Muskmelons, Cantaloupes and others.

[Alan]

Anybody here raise muskmelons or cantaloupes? I've yet to really ever play with them too much but I do believe I will a little bit this year, just to see what they will do. Ken Etlinger sent me a couple of nice mixed samples of both orange/salmon fleshed melons as well as green flesed ones and an "exotic" mix that I think I might play with this year. Anyone have any suggestions on growing melons of these types?

[cff]

We've grown Cantaloupes every year for as long as I can remember, this past year I grew Banana Muskmelons. Talk about sweet

Not good keepers but dang there good, still have some give away seeds if ya wanna a few to try.

[houseodessey]

I raised Old Time Tennessee muskmelons last year and they were muy fabuloso. They are soft skinned and when I left them on the vine long enough, I could darned near eat the rind.

My advice on melons is to make sure to get them before the squirrells do. I didn't get a single ripe melon without cutting a bit off that had been gnawed on by a tree rodent

If you want some seeds, let me know. I have a bunch.

[johno]

I'm a fan of green or even white fleshed melons, personally. But that changed when I grew a few Noir Des Carmes melons last year. If it gets any better than that, I want to hear about it!

[Alan]

I'm really excited about growing some of these melons this year, I've bought a ton of seeds for melons over the past couple of years and basically until this point just haven't messed with them, plus I got several blends from long island seeds and a whole bunch of other seeds from trades, so I am very excited about the diversity that I will find when I grow them out this year, I'm also excited about the prospect of having another new crop to do some breeding work with.

Housodessey, I would definetly be interested in getting some of those seeds for you and will definetly put them to good use this season.

[canadamike]

Johno is right up there with NOIR DES CARMES

[canadamike]

I also grew a lot of JENNY LIND and AOGEN in the past. Last year I had 15 differents but a 3 months old german sheppard decided they looked better uprooted . I tried to salvage them but...

Guerney's giant from REIMERS gave me 2 edible regular sized melons instead of the 15 pounders, but taking into account the uprooting and the month of July night temperatures of 45-55 degrees F, the coldest I have seen in my life, that was quite an accomplishement. This one got all my admiration in the ''fighting spirit'' department.

I once grew them by the wheelbarrow, and the greens always won kudos. Being less musky, their sweetness won over everybody. I used to give away those I did not pik at their peak to a chef, and to his taste, they still beat the crap out of the modern hybrids local guys grew here.

I sure would include them at a market stand.

[Alan]

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys and I really appreciate it.

From my experience I myself like the green fleshed types much better than the salmon fleshed types.

Locally though I believe most folks prefer the salmon fleshed types which I have plenty of seed for.

Do any of you have seed from any of the green fleshed types that you would be willing to share some seed with me of. I would really greatly appreciate it!

[johno]

I'm planning to buy some green fleshed melon seed. When I do I'll set some aside for you.

[Alan]

Thanks Johno, I really appreciate it and look forward to growing anything you want to send my way!

[Alan]

I've been researching different green fleshed cantaloupes online a little bit today and it looks like there is still quite a bit of diversity out there for me to play with. One that I know is a definite that I would like to plant is Jenny Lend, there were others I made note of earlier but I don't have their names in front of me at the moment.

I'm pretty excited about playing with these melons because it seems to me that they are a somewhat underappreciated crop at least in my area, I would love to do my part to collect and distribute their diversity in this area and they would give me a new alternative cash crop to introduce and grow exclusively, at least for a year or two, here on the produce farm. Of course theres also the possibility of breeding experiments and once again spreading their seeds through Hip-Gnosis seed development.

-Alan

[bluelacedredhead]

admin said:

One that I would like to ... is Jenny Lend> I'm pretty excited about playing with these melons.Theres also the possibility of breeding experiments and once again spreading seeds through Hip-Gnosis seed development.

-Alan

Kimmi, Alan's being BAD!!!!

[Alan]

;D bahahahahah, Kimi has nice melons too.....indeed she does

[canadamike]

Minnessota midgets or Guerney'S Giants? LOL

P.S. Where do you get these smileys?

[bluelacedredhead]

Michel, When you reply to a thread, don't use the Quick Reply.
Instead, use the reply button at the bottom of the last post(blue bar with yellow folder and arrow for reply). It has Smilies