black plastic mulch for melons?

[Greenthumb18]

Hi,
i was wondering if black plastic mulch can speed the growth of melons, or is there anything i could do to speed the growth?

Thanks!!!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

i'm gonna say water water water

and i'll give you a bump to see if anyone else has ideas

 

[vfem]

I'm not sure that will speed the 'growth' per say?! Are you talking about speeding the growth of the vine to flower, or the ripening or fruit once they have set fruit!?!?

 

[obsessed]

There is a thing about watering too much so be careful. I learned on here that too much water will result in tasteless fruit with a high probablity of cracking. Hopefully someone will come along with more info. Gotta go back to work.

 

[Greenthumb18]

I'm not sure that will speed the 'growth' per say?! Are you talking about speeding the growth of the vine to flower, or the ripening or fruit once they have set fruit!?!?

Yes i meant speeding the growth to produdce flowers and ripening fruit.

 

[vfem]

Ok... instead of black mulch (add mulch to keep moisture in, mulching is also good to product ripening fruit from damage from sitting on the soil while it is developing.... great for pumpkins to...of course this is if you are NOT trellising) try cutting a piece of tin foil and wrap it around the base of the vine you have going. It will increase the heat and keep it warmer at night. This also works on peppers so I've been told.

Just puncture holes into the tin foil to allow water to get in!!!

 

[Greenthumb18]

Ok... instead of black mulch (add mulch to keep moisture in, mulching is also good to product ripening fruit from damage from sitting on the soil while it is developing.... great for pumpkins to...of course this is if you are NOT trellising) try cutting a piece of tin foil and wrap it around the base of the vine you have going. It will increase the heat and keep it warmer at night. This also works on peppers so I've been told.

Just puncture holes into the tin foil to allow water to get in!!!

Wow thanks for that tip vfem,i'll try that, i just hope my neighbors dont think i'm crazy when i have aluminum foil on my plants....

 

[me&thegals]

Yes--Black plastic will warm the soil and help the melons ripen in time before frost. It is how we finally started getting great melon crops here in zone 4 in WI Awesome for weed control, too!

 

[Greenthumb18]

Yes--Black plastic will warm the soil and help the melons ripen in time before frost. It is how we finally started getting great melon crops here in zone 4 in WI Awesome for weed control, too!

i actually dont have any of this black mulch handy, but i do have a lot of black garbage bags could i use these as the black mulch?

 

[lesa]

I tried the black garbage bag idea last year for my watermelons- it did not help at all, here in zone 4. The plants just never took off. I saw it done in Vermont and they were successful with it. I don't think it could hurt to try- let us know how it works...