@z0r … Great idea! How big of a pot/planter do you use? And what do you fill it with? Also, where are you obtaining your seeds? Love the name "Collective Farm Woman"
@ampersand… one contributing factor is the change to large acreages of a single crop. Mono-cropping is a pest paradise! There is much to learn from the old ways of interplanting crops, border plantings and hedgerows. The beneficial insects, pollinators and birds need a diverse support system.
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Got a change of topic, still related to melons.I’ve got a friend who has cantaloupe vines wilting during the day, but perking up at night. His squash has it too. There is no streaking in the veins (so it’s not verticillium or fusarium). There is no foliage damage beyond what daily wilting will cause (not a virus). I cut open one of the squash plants, no discoloration or vine borer larvae. The plants look perfectly healthy except that some of them do a full wilt during the day. Looking at the roots, there are no nodules that would signify rootnot nematode. The roots are smooth. Only odd thing about them is that one would think there should be more roots for the amount of foliage the plant has. Not really any fiberous roots. Any ideas on what this could be?
Another vote for Hannah’s Choice. Sugar Baby was delicious and even more productive for us. We are growing both again this year (string trained).
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Pam Dawling says in her book that yellow sticky cards baited with clove essential oil attract cucumber beetles. Have yet to try it, but sounds worth trying.
My best ever cantaloupe growing experience was with Sugar Cube. Just puts out tons of little sweet cantaloupes. Other than that I am trialing some small excellent watermelons I acquired seed for in South India (Kerala). They are the tiniest watermelon seeds I have ever seen. Grew they last year and they did pretty well, and saved seed.
Other than that I have begun live trapping racoons, as they are prevalent around here and always end up in the melon rows. Nothing works better to trap them than fresh watermelon or cantaloupe rinds as bait.
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Peanut butter works well for most critters, too.
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I have a Collective Farm Woman Melon vine going and it is setting fruit. Hopefully they can ripen before the bugs and diseases that seem to take out my melon vines early get them.
These are similar to a honey dew, but are distinct from most other cultivars I think. It is a Ukranian heirloom type. So I’m not really sure how to know when they are ripe. The largest one is a little bigger than a soft ball and is starting to get a little yellow/golden on the blossom end. Any suggestions on how to judge ripeness on these?
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I did not have good luck with Blacktail Mountain in term of productivity so I stopped growing them.
Crimson Sweet, though common, is very productive and reliable for us. Second to it is Charleston Gray. I am trying Georgia Rattlesnake this year again. Last year, it did not set fruit in time. Its second and last chance.
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we grew these, you knock on em to listen for a little hollow sound, and they’ll have a pale spot that gets more yellow by the ground.
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This is what I picked today. I have 24 melon plants. But this year I just leave it to nature, I did nothing.
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Harvested the first two Strawberry watermelons today (7/27). A bit on the smaller side—10 lbs. or so—but there are some larger ones waiting! Probably won’t beat my 42-pound record with these this year—but a feller can dream, can’t he?
Strawberry’s the only melon I’ve got this year. We’ve grown a lot of different melons over the years, and Strawberry has been the only one that’s shown itself consistently worth growing from season to season. So I’m just going to start saving seed from these.
Also an update on amaranth as a trap crop for cuke beetles: I’ve got a row of “Hot Biscuits” amaranth right next to my cukes, and not far from the watermelons. I’ve observed a few stray spotted cucumber beetles on these plants—but no more of them than I’ve observed on other non-cucurbitaceous plants that these more dietarily adventurous diabroticids sometimes land/nibble on. But not a single striped cucumber beetle have I seen on the amaranth—despite the fact that they are present this year. I have, however, seen plenty of similarly striped pigweed flea beetles on the amaranth—which again makes me suspect that this is a case of mistaken identity, and that amaranth is of little to no value as a cuke beetle trap crop.
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Thanks. I followed your advise and let it get a lot more yellow as well based on the few photos I could find online of these Collective Farm Woman melons. Not huge and I think the variety could definitely produce bigger melons with the right conditions, but when it was sitting out on the counter after picking yesterday you could smell the perfumy sweetness when you walked by. I cut it open today and it was delicious. Sort of honeydew, but almost a bit of cantaloupe in there as well and very nice sweetness. I’ll definitely be growing these again. I have a few more out on the vine so hopefully they’ll ripen. I have a really hard time with disease and bugs taking out my melon vines before they produce a lot, but for the occasional taste like this one it is worth making space.
I was very happy to see a lot of nice plump seeds so I could save some for myself and to share with others.
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When I lived near you (Takoma Park, MD), the melon that did best for me was Charentais, since it produced huge vines with tons of (small) fruit per vine, so that helped offset losses due to squash beetles (the main pest I had). The biggest problem was raccoons and rats getting them before I could because they get so fragrant.
I’m sad to report that here in Seattle, even my greenhouse melons are just now starting to flower, so I doubt I’ll get much fruit this year unless we have an unusually warm fall to let them ripen.
The wet/cold spring also meant lots of slug pressure on seedlings, so only one of my outdoor watermelon vines survived. It is also just starting to flower now, so that seems beyond hope to ripen.
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Charentais melons are very fragrant, in my garden it’s the pill bugs that damage them, not rats.
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Thanks, I’ll have to give those a try. I also have seeds for one called Minnesota Midget, which is small and quick to mature so may be a good one to try here as well.
I do think part of my problem is I jam too many things together so they get shaded and have competition from other plants. I should really give them more room and make sure to get them more water and fertility and see if that helps. I’m growing my melons in front of a row of tomatoes that I’m growing up a trellis as single stem plants and then also have some Amorphophallus growing in the same bed, so it is crowded.
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I have that problem too. I have 24-26 melon plants.
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That’s what I’m growing in my greenhouse here. Did real well last year, but was almost ripening by this time last year. No fruit set at all yet this year.
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I’m growing this melon this year. Before I left for my vacation, I saw one turning lighter color. Not sure it will be there when I’m back.
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I’m growing Uzbek melons. I scored some seeds in the local FB group. So far, they don’t look like anything special. I will report later once they are ripe.
What kind of cantaloupe is that? I’ve got a variety that looks very similar that I’ve been trying to identify. It doesn’t have as much a scooped out end though.