Melons question?

[nao57]

So... I had a couple questions for growing melons. I hope you can bear with me. And thanks. Also this community is so nice. Thank you for that too.

So... I've been growing melons for 2 years now. I didn't use to be able to do melons as they are tricky. The summer year before last I finally got some of them to work. Then last year I did a ton of them and really got them to work. But that's not a lot of experience with them still. And I don't know everything about them.

So what seemed to be working is that if I was extremely careful about multiple waterings per day I could get melons to work. But it seems to require more than 1 watering per day. And it also seemed like if I missed a day or 2 that a growing melon might not restart growing again. (Is this what others are seeing?)

Based on this I wanted to ask... if your watering cycle gets interrupted for a day, is there a way to get a partly grown melon to resume growing again? And what's the longest your watering cycle can be interrupted without a partly grown melon being stunted to not grow anymore after that?

I've grown a lot of stuff for years, but melons seem like they are the most fragile about watering... (?) Is this what others have found?

I'm in a zone 5 area that has almost no ground water. We have to have good fertizilization and be very careful about water to get stuff to work here. (If that helps any.)

Sometimes my elderly relatives in the next town need help 2 days a week now. This is going to pull me away from doing gardening at my own place. So I want to figure out what the limits are on melon watering and how much their watering cycle can be interrupted?

...

A side issue is where I'm at, it should be very hot right now. We should have like 90 degrees heat for the highs by now and reasonable lows. But this year the weather is very crazy. We're still having night lows in the low 40s... for multiple days in a row. I've never seen the night lows to go this low this late in the year. And it seems like a lot of people are having crazy lows.

 

[azygous]

Satisfy our curiosity and state your location. It would be a crucial bit of info to enrich the discussion.

 

[nao57]

Satisfy our curiosity and state your location. It would be a crucial bit of info to enrich the discussion.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes. I'm by the border of where Idaho and Utah meet.

 

[sheknitsandcrochets]

Hello! I'm a little late to the thread, but I have some *very limited* experience growing melons, so I will still try to answer some of your questions based on growing my own melons.

So, watering is definitely a very important factor in growing melons, especially watermelons. This is both for the fruit to grow at all, but also in its resulting quality. How much and often you have to water is tricky. I live in a zone 6a growing area. If you're in zone 5, then your temperatures are probably slightly colder than they are where I live.
When I grew melons, I actually didn't water them very much. The rainfall we got was enough to sustain them for most of their watering needs. I would water them sometimes, but there were so many crops growing in the garden that I didn't have enough time to water them on a regular basis. The melons were sort of a side crop being grown outside the garden.
By what I've heard, for the first part of growing watermelons staying on top of watering is especially important (since they are mostly made of water), but once they reach about full size, you actually want to hold back on the watering so that the sugars can concentrate and result in a sweeter melon. This is what I've heard for watermelons, at any rate, and things like cantaloupes and honeydews may be different.

Concerning your questions on watering,
As long as you watered well the day before, I wouldn't be concerned about missing a day on your watering schedule.
As far as my own experience on the limits of watering interruptions, I don't really know. As I previously mentioned, I was not consistent in watering my melon plants, and I would say that rainfall was the main watering factor for my plants. Based on that, I unfortunately can't give you an accurate estimate on how long the plants could be left without water. Nonetheless, I will still try to give an estimate. Between my own watering and the rainfall, I would guess they were usually watered once to twice a week.

What type of fertilizer are you using on your melon plants? You can find guides online for what fertilizers are best to use on the different stages of growth. I know potassium is really important for melons.

If you're concerned about the melon plants getting too cold at night, you may want to put mulch around them?

I hope you find some of this information helpful.

 

[RubelliteRose]

What type and size of melons are you trying to grow? Also are you growing in-ground or in a raised bed? A raised bed will allow you to customize your soil to hold more moisture so you won't have to water as often. You might want to try a new variety or type since you are having trouble with your melons. I grow smaller melons in raised beds and water 1-2 times per week. I've tried growing sugar baby watermelon, but would only get a couple per vine. Cantaloupe grows well here but so far the type which grows the best for me is the Kajari melon which taste like mix of honeydew and cantaloupe. Baker Creek seeds has a Desert King watermelon which I have not tried, but is supposed to be more drought resistant than other watermelons. I am thinking about trying to grow it next year.

 

[nao57]

Hello! I'm a little late to the thread, but I have some *very limited* experience growing melons, so I will still try to answer some of your questions based on growing my own melons.

So, watering is definitely a very important factor in growing melons, especially watermelons. This is both for the fruit to grow at all, but also in its resulting quality. How much and often you have to water is tricky. I live in a zone 6a growing area. If you're in zone 5, then your temperatures are probably slightly colder than they are where I live.
When I grew melons, I actually didn't water them very much. The rainfall we got was enough to sustain them for most of their watering needs. I would water them sometimes, but there were so many crops growing in the garden that I didn't have enough time to water them on a regular basis. The melons were sort of a side crop being grown outside the garden.
By what I've heard, for the first part of growing watermelons staying on top of watering is especially important (since they are mostly made of water), but once they reach about full size, you actually want to hold back on the watering so that the sugars can concentrate and result in a sweeter melon. This is what I've heard for watermelons, at any rate, and things like cantaloupes and honeydews may be different.

Concerning your questions on watering,
As long as you watered well the day before, I wouldn't be concerned about missing a day on your watering schedule.
As far as my own experience on the limits of watering interruptions, I don't really know. As I previously mentioned, I was not consistent in watering my melon plants, and I would say that rainfall was the main watering factor for my plants. Based on that, I unfortunately can't give you an accurate estimate on how long the plants could be left without water. Nonetheless, I will still try to give an estimate. Between my own watering and the rainfall, I would guess they were usually watered once to twice a week.

What type of fertilizer are you using on your melon plants? You can find guides online for what fertilizers are best to use on the different stages of growth. I know potassium is really important for melons.

If you're concerned about the melon plants getting too cold at night, you may want to put mulch around them?

I hope you find some of this information helpful.

Thank you very much. I was delighted to get some feed back on these. What I did last year for fertilizer was using aged out steer manure, and a bit of potash (campfire ash) mixed into the normal soil. But I also found something really helpful was to do wood chips and mulch around the plant, but the wood chips are to cut off evaporation and not for nutrition. Where I live, we have low humidity high heat so we have to keep the soil cool and try to combat evaportation. This seems to help immensely in production and getting large stable plants that can produce. (We also have low rainfall. So we fix that also with careful watering. But I do think it would be different if I lived in an area with more humidity and rainfall.)

 

[sheknitsandcrochets]

Thank you very much. I was delighted to get some feed back on these. What I did last year for fertilizer was using aged out steer manure, and a bit of potash (campfire ash) mixed into the normal soil. But I also found something really helpful was to do wood chips and mulch around the plant, but the wood chips are to cut off evaporation and not for nutrition. Where I live, we have low humidity high heat so we have to keep the soil cool and try to combat evaportation. This seems to help immensely in production and getting large stable plants that can produce. (We also have low rainfall. So we fix that also with careful watering. But I do think it would be different if I lived in an area with more humidity and rainfall.)

I see. Yes, using wood chips would make sense to help retain soil moisture. Another thing you could try is incorporating some peat moss into your soil. It sounds to me like you're growing your melon plants directly in the ground and not using raised beds, but you could try this in either case. Peat moss comes very dried out when you first buy it, and you need to place it in a container and mix lots of water in to hydrate it. It's a little difficult to initially moisten the dried peat moss, but once the moisture gets through it is very good at retaining further moisture. Peat moss could be a good choice because it retains moisture well and releases it slowly, still leaving the soil with good drainage (which is what you want for growing melons).

One question I have for you is, do you plant your melon seeds in the ground directly into your garden, or transplant already-established plants into your garden? When I've grown melons, I've started them inside the house before my frost free date. I started them from seed in plastic cups with holes drilled in the bottom. I put multiple seeds in each cup, and just thinned them down to one each when the seeds sprouted. I had the cups in a tray on top of a heat mat, which was on a shelf under grow lights. I started them in mid-April in 2022, and transplanted the (then established) plants outside after my frost free date, which is in mid-May. The first watermelons that came to maturity were two icebox-sized ones, which were harvested in late July.
So, I'm wondering if you've tried planting your melons as established plants, or if you've only done them from seed directly in the ground.

I was just looking at some notes I took when I was researching growing melon plants. Here is some information I got from my document concerning fertilizing melon plants. (Please note, this may not be perfectly accurate, and it would certainly be advisable to do your own research afterwards to ensure method accuracy.) Nitrogen-based fertilizers are recommended at the start of the plant growth, as this promotes long vine growth. Once the melon plants start to flower, switch to a phosphorus and potassium based fertilizer to help the plants focus their energy on melon growth instead of excessive vine growth. Some people also mix in a balanced 1:1:1 (or 5:5:5, etc) granular fertilizer into the soil around the melon plants when they are first planted (being careful not to touch the actual plants with the fertilizer to avoid burning them).

I hope you find some of this information helpful.

 

[nao57]

I see. Yes, using wood chips would make sense to help retain soil moisture. Another thing you could try is incorporating some peat moss into your soil. It sounds to me like you're growing your melon plants directly in the ground and not using raised beds, but you could try this in either case. Peat moss comes very dried out when you first buy it, and you need to place it in a container and mix lots of water in to hydrate it. It's a little difficult to initially moisten the dried peat moss, but once the moisture gets through it is very good at retaining further moisture. Peat moss could be a good choice because it retains moisture well and releases it slowly, still leaving the soil with good drainage (which is what you want for growing melons).

One question I have for you is, do you plant your melon seeds in the ground directly into your garden, or transplant already-established plants into your garden? When I've grown melons, I've started them inside the house before my frost free date. I started them from seed in plastic cups with holes drilled in the bottom. I put multiple seeds in each cup, and just thinned them down to one each when the seeds sprouted. I had the cups in a tray on top of a heat mat, which was on a shelf under grow lights. I started them in mid-April in 2022, and transplanted the (then established) plants outside after my frost free date, which is in mid-May. The first watermelons that came to maturity were two icebox-sized ones, which were harvested in late July.
So, I'm wondering if you've tried planting your melons as established plants, or if you've only done them from seed directly in the ground.

I was just looking at some notes I took when I was researching growing melon plants. Here is some information I got from my document concerning fertilizing melon plants. (Please note, this may not be perfectly accurate, and it would certainly be advisable to do your own research afterwards to ensure method accuracy.) Nitrogen-based fertilizers are recommended at the start of the plant growth, as this promotes long vine growth. Once the melon plants start to flower, switch to a phosphorus and potassium based fertilizer to help the plants focus their energy on melon growth instead of excessive vine growth. Some people also mix in a balanced 1:1:1 (or 5:5:5, etc) granular fertilizer into the soil around the melon plants when they are first planted (being careful not to touch the actual plants with the fertilizer to avoid burning them).

I hope you find some of this information helpful.

Thanks.

For starting them, the preferred method and best efficiency so far is to start them inside under grow lights. I get a much higher germination rate. But I have to spend more time on adjusting to hardening and getting used to outside sunlight. I still do start some seeds outside for practice but it does seem like the germination rate is lower, starting outside. PLUS, the main reason is we have long winters... and starting indoors lets you have maybe 6 weeks or more of plant growth before I'd normally be able to put seeds outside.

Hope this helps. And thank you for the tips.

 

[sheknitsandcrochets]

Thanks.

For starting them, the preferred method and best efficiency so far is to start them inside under grow lights. I get a much higher germination rate. But I have to spend more time on adjusting to hardening and getting used to outside sunlight. I still do start some seeds outside for practice but it does seem like the germination rate is lower, starting outside. PLUS, the main reason is we have long winters... and starting indoors lets you have maybe 6 weeks or more of plant growth before I'd normally be able to put seeds outside.

Hope this helps. And thank you for the tips.

That definitely makes sense. I start melons indoors for the head start on growing (because we have pretty long winters where I live as well), and because I would definitely be concerned about germination rates if I started them directly outside. Hardening off the plants before transplanting is definitely an extra step, but I do think that, besides a better likelihood of high germination rates, already-established plants also have a better chance of survival than seedlings trying to survive the immediately-harsh conditions of the outdoors.
So between those three reasons, I definitely want to start my own melons indoors.

And as @RubelliteRose mentioned, the size and type of melon you're trying to grow can be a huge factor. For example, the Blacktail Mountain variety of watermelon seemed to be one of the best performing varieties of watermelons I've grown so far. They are relatively small melons, and are known for doing well in areas with short growing seasons. I personally didn't, however, have success with the Royal Golden watermelon the year I tried to grow it. The plants were more insect or disease ridden than my other melon plants (which I think is actually pretty typical for this variety), and the plants only grew like one melon each. I couldn't even tell when these were ripe, and I think bugs were attacking the rind of one of the melons while it was growing. In short, this was not a well performing variety for me.
So, maybe you could do some research on which melon varieties are the most tolerant to the problems you're facing with growing (you could, for example, look for varieties with drought tolerance and low days to maturity).

I hope this helps.

 

[aimee750]

I have better success watering very deeply but less often with melons. Also they are very climate sensitive, you need to grow varieties that like your climate.