Growing Melons in the UK

[mosstrooper]

Hi Jen,been for a look tonight and the MM in the border are growing one melon per vine (but not all vines have set fruit))
The PGDR seem to have set 2 or 3 per vine up to now and they are in pots.
It appears that the melons in pots aren't growing as quickly as the border ones which is probably something to do with watering

[Earthgirl Jen]

Thanks for looking mosstrooper, all 11 of my CFW melons have set fruit, however only 5 have swelled quickly.
4 in the greenhouse and the biggest one in the porch.
I have found another 'walnut' sized one on a different plant in the porch, I'm waiting for it to start swelling.

However I did find these 2 growing on the same vine in the greenhouse this morning!? I'm guessing they are quite happy at the moment and we are only at the beginning of July



I water all my pots once a day at the moment, usually first thing in the morning and at the moment I'm feeding the melons half strength, every other day to try and compensate for the 3 in one pot!

I wish I had decent greenhouse beds to grow mine in, the floor of my greenhouse, is rock rubble and rubbish. They are on my 'never ending' list of 'todo' jobs in this garden...

Forgot to add that,that means that of the 6 plants in 2 pots in the greenhouse, 5 have set fruit and growing, the last pot has set fruit but they have yet to swell.

Of the 5 plants in 2 pots in the porch. One has set fruit and growing, the other 4 have all set fruit I'm just waiting for them to swell... As I said before it is only the beginning of July... Not that I'm impatient!!! lol...

[Bluenowhere]

After a couple of days when I haven’t been able to get down to the allotment due to work travelling I was a bit apprehensive as to whether the melon vines would still be alive.

Not only were they still alive but the two set fruit on each vine which hadn’t grown much had swelled so they fill my hand. Super excited.

[boatsman]

I've tried growing melons this year. I saved the seeds from honeydew and Galia melons and planted them in flowerpots. They developed alright and produced many small yellow flowers. I can't seel the difference be the different flowers. I tried the cotton bud stick method, but nothing has happened. Could it be that the plants are sterile? But then why would they produce flowers?

[Earthgirl Jen]

After a couple of days when I haven’t been able to get down to the allotment due to work travelling I was a bit apprehensive as to whether the melon vines would still be alive.

Not only were they still alive but the two set fruit on each vine which hadn’t grown much had swelled so they fill my hand. Super excited.

So pleased for you Bluenowhere what a lovely surprise to come home to, please keep us updated x

[veggiechicken]

I've tried growing melons this year. I saved the seeds from honeydew and Galia melons and planted them in flowerpots. They developed alright and produced many small yellow flowers. I can't seel the difference be the different flowers. I tried the cotton bud stick method, but nothing has happened. Could it be that the plants are sterile? But then why would they produce flowers?

Maybe they're all male flowers?
Cucurbits often produce all male flowers at the start, ready for the females to join the party.
Give them some more time?

[Earthgirl Jen]

I've tried growing melons this year. I saved the seeds from honeydew and Galia melons and planted them in flowerpots. They developed alright and produced many small yellow flowers. I can't seel the difference be the different flowers. I tried the cotton bud stick method, but nothing has happened. Could it be that the plants are sterile? But then why would they produce flowers?

Well done on getting them growing and flowering boatsman

There is a slight chance your shop bought melons may have been treated for preservation that may stop the flowers they produce being viable. But just a SLIGHT chance....

As your plants are producing healthy flowers and you have been getting pollen on your cotton bud the chances they are happily settling in and growing into their new pots.
They will mainly be producing male flowers (possibly for a week or two) until they are happy. Then you will start to see the female flowers.

This is a picture of the male flower notice how it's shaped a little like a 'wine glass' behind the flower.


This is a female flower notice how there seems to be a little ball behind the flower, these are the ones that need pollinating.


Have you tried a small artists paint brush, (although I use an old ladies eye make-up brush) mine is about .5cm thick. The bristles are soft enough to allow you to gently twist the end into the male flower, what you should see is pollen attached to the end of the brush. Transfer this gently into the female flower, with a twisting action. If you have more than one male flower the repeat the process.
As a general rule if you have pollinated the female flower then the next day you should see the petals of the female flower closing up, although female flowers have been known to last an extra day (open) if they haven't been properly pollinated.
Always go for the brightest yellow male flowers to pollinated your female flower. If the male flower is starting to fade in colour, then the flower is going over and the pollen won't be as fresh and may not work.

I hope this helps lets us know how you get on

[Earthgirl Jen]

Observations:
I think I may have answered my own question yesterday as to why I had 2 melons growing on the same vine...
It was like a 'Doh' moment this afternoon when I realised that both female flowers must have been pollinated at the same time!
It was nothing more complicated than that... And I know all you folk that have been growing them for years already knew this... (feel free to help with advice, thanks)

So when I can I expect my next melon to set on the vine having already got one growing?
The answer is .. it will depend on our growing conditions.

At the moment we have daytime temps undercover (greenhouse/polytunnel) hitting between 30-40c during the daytime and then plummeting to less than 15c at night.
No wonder our melons are confused, they like more consistent 20-30c temps..

So we have to allow our melons time to adjust and I'm guessing that once the first one has set then (due to temps) it could be as much as 2-4wks before we can expect another one to set...

[Earthgirl Jen]

Weekly melon update 8th July 2018

Happy to report all melons are still alive and growing...
What an 'unexpected' great year for growing melons !!!
I hope everyone else is enjoying success and that your melons are growing and positively thriving in this glorious weather we are still having...

In the greenhouse the original two are still there and have been joined by another melon just this week! I will admit that I haven't (hand) pollinated the greenhouse for over a week as there seemed to be loads of pollinating insects buzzing around. However I have had approx 6 baby melons (about the size of a gooseberry ) turn yellow and fall of this week (possibly due to the fact they weren't properly pollinated) and the plants seem to be having a rest and not producing many female flowers... I will make a better effort this week when I am expecting female flowers to start being produced again.



In the porch however my 'biggest and bestest' is still growing. It's put on an inch in the last week (and is now 5'! ) and considering I was only expecting this variety to reach 4-5" max in the UK, I'm happy
In the last couple of days I have however had 10-15 female flowers appear, which I have hand pollinated, I'm waiting to see if my theory will hold true?



And last but not least the Sugarbaby watermelons are happily putting on growth.

[chris_m]

Weekly melon update 8th July 2018

Happy to report all melons are still alive and growing...
What an 'unexpected' great year for growing melons !!!
I hope everyone else is enjoying success and that your melons are growing and positively thriving in this glorious weather we are still having...

The larger of my two Emir melons has started making its surface texture so I reckon it's not far off fully grown and just needs to finish ripening - knife and spoon at the ready ;-)

[ESBkevin]

I wish some of you would stop flaunting your mellons! I've not got any and even my cucumbers are struggling now.

;-)


Well done to all those having success in this dry/wet/dry spring & summer.

[BUFFS]

[QUOTE=ESBkevin;1607831]I wish some of you would stop flaunting your melons! I've not got any and even my cucumbers are struggling now.
can you get arrested for that?, flaunting your melons?, I use OH cut up old tights to support the growing melons so today I was told she had none, I went down the shops, only to be asked "what colour would sir like?", and she grows melons the same way and was just wending me up, I still went a little red, and I prefer black..

[Earthgirl Jen]

[QUOTE=BUFFS;1607922]

I wish some of you would stop flaunting your melons! I've not got any and even my cucumbers are struggling now.
can you get arrested for that?, flaunting your melons?, I use OH cut up old tights to support the growing melons so today I was told she had none, I went down the shops, only to be asked "what colour would sir like?", and she grows melons the same way and was just wending me up, I still went a little red, and I prefer black..

BUFFS hows it going this year? Hows yer melons? !

[Earthgirl Jen]

I wish some of you would stop flaunting your mellons! I've not got any and even my cucumbers are struggling now.

;-)


Well done to all those having success in this dry/wet/dry spring & summer.

Kevin sorry about your melons ... I know your joking

I honestly started this thread because although I could find out 'bits' of information about growing melons in the UK I couldn't find much about the start to finish process ... That's what I was interested in and I thought I'd start a thread and share my own progress...

I'm not an expert, (which is obvious) just an over enthusiastic amateur happy to share progress in the hope others will as well. I'f I'm honest I keep waiting for the real experts to tell me I'm doing it all wrong x ...

[Earthgirl Jen]

The larger of my two Emir melons has started making its surface texture so I reckon it's not far off fully grown and just needs to finish ripening - knife and spoon at the ready ;-)

Chris I need pics or it didn't happen lol...

It's exciting isn't it ...