melons

[the big lebowski]

hi all , im growing emir melon andthey are aout 40 cm tall do i have to pinch the the tops of them at some point ?thought i heard that somewhere ,any advice welcome ,cheers

[Kristen]

Indoors or outdoors?

("Yes" to your question, but the answer to "how tall" will be different for outside / under cover )

[the big lebowski]

hi,yes im growing them in a greenhouse and was planning to train them verticly ,cheers

[Kristen]

I stop them at about waist height, let the laterals grow to 5 leaves [and train them sideways, on wires] and then stop the side shoots [coming off the laterals] a couple of leaves after a fruit that sets. I restrict the number of Melon's per plant. In a bad year (might be because I sowed the seeds late!! or weather meant the plants were slow) that might be only 4-per-plant.

[BertieFox]

The pinching out treatment is designed to ensure that they produce the maximum number of simultaneous female flowers so you can pollinate them all at the same time. That way you get the maximum number of large fruit that will develop. If you allow later melons to develop, these will be 'robbed' by the main ones already set and so they will be very small.

The key discipline is to have the self control to actually destroy the early flowers and wait for that ideal moment when the plant is strong and has the maximum flowers.

The mistake I made last year was poor watering, and a beautifully formed plant that looked wonderfully healthy collapsed with stem rot over night. This year I am going to bury a bottle with the end cut off next to the plant so the water goes straight to the roots and not near the stem. A very good tip if you don't want to see all your efforts suddenly come to nothing.

[ancee]

I'll try and remember to come back to this thread in a couple of weeks when my melons get bigger!