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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 31, 2014 10:00:03 GMT -5
At the farmer's market some people are putting them down saying that they are too smelly. I allow them their opinion at market and then mock them when I get onto my favorite gardening forum. Ignoramuses. Lemmings. I have been selecting for 6 years for the earliest & smelliest muskmelons that I can grow. As far as I am concerned, the smellier a melon is the better it tastes. If someone wants to buy non-odiferous, tasteless, bland cantaloupes they can get them elsewhere: There are plenty of industrialized grocery stores to oblige them.
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Post by glenn10 on Aug 31, 2014 21:29:38 GMT -5
I really think until you grow and are familiar with the animal you just don't understand. Many years ago before I started growing cabteloupes I didn't like the taste of them......they were all bland and many of then ones I tried from the grocery stores and social function fruit trays tasted like dirt to me! When me and my wife bought our house in 2005 the previous owners had an unkept garden plot with a few strawberry plants in it. I got a tiller from a co-worker for free and tilled it . I then went out and purchased seeds of the more common veggies beans ,peas ,carrots,cucumbers,squash etc.There were also some trays of other things including canteloupe.I bought a few plugs of everything they had and put them in the ground.I was 25 at the time and was more interested in riding my motorcycles than gardening and the garden didn't get much attention. I happened to walk by one day and noticed a small canteloupe wilst I race by on my dirtbike.I though to myself hmmmmm prettycool I have this tropical fruit growing in my back yard! I was not sure how to tell when to pick it so I just left it alone. It got to the size of a small football and one day I walked by and man did it stink! I figured the smell must be an indication of pending ripeness but I still left it alone. The next day I checked it and during the night a racoon took a bite out of iand it had separated from the vine.Jeeze I thought effen coons, oh well guess I have to pick it now. I took it to the house and cut out the bite mark and cut myself a pice to try before throwing the rest into the garbage.At the time it stunk to me but I ate the piece anyway.It blew my mind and eversince have been hooked on homegrown melons.People who dont grow their own produce really have no idea what they are missing out on.Their palates have been accustomed to eating bland watery foods ......such a shame.
Glenn
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Post by steev on Aug 31, 2014 23:24:14 GMT -5
My primary means of decision when to pick any fruit is the scent; if it doesn't smell, I won't pick it, since it won't "taste" of much other than sweet or tart.
I'm forced to make exceptions for watermelons and some other melons, but I find that frustrating and stressful since it feels like a crapshoot and the under-ripe melon can't be put back on the vine and the overripe melon is a waste, too.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 12, 2014 23:53:01 GMT -5
Last year I had one plant show up in my muskmelon patch with melons that were much larger than usual. I saved the seeds from it and replanted a good sized row. Some of the fruits are turning out to be monsters! I haven't been saving seed from them because they are too long season for my liking. When I originally started my landrace there were some varieties that advertized up to 20 pound fruits, but none of the survivors produced a fruit anywhere near that size. Perhaps they donated some pollen.  I have been picking 2 to 3 bushels of cantaloupes twice a week for a while. I am very content with them. This year a melon showed up with white flesh. That's a trait that's been hiding in the genepool for a while. There is also a smooth skinned trait that has been hanging around. I'm intending to eliminate it. It doesn't sell well, and taste is bleck. |
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Post by kazedwards on Sept 13, 2014 0:17:10 GMT -5
It has been a great year for cukes, a good year for watermelon, but a crap year for cantaloupe here. I have had ONE get ripe. One out of the 20+ that formed. They have all cracked or been eaten by pest. Hopeful for next year though!
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Post by glenn10 on Sept 13, 2014 18:44:34 GMT -5
Nice melons Joseph! This photo gave me a big chuckle as I took a similar photo with some melons at my house today:) Your melons must be in the 10Lb range by the looks of them. Are you selling them at the farmers market or are you going to eat a few slices? I always get a little excited when I see big melons but when I take a bite I am usually a little disappointed as they seem to be less flavourful than the smaller ones.
Glenn
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Post by flowerweaver on Sept 13, 2014 19:13:20 GMT -5
We have harvested more melons of all kinds this year than ever before and yet in June they went through a terrible thrashing by large hail and tornado winds. I did not expect them to live. Although we lost a lot of fruit I am truly amazed by their regenerative ability and am marking all seed I've saved this year as 'Indestructible'.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 13, 2014 22:40:38 GMT -5
glenn10: I suppose now's as good a time as any to confess. One of the melons was completely rotted out except for the shell. It was really gross to take that photo... But I had to have a matching set. The intact one weighs 10.5 pounds. I offered some almost that big for sale at the farmer's market, but they didn't sell, so I suppose that they'll become must. I'll taste them.
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Post by littleminnie on Sept 14, 2014 10:50:39 GMT -5
My melon patch always reeks due to a few rotten slimy melons.
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Post by glenn10 on Sept 27, 2014 20:00:02 GMT -5
Joseph, do you have any updates for us yet? Did anything unusual show up in your patch for you this season or have they pretty well stabilized? Photos please  |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 27, 2014 21:24:28 GMT -5
It was a markedly cooler than average growing season for me. The warm weather crops were 2 to 3 weeks late to harvest. The bulk muskmelons did fine. Last year was a warmer year so nearly every fruit got harvested. This year I left about half of the fruits in the garden. This year we had a lot of monsoonal rains which negatively affected the quality of the fruit due to excess moisture, and delayed maturity due to the cooler temperatures. The watermelons did really bad!!!
I identified a small fruit that was extremely musky... Might be too musky for many people, but I am saving the seed separate for myself.
The huge muskmelons tasted great, but most of them didn't get harvested because they were too long season. Also they were damaged more by rodents. I saved the seed separately. It'll make up about 10% of any seed that I share. A prize for those in longer growing seasons, but not enough to seriously affect yield for short-season growers.
There is always a few percentage of smooth-skinned melons in the patch. I have decided that I don't care for them and I didn't save seed from any of them this year.
There was one plant with white flesh this year. I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it in the landrace or toss it. I haven't cut the one open yet that I'm saving for seed. I'm evaluating it for keeping quality. Its siblings tasted great.
I didn't plant the bush cantaloupe this year, and none came up in the bulk planting. They didn't germinate last year, and I didn't try planting them this year either. I don't know if I still have seed. They haven't been a priority to me. I kinda like how well they compete with weeds.
Stability? Hmmm.... Around 85% of the patch are: orange-fleshed, netted-skinned, musky-smelling, smooth non-grainy fleshed, sweet as can be, weighing about 2 to 5 pounds. About 15% didn't fit that specification for one reason or other. This landrace has been around long enough that I gave the off types every opportunity to contribute their DNA and to please the farmer. There are not very many round fruits, most of them are oval shaped. I'm starting to be more discerning about what I allow to reproduce... Except that I pretty much always save seeds from the earliest fruits regardless of flavor or smell, because "first of season" is critical to me.
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Post by littleminnie on Sept 28, 2014 10:20:01 GMT -5
I would like to get some of your seed next spring. I have a few things I will order. My melons have some softness I want gone.
Funny thing was I had 3 nice volunteer plants that produced a bit later but were good. 2 were exactly what they were last year. So they either were pollinated by a bee that only went to the flowers on one plant or they were seeds planted last year that didn't sprout until this year. I found it odd the volunteers were pure like that.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Jul 30, 2015 0:18:08 GMT -5
At the farmer's market some people are putting them down saying that they are too smelly. I allow them their opinion at market and then mock them when I get onto my favorite gardening forum. Ignoramuses. Lemmings. I have been selecting for 6 years for the earliest & smelliest muskmelons that I can grow. As far as I am concerned, the smellier a melon is the better it tastes. If someone wants to buy non-odiferous, tasteless, bland cantaloupes they can get them elsewhere: There are plenty of industrialized grocery stores to oblige them. maybe you should try to use that as your own marketing tool. When someone complains that they are too smelly, then just inform them that the smelly ones taste better than any you could buy in a store and that they have been bred to be the best. Maybe even make a comical sign to attract people that has a hand drawn picture and some sort of funny slogan that say's Smelly Cantaloupe got your nose down? Well, then wait until you taste it's exquisite flavor! Your mouth will thank you!" |
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Post by steev on Jul 30, 2015 1:41:17 GMT -5
Really! Flavor is odor, not taste; sweet is taste, not odor; un-fragrant melons? Feed them to pigs; they aren't worth eating until they're pork.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Jul 30, 2015 12:02:30 GMT -5
Is it just personal preference or is there another reason for that selection criteria?
It seemed to me that the netted ones seem to attract mold faster than the smooth ones. In my mind i think i would select for smooth and get rid of netted, but that might just be personal preference. I havn't grown enough to really say what i would do. Honestly i think i prefer canary melons and pepiel del sapo to any type of cantaloupe.
Hey... What if you bred a canary melon with your cantaloupe and then kept back crossing it so you had a yellow skinned, netted cantaloupe? It would be unique and like the yellow skinned watermelons would be an indicator of ripeness.
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