In fact, this year I am trying Little Leaf H-19 and also Sumter for Cukes. Also, mouse melons and Jamaican Burr gherkins. I am hoping that at least one of these will not die prematurely!
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I never had any issues with mouse melons (cucamelon) and they reseeded pretty well also. They are a lot of fun to grow.
I’ve tried Little Leaf, County Fair and Diva - all of which are supposed to do better since they don’t have the bitterness that the cucumber beetles like, but they all went down just the same before I got much production. Hopefully you will do better. My best year with cukes was actually when I had tons of pig weed growing around my plot and my neighbor was growing 2 kinds of amaranth (pig weed is an amaranth I believe) and they liked those more than my cukes so it bought the plants some time.
Of course bitter melon are plenty bitter, but cucumber beetles have no interest in them and they are pretty much completely pest and disease free. It is nice when something seems easy.
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Nice growth on your bitter melon @jcguarneri considering you are way north of me. I can’t see the top of your trellis, but be prepared for some long vines. My trellis is 8 feet tall and they’re almost to the top already and I have another 4 or so months for them to grow.
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That could be why they worked for me. This was a community garden setting, so maybe the beetles were preferentially hitting everything else first, then came for H-19 as the last cukes standing.
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if the seeds are fresh, they’re not difficult to germinate
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Are “fresh” seeds the seeds collected from last year fruit? Some of my seeds are 2-3 years old.
@jcguarneri said his plant is from a 2 year old seed.
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Yeah, you set me those 2 years ago. I did remove the outer seed coat with nail clippers. It’s amazing how completely it comes off.
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I plan to let them wander side to side as needed. I’ve been known to grow vines to the top of a trellis, back down and then up again.
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Fortunately, I left the beetles plenty of pig weed 
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The smooth variety I’m growing from a packet I got at the Asian market sure are productive. I’m probably picking 1-2 melons a day from the 3 vines. I planted.
There are a few more of the Ganjyu (bumpy Japanese variety) that should be ready soon, but no sign of the white ones I planted producing any female flowers yet even though it has hit the top of a 7 foot tall trellis. Interestingly the white bitter melon also has a much lighter stem and slightly lighter leaves than the others.
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I have two at that stage right now. one or two flowers just starting as buds.
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I’m getting 2-3 Ganjyu a week now. This has been my favorite variety - very crisp and juicy and a larger size than most of the bumpy types. I could have let them size up another day or two, but I was hungry.
I need to remember to bag some blossoms since I’m out of seed.
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I got my first of the white ones today. It was sort of short, but maybe that is just because the vine was smaller when it formed. I look forward to tasting it as an afternoon snack.
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Starting to get quite a few “Big Top” bitter melons. This is my first year growing this variety and frankly it is a little challenging to know how big they are supposed to get because of their unique round shape.
They are more along the lines o
f a standard green bitter melon in terms of bitterness as opposed to the Jyunpaku I grew last year.
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Well, I think I am a month (or more) behind you.
I know some fruit have set. I must have nit checked them as often as I should.
My first one is large but too ripe!!!
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I picked a few. I planted two plants using seeds I collected from last year. I don’t know what they are. Turned out they are not the same. They are not pure white but not very green, either. The color is half way between.
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You are ahead of mine. I did not see any female flowers, tons of male flowers, until yesterday. I suddenly saw an inch and half long little bitter melon on the vine. I must have missed it.
I used new seeds this year. It said high productivity, high diseases resistance, and high quality fruits, but it is not early ripe.
Next year, I will look for early ripe cultivar. Mine looks like this in picture
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