After last year's "6 plants, 2.5 melons total" crop, I thought I'd go for
more this year. Had about 20 melon plants in the greenhouse (mixed
varieties, inc. watermelons)

Plants grew well and put out flowers, but the female flowers didn't come
until end of August, by which point it was too late to get anything (I did
hand pollinate a couple, but the fruit never got more than golf ball sized,
and the plants started to die back)

Any idea how to encourage female flowers earlier for next year? (I knwo the
male ones typically come first, but they were flowering in April/May, the
females shoudln't be 3 months behind!!)

--

In article ,
writes
After last year's "6 plants, 2.5 melons total" crop, I thought I'd go for
more this year. Had about 20 melon plants in the greenhouse (mixed
varieties, inc. watermelons)

Plants grew well and put out flowers, but the female flowers didn't come
until end of August, by which point it was too late to get anything (I did
hand pollinate a couple, but the fruit never got more than golf ball sized,
and the plants started to die back)

Any idea how to encourage female flowers earlier for next year?

The trick is to pinch out the growing shoot when the plants have
produced about 4 or 5 leaves. This encourages side shoots which tend to
produce the female flowers (the plant thinks it is under threat of
destruction and starts reproducing.)

Some of the books suggest then allowing four of these side shoots to
grow on, but in this country, even in a greenhouse, I would suggest one
or two.

Roy.
--
Roy Bailey
West Berkshire.

Roy Bailey wrote:
Any idea how to encourage female flowers earlier for next year?

The trick is to pinch out the growing shoot when the plants have
produced about 4 or 5 leaves. This encourages side shoots which tend to
produce the female flowers (the plant thinks it is under threat of
destruction and starts reproducing.)

Some of the books suggest then allowing four of these side shoots to
grow on, but in this country, even in a greenhouse, I would suggest one
or two.

A-ha! Cheers. I would never have figured that one out. I've always
encouraged the main stem to grow in a similar way to how the tomatoes grow!
Dammit.

Better luck next year, eh? :-)

On 11 Oct, 11:20, wrote:
Roy Bailey wrote:
Any idea how to encourage female flowers earlier for next year?

The trick is to pinch out the growing shoot when the plants have
produced about 4 or 5 leaves. This encourages side shoots which tend to
produce the female flowers (the plant thinks it is under threat of
destruction and starts reproducing.)

Some of the books suggest then allowing four of these side shoots to
grow on, but in this country, even in a greenhouse, I would suggest one
or two.

A-ha! *Cheers. *I would never have figured that one out. *I've always
encouraged the main stem to grow in a similar way to how the tomatoes grow!
Dammit.

Better luck next year, eh? *:-)

Yes, thanks Roy also from me. I always thought that the production of
female flowers must be governed by temperature, but maybe it is just
that higher temperatures stimulate more side shoots anyway.

I find that pollination by small paintbrush is my most successful
method.

In article
,
sutartsorric writes
On 11 Oct, 11:20, wrote:

A-ha! *Cheers. *I would never have figured that one out. *I've always
encouraged the main stem to grow in a similar way to how the tomatoes grow!
Dammit.

Better luck next year, eh? *:-)

Yes, thanks Roy also from me. I always thought that the production of
female flowers must be governed by temperature, but maybe it is just
that higher temperatures stimulate more side shoots anyway.

I find that pollination by small paintbrush is my most successful
method.
Glad to have been of help.

I don't have a greenhouse as such, so I grow normally try growing
Sweetheart melons in large pots against a south-facing wall - not
normally with a great deal of success. This year I had some large sheets
of glass to lean against the wall and I strung horizontal wires to
support the plants. Most of the 7 or 8 plants produced a melon; some
two, and we had the first one last night. Delicious!

Another tip is to keep the area around the stem of the plant dry to
prevent it rotting away. Either raise the plant up on a little hillock,
or make the top inch of the growing medium sand. In my case I watered
only around the side of the pot.

Roy.
--
Roy Bailey
West Berkshire.