Four days of rain…I think my watermelons have drowned. 
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Some of my watermelon seedlings just fell over. 
I’ll have to sow some when it heats up. The seedling mix was just too wet I think.
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Jubilee , Sangria and Sugar Baby ( Watermelons )
Honey Rock, Crenshaw , Ambrosia ( Melons )
and some Cucumbers all started on 04-22-23 .
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I dragged my feet a little on getting these sown, but a week in I’m seeing good germination. Blacktail Mt. from 2018, 100%. Cream of Saskatchewan from 2015, a little slow out of the gates, but popping up with perhaps reduced viability. Leelanau Sweetglo, Petit Gris de Renne and Model muskmelons to boot. Delicata in one 6 pack too.
I’m fairly impressed with these dimmable LED grow lights. Im finding I’m able to size things up a lot quicker and with minimal legginess. Our tomatoes, sown around March 15, for example are set out in the high tunnel. Most are about 12 inches tall and flowering. Always an issue in years past, has been the transition from indoors to out. It’s a double whammy usually, because the sunlight fluctuates from overcast to scorching at a moments notice, and we tend to get a fair bit of wind up here in spring, so leggy unhardened starts have a rough time. It’s not like we can be here to babysit them all day, either. These are bright enough that it reduces that to a minimum. They’re ostensibly 1000 w equivalent. Solanaceous stuff did amazing under them. Brassicas for whatever reason don’t like them. Perhaps it’s a spectrum issue. They kind of just sit there for the most part, seem most happy at the lowest setting of 20%. If you turn up the brightness, they burn easily. I’m thinking they’ll treat the melons OK
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built a melon patch in the hottest dry part of the lot.
wet cardboard, landscape fabric on top of that, then straw. mounding promix and soil conditioner for the rows and I’ll cut through to put the starts in
already put two testers out, will see how they go. wish I could sow direct into this without losing root volume.
early moon glow and a Minnesota midget in there right now. it’ll be 45F tonight so they have covers on em. the potato bags are just there to keep the big dog out of the patch until it settles
I pollinated three Star Brite fruits today two months after planting. Nights are still about 50 but days near 90. The plants look good. The first fruit I pollinate usually don’t set. Well really only about 10-20% ever set.
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Looking good. It’s tough starting inside and moving outside. That’s why I do it all in ground in place. I end up with nicer plants. We get a lot of sun. That’s what allows me to start melons outside so early. It wasn’t easy. The plants were covered in 5 inches of snow a week after emergence, just 6-7 weeks ago. Protected of course.
To be honest your plants look leggy. The first leaves should be just above ground level. Those will be difficult to establish outside. They’re always difficult.
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I’m starting to realize this as well. A lot of the plants I start inside get attacked my aphids or some other pest and then get leggy. I also forget to water them and then don’t pot up. I think it might be just easier to direct sow. Only downside has been lower germination rates and sometimes animals eat the seedling which they do not bother when bigger
You can stick some type of cage or dome over/around the seedlings. Leggy usually means either not intense enough light or the temperature is too high (usually with cooler weather crops.
I thought so also to some extent, though that is the height they grew to in 2 days before the seed coat popped off of the cotelydons. These being vines, I’d think the overall length would be somewhat less important than on things meant to grow upright. Probably the girth at the crown would matter more, no? We started some birdhouse gourds, cucumbers, and Korean avocado squash some weeks back and the true leaves formed right at the cotelydons. They’ve sized up well, so hopefully the melons follow suit.
They can be fine that way. I’d just try to up the light level. Both to improve growth and to make the transition to full sun easier/shorter.
Curcurbits need at least a week to harden off before going in direct sun. I use a trick that is very effective. I break limbs off of deciduous trees and stick 2 or 3 beside each hill so they shade the plants from direct sun. By the time the leaves wilt, the plant can handle direct sun.
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Using my method, a mini greenhouse by day and insulation at night, I’ve gotten cantaloupe up in 3 days, watermelons in 4, and seedless watermelons in 5 days. That’s outside in March with average lows in mid 30s. With bare ground it would take at least twice as long, now. And seedless probably not at all. I’ve got cantaloupe planted under black plastic now and they aren’t up in a week.
To me that’s better than starting them inside and hoping they don’t fry when taken outside.
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Oh man. I went outside to check on my seedlings, and I noticed a seedling’s stem was transparent. I pulled it out and there were two larvae inside it. I’m not sure what kind of insect laid them, but I’ve never seen them before. Some seedlings have fallen over; others are taking too long (I bought them from Victory Seeds last year), and they sprout crooked or the cotyledons can’t release themselves from the seed. Hoping this isn’t a bad year.
The larva remains:
Here are some seedlings. I have them outside. I have planted more in the empty ones.
These were my starts this year (pre-drowning of all but the Armenian). Crimson Sweet, Armenian cuc, Lemon cuc, and unrelated nasturtium.
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My 3+ year old “torpedo” Uzbek melon seeds have sprouted! Huzzah
Assuming the plants do well in my humid climate, I’ll be saving seeds from the harvest and will gladly share with anyone interested.
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Planted one of my Small Jadu’i seedlings in the ground in my greenhouse today, the rest will go in the ground outside this week I think, based on the 10 day forecast.
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I went to a Japanese grocery store to stock up on needed items, and I found a seed section. I picked up these seeds along with a cucumber variety. Has anyone heard, planted or tasted one of these? From left to right: Ki Kodama Suika (I’m assuming the name means yellow fleshed Kodama watermelon), Ōgon (Golden Sweet) and New melon. Information from the seed packet and Google translate.
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The watermelon is just labeled as a generic yellow small mellon variety. Just says it’s sweet and easy to grow. No indicator of name or type.
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