Dear all,

Once again ths year I am getting quite a few of my tiny melons (Cantaloupe),
turning yellow and 'dying off at a very early stage - when they are about
the size of a de-podded French bean.

I do get some that reach maturity every, but most 'wilt' like this.

I suspected it may be due to irregular or underwatering, but this still
persists.

The plants are 9in pots, in proper growing compost (some have some garden
compost added), and they are out of draughts in a warm, unheated greenhouse.

Any help please.

Many thanks,

Keith

"Keith (Dorset)" wrote in message
...
Dear all,

Once again ths year I am getting quite a few of my tiny melons
(Cantaloupe), turning yellow and 'dying off at a very early stage - when
they are about the size of a de-podded French bean.

Hi Keith:

Let me start by saying I do not know the answer but seeing as no one else
answered I will volunteer a shot in the dark.
It is possible that these are unfertilised. The reason I say this is
because that seems to happen pumpkins which are related.
??

Des


I do get some that reach maturity every, but most 'wilt' like this.

I suspected it may be due to irregular or underwatering, but this still
persists.

The plants are 9in pots, in proper growing compost (some have some garden
compost added), and they are out of draughts in a warm, unheated
greenhouse.

Any help please.

Many thanks,

Keith

On Jun 12, 10:22 am, "Keith \(Dorset\)"
wrote:
Dear all,

Once again ths year I am getting quite a few of my tiny melons (Cantaloupe),
turning yellow and 'dying off at a very early stage - when they are about
the size of a de-podded French bean.

I do get some that reach maturity every, but most 'wilt' like this.

I suspected it may be due to irregular or underwatering, but this still
persists.

The plants are 9in pots, in proper growing compost (some have some garden
compost added), and they are out of draughts in a warm, unheated greenhouse.

Keith, someone one here, I can't remember who was growing melons, it
may have been Sacha but she is otherwise engaged at the minute
otherwise she would have replied.

I think I remember something about using a brush to fertilise the
plants??? Hopefully someone will post soon and advise.

Judith

On 12 Jun, 10:22, "Keith \(Dorset\)"
wrote:
Once again ths year I am getting quite a few of my tiny melons (Cantaloupe),
turning yellow and 'dying off at a very early stage - when they are about
the size of a de-podded French bean.
Any help please.

Alan Gould once wrote this:-

"In UK melons really need some protection to produce any worthwhile
crop.
They would be ok in a conservatory if you have no greenhouse, but try
to
keep the air as warm and draught free as possible - conservatory
doors
and windows tend to be opened when the sun is hot, then forgotten
until
the next morning. :-(

When the plants have their first true pair of leaves, i.e. the ones
which form up after the initial seed leaves, pot them up singly into
8
or 10 inch pots, using good growing compost - organic preferably.
Ensure
that the pots have good drainage. Train them up a stake as they grow
(not necessary outside) and restrict most side stems to one bud.
Allow
about 3 or 4 buds to pollinate, then select one or two of the best
looking young fruits to grow on. You may need to help the plants by
hand
pollination. Restrict each plant to two, or at very most three
fruits.

As the fruits begin to develop, they can become too heavy for their
stems and need some support under them. We use upturned flower pots,
or
a small netting bag will do. The fruits will ripen quite slowly, but
they should not be allowed to over-ripen. Watch for their skins
becoming
a little tacky, and the bottom of the melon becoming slightly soft to
(gentle) finger pressure. At the same time, the melons will give off
an
unmistakable sweet smell - then they are ripe and ready to pick.

During growing, keep the soil moist but not water-logged, melon stems
are prone to rotting if they are kept too wet. We don't feed ours
because they are grown in fresh home-made organic compost, but a
dilute
solution of general fertiliser is often given in ordinary soils.

If you have lots of melons, their flesh is excellent for freezing
enabling yo to offer your guests a dish of delicious home-grown
melons
in midwinter! "

Shazzbat also grew some and you've asked about 'bunny tails' for
pollination once and if you run a search for that article you'll get
the discussion. If you can't find it I'll have a look for you. Good
luck.

ps. my charentais melons have died a while ago but I'm going to have
lots of cucumbers instead )

"Des Higgins" wrote after "Keith (Dorset)" asked

Once again ths year I am getting quite a few of my tiny melons
(Cantaloupe), turning yellow and 'dying off at a very early stage - when
they are about the size of a de-podded French bean.

Let me start by saying I do not know the answer but seeing as no one else
answered I will volunteer a shot in the dark.
It is possible that these are unfertilised. The reason I say this is
because that seems to happen pumpkins which are related.
??
I would also say it's because of lack of fertilization of the flowers,
typical of cucurbits, and especially early in the season. When a female
flower is open then break off a male flower, remove the petals, and transfer
the pollen.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK

In article , Bob Hobden
writes

"Des Higgins" wrote after "Keith (Dorset)" asked

Once again ths year I am getting quite a few of my tiny melons
(Cantaloupe), turning yellow and 'dying off at a very early stage - when
they are about the size of a de-podded French bean.

Let me start by saying I do not know the answer but seeing as no one else
answered I will volunteer a shot in the dark.
It is possible that these are unfertilised. The reason I say this is
because that seems to happen pumpkins which are related.
??
I would also say it's because of lack of fertilization of the flowers,
typical of cucurbits, and especially early in the season. When a female
flower is open then break off a male flower, remove the petals, and transfer
the pollen.

According to some, flowers have feelings too. So when I do this sort of
thing I do my best to include added sound effects of the "buzz, buzz,
buzz" variety, just in case they are right.



--
steve auvache
Sunny Essex

"Keith (Dorset)" wrote in message
Once again ths year I am getting quite a few of my tiny melons
(Cantaloupe), turning yellow and 'dying off at a very early stage - when
they are about the size of a de-podded French bean.

I do get some that reach maturity every, but most 'wilt' like this.

I suspected it may be due to irregular or underwatering, but this still
persists.

The plants are 9in pots, in proper growing compost (some have some garden
compost added), and they are out of draughts in a warm, unheated
greenhouse.

I live in Australia so my advice won't be at all UK specific but I also live
in what is considered a cold climate with a short (for cantaloups) growing
season so that would have some relevance to you.

Someone who lived in the UK posted here some time ago, just before the
beginning of my growing season, to say that they had successfully grown
cantaloups outside in the previous UK summer and managed to get them to
fruit and that they were truly delicious.

This post inspired me to have another go here in the summer just past so I
did some research and I managed to produce some fruit which was superb but I
had some management issues (drought/poor growing position in poor soil).
Anyway, this is what I found out and I intend to correct my mistakes next
summer. I figure that if someone in the UK can grow them outside, I
certainly should be able to grow them here.

Treat them as you would cucumbers. Good rich soil, same watering
requirements and similarly subject to powdery mildew.

I think your 9" pots would be too small as they are relativeley gross
feeders. If you can manage to get cucumbers to grow outside where you live,
might I suggest that you also try grwoing some outside as well as in the
greenhouse. Feed them well and get a watercolour paintbrush and shove it
inside ever flower to make sure the things get fertilised as the flowers
really are quite small and insignificant.

I got to the state with mine where I was very cross with them doing nothing
and decided that they were duds so I used to mutter darkly at them as I
wandered by and I didn't given them the care they should have had. One day
by pure luck, I noticed that there was a fist sized fruit on one of the
plants and when I went looking there were lots of fruit hiding in the
leaves. These were pathetic looking plants in comparison to the normal
vigour I expected from the 'vine' tribe so I found out that I had
underestimated their capacity to crop.

Hi all,

Very many thanks for all of the information.

I have been pollinating them with a small brush - but maybe I'm being greedy
as I always try to get several fruits off a plant - instead of being content
with just one or two!

Anyway... some are sweeling quite well... so all is not lost.

regards,

Keith


"Keith (Dorset)" wrote :

Once again ths year I am getting quite a few of my tiny melons
(Cantaloupe), turning yellow and 'dying off at a very early stage - when
they are about the size of a de-podded French bean.

I do get some that reach maturity every, but most 'wilt' like this.

I suspected it may be due to irregular or underwatering, but this still
persists.

The plants are 9in pots, in proper growing compost (some have some garden
compost added), and they are out of draughts in a warm, unheated
greenhouse.

Any help please.

Many thanks,

Keith