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Post by philip on Aug 3, 2014 16:37:10 GMT -5
hello, i am new here. I have two questions about growing melons. 1 if your melon plant is continuing to set fruit does it make sense to cut off all the small ones to help the big ones to get ripe? 2 is it a good idea to cut off the leaves around a big fruit so that it gets more sunshine? thanks, philip
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Post by rowan on Aug 3, 2014 17:24:20 GMT -5
I have never found any advantage to pruning off the smaller melons. Where I live I have to keep any leaves that grow over the fruit, and cover them with cardboard, to stop them from being sunburnt by our scorching summers.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 3, 2014 17:41:57 GMT -5
philip: Welcome to the forum. What's your garden like? I don't prune melon leaves nor pluck off excess fruits. I figure that if I am removing leaves that I am removing the part of the plant that produces the energy necessary to grow fruits and fill them with sugar. Like rowan I have a garden with bright sunshine and prefer that fruits not get sunburned. I don't add additional shade, but I wouldn't try to give them any more sunlight.
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Post by philip on Aug 4, 2014 3:05:38 GMT -5
I live in central brittany, france. mild winters, cool summers. 1200 mm annual rainfall ('96 - '07) I almost never need to water plants that grow outdoors. We lack sunshine and heat contrary to you Rowan and Joseph. We live on a north-facing slope and can have frost till the end of may on some years. I also think it's more natural to let the plants grow the way they want without cutting off bits but i'd rather have one or two ripe melons than many unripe ones. I am trying to grow melons outdoors here something that people don't do here. I guess i ll just try things out. This year in order to multiply expensive melon seed i am trying to grow them as well as i can. Next year if i have lots of seed i can let them fend for themselves more and select the best individuals.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 4, 2014 8:37:31 GMT -5
philip: I wonder how a pedestal would work for you. Something like a piece of board to lift the melon somewhat above the leaf canopy? How do fava beans grow for you?
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Post by ferdzy on Aug 4, 2014 9:42:30 GMT -5
Welcome Philip! I am in mid south-west Ontario, Canada, and have perhaps a similar climate to yours, by your description, except that we lack rain in the summer and DO need to water. My window to grow melons is June through mid-September generally. We don't prune vines or pick off small fruits unlikely to cross the finish line; I figure the plants know what they are doing and will abort if necessary. We do trellis them if we can, and when they are young we keep them covered with clear plastic as long as we can, especially at night, to give them as much of a head-start as possible. We also generally don't direct seed them, but start them inside around April 24th to go out around May 24th (considered to usually be the last date for frost here). We grow some varieties specifically selected for short seasons; some from the prairie provinces and some from Russia.
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Post by philip on Aug 4, 2014 15:31:57 GMT -5
Yes Joseph a pedestal seems like a good idea or a large flat stone without crushing the vines of course. I am not growing fava beans this year but i know people that do and they grow well here. Why are you asking? Ferdzy i am also growing a russian melon from Kazakhstan and it's doing well so far. I think i will just let my melon plants grow and hope for the best. I go out every day and look at them and they don(t seem to grow. Maybe i should leave for a week and come back that always has a dramatic effect. :-)
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 4, 2014 15:56:41 GMT -5
philip: When you described your climate of mild winters and cool summers I though of fava beans and how well they might do there compared with the constant struggle that I have with them.
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Post by raymondo on Aug 4, 2014 17:06:48 GMT -5
Welcome philip. You could try to develop your own landrace of melons. Gather as many cultivars as you can and grow them. Save what ripens and work from there. The process worked exceptionally well for Joseph. I started doing this with green-fleshed melons and orange-fleshed watermelons but I'm moving to a completely different climate zone so will have to start again.
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Post by philip on Aug 5, 2014 2:02:48 GMT -5
Yes Raymondo this is what i want to do. I am very inspired by Joseph's work and i read a lot of his blogs last night. I had already planned and have started to cross several melon varieties but my idea was to then select the best, interbreed them and "stabilize" them to create a new variety for my area. The thought of growing them on as a landrace never occurred to me until now. Interestingly a variety is by definition uniform and vegetables are only sold in unison except sometimes deliberately mixed like peppers or tomatoes of different colours. I think that over here according to european law commerce with landrace vegetables would be illegal (virtually nobody is doing it anyway) You can only sell seeds or plants or produce of varieties that are listed in the european variety list and having them in there costs a fortune. Talk about plant fascism
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Post by philip on Aug 5, 2014 5:55:12 GMT -5
I have to correct myself here. I am not sure if you can only sell registered seeds,plants or produce in europe, but this seems to be what the big lobbies are trying to push through. I heard of a case where a farmer had to throw away tons of cucumbers because they were not straight enough and didn't comply with european norms. If landraces became more widespread this would certainly change the way vegetable sections in supermarkets would look. Are society and the consumer ready for this? I don't know. Anyway thanks for all your answers about growing melons and i might post some pictures if i harvest some nice fruit.
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Post by jondear on Aug 5, 2014 19:57:13 GMT -5
I'm kind of wondering if melons that are dark green when immature vs light grey might be better adapted to cooler climates. Whereas lighter colored when immature melons may be better for areas with brilliant sun for months on end to help with sunburn.
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 13, 2014 2:27:37 GMT -5
Will melons split if they get to much water like tomatoes? Also if anyone has grown charentais cantaloupe how do you know when it is ready? Color?
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Post by raymondo on Aug 13, 2014 15:17:39 GMT -5
Splitting is a real problem where I live because we have summer rains. But worse than splitting, if there are rains just as the melons are ripening, the melons will have no flavour. Can't help with the Charentais question I'm afraid. Perhaps scent?
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Post by rowan on Aug 13, 2014 15:25:54 GMT -5
Charantais are ripe when they just start to become soft on the flower end, and change color. They will also have a strong scent. You must pick them at that stage as they get over-ripe very quickly - 24 hours or often less.
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