cantaloupes

majorcatfish

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just dropping by...
thought i would add to this melon conversation, over the years have grown pretty much every type of melon. cantaloupes are our favorite but just not any kind, strictly grow "Escorial" it's a French hybrid found these little jewels at Johnny's seeds..
IMG_3260.JPG
this year we only planted 8 seedlings compared to the usual 12-15, this year was a much scaled back garden due to taking a early april vacation could not count on the kids to come up and water all the seedlings...yes we are finally empty netters....YES!!!!
oops got off track there of a moment ..

they do like the warmer weather and lots of sun, once they start coming on you better be ready to eat melon.
IMG_3263.JPG
you know when to pick it it's like popping a piece of cantaloupe drizzled in honey.

guess the best way to know the melon is ready is to walk the patch every day after 70 days, if you smell cantaloupe you better start looking. you have a ripe one"S". and hope that you dont get a weeks worth of rain other was they will split on you.
IMG_3319.JPG
found this one after work today a little trim work and it's going in the lunchbox for work tomorrow, yesterday/today received .50" of rain...bad timing for them.

when to plant....
personally i would start them indoors a month before the soil gets to 65* <you have to know your hardness zone, and this is not perfect every year to go by> just a rule of thumb.
we live in 7a that means last day of frost is around April 12th.not we have had to many frosts/snow after that day. It's your garden you now best when to plant.
hint for you cooler climate people know ahead of time where your going to plant them, stake out where your going to plant them and add your fertilizer and a way to water them...hint hint soaker hose and lay down some black plastic before hand. just like a lot of strawberry growers do.
For you warmer people just add fertilizer and soaker.

prefer to prep the hole ahead of time 20" diameter with a couple good handfuls of 13-13-13 and make my moat.

when to water...
water water thought out the growing season.
of course that all depends on your weather.. keep an eye on your local weather if it's going to rain no need to water, rain water is so much better for your garden.. but that's a whole another thread.
once your melon are starting to ripen you need to start applying the right amount of water to them...keep an eye on the 10 day weather forecast...
personally i like making moats around most of my plants before hand planting, 99% of the main garden is soaker hoses. the moats are great if you hand water or soaker it keeps the water right at the root area.

flowering/pollination....
always get a chuckle over this one when explaining flowering on a melon vine...will keep this rated PG.
it's like a single female <flower> going to a bar and 20 male <flowers> trying to hit on her. those pollinators<bees etc. > just go from one flower to another and hopefully it strikes gold just because you see a ton of flower does not mean all of them are going to produce.... so the rate is 20 guys trying hit that 1 girl..
that wing man aka "the bee" some how gets sidetrack....

pests...
in my expertise it has been either the stripped cucumber beetle or the leafhoppers that bite and infect the vines.
here's my personal way to deal with this.. yes I do use chemical warfare on occasions but I do this wisely. I go out in the middle of the night and spray...guess that's a plus for having insomnia...
in the middle of the night all the good pollinators are snug in their beds and the flowers are are all closed, best time to zap all the little bad overnight campers. make sure you the underside of the leaves as well since that's where all the evil bugs are sleeping at. and if you want to go bee friendly that's even better.

harvesting.....
lets step back in time, me personally like to keep an eye thought-out the growing season and will keep looking for baby melons and put a marker where their are such as a 2' stake, the canape can get over whelming and obscure where a melon is.
as the melon ripens you will notice that the webbing will start shrinking and the melon will start turning from a dull brown to a light golden color, and the tendril near the melon turns brown. time to pick one and start judging ripeness...... don't wait for it to fall on the vine, just cut it off with a little of the stem on it...

preserving...
if you have a amply harvest, dehydrate it nothing like a melon chew in the middle of winter...
IMG_3259.JPG

well thats my personal 2 cents worth

yes i am the major
29027122_338600016648669_5707663790061912064_n.jpg
hug and kiss's to all my northwest clan members...
 
Last edited:

pjn

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just dropping by...
thought i would add to this melon conversation, over the years have grown pretty much every type of melon. cantaloupes are our favorite but just not any kind, strictly grow "Escorial" it's a French hybrid found these little jewels at Johnny's seeds..
View attachment 51345
this year we only planted 8 seedlings compared to the usual 12-15, this year was a much scaled back garden due to taking a early april vacation could not count on the kids to come up and water all the seedlings...yes we are finally empty netters....YES!!!!
oops got off track there of a moment ..

they do like the warmer weather and lots of sun, once they start coming on you better be ready to eat melon.
View attachment 51346
you know when to pick it it's like popping a piece of cantaloupe drizzled in honey.

guess the best way to know the melon is ready is to walk the patch every day after 70 days, if you smell cantaloupe you better start looking. you have a ripe one"S". and hope that you dont get a weeks worth of rain other was they will split on you.
View attachment 51347
found this one after work today a little trim work and it's going in the lunchbox for work tomorrow, yesterday/today received .50" of rain...bad timing for them.

when to plant....
personally i would start them indoors a month before the soil gets to 65* <you have to know your hardness zone, and this is not perfect every year to go by> just a rule of thumb.
we live in 7a that means last day of frost is around april 12th.not we have had to many frosts after that day..it's your garden you now best when to plant.
if you live in a cooler climate lay down some black plastic before hand..
hint for you cooler climate people know ahead of time where your going to plant them, stake out where your going to plant them and add your fertilizer and a way to water them...hint hint soaker hose.
For you warmer people just add fertilizer and soaker.

prefer to prep the hole ahead of time 20" diameter with a couple good handfuls of 13-13-13.

when to water...
water water thought out the growing season
of course that all depends on your weather.. keep an eye on your local weather if it's going to rain no need to water, rain water is so much better for your garden.. but that's a whole another thread.
once your melon are starting to ripen you need to start applying the right amount of water to them...keep an eye on the 10 day weather forecast...
personally i like making moats around most of my plants before hand planting, 99% of the main garden is soaker hoses. the moats are great if you hand water or soaker it keeps the water right at the root area.

flowering/pollination....
always get a chuckle over this one when explaining flowering on a melon vine...will keep this rated PG.
it's like a single female <flower> going to a bar and 20 male <flowers> trying to hit on her. those pollinators<bees etc > just go from one flower to another and hopefully it strikes gold just because you see a ton of flower does not mean all of them are going to produce.... so the rate is 20 guys taking to hit that 1 girl..

pests...
in my expertise it has been either the stripped cucumber beetle or the leafhoppers that bite and infect the vines.
heres my personal way to deal with this.. yes I do use chemical warfare on occasions but I do this wisely. I go out in the middle of the night and spray...guess thats a plus for having insomnia...
in the middle of the night all the good pollinators are snug in their beds and the flowers are are all closed, best time to zap all the little bad overnight campers. make sure you the underside of the leaves as well since thats where all the evil bugs are sleeping at. and if you want to go bee friends thats even better.

harvesting.....
lets step back in time, me personally like to keep an eye thought-out the growing season and will keep looking for baby melons and put a marker where are such as a 2' stake, the canape can get over whelming and obscure where a melon is.
as the melon ripens you will notice that the webbing will start shrinking and the melon will start turning from a dull brown to a light golden color, and the tendril near the melon turns brown. time to pick one and start judging ripeness...... dont wait for it to fall on the vine, just cut it off with a little of the stem on it...

preserving...
if you have a amply harvest, dehydrate it nothing like a melon chew in the middle of winter...
View attachment 51348

well thats my personal 2 cents worth

yes i am the major
View attachment 51350
hug and kiss's to all my northwest clan members...
great to see you posting again
 

meadow

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FIRST RIPE CANTALOUPE!!! 🥰 Dakota Sisters!

Geez. We're so far behind you guys. I just hope we get a taste of the others. Louie's Wonder (a free sample) has just become fragrant, but the others are green as grass. The other varieties are: Rocky Ford (a free sample), Petit Gris de Rennes, and Ananas D'Amérique A Chair Verte Melon, aka Green Fleshed Pineapple (which I'm hoping to save seed from).
 

Jane23

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I had a fairly good start to my cantaloupes. The plants went crazy even though we had a late summer, and my soil is more clay than soil. I need to add something to the soil next year as these didn't get very big. (About the size of a small ball or smaller). They tasted fine, and I saved the seeds from them all to spout next year. I had Livingston seeds, which I have a love-hate relationship with. Either they are very good or do not go at all, and I do not know if it is my soil or the seeds not liking the soil.
 

ducks4you

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My surprise cantaloupe Finally ripened yesterday!! I was disappointed that it didn't pull from the vine, but it was light beige so I pulled it off anyway. It was Almost too ripe. :hu why.
I gave the rinds to the ponies and cut up and refridgerated the pulp. The seeds are fermenting and should be ready to dry out by the weekendl
It was about 8 inches in diameter and I hope I can grow some on purpose next year.
 

digitS'

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I was disappointed that it didn't pull from the vine, but it was light beige so I pulled it off anyway. It was Almost too ripe. :hu why
Some melon varieties have stems that disconnect from vines when the fruit is ripe and some that do not. If your melons do not, you may be able to detect a ripe one by color or fragrance.

Steve
 

ducks4you

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Good to know, since I am saving seeds!
As I said, this was a surprise vine, and this cantaloupe has kept my horses off of their south pasture for almost a full month.
I am cutting burdock tomorrow, and then they can go back.
I will try to get a picture of my new bird, a guinea, that escaped the predator carnage of my friend's flock of guineas and has now been hanging with the horses.
He/she ??? follows the horses ALL over the place, eating hay seeds, eating weed seeds...dunno how it gets water bc dipping into the water tank could be dangerous.
I intend to put out a small water bowl for him, and I'm sure the cats will be happy with it, too.
Dunno for sure, but a week ago I saw him perched on the support wood in my barn's loft after dark.
Regardless, no predator will attack him if he stays with the horses, so he's pretty safe.
 

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