Melon madness

As any farmer or home gardener can attest, there is a never-ending learning curve when it comes to growing things.  We have worked tirelessly on creating new methods and tricks to cultivate troublesome crops, and this season is no different.  Last season (and the season before that, and the season before that) we had some melon issues.  I suppose that's putting it lightly. If it wasn't the diseases it was shoddy growth. If it wasn't shoddy growth it was lack of fertility uptake. If it wasn't lack of fertility uptake it was the pests.

Last year it was the pests, and they came with friends.  Final consensus was the seed corn maggot, and boy, was it bad.  Plant growth was impeded from the vine damage, and each of the fruits was attacked where it lay on the soil.  We determined that the rind of the fruit softened where it contacted the soil, providing the perfect conditions for a maggot picnic.  We tried to combat this by putting each of the fruits on top of a piece of cardboard, but by the time we implemented this method it was too late.  I think Manresa got a total of 4 cantaloupe. 

With this in mind, our garden manager, Sara, did some research on our particular issues.  She found that many melon growers use black plastic over their soil when cultivating their crop.  This pulls double duty (always a huge plus in the garden), providing a moisture-free surface for the melons while also heating the soil.  Melons apparently don't like their feet to get cold.  Being the crafty farmers we are, we scoured the farm for something we already had on the property that would serve this purpose.  We had a bunch of clear plastic leftover from the temporary greenhouse we built for tomato seedling overflow, so we cut that to fit our melon beds and stapled it around the edges.  Growers prefer the black plastic since it warms the soil more effectively and also prevents weed germination, but we are thrifty and crafty, so clear plastic it is!

In her research, Sara also learned that melons really love high-potassium soil.  Buying potash as an amendment has become too expensive for us, so Sara implemented a banana-peel bucket for about a month with the intention to chop up the peels and add about 4-5 handfuls per 60 square foot bed.  Between saving our eggshells for tomato plants, banana peels for melon beds and food scraps for compost, our kitchen looked a little crazy, but hey, what's new.  Another scavenged source of potassium is wood ash, so we emptied out the fireplace and added about a quart of ash to each bed as well. *note: we maintained our usual bed amendment and added these elements to that recipe.

In preparation for the melon seedlings to go into their beds, Sara put the plastic on the beds for about 2 weeks before the plants actually went in, allowing the soil to heat up.  The covered beds were an average of 10 degrees warmer than their uncovered neighbors - looking good for our sugarbabies!  Before planting, our drip irrigation was turned on for about an hour to ensure that the seedlings would be received into nice, moist soil. She also drenched the holes three times before planting since we would be unable to get a consistent post-planting watering due to the plastic.  We made a 3 inch by 3 inch "X" in the plastic with a razor to accommodate the root balls of each plant. 

We pinch the growing tips (like you would with basil) while the plant is still young to encourage healthy root development.  Doing this early on encourages more of the plant's energy to go toward creating a happy, healthy root system which will benefit the plant greatly when it is more mature.  We top (pinch) the plants for about 3 weeks, then let it do it's thing.

Here are the plants today:

Since the plastic can get really hot on our 100 degree days, we plan to put straw down so that the roots don't burn.  We'll keep you updated on our progress - cross your fingers for our first good melon season!

Thanks to our excellent Helpxer, Natalie Mcanuff for these photos.

Comments

[Bunk Bed]

We are trying to grow watermelons for the first time here in PA. We have some small melons on the vine now but I'm not sure how they are going to be. Thanks for all the tips on growing melons.

[Doug Whitmore]

Every year but this, I've tried growing melons and had no success. Next year I'll try this method as nothing beats fresh melon.

[finnyknits]

Good luck with this approach - it sounds like a winner!

One year when I had similar issues with fruits being "attacked from below", I set them up on leftover yogurt lids, coffee cans and the like, to keep them from being in direct contact with the soil.

And then I had one million cantaloupe. Really. It was divine.