Lots of questions! Cantaloupe question

[csaylorchickens]

I was just reading on cantaloupe. I planted a lot of cantaloupe plants and now that the weather is very hot they are blooming like crazy and spreading which is wonderful. I was reading that the female flower has the flu and the male flower has the pollen and just like zucchini beans need to land on it to pollinate the melons but for some reason I have very lazy bees I don't have a lot around and the only one that does come around is this huge black bumble bee and he likes to pollinate my zucchini but has not landed on the cantaloupe. I had this problem last year and I had a self pollinate all of my zucchini plants with a Q-tip everyday it wasn't bad it only takes a couple of minutes but I tried looking at my cantaloupe plant and I didn't see the ability to do the same thing. Can you pollinate cantaloupe yourself?

 

[lazy gardener]

I was just reading on cantaloupe. I planted a lot of cantaloupe plants and now that the weather is very hot they are blooming like crazy and spreading which is wonderful. I was reading that the female flower has the flu and the male flower has the pollen and just like zucchini beans need to land on it to pollinate the melons but for some reason I have very lazy bees I don't have a lot around and the only one that does come around is this huge black bumble bee and he likes to pollinate my zucchini but has not landed on the cantaloupe. I had this problem last year and I had a self pollinate all of my zucchini plants with a Q-tip everyday it wasn't bad it only takes a couple of minutes but I tried looking at my cantaloupe plant and I didn't see the ability to do the same thing. Can you pollinate cantaloupe yourself?

Yes you can. The flowers are just smaller, and more delicate. However, if you have lots of blossoms, don't assume that they aren't getting pollinated. You just may not see it happening.

 

[csaylorchickens]

Yes i have to self lollinate some of the other plants. I found 4 cantaloupes im sure are fertilized and getting bigger. So thats good

 

[lazy gardener]

If you have fruit set, you could just sit back and let nature take care of it... Of course... it's also ok to get out your paint brush and help those bees!!