In article , Sue da Nimm
.? writes
I'm into my third year growing melons.
1st year I grew three plants and produced one tasteless melon.Hardly a great
success (
2nd year just one plant produced two small melons (cricket ball sized) with
the most exquisite flavour. Hurrah!
This year I have grown four plants and followed the cultivation notes to the
letter. I have grown them as twin cordons and done the necessary
hand-fertilisation, pinching out two leaves past each fertilised female
flower. As soon as the fruits started to swell I have started daily feeding.
I now have a pair of fruits on each of the four plants, currently the
largest being the size of a CD in circumference. But the remaining
fertilised fruits on all four plants have stopped growing at "marble" size.

This is a huge improvemnt on the first two years, but the cultivation notes
say I should be able to get between 4 and 6 melons per plant. Has anyone any
idea what I need to do to keep the remaining fruits viable, or is it the
norm for the plant to support just two?


The cultivation notes are a bit misleading. It is theoretically feasible
to crop 4-6 melons per plant, but the norm in UK is more like 2-3. When
we have two good fruits progressing on any plant in our unheated
greenhouse, we disbud any others until one or both of the earlier ones
have been picked. If the first ones begin early and it is a good summer,
we may get one or two more on the plant. It is more to do with average
daytime temperatures than how much feeding and watering is done. Earlier
fruits can be removed a little before full ripeness and allowed to
finish indoors in order to give later ones a better chance.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.