How do you grow Water Melons and Cantaloupes?

Laura

"Laura" wrote in message
. ..
How do you grow Water Melons and Cantaloupes?

Laura


Lot of sun and water

"Laura" wrote in message
. ..
How do you grow Water Melons and Cantaloupes?

Laura


Plenty of space (they roam), good soil, full sun, long warm summer and
appropriate water. Maybe start with a gardening book or a general gardening
webpage? Here is one

http://www.thevegetablepatch.com/



David

"Butzmark" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 19:03:38 GMT, lid (Laura) wrote:

How do you grow Water Melons and Cantaloupes?

Laura

I never had any success with them untill I started to spray them
occasionally. An organic like "eight" works fine. I never sprayed
anything before. Now I use it on melons and cabbages.


Spray for what purpose? And, where do you live?

I have the same sort of question -- I have plenty of water and space -- but
am short on growing season, living in northern Montana -- zone 3. I started
watermelon and cantaloupe under the grow lights -- so they are off and
growing early. I read somewhere that if I plant them in black plastic, the
ground will stay warmer and I might actually get fruit -- anybody had any
experience with this method?

Lisa


"Laura" wrote in message
. ..
How do you grow Water Melons and Cantaloupes?

Laura

"Lisa Hurley" wrote in message
...
I have the same sort of question -- I have plenty of water and space -- but
am short on growing season, living in northern Montana -- zone 3. I
started
watermelon and cantaloupe under the grow lights -- so they are off and
growing early. I read somewhere that if I plant them in black plastic,
the
ground will stay warmer and I might actually get fruit -- anybody had any
experience with this method?

Lisa

Clear plastic works better. And, you'll be successful (at least with
cantaloupes) if you choose a short season variety. Finally, there's no room
for interference in short season areas. My melon plants were seriously
damaged by deer last summer - they ate almost half the leaves, so I ended up
with just 3 melons from 2 plants. The rest matured too slowly, probably due
to lack of leaf area, and by the time they were about half size, frost
killed the plants.

It also helps a lot to work some composted manure into the soil. Melons are
very heavy feeders. A handful of 10-10-10 granular fertilizer can't hurt,
about a week after setting the plants out in the garden.

I'm trying watermelon for the first time this year, so I can't offer any
advice based on actual experience. The rules are the same, though.

Start them inside early and get them out after the temp stays above 55 F.
Cold temps stunt their growth and recovering from that can add an extra week
or so to the maturing time. Dont try to get a large melon to make it,
because they probably wont. Sugar Babies might be the size that might make
it there.

Why dont you plant Blueberrys, raspberries, and cranberries? Then when they
are ripe, bring some here to Western Kansas and I will trade you melons for
them?

Dwayne

"Laura" wrote in message
. ..
How do you grow Water Melons and Cantaloupes?

Laura

I'm trying watermelon for the first time this year, so I can't offer any
advice based on actual experience. The rules are the same, though.


Thanks for the tips - good luck with the melons -- snowed here this
morning -- so guess it will be a few more weeks under the grow lights for my
experiments. :-)

Lisa

"Lisa Hurley" wrote in message
...
I have the same sort of question -- I have plenty of water and space -- but
am short on growing season, living in northern Montana -- zone 3. I
started
watermelon and cantaloupe under the grow lights -- so they are off and
growing early. I read somewhere that if I plant them in black plastic,
the
ground will stay warmer and I might actually get fruit -- anybody had any
experience with this method?

Lisa


"Laura" wrote in message
. ..
How do you grow Water Melons and Cantaloupes?

Laura




If you are going to do it properly, for a shorter season You MUST take
earlier varieties with smaller fruits, plant them earlier indoor and when
repotting them outdoor - make them "nests" - mixed manuar with a ground, but
also if the ground is cold we use manuar which didn't finish it's
transformation fully, so it produce some heating bellow, but it must not
have direct contact with the root, 30-50cm in the ground that manuar, then
ground and in it the plant. Also we make small banks of ground covered with
black plastic (wide 1m), what you have mentioned. Also we graft watermelon
on Lagenaria siceraria - vulgaris (latin name), bigger root, better
exploatation of nutrients from the ground, more resistant to droughts,
higher yield, earlier fruits come, and this plant is resistant to fusarium
(Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. niveum).
But maybe elsewhere is better way to grow them, this is only my point of
view.

But maybe elsewhere is better way to grow them, this is only my point of
view.

Thanks for the tips -- we have access to plenty of manure -- well aged and
otherwise -- from the ranch down the road. And I'm not expecting bumper
crops of these melons -- only experimenting for the fun of it -- "it's the
journey, not the destination" and all that jazz. If I get a fruit or
two -- all the better!

Lisa

"Lisa Hurley" wrote in message
...
But maybe elsewhere is better way to grow them, this is only my point of
view.

Thanks for the tips -- we have access to plenty of manure -- well aged and
otherwise -- from the ranch down the road. And I'm not expecting bumper
crops of these melons -- only experimenting for the fun of it -- "it's the
journey, not the destination" and all that jazz. If I get a fruit or
two -- all the better!

Lisa



The people I know in their climat had fruits over 27 kg weight, and pure
sugar, I didn't have those big - little colder at my place, 15- 17 kg the
most.