melons

[stpaulsfc]

Hi All
I'm having some trouble...i've had some melon seeds, i've potted them individually with moist compost, covered them and placed them on the best windowsill I have, 2 weeks later and out of 10 seeds, I have 2 seedlings, one of which only has 1 leaf due to the other getting stuck in the seed casing, I call it "nemo" as it has one good leaf and one little gamy leaf..anyway... what am i doing wrong? why have none of the others germinated? When I dug up the remaining seeds the other day, nothing had happened to them, they were exactly the same as the day I planted them. Whats their problem? do these seeds think they're too good to be seedlings?

[WendyC]

Flat seeds like melons and cucumbers are best placed on their edges otherwise they can collect water and rot off before germinating. Did you give them any bottom heat? Was the seed fresh?

[Guest]

This year is year of the melon for me. I have sown 20ish different varieties all new seeds and from different suppliers and they have been right lil s*ds. Half the varieties germinated but I don't think any of them have been 100%. I know that doesn't help but it might be some comfort

Edit: I told a porkie - VCs Minnisota Midget all germinated

[muddled]

HAHA! Nemo...love it!

If you squeeze the ungerminated seed and its squishy then it has 'rotted off' probably through being too wet.
If you squeeze the seed and its hard....just like when it was planted..then it was probably not fertile to begin with.

Melon seed supposedly lasts really well.
However, I've not managed to grow a decent melon yet and this year none of the six seeds I sowed have germinated at all (and it usually takes me a month or two to murder them) so I'm thinking temperature might be to blame.

[veggiechicken]

Thanks for reminding me to sow some melons - in the heated propagator.
I sowed a few different types last year but the only one to fruit was Minnesota Midget. They were all in GHs too.
TBH I wouldn't spend time trying to grow them, if you can't grow them undercover.

[Bal]

I planted 4 and all 4 germinated. Can't remember what they are . They are in the heated greenhouse now. I was going to try and grow them in my cold frame. I managed to get a few golf ball sized ones last year but the got a bit neglected whilst we were away and came to nothing. Hoping for a better result this time.

[stpaulsfc]

Thanks for the replies guys. i'll try my best with nemo and the other one that germinated and see if i get anywhere.
WendyC, all seeds were placed on their edge and they were as fresh as a packet of seeds can be.
i'll take what i have down to the greenhouse and hope for the best.

[Snoop Puss]

Another good one is Antalya. I've never had any problem with germination and I've bought them from a couple of sources (moreveg does packets of four if you're just looking to do a trial run). They're a Galia type and very nice. Nicky's Seeds Ogen melons have always germinated well for me too.

[Muddy_Boots]

Planted 30 melon seeds, 15 each of the 2 varieties I'm growing. Upto last weekend I had 2 of each germinate which is cr*p but I was thinking well thats 4 more than I had. This morning the rest had decided to wake up so I've now got 30 plants which just goes to show that they need the warmth to kick start them off.