shade as well...not the best. We had incredible heat and sun though last year.

The results of the studies in the links were very surprising-makes me rethink what I'll try in terms of spacing, for sure. Crimson Sweet has a big advantage with the naturally shorter vine, that's for sure.

Really appreciate sharing your experience and researching for me- wishing you bountifully consistent results in your watermelon patch this year!

Kath

[Mark0820]

Originally Posted by kath

Mark, I won't be able to go the Sevin/HD fungicide route. Might as well buy them at the local farmer's markets and save the room in my garden for something else. But I could try some more natural approaches and try to be diligent. kath

I see. And is that why you used Oxyclean to save tomato seeds? I didn't realize Oxyclean was a natural product.

[kath]

Ron,
Thanks for all the info from your own experience and that of Brokenbar. The method worked for both of you and gives me a good idea of something to try this year. DH has been urging me to enlarge the fenced garden again (?!) and although I have been reluctant to agree (?!), I'm reconsidering, as it will give me a lot more room to 'play' and conduct fruit and veggie experiments.

Don't have an old pool cover, but could get black landscape material or something similar that is porous and it should work the same way. Only having to provide the post hole's size of 'good stuff' should help minimize what would need to be done with the new garden space this season...a big plus, as I was out in the garden from sunup 'til sundown & beyond in the 'old-sized' garden. I was almost going to post an additional question about "hill" planting (and how many plants to leave in each) vs. single plant/ hole, but you've answered that question, and it's a good variable for the 'great melon experiment of 2011'!

I'm becoming more hopeful about melons again-thanks.

kath

[kath]

Barbee,

Yeah, I'd say 4th place for your 1st year growing is more than respectable. Knowing how big pumpkins can get, guess I shouldn't be so surprised by watermelons that size-but I am. Thanks for posting your photo-and you look WAY better than I do after a day in the garden! Wish you luck if you are going to try again.

kath

[kath]

Originally Posted by Mark0820

I see. And is that why you used Oxyclean to save tomato seeds? I didn't realize Oxyclean was a natural product.

I'm not pretending to be a purist, Mark, but just sharing how I feel about the products you mentioned. Last year when I was fearing another late blight wipeout of my tomatoes, I asked questions and read what everyone was saying here both pro and con and decided to get some Daconil from the local Agway. What I found out though, was that once I was home and read the container and thought about spraying it repeatedly on the tomato plants, and eventually the tomatoes that I'd eat, I couldn't do it; so I returned it and went with the approach that Ami and others suggested. To me that's a lot different than using oxiclean to remove the goo from my tomato seeds....jmo.

[Idahowoman]

Originally Posted by kath

What's your frost-free window look like? Do you have to plant in plastic tunnels or anything to help them really get off to a fast start? What one(s) are you planning to try this year?

I have from about June 7 to End of Sept. for my frost free window. I am going to start the seeds in my hoophouse that we finished last summer and set them out. I know that watermelons will grow here because there is a farmer down the road about 5 miles away from me that grows melons that weigh 20 lbs or bigger. He uses black plastic and sets out plants .
I am going to try blacktail mountain and early canada. There has been lots of good advice in this thread, thanks for asking the question.

[kath]

Essentially, you only have a couple weeks less than we do, as they don't recommend setting out melons until June here and we can have frost in early Oct. I hope to set plants out on black mulch of some sort, hopefully into soil that's been pre-warmed, and cover with row cover/plastic of some sort to hold heat in/keep cucumber beetles off until flowering.

Glad you saw the information and that it will help you, too. Good luck with your melons.

Kath

Originally Posted by Idahowoman

I have from about June 7 to End of Sept. for my frost free window. I am going to start the seeds in my hoophouse that we finished last summer and set them out. I know that watermelons will grow here because there is a farmer down the road about 5 miles away from me that grows melons that weigh 20 lbs or bigger. He uses black plastic and sets out plants .
I am going to try blacktail mountain and early canada. There has been lots of good advice in this thread, thanks for asking the question.

[Full Moon]

"The best and sweetest melons ripen when the weather is hot and dry. In areas with humid summers, you can give melons a boost by planting them in soil that is very well drained and with ample space for good air circulation around the entire vine.

Occasionally a homegrown melon may not taste as sweet as expected. This may be due to an abundance of rain the three weeks prior to harvest. Melons need sufficient moisture while growing and fruiting, but prior to harvest, the best, sweetest flavor will occur if the plant is grown on the "dry" side. Cut back on watering the plant when you approach harvest, about 3 weeks prior to the main crop harvest."

Kath, from what you've describe on your growing methods these two factors could explain your taste issue.

[kath]

Originally Posted by Full Moon

"The best and sweetest melons ripen when the weather is hot and dry. In areas with humid summers, you can give melons a boost by planting them in soil that is very well drained and with ample space for good air circulation around the entire vine.

Occasionally a homegrown melon may not taste as sweet as expected. This may be due to an abundance of rain the three weeks prior to harvest. Melons need sufficient moisture while growing and fruiting, but prior to harvest, the best, sweetest flavor will occur if the plant is grown on the "dry" side. Cut back on watering the plant when you approach harvest, about 3 weeks prior to the main crop harvest."

Kath, from what you've describe on your growing methods these two factors could explain your taste issue.

Thanks for the quote, Full Moon, hopefully it will be that simple. Maybe the cold winter will help kill off lots of potential insect problems next year, too, and give the leaves and fruits a better chance at longer life and increased sugar.

[vagardener434]

I have always planted Jubilee. My best year was '07 when I had several 50lb +, with the largest being 62lb. Last year, I decided to do Sugar Babies as well. Things were going very well, then disaster hit, in the form of masked bandits. I had just picked a few SB's, and the next day I noticed something had started tearing things up. I couldn't find any tracks, thinking it was deer. The next day, more damage, and I saw the claw prints near one of the holes. They would eat a hole in the side, and scoop it out like ice cream. Those critters had found a Baskin Robbins that was serving watermelon flavored ice cream!

I saw a whole family cross the path one evening, and I went to war. I shot one out of a tree, and trapped 5 others. During the process, I picked the rest of the SB's and put them in a wheel barrow, and parked it under the porch. Well, they proceeded to demolish the Jubilees in one night. They weren't quite ripe, but it didn't seem to matter. I plowed up both rows, and then they had the gall to come up and get those in the wheel barrow. I finally got them taken care of though. The old sow coon was the last one to get caught. She was pretty smart. And what did I use for bait? ..watermelon of course. Here's a pic of twins that I caught one night....

[kath]

Awww...don't they just look so CUTE! If we didn't have a fence, we wouldn't harvest a single thing...so the raccoons have yet to make it inside to the corn, or watermelon, or whatever else they'd help themselves to. In the spring, we have baby bunnies inside until they're too big to fit through the mesh in the fence...I keep hoping when the time comes that they're too big to fit, they're on the OUTSIDE of the fence! We're in the middle of a woods, near water, and have a LOT of critter neighbors.

[vagardener434]

CUTE ?????? That is definitely twisted evil. I've got a fence charger and a big roll of wire. I'm gonna try to run a few strands around the gardens that have corn and melons. They don't seem to bother anything else. We have several cats around here, so things could get a bit electrifying..lol. Now thats .

Bobby