Dead melons

[HeyWayne]

Oh well, I tried.

Last weekend I planted out my Emir F1 melons that had been in the greenhouse. They were doing pretty well - tendrils, blossom etc. I erected a garden arch on the plot, planted one plant by each corner and left them to it. I was worried all this week with all the rubbish weather we've had, but didn't manage to get to the plot until yesterday morning.

Distaster. They're all dead.

Should have kept them in th egreenhouse methinks.

[zazen999]

I'm on about my 5th melon HW; all died.

My Fat Baby died as well.

All my cukes - all dead. I relented and bought one at the nursery last week and i have now actually got some cukes growing on it.

The only consolation is my exploding cucumber is doing really well.

[allotmentlady]

my melons are flowering but thats about it, seem to have stopped but at least this year my cukes are growing and fruiting!

[lynda66]

my cucumbers all died, except (i think) one thats in the garden (though it could actually be anything lol) but my melons are doing really well .... well that means they aren't dead yet ....... i've still got plenty of time to kill them when i dig them out of the lawn.

[janeyo]

I have one plant on the patio, it doesn't look too well and hasn't for weeks as it had a lot of aphid infestations and I had to keep spraying it with washing up liquid spray. BUT there are a few conker sized green balls on it. I am HOPING these are melons?!?

janeyo

[captainheadpants]

My melon vines are going great so far, blossom and tendrils but the flowers keep falling off and aren't being pollinated. Do I have to service them myself or should i be coaxing bugs in for the task?

[Kristen]

"Do I have to service them myself"

Well not literally, no but you do have to hand-pollinate them

[erik]

it is best to hand pollanate.the female flowers[young melons] grow on the laterals off the main stem the male flowers nearly always grow on the main stem.you need to wait until you have 3 or 4 female flowers fully open to pollante take a male flower of the main stem and remove the outer petals and then rub the core of the male flower into the female flower you will know if you have pollanated because the melons will swell quite quickly.

[Alice]

Thanks Erik, I've been usung a paint brush but don't think it's successful as the fruit is not swelling.
Sorry about yours Hey Wayne.

[SAFIA]

all six of mine died too i put them out when it was red hot and the very next day it turn cold and wet and horrible and stayed that way untill everyone of them had passed away then the sun came out again!!!!

[pjh75]

I think I'll have to hand pollinate mine then... there are loads of flowers but the melons are tiny, the width of a pencil and have been for ages.

[seasprout]

Sorry about everyone's Melons, i think its been a bad year for the cucurbit family, i lost 11 gherkins earlier in the year, i have lost 3 out of 6 Butternut squash, and my greenhouse cucumbers have been dieing off slowly for a couple of months.

Sodding British Summer

[lynda66]

my winter squash are getting big, the sunburst are still doing ok, the melons in the lawn i've transplanted and seem to have stopped a bit, my other melons are growing too, and i've found that i still have 3 cucumbers ....... can't believe any of them are still alive ..... though i still think they are all still far too small to get any fruit but i'm not giving up till they die .... it's hard work this growing stuff innit..

[kentvegplot]

Pumpkins and butternuts are just sulking in this weather - one or two male flowers but that's all. Cukes and melons OKm, but they are in a tunnel.

If the butternuts fail again this year, I will probably give up growing them. They take up too much space for too long to get zero results.

[Demeter]

Cucurbits here are mixed. We've been harvesting cucumbers (just about) and courgettes (quite a few) and have got small pumpkins on 2 plants out of 2.

However the butternuts haven't got any bigger since we planted them out, and I'm not sure at all about the melons. They seemed to be looking good, growing well and covered in flowers when I popped my head in the greenhouse today. But I haven't inspected them lately to see if the flowers are male/female or if there are any fruit setting, and now I'm worried that by pinching out the main stem early (a la Hessayon) I might not be getting any male flowers! All that effort for nothing! Will go and look properly tomoz.