I don’t spray my melons, and ants are a normal occurrence and won’t
harm anything. In fact, they help with pollination. If your leaves are acting
as you describe, your plants probably need watering.
1 Like
I need some expert melon advice. Can I still plant 75 - 85 day melons in SW Missouri and expect to harvest anything or should I just wait for next year? Is it worth a shot or is it a waste of time. Thanks
1 Like
You can probably still harvest something worth eating esp a short season cantaloupe. For watermelons I think it would be a waste of time. The short season watermelons are generally subpar compared to what you could buy in a store. The long season watermelons will suffer in quality due to cooler weather.
Frankly I’d buy this yr and plan for next yr.
Great - thanks. I’ll just save them for next year.
Do you favor your melons over your stonefruit?
I’ve yet to even buy a melon this year! I’m slacking bad. I should probably pick one up. Around here it seems Aldis has the best melons (size/price). Some of them at the other grocery stores are just tiny.
1 Like
No I don’t but they are something different. And sometimes different is good. Watermelon is a way to stay hydrated. This time of yr it seems like I have a hard time getting enough fluids even thou I drink a lot of water.
3 Likes
My melons seem to want to grow up as much as out. No more nitrogen for a few weeks at least.
I may have left too many plants in each hill. There are 9 hills in that patch with about 3 plants ave per hill. In the middle the vines are 2-3 layers deep with lots of new fruit forming.
11 Likes
Two plants per hill is usually the norm. On average each plant needs
about 24 sq. ft.of room. But you need a good canopy to protect the
melons from sunburn, so more is better. When the melons grow above the canopy, some varieties need sunburn protection. I often place a hand towel on top of each melon, which makes the patch look like a checker board. lol
4 Likes
Each hill has about 50 sq ft. Two per hill might have been better but probably no real difference. The early watermelon got a bit of sunburn. The ones out there now won’t.
Those look great. What will you do with them all?
I’ve got 10 plants going, and I have about 7 melons growing right now. I can’t believe how much the melons size up from one day to the next.
I have this idea that I would like to get enough melons at once that I could host a neighborhood watermelon party. The kids would love it!
2 Likes
Can you define exactly what a hill is? I have heard the term a million times in regards to melon growing but don’t exactly know the meaning. Thank you! I have a few plants at home with upward turning shoots but I’m afraid that may because of not quite enough sun.
Drew
1 Like
Ray In the Austin area I used to cut up big sections of shade cloth over each melon and weigh it down with rocks or bricks. Worked for sun burn and also prevented the raccoons from getting them! They would scratch the rinds sometime but never figured out how to pull of the rocks! Worked really well for me.
Drew
1 Like
Do you ever graft your melons?
1 Like
Sometimes it’s an actual hill of soil or compost with the seeds planted on top. But it also can mean a spot where several seeds are planted. I plant 6 on flat ground leaving 2-4 and call that a hill of melons. It’s just another planting arrangement different from rows. Melons are sometimes planted in rows 6-8ft apart with one plant every 3ft or so.
I’ve never seen the need to graft. Mine do fine on their own roots.
1 Like
When do you start the first round of fertilizer?
1 Like
On my soil a moderate dose of nitrogen at plating.
Once I had a raccoon pull a 25 lb melon off the vine and roll it a
distance of about 75 ft. before he gave up, probably exhausted.
The melon was covered in scratch marks, but the rind was too thick
for him to penetrate it. He never came back.
6 Likes
Don’t count on that. Later melons are more prone to sunburn.
1 Like
The cloth didn’t really seem to effect the quality or look of the melons. So much sun in Texas! It did leave mesh marks akin to bed wrinkles on the rind sometime though!
1 Like
