Any advice on growing cantaloupe?
 

I have never liked cantaloupe. Its actually rather disgusting to me. However, as a favor to my wife, I decided to grow her some. I got a Burpee hybrid plant at the local nursery, and it seems to be taking off quite splendidly.

Any advice on watering, fertilizing, harvesting, etc.? I have heard that when the stem begins to dry that the fruit is ripening, and that boards can be placed under the fruits to prevent rotting. That is really the extent of my knowledge.

The fruit SHOULD pull away from the stem or be very easy to remove from the stem once it's ripe. Honeydew and other melons are cut from the vine. Canteloupe should "slip" from the vine (sometimes called full slip) when it's ready. Of course you'll know it's ripe because when you get about 10 feet away from it, you'll smell it. Then you'll see that warm yellow-orange orb peaking out from the foliage.

[img]http://www.feldoncentral.com/garden/photos/d/362-2/CIMG1121-muskmelon7.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.feldoncentral.com/garden/photos/d/364-2/CIMG1122-muskmelon8.jpg[/img]

Ideally, you should withdraw watering (and stop any rain if you have any outstanding favors with the Big Guy) for the last week before ripening to increase sweetness. Suffice it to say it's tough to figure out when a fruit has reached its mature size and is now focusing its energy on ripening, so it takes practice to get perfect melons and rain can derail that attempt.

I would provide some good mulch under the plant and using boards or upside down bowls or other methods to keep the fruit off the ground is sage advice. Some people grow cantaloupes up a trellis and use nylons (pantyhose) to support the fruit.

Thanks, feldon30. That sounds like excellent advice. Is it just the picture, or are those some pretty massive cantaloupes? I don't believe I've ever seen any that big.

They were about average size.

Pretty fruit Feldon. How did they taste and which variety did you grow?
Carol

It had rained for 3 days straight before they ripened and I cut them from the vine (not knowing about the concept of "full slip") and so they were kind of watery and not that sweet. But hey, I got to pick something before the plants died of fungus.

If I ever get serious about growing melons, I will build a clear plastic shell over the bed and hinge it somehow so if 2-5 days of torrential rain are expected, I can protect the plants from it.

Here are a few more questions. How many of the blossoms will produce cantaloupes on average? Is there a way to increase the productivity by thumping the flowers like tomatoes? (I've already tried it just in case it works.)

My cantaloupe vine (singular) is really taking off. Its putting on multiple blossoms, and is starting to branch off a bit. Even though I don't like cantaloupe, I'm getting pretty excited. I'm going to blast it with some of my banana peel puree in a day or so, maybe with a side dressing of composted chicken manure. It seems to respond well to the nutrients.

Thumping won't work on melon blossoms because the male and female blossoms are totally different flowers. In tomatoes, the male and female parts are in [I]one[/I] flower, but not so with the melons. Sorry. ;) Do you have a lot of bees in your garden? Attracting some bees would be your best bet for lots of pollination. They like salvia and many flowering herbs. If you can plant some basil or flowers around the area it would help.

When bees are in short supply (like here in central Houston), I have picked the male flowers, removed the petals, and ran the pollen around the inside of the female flowers.
I have also used a clean artist paint brush ( solely one brush per plant type) to pollenate the melons.
I find the better is the paintbrush.
It has also been my experiance that if I plant winter squash near my cantelope or watermelons, the cross pollenation causes the melons to be somewhat more bitter. (If they do not yellow and fall off first.) I will never do that again.
Hope it helps.

Thanks, guys. I have plenty of bees around because of the wild flowers, so I should be good. Generally, how long does it take for fruits to form after the first blossoms appear.

If the female flowers are pollinated, then they'll noticeably start growing pretty quickly. If it hasn't been fertilized with the pollen, then it yellows and falls off the plant.

Pollinated fruit continues to grow for a couple of weeks or so, depending on the kind of melon you're growing. Then it seems like nothing's going on for a while. They begin to develop corking if they're a netted melon. Then it seems like nothing's going on for a while. Then suddenly one day you go out and, if it's a full-slip type melon, they come right off the vine with next to no effort at all.

I think it took about a month, maybe a little more, for my Minnesota Midget melons, from fruit set to full slip.

Thanks a lot, dude.

Well, I went out and checked my vine. And although I've had blossoms for a few weeks now, there are no discernable fruits. I know there are lots of wild bees, ants, and butterflies in the area, and I had assumed they would have done some pollination by now.

Am I expecting too much? Should I be concerned? Should I manually pollinate them? If so, I need someone to walk me through the process.

I would say go ahead and manually pollinate a few just to be sure you get fruits.

You can pluck a male flower, with as much stem as possible, peel off all the petals and then, using the stem as a handle, rub the [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamen"]stamens[/URL] onto the [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistil"]stigma[/URL] of the female flower. The gals will have a small bulbous part behind the petals that looks like a miniature melon, except probably fuzzy.

Or, if you have a very small, pointed brush (ask your wife if she has an eyeliner brush) you can brush out some of the pollen from the male flower and onto the female flowers. Scoop way down between the stamen and the petals to find any stray pollen.

I like to use a couple of male flowers per female just to make sure I get enough pollen on there, and I do this at sun up. Try to leave a couple of male flowers on the plant for bees, just in case.

Good luck!

Thanks, homie. I'll give it a try, although my biggest issue will be identifying the parts correctly.