Tasteless Cantelopes

[obsessed]

Mine taste bland. They have turned that yellowish color but they all have been bland. I planted that Hales Best from seed. I was dreaming of that ultra sweet flavor. But didn't get it.

 

[davaroo]

Mine taste bland. They have turned that yellowish color but they all have been bland. I planted that Hales Best from seed. I was dreaming of that ultra sweet flavor. But didn't get it.

I believe that with all musk melons, you have to withold water for the first weeks after the fruit begins forming, up to about the size of a baseball. Dont let them dry out, but keep the water to the minimum to maintain plant growth. Then once the melons grow to about fist size, go back to normal watering.
Plus, you should nip out all growing tips once the plant produces 2-4 fruit. This ensures the vine will put its energy into maturing the fruit - and not growing foliage.

 

[digitS']

Excess water is a problem with the sweetness of any fruit, I suppose. Varying soil moisture sounds like it would increase the risk of splitting, however.

I'm no melon expert. They were a garden favorite when I was growing up in southern Oregon but I'm almost too far north to grow melons now.

I've found a few varieties that do well here and there are lots of varieties of melons (thankfully for me or I'd be stuck with varieties that would have no chance of ripening in my garden ).

I was just reading a little about melon breeding. Hale's Best was used as a parent to develop new varieties in the 1940's. I don't know when they first came out with Hale's Best but it has been around a very long time.

There are probably choices that are more appropriate for your part of the world and for your tastes. LSU has recommended veggie varieties for you. They list: "Primo, Eclipse, Athena, Ambrosia, Mission, Vienna, Odyssey, Aphrodite." I've tried Ambrosia but it was a no-go here but with a name like that . . .

Steve

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi Davaroo & Steve,

Thanks for the info on watering of melons _- I hope I will get to use it if my"GREAT MELON EXPERIMENT" works! :

You chaps are a great help to an old lady....

Great weather here -- everything growing like mad -- me watering like a mad thing BUT rain (thunder-storms) predicted for tomorrow...............As long as we don't get more hale!! My raspberries are just coming in -- they are delicious & I don't want them ruined!!

obsessed

I am so sorry your melons are bland! It is miserable when that happens.


:rose Hattie :rose

 

[patandchickens]

Water is one possibility, also insufficient heat sometimes.

But, are you absolutely 100% certain they were fully, fully ripe? If there are any left on the vine, maybe let them go longer and try them that way?

Good luck,

Pat

 

[obsessed]

Thanks steve and pat.

No I am not sure they were fully ripe. They were orange but those dang kids would not stop picking them up maybe that is what made them come lose. As for heat I got that here no problemo.
Water, I could have watered them too much. I will try again.

I have seen that LSU PDF. These were the last of my seeds from Montana. That is why I used them.

 

[Rio_Lindo_AZ]

I have some very young melon plants that are just about ready to vine out. This is my first time growing melons, so this could get intresting. Thanks for the info everyone. I can't wait to get my first fruit!

 

[obsessed]

Even though mine were totally tasteless. I still ate them. They smelled good.

 

[maidservant]

I grow ambrosias, and I don't withhold water. They get the same amount as everything else, 1 inch per week unless it rains enough. I mulch mine with rabbit manure, it's the perfect fertilizer for them, and it gives them the sweetest flavor. Last year I didn't have enough rabbits to keep up with the garden and the cantelopes (grown the same way except for the poo) were bland, yuck. It may have just been a bad year for cantelopes here last year, or it may have been the lack of enough rabbit manure.

Emily in NC
7b
Waiting for my first two cantelopes of the year to finish ripening!

 

[Greensage45]

Hi,

There is another avenue that might be worth considering and that may be the quality of the soil.

Here in my soil, a river-bottom clay, my melons have come out from one extreme to the other. They are either tasteless or they are so uncommonly musky without sweetness; I typically judge a cantaloupe ripeness by the smell of the skin. In the past I have tried watermelon without anything coming out sweet as I would like. My previous cucumbers would develop bitter to the point of not being able to eat them.

So, after all that great melon/cuc growing I heard that our local clay is what causes the bitterness in the cucumbers. So this year, after some 'digging' in the internet, I decided to go with growing my melons and cucs on top of raised rows of straw. I have some pics on several pages here. Well, today I am happy to report that I had my first chilled cucumber with a dash of salt and I was in pure bliss. I had forgotten how wonderful a chilled fat juicy cucumber could be like on a hot summer's day. I am floored. I have avoided growing these for eight years because of the soil.

The process of the hay is a bit like a mini-compost, it first has to cook a bit and then a small amount of soil is added. On recommendation I have maintained 30 day interval of 10-10-10 fertilizer, that with the addition of the continuous composting all around the plants. I have used a soaker hose to distribute water, no overhead watering at all.

OK, well I hope I can report later that I had just as equal of positive changes in my cantaloupe and my watermelons. I buy them yearly from the grocery store and yet I have the room; it just seemed silly for so very long and I do hope this is my answer, hay mounds that I recycle from my chickens and rabbits!

Although, I am still inclined to agree with everyone else, I agree that the watering is crucial, as well as heat when it comes to melons and such. As well as keeping the water off of the leaves and stems (which rain does not give you a choice with) So it is such a conditional thing and can have many avenues. Wishing you well.

Ron