Wayne Schmidt's Extreme Melon Growing Page

EXTREME MELON GROWING (Techniques and varieties for growing the ultimate in sweet melons.)

Because commercial melon growers select the most durable varieties of melons for shipping and the most productive to maximize profits (instead of the sweetest and best tasting,) and then pick them before they are ripe, the melons available in stores represent some of the poorest examples of these great fruits. Come with me as I explore the challenging world of extreme melons growing: combining advanced growing techniques and the best varieties in an attempt to discover how to grow the world's best tasting melon. (Note: Much of what follows is intended for the individual who only has enough space or time for one or two melon plants.)

My comments about "where to plant" focus on location in a yard. Something that can't be controlled location-wise is the weather. I'm fortunate in that my high desert location is almost ideal for melon growing: 90s during the day, high 60s at night, bright sun, no rain (which can foster disease) and low humidity.

Location

The first step is to decide where to plant. It should be an area that has not had melons, pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, or gourds grown in it for at least three years because these might have infected the soil with diseases. It needs to receive full sun all day long, or at least as long as possible. Southern exposures are ideal.

Soil

Next, find out what type of soil you have. Melons prefer light, well-draining soils classified as "sandy loams." To determine what you have take half a cup of soil from 6-inches below the surface and mix it vigorously with a cup and a half of water in a straight-sided glass. Set the glass aside for a day to let the various components settle out. Below is an example of the soil in my melon bed:

The lighter zone at the bottom is sand, next is silt, then clay (In this case mixed in with a lot of settled organic matter that gives it a corky look. The actual thickness of the clay layer without this organic material was very thin.) Floating at the top of the glass are more bits of organic matter. Measure the height of each layer, add these all together to determine the total height of the settled soil and then divide each of the heights of the layers by this total height. This gives the percentage of sand, silt, and clay in your soil. Use these numbers in the chart below to determine where in the soil spectrum your particular soil lays:

My soil tested out at 60-percent sand, 35-percent silt and 5-percent clay. This places it well within the sandy-loam zone in the lower left corner of the triangle. (This test identified the physical characteristic of the soil, not its fertility.) If your soil tests out as too sandy, add organic matter in the form of peat moss, compost, or manure. If it's too silty or clay-like, add sand (just make sure it's not ocean beach sand because that can have harmful salt in it.) Although melon roots can travel over 8-feet in radius and four feet deep, a bed 30-feet square and 18-inches deep is sufficient.

The next step is to correct the PH of the soil. (PH measures acidity: 7.0 is neutral, below 7.0 is acidic and above is basic or alkaline.) Ideal is slightly acidic, 6.5. My high-desert soil typically tests out alkaline, around 7.8. Areas with little rainfall are usually like this, while high-rain areas are usually acidic. If it's above 7.0 add peat moss (PH 3.5) to bring it down. The PH scale is non-linear (each change of 1.0 means a change in acidity of 10X.) so not much is needed. It might take as little as 10 cubic feet for 30 square foot by 18-inch deep bed. If your soil is too acidic, try adding compost or manure. These are alkaline and will raise the PH. (Most bagged soil amendments are made up of manure and compost so they are alkaline too, sometimes as high as 8.5.) The advantage of correcting the PH with organic material is that it improves the texture of the soil, drainage, primary nutrients, micronutrients and water-holding ability. I don't encourage chemical corrections such as sulfur (to lower the PH) or lime (to raise it) because these chemicals can be poisonous to important soil organisms like earthworms. (My preference is for organic gardening, but I'm not a hardliner.)

Note: Before testing your soil, be sure to test your water. If it's acidic or alkaline it could throw the soil test off and needs to compensated for. It's also a good idea to test any amendments if you're adding a large amount of them.

Finally, we need to address the question of fertility. Melons are vigorous grows that require a lot of nutrients. The only way to know for sure if your soil is prepared to support them is to send a sample to a professional lab for evaluation (I use the testing service at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, www.groworganic.com) and follow their recommendations for optimizing you soil. (Home-test kits can provide an inkling of your soil's health, but they lack the accuracy and detail of a professional test lab.) I prefer using organic fertilizers for improving soil because in addition to the primary nutrients of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous, they supply many micronutrients unavailable from chemical fertilizers. While the roots continually expand into new soil that's rich in unused nutrients, I admit to giving each plant a weekly boost of 2 tablespoons of water-soluble 18-24-16 food for every 5-square feet of watered surface just to feel I'm doing something to help the plant along. I don't switch to a low nitrogen mix once the plants begin fruiting because I'm not interested in producing large numbers of melons, just one excellent one at a time. Cutting back on the nitrogen slows the plant's growth. Less leaf area means the plant can't produce as much sugar and the melons won't be as sweet.

Mixing in all the amendments fluffs up the soil, which is good for the roots because it increases the infiltration of air to the root zone but it's also bad because all that fluffy soil may collapse during the first deep watering. If this collapse happens after seeding the seeds may be carried too deep and not be able to make it to the surface. For this reason I recommend a deep watering before seeding. Let the soil settle out, then rake it level. Once the bed is done, avoid walking on it because this will cause compaction that limits root growth.

The last issue is soil depth. Melons are one of the most aggressive root developers in the vegetable world. However, as the following image of the roots of a 35-day old muskmelon shows:

...their roots are concentrated in the top 12-inches of soil. While shallow, they extend beyond the reach of the longest runners. This means a mature plant can send lateral roots out as far as 15-feet in all directions. The consequence of this is that when building up soil for a melon bed it's better to go far rather than deep. (The image of the melon roots was borrowed from the outstanding Soil and Health site at http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010137veg.roots/010137toc.html. This URL provides links to pages providing similar images on many vegetables in addition to valuable cultural information.)

This shallow root structure indicates that frequent, shallow waterings may be more effective than widely spaced, deep waterings. For the same reason triple digging to prepare a bed 4-feet deep may not be necessary, unless it's to correct for drainage problems.

Make all of the soil corrections the Fall before planting and let the soil rest over the winter. This lets the earthworms improve its texture and mix things up more uniformly. It also allows any chemicals used to disperse so that there aren't any hot spots that might burn roots.

Melon varieties and types

Next comes variety selection. For me the melons that produces the greatest amount of good eating are muskmelons, the type covered with a netting of cork-like scars. They are also the earliest to produce and easiest to grow. After decades of testing dozens of different varieties of western (no ribs), eastern (ribbed), hybrids, heirlooms, and Europeans like charentais and Savor (these are true cantaloupes, small, smooth-skinned and mostly round) I found the sweetest and best tasting melon to be Burpee's Ambrosia Hybrid. Second place goes to Sugar Queen. It has a slight grassy taste but is considerably more resistant to disease and more productive. Since I'm interested in extreme quality I'm willing to sacrifice some quantity for the very best melons so for me it's Ambrosia, which was released in 1975.

Honeydews and watermelons are great but they are less reliable than muskmelons, require much more room, take longer and their quality is more sensitive to when they are picked. (However, for the adventurous gardener the techniques that follow are equally applicable to them.)

It all starts with a few seeds. It's hard to believe that each of
these tiny bundles of life have the ability to produce 30 pounds
of some of the world's best eating in just one summer.
(These are Burpee's Ambrosia muskmelon seeds.)

Planting and growing

Because my summers are long I have the luxury of direct seeding into the garden. For shorter-summer areas I recommend starting your melons inside 4 weeks before the last frost date and growing them under artificial plant-grow lights left on for 16 to 18 hours a day. (Please click on FLUORESCENT PLANT LIGHTING for information about growing plants under artificial lights.) Besides getting an early start on the season, this means the plants will be large enough at transplant time to resist attacks by cut worms. The best size pot is the largest one you can handle. Consider to following image of a 19-day old Ambrosia melon seedling:

Although the above ground part of the plant is still small, the roots extend 7 to 10 inches in all directions. Planting melons in small containers will quickly lead to root binding that could seriously inhibit the plant's grow once it's transplanted into the garden. Under average conditions melon roots advance half an inch a day. In ideal situations this growth rate can easily double. I never use anything smaller than a 5-gallon pot. (Lining it with chicken wire allows the root ball to be lifted out by the chicken wire without the ball falling apart.)

For direct seeding. I dig a hole 6-inches in diameter and 12-inches deep. I fill it with sterile planting mix and push a plastic collar cut from a gallon plastic milk jug 3-inches deep around it, leaving 1-inch extending above the soil. The potting soil improves germination and reduces diseases. The plastic collar acts as a barrier to cutworms. I place half a dozen seeds in this. If the weather's warm, five days later the melons will have sprouted.

While melons are usually left to sprawl over the landscape, doing so invites a host of problems. Sprawling plants take up an enormous amount of room, a single muskmelon can easily fill a 20-foot diameter circle. Laying on the ground the leaves and vines are more likely to be attacked by insects and diseases. When the melon aphids arrive, and they always do, they often grow unchecked because it's so hard to inspect for them. This weakens the plant and reduces the quality of the fruit. With sprawled plants you have to walk in the beds to check the plants and harvest melons and this can damage vines and compact soil. finally, in areas of high wind the melon vines can be rolled up and broken loose from their roots. To address all of these problems my recommendation, and this is the first suggestion that qualifies this page as "extreme," is to grow the melon up a trellis. This prevents almost all of the above-mentioned problems. The down side is that because melons are poor natural climbers they need a daily attention to tie the vines to the trellis, and it takes a big trellis, 8-feet tall and 20-feet wide is minimum in long-season growing areas.

Trellising also enables compensating for less than ideal weather conditions. Trellised melons have greater access to drier air and more airflow, which reduces risks from diseases that prosper in humid climates. In extreme southern areas a vertical trellis reduces the amount of sun on the leaves and in so doing prevents the plant from being overstressed (melon plants grown in very hot, sunny locations can outgrow their roots to the point where the roots can't provide enough moisture to ward off dehydration on the hottest days.) In northern zones where the sun may not be bright enough for good melons, tilting the trellis backward so that it is perpendicular to the noon sun will maximize the amount of light available to the plant. If the melon is backed by a bright reflective surface, sunlight passing through the plant will be reflected back on it from behind and increase the amount of sugar-producing light available to it. Finally, trellised melons are easier to enclose in greenhouse structures, making melons possible even in the most northerly climates.

The trellis needs to be very strongly secured to prevent it from falling over from the weight of the melon plant or blown over by wind.

When the first set of true leaves have formed, I thin out all but the most vigorous plant. Just pinch them off at ground level. Pulling them out may damage the roots of the melon plant you want to keep. (I've never been a "hill" grower where two or three plants are grown near each other. This causes competition for water and nutrients and makes such a dense tangle of growth that working the beds without damaging vines is impossible.) I push a thin wood dowel into the soil close to the plant but not close enough to damage its roots and train the vine up it until it's 12-inches tall.

Under the ideal conditions the plant will reach
12-inches tall in as little as 2 weeks.

While a melon's African heritage makes it able to withstand high summer temperatures and blindingly bright sunlight, that's only after a milder Spring growth period lets it establish an extensive root system. If you plant in the middle of summer the young plants may wilt in the heat of the day because they haven't had time to establish a root system large enough to support them. Providing partial shade supplied by one, two or three layers of aluminum screen for the first six weeks of growth may help get them off to a more stress-free start.

Once a melon plant is 12-inches tall, I place a trellis behind the plant and start training the vine up it. It's at this time that growing melons on a trellis takes on a completely different feel than any other form of gardening.

Because the melon grows so fast (the main vertical leader can grow 8-inches in a single day) and because I'm handling the plant every day as I tie it to the trellis, it stops being a stationary thing like most plants and takes on more of the personality of a pet. It's not just a tangle of runners, but each vine is unique and has it's own growth pattern. All in all it makes extreme melon growing a more rewarding and interesting experience than regular melon growing.

I train the main leader straight up the trellis and the side shoots horizontally outward. As the side shoots near the ends of the trellis I train them upward, bending each one a little earlier than the last to fill the trellis solid. I resist pinching growing shoots off as many references recommend with the idea that this encourages the plant to concentrate more energy in ripening melons. Dr. Amy Goldman (Melons for the Passionate Grower) discovered during field testing that this doesn't work. It also doesn't make sense because it's the leaves that produce the sugars that sweeten the melon. Any action that reduces the amount of leaf area also reduces the sugar-producing capability of the plant. Besides, as anyone who's pruned a rose bush knows, snipping off the ends of plants only encourages more side shoots to form.

The only time I pinch off any part of the plant is when I see a leaf that is turning yellow. There's the potential that it's been infected with a disease and removing it may prevent the spread of the illness.

Eight weeks after germination the plant had grown to 8-feet tall and 10 wide and is starting to produce the first melons. (I was soon to learn that as big as it looks it was just getting started.) There is one melon under the white handkerchief near the bottom of the plant. The white covering protects the melon from sun scald. The sun is so bright in my high desert location that it can cook a melon on the vine. Gardeners in cooler areas may have to do the opposite: expose the melons to more sun by lifting them above the leafy canopy.

I noticed that while there were several other pollinated melons on the plant by this time, none of them were growing. Weeks later, as the first melon neared ripening, three of these small melons suddenly started to grow. I assume what happened is that the plant knew it could only support one melon and put the others on hold until the plant got large enough to support their growth. I culled all but one of these secondary melons. I only want one melon at a time to ripen. Much of the fruit's sugar content is determined in the last few days of ripening. If there are more than one ripening at the same time then the plant's total sugar output has to be divided between them, reducing the average sweetness. I prune off all except one melon every two weeks to ensure top quality melons.

Additional Training Details

Because the stems to melon leaves quickly take on an almost permanent set, if the vines are moved the leaves may get repositioned so that the sun can't reach their top surfaces. For this reason it's best to have a training plan so changes don't have to be made later. Below is the plan I found works well:

The primary runner is trained straight up the middle of the trellis. When it reaches the top I train it along the top to one side and the side runner closest in the opposite direction.

The first two secondary, or side, runners that form on the bottom of the plant are first trained up at a sharp angle then straight out to the sides after they are 18-inches above the soil. This keeps them from trailing their leaves in the dirt, the prime zone for disease and insect attack.

Any tertiary shoots that form along the secondary runners are trained straight up the trellis.

During the training process, I like to reposition any leaves growing behind the trellis so they face up and to the front so that they get as much sunlight as possible. This is for a south-facing trellis. For trellises running north and south the leaves can be left to face which ever direction they want. The leaves on a muskmelon can grow more than 9-inches across. For this reason it's best to space the runners as far apart as possible to minimize bunching (which creates ideal areas for insects to hide) and shading (which reduces the amount leaf area exposed to sunlight and thereby the plant's sugar-producing capability.)

Although melons are poor climbers, they still have grasping tendrils that need some watching. Left to themselves, they can wrap around and crush leaves and even strangle main runners.

Leave at least a thumbs-diameter open around the ties used to hold the vines to the trellis. As the plant matures the vines increase in diameter and tight ties can strangle them. If a runner is tied within 6-inches of its end, its stem is so soft that it may bend, causing the vine to bow instead of staying straight. For this reason I prefer to place ties at least 8-inches back from the growing tip. In areas of high wind, like mine, it's a good idea to place ties at least every 12-inches to avoid having the wind whip the free end of the runner around, damaging or even snapping it off. Move slowly when handling the runners, they're hollow and can be easily crimped or broken.

While it would be nice to have a trellis large enough to allow the melon to grow without limit, in long-seasoned areas this isn't practical. The first Ambrosia melon I trained on a frame outgrew a 7-foot tall by 18-foot wide trellis in only 4 months.

As the melon plant gets into its fourth month the high number of tertiary runners can start to crowd the outer zones so much that it's hard to find open areas in which to train them. My solution is to train them back toward the center of the plant where the number of runners is much lower.

Beware... Leaf flop!

Because leaves grow up toward the sun, runners trained horizontally tend to be top heavy. A errant breeze or some rain may weigh down the leaves enough to cause them to tip over, twisting the runner so that the leaves now point downward. Because mature leaves are very slow to reorient themselves this situation means that a large amount of leaf area is shut down to photosynthesis and can't contribute to sweetening the melons. I keep an eye out for this and when it happens use twist-tie wire to rotate the leaves back into their proper upward facing position.

Watering

Watering melons can be tricky. Because the roots need air for good health it's necessary to space the waterings out so that the soil isn't always saturated with water. But, because the plants are very large and fast growing they also require a lot of water, necessitating thorough soakings. The problem with alternating heavy soakings with drying-out periods is that growth spurts following a watering can split a melon. My solution is to use three separate watering areas around each plant. I water one each day, always following the same sequence. This provides a steady water supply to the plant yet gives each soil zone the opportunity to drain and pull air into its structure.

Insects

Something about melon plants makes them irresistible to a wide range of insects, particularly aphids. Growing the plants up a trellis goes a long way to eliminating this problem but eventually they will attack. It's important to discover an infestation as early as possible so inspect several leaves every time you go out to train the vines onto the trellis. When an infestation is discovered, rub them out with your finger right away or spray them with some insecticidal soap. The longer you can keep them at bay the longer the vine will be healthy, strong, and productive.

It's easy to lose track of which leaves have and haven't been checked. Rather than randomly spot checking leaves, I found it helpful to check all the leaves on just one or two runners a day. Working from the bottom the plant up this ensures that the entire plant gets covered.

Because aphids are instinctively attracted to the dark undersides of the leaves, placing aluminum foil or a white surface under or behind the plant confuses them and thereby discourages attacks. My melon trellis is close to a south facing wall that's painted white. I believe that the almost complete absence of aphids on the plant may be due in part to having this bright surface so close to the plant.

Contrary to their behavior with other plants, melon aphids in my high desert location do not attack the fresh, new growth first. Rather, they prefer congregating on the undersides of the oldest leaves, perhaps because these provide the darkest shade. They also tend to cluster. If you find an infested leaf you can be pretty sure that other adjacent leaves will also have aphids.

Enlisting some help

It's impractical to examine each leaf every day to make sure an aphid infestation is stopped before it can cause problems. Spot checks are a practical compromise but what's needed is some help. If you know of another plant that regularly gets attacked by aphids the solution may be hiding on the underside of its leaves.

The picture above is of a cluster of green lacewing eggs laid on the bottom of a leaf. When they hatch the emerging larva are the most voracious aphid predators known to man. If you spot any clusters like this pick the leaf off and move it to a safe, shady spot on your melon plant. When the larva hatch they'll scour the vine day and night devouring every aphid they come across. This isn't a one-time treatment. Repeat it as many times as you can find egg clusters.

There's a large hedge of oleanders bordering my back yard which act like aphid magnets. I search through young shoots looking for aphid colonies, which are orange and easily spotted. More often than not there will be a cluster of lacewing eggs nearby. Milkweed plants are also good attractors of aphids and therefore lacewings.

Flower pollination and melon growth

Four weeks after the melon sprouts the first flowers appear.

Female flower...........Male flower

Female flowers are "perfect" with both male parts
(the yellow, pollen-carrying anthers on the outside)
and female parts (the green pollen-receiving stamens
in the middle.)

Male flowers only have the yellow pollen-covered anthers.

With the idea of producing the earliest possible melon, I recommend hand pollinating the first female flowers. Pull off the petals from a male flower and gently rub the yellow anthers against the green stamens in the middle of a female flower. Repeat this two or three time over the course of a day to insure the melon gets pollinated. After this first melon, hand-pollinating isn't necessary because the later melons will have enough time to be pollinated by insects. It's just that when the plant is small there aren't always enough flowers to attract insects.

Many melons will start to grow only to stall, turn yellow and fall off the vine. One sign that this may happen is the the blossom end of the melon will look slightly pointed instead of round, as in the following picture:

In person, the pointiness of the end closest to the blossom
is more pronounced than appears in this photograph.

But, if everything goes as it should the melon will grow rapidly.

The melon one week old. Note that the blossom end is
much rounder than the melon in the previous picture.

The melon two weeks old. By this time the melon needs to rest on a support
so that its weight doesn't damage the vine. I screwed an L-shaped wood shelf
to the trellis and cradled the melon on it using a soft rubber dog-chew toy ring.
The melon is positioned so that there is a slight constant pressure pushing the
stem toward the melon. Even small forces pulling on the stem can cause it
to separate prematurely from the fruit as it nears full ripeness. Muskmelon
melons can weigh more than 8-pounds so make sure the supports
can handle the load.

The melon 3 weeks old. The characteristic netting of
muskmelons is starting to appear. These are
scars formed by the skin splitting as the
inside of the melon grows faster
than its surface.

The melon at four weeks old - almost full size. The netting formation
is complete, suggesting that the melon is closing in on its
final ripening stage. Also note that the skin has
turned a darker green.

The melon five weeks old. It hasn't changed much in the last week, though there is a
hint of orange just starting to show close to the blossom scar that's not visible in
this photo. The second melon, pollinated two weeks after this one, has put
on a spurt of growth and is now larger than this earlier melon.

Just four days later things started happening. Overnight the melon changed from solid green to having a definite golden hue. It was at this point that growing on a trellis is radically different than normal melon growing. Because the melon is so easily observable you experience the ripening process in an intimate and detailed way that is forbidden to any other technique.

Picking day!!!

The melon was fully ripe 41 days weeks after it was pollinated. The proof that it's ripe is that the stem slipped off the melon by itself without my having to push on it. (Commercially-grown melons have their stems forced off at the 1/4 to 1/2 slip stage - up to a week before the melon is truly ripe and far too early for the fruit to have built up its full quota of sugar.) Secondary indicators of ripeness were the deep golden color of the skin and a heady, musky aroma coming from the melon. What amazes first-time melon growers is that this aroma, which is nonexistent in most store-bought melons, is strong enough to perfume the air for a good ten feet around the plant on still days. It isn't subtle, but strong, powerful and extremely pleasant. The greenish area on the right of the melon above isn't the melon's color, but caused by green light reflecting off leaves. In person it was an even golden hue everywhere.

How good is it?

Time to find out if all the work was worth it. For comparison I went to several grocery stores and bought the ripest melon I could find.

Even this good example of a commercial melon showed green areas on the skin, proof that it was picked early. The melon was okay, as store-bought melons go, but it lacked the dazzlingly sweet flavor of a truly great vine-ripened melon. (Please note: just growing a vine-ripened melon doesn't ensure that's it's going to be sweet. The popular Super 45 or Imperial 45, of which this is one, can be ripened to a perfect golden yellow and give off a deliciously musky aroma and yet still have a sugar content of only 9-percent.)

The trellis-grown melon, on the other hand, was so sweet and flavorful that it's hard to believe that they are the same fruit. In comparison, the store-bought melon tasted as dull as a cucumber. (Not to put cucumbers down. They are great... they're just not melons.)

The first melon off my trellised plant weighed 4-pounds, 5-ounces (a good-sized melon) and had a sugar content of 13.8-percent, significantly higher than the 9.7-percent average for grocery store melons. The second one to ripen was over 6-pounds and had an incredible sugar content of 15.5-percent. It was so sweet and richly flavored that one bite was enough to satisfy even the most ardent melon lover's appetite for an entire season.

A top variety like Ambrosia ripened to perfection on the vine imparts upon the connoisseur a sense of well-being that no other fruit can, not even other melons.

Refractometers

One tool that adds a lot of fun to melon growing is a refractometer, a device that instantly tells you the sugar content and flavor density of a fruit. (Available from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply.)

To use it you lift the plastic cover on the left and squeeze a drop or two of melon juice (or any type of juice for that matter) onto the underlaying glass window. Drop the plastic cover back in place in top of the juice to evenly distribute it, point the refractometer at a bright light and look through the eyepiece on the right. What you'll see is a vertical scale with a white zone under a blue zone. The line between these two zones intersects the scale at the percent sugar of the juice being testing. Here are two

...........
store-bought................home-grown
.melon at 10.2 ..............melon at 15.5
.percent sugar...............percent sugar

Human response to sugar is nonlinear. A melon that has an 11-percent sugar content can taste twice as sweet as a 10-percent melon. What this means is that at the pinnacle of melon sweetness, 15 to 16 percent, melons become an unmatched eating experience. One catch to this is the type on melon effects the sweetness almost as much as sugar content. I've grown Charentais melons that didn't taste all that sweet even when their sugar was 16+ percent. The reason is that these melons are so packed with flavor components that are often carried in an acidic base that the acid reduces the effective sweetness of the melon.

Back to the sweetness scales:

Melons ripen from the inside out, so the zone next to the seed cavity is always the sweetest. The following image shows how sugar content decreases the closer you get to the rind:

This is a melon harvested at half-slip. Vine-ripened melons are not only sweeter near the center and rind, they also have a flatter sweetness profile so that a higher percentage of the melon's flesh is at the sweet end of the scale. For example, in the melon above the sugar content decreased 43-percent from center to rind. Vine-ripened melons may only have a 30-percent decrease.

Because of this sweetness profile, it's important when comparing melons to always take juice samples from the same zone.

Harvesting hints

Muskmelons are the easiest of all melons to determine when to pick because they automatically separate from the vine when ripe. The hint that this is about to happen is that a crack will form all the way around the stem.

While the outside feeder tubes in the stem may have broken free of the melon, many center ones are still attached and can pump a little more flavor into it. For this reason I wait another day before harvesting the melon. By this time a sticky sap may begin oozing from the stem connection.

A deep golden rind color and sweet, musky fragrance are also good indicators of when the melon is nearing ripeness. The problem with using aroma as a guide is that a fully ripe melon that's very cold will not give off as much musky perfume as a lesser ripe melon that's warm.

Watermelons are the next easiest because the white spot on which the melon rests on the ground turns yellow. Melon growers try to fool consumers by turning the melons a week before picking to expose the white spot to sun and thereby force it to turn yellow. If you see a watermelon in a store with a large white spot with a yellow tint and a second, smaller and fainter white area roughly opposite to it, the melon has been turned to fool you. Rapping the melon with your knuckles and listening for a hollow sound is a time-honored test that is fraught with problems. Melons resonate when rapped. Larger melons resonate at lower tones while smaller melons resonate higher. Similarly, unripe melons resonate higher than ripe ones. These two opposing factors mean that when rapping a melon it's necessary to take into account its size and use experience to know how low or hollow a melon of a given size should sound when ripe. (Some references place great value on judging ripeness by the tendril at the base of the melon's stem drying out. I've never found this reliable because too often the tendril gets damaged and dies, and in so doing makes it look like the melon is ripe when it isn't.)

True cantaloupes, like charentais melons, usually have a color change when ripe and develop cracks or splits in the skin that can go clear to the flesh. Waiting for them to split isn't always reliable when water is decreased to enhance sweetness and flavor because reduced water absorption goes a long way toward stopping the rampant growth that causes splitting.

Honeydew melons are the trickiest of all because some varieties display no outward indicators of ripeness. Usually I look for a melon to feel waxy and for a slight pressure to the blossom end to produce 1/8th inch of give. Less give and the flesh will be crunchy. More and the center may be pulpy and starting to deteriorate. The problem with pushing on the blossom end is that each time it's done the melon is bruised and weakened. Consequently, a melon that's been tested this way a couple of times may have enough give to suggest that it's ripe when in reality it's just a green melon that's been bruised. Equally, a perfectly ripe but overly tested honeydew may feel too soft and overripe.

In the final analysis the only way to know when a melon is ripe to to stick with one variety and grow it several years, carefully observing and noting any and all changes to the fruit and relating these changes to the quality of the fruit when picked. Familiarity is the best tool for judging ripeness because each variety has its own peculiarities.

Varieties I've tested:

Muskmelons (both hybrid and open-pollinated types)
Delicious
Market Pride
Hale's Best
Iroquois
Harvest Queen
Schoon's Hard Shell
Minnesota Midget
Creme de la Creme
Sprint
Ambrosia (Sweetest and best tasting)
Touchdown
Spearmelon
Super (or Imperial) 45 (This is a popular market melon because it produces large
................................numbers of small, durable melons. Unfortunately the eating
................................quality is very poor even when left to ripen on the vine.)

Fastbreak
Honeyrock
Sugar Queen (Second best tasting. Produces greater numbers of larger melons than
...................Ambrosia and is more disease resistant. Very large plant.)

True Cantaloupes
Charentais
Charmel II
Savor (By far the sweetest and best tasting with up to 19-percent sugar. But, its
..........flavor density is so great that unless the sugar content is above 16-
..........percent the melon can taste unpleasantly sharp.)

Watermelons
Charlston Gray
Calhoun Gray
AU Jubilant
Allsweet
AU Producer
Klondike
Crimson Sweet
Congo
Dixilee (The sweetest and darkest red. All other watermelon flesh looks
..........gray-pink in comparison. The seeds are confined to tight bundles that are
..........easily cut out. Pick when the ground spot turns yellow but before the
..........melon makes a hollow sound when rapped with your knuckles to avoid the
..........center over-ripening to pulpiness.)
Klecky Sweet
Sunset

Honeydew Melons
Earlidew
Morning Dew
Sweet Delight
Ojo Caliente
Spanish Espanol
Honey King (By Northrup King. The sweetest and best tasting. Ripened on the vine, small surface cracks may form on the skin. This doesn't effect quality, just looks.)

When an Extreme Melon Grower Goes even more Extreme:

I've been working on the soil in my melon bed for several years and it's paid off. The soil is very rich. But, like most backyard garneds it's shallow: barely eight inches deep.

A cut-away view of the soil in my melon bed. Eight inches down from the
surface the rich topsoil turns into lifeless sand. While this sand gives
excellent drainage it doesn't provide any nutrients to the plants.

While most of the roots of mature melons are concentrated in the top 18 inches of soil, several, like the main tap root, still reach down as far as three or more feet. Although these roots are a very small I recall reading somewhere that many plants use them to gauge the overall growth potential of the soil. Tap roots that are able to grow deep trigger plant to grow faster and stronger than those trapped in shallower soil. For this reason I decided to undertake a massive improvement of the soil in the bed.

The first thing I did was dig out the soil 18-inches deep. Then I amended the remaining subsoil with copious quantities of alfalfa meal (provides many nutrients and growth accelerators) blood meal, home-made compost, bone meal, peat moss (increases the organic matter and lowers the soil's PH, manure, Epsom salts (for magnesium) a vitamin B1 and manganese supplement, cotton seed meal (good slow-release fertilizer) and some 5-10-10 organic fertilizer. Using a pitch fork I mixed these amendments 12-inches into the bed's subsoil. One half of the excavated soil was returned to the bed and amended with the same materials. The remaining soil was then stacked on top of the bed and also amended with the same materials. What resulted was a bed filled with top quality soil 36-inches deep. It was a monster of a job but I'm hopeful it'll help me break the 16-percent sugar level in an Ambrosia muskmelon.

Final words

Sadly, shortly after the second melon ripened leaves near the bottom part of the main trunk began turning yellow and wilting. Within a week half of the plant had succumbed. Two days after that it was dead. Research suggests that the cause was fusarium wilt, a fungas that clogs the water carrying arteries in the plant. That put an end to the 2006 season. But fear not. I'll be back next year with even more exotic growing techniques.

In conclusion: Extreme melon growing requires investing considerable time and expense to prepare the soil, erect trellises, train vines and hunt for insects. But, these extremes pay off in producing melons that are gastronomic gems unobtainable any other way. (Actually, a few specialty farmers in Japan grow melons using these techniques for commercial sales but a single one can cost over $100.00. They are often given as prestige gifts and highly valued as such.)

So next time you feel like a gardening challenge, try some of these techniques and see if they don't pay off.

Annual Updates:

2007 - The Great Savor - Petit Gris de Rennes Shoot Out

Savor has repeatedly won tastes tests as the best hybrid Charentais melon. Equally, Petit Gris de Rennes takes top honors in the non-hybrid arena. I decided to match these two greats in a head-to-head comparison to see which produced the best tasting melon.

Intuition inclines one to give the nod to Savor because it has the advantage of hybridization. However, many hybrids aren't developed for flavor but for earliness, disease resistance, productivity or shippability. That Savor wins so many taste tests may simply be that while it is tops when compared to other good producer-shipper melons, it may come up second in flavor when compared to a non-hybrid like Petit Gris de Rennes that has been optimized for nothing but flavor for 400 years.

Both were planted and grown in the same soil, in an area that receives uniform sunlight both in duration and intensity, received the same amount of water and the same amount and type of fertilizer. Every effort was made to keep everything equal between them. The area used had not had melons grown in it for over ten years so the odds of it being infected with melon diseases was minimal.

Results:

Right from the first Savor showed its hybrid vigor by outgrowing Petit Gris de Rennes two to one, both in the height of the main stem and the number of runners. In this respect Savor is challenging to train to a trellis because its growth is so rampant. The density of runners is so great that overcrowding is a certainty, with increased chances of insect and disease attack.

After three months Petit Gris de Rennes (below, left) caught up to Savor (right) in height, if not overall bulk:

The white cloth on Savor (right) covers its first melon to protect it from sun burn.

Savor again took an early lead by setting the first melon. Ten days after pollination it clearly showed the stripes or sutures that mark many true cantaloupes.

Twelve days after the first Petit Gris de Rennes melon (below) was pollinated it was slightly larger.

At this early age melons grow extremely fast so I can't say whether Petit Gris de Rennes is an inherently larger melon or if the two days additional growth is was made it bigger than Savor.

Note that at this stage the melons are chromatic opposites: Savor is predominantly light with dark sutures while Petit Gris de Rennes is dark with light sutures. As they matured Savor's stripes faded.

By the time the first Savor ripened, 4 months after planting, the melon plants
had completely covered the 40-foot long trellis.

The Savor melon was ripe 39 days after pollination, as shown by cracks at the blossom end, yellowing of the ribs and a strong aroma. Several days prior to harvesting I stopped watering the plant to avoid watery-tasting flesh. As cracks appeared I covered them with duct tape to prevent contamination and insect attack. Unlike muskmelons, which give ample warning as they approach ripeness, Savor's color and aroma changes were extremely subtle and easy to miss.

Although Charentais melons like Savor develop a better texture if picked and held at room temperature for three days, large cracks permit molds and bacteria to contaminate the inside of the fruit. After three days it may become spoiled. Whether or not to wait depends on the depth of the cracks. In the case of this melon they were deep enough to warrant immediate consumption. Fortunately, it was good enough to not need holding.

Beautiful both inside and out, this melon was also delicious. With a Brix of 18.3 percent sugar you might expect it to be almost too sugary. This wasn't the case because Savors are so deeply flavored that this level of sweetness is required for balance. There's nothing insipid about these melons. They fill your mouth with deep, rich, complex flavors.

While I expected that allowing the plant to ripen only one fruit would increase it's sweetness, I didn't expect it to also increase the size of the melon. This beauty weighed 4-pounds, 12-ounces, almost three times the average for a Savor melon.

While this was a great melon, it nonetheless had some down sides. It gave off a sharp grassy aroma which wasn't appetizing. This is markedly different from muskmelons, whose perfume is as delicious to smell as their flesh is to eat. Savor's texture is firm, almost crunchy. I prefer melons that are tender and succulent. Finally, it's very hard to anticipate when the melon is going to ripen to cut back on water.

Thirty-eight days after it was pollinated the first Petit Gris de Rennes melon was ripe.

This monster weighed an amazing 5 and 1/2 pounds, almost four times the average. It was much easier to tell how the ripening was progressing than the Savor because it clearly showed color changes four full days before the first crack showed in the blossom end. The crack grew much more slowly than with the Savor allowing it to stay on the vine longer. The melon had a measured Brix of 16.6. While this is lower than the Savor's, the Petit Gris de Rennes was a much better tasting melon; while full-bodied in flavor it was heartier and considerably less harsh. The flesh was also slightly more succulent. In many ways Petit Gris de Rennes' flavor reminded me of a top-quality muskmelon.

For myself I rate Petit Gris de Rennes the clear and obvious winner over Savor in this shoot-out. It's better tasting, larger, the plant is easier to train and the melon gives more warning of when it's going to ripen. However, I rate them both inferior to an Ambrosia muskmelon grown using the same extreme melon growing techniques. There is something about a 15 or 16 Brix Ambrosia that imparts a sense of wonder, amazement and well being that no other melon can. From now on it is the prime melon I'll be growing.

The second Savor ripened September 9. Although its sugar level was only 16.5-percent, it was mild tasting enough to enjoy. It weighed a respectable 4-pounds, 2-ounces. The plant was exhibiting signs of stress, probably from a minor fusarium wilt infection. I assume this accounts for the lower sugar level and size even though the plant itself was larger. A minor aphid infestation also may have contributed to the lower Brix.

The second Petite Gris de Rennes melon ripened a week later. Sadly, a massive aphid infestation and Fusarium wilt infaction weakened the plant so the melon's sugar level was only 14.3-percent. While this level would be good for a muskmelon, the Petit Gris de Rennes came out harsh. This second melon was another monster size-wise, weighing 5-pounds, 3-ounces.

Fighting Fusarium Wilt

This most dread of all melon diseases struck the Petit Gris de Rennes melon two months into its growth. Fortunately it was a mild infection and I decided to fight it.

I noticed that only a few leaves showed the complete dehydrated collapse once the sun shown on them that is characteristic of this bacterial infection. This suggested that even though the infection may have infected the entire plant it seemed to be concentrated in discrete locations. Thinking that these pockets of heavy infection might serve as reservoirs of bacteria, I began a daily routine of pinching off any leaves that wilted. Typical for this disease, the first leaves were located near the main trunk. The first day I pinched of a dozen leaves. The second only half that. Each day there were fewer wilted leaves to remove until by the end of a week none exhibited the extreme collapse indicative of fusarium wilt. I'm not a plant pathologist so I can't state with authority that this actually slowed the spread of the disease, but it seemed to have a positive effect in this case.

Shortly after this I noticed that on the brightest days, and in my high desert location such days have unbelievably intense sunlight, the plant as a whole showed signs of wilting even if I'd watered it heavily that same morning. I assumed that this might be a manifestation of a low level of plant-wide fusarium wilt infection. It wasn't bad enough to cause the catastrophic dead-leave sort of wilt of a full fledged infection, just a general weakening of the plant's vascular system. Thinking that every time this minor wilt happened it further weakened the plant and that each such weakening would cause cumulative injury, I decided to cover the plant with a white shade cloth. This reduced the intensity of the sun just enough so that the plant wouldn't wilt.

Although it looks opaque, this cover permitted copious amounts of sunlight through. This cover was only in place during those periods when the sun was the strongest and directly shining on the plant. This too seemed to help the plant remain a healthy, vigorous grower.

Since the bacteria that causes Fusarium wilt clogs the plant's vascular system so that it isn't as able to pump fluids, I began watering the plant very heavily (4-inches) every day. The idea was to provide as much water as possible so the plant didn't have to work as hard to collect and use it. Fortunately the drainage in my bed is excellent so waterlogging wasn't an issue.

Finally, I began a program of spraying the plant once a week with a foliar fertilizer, (Peaceful Valley Farm Supply's Brix Mix) so the plant didn't have to work as hard to pump nutrients around all it's runners.

Again, I can't say with certainty that these efforts helped. However, two months after the first signs of the Fusarium wilt showed itself the plant is still strong, vigorously growing and producing ripe melons. In the past when the same type and level of infection showed up the melon plant would have long since have died.

Random thoughts and suggestions

Melon aphids always attack my plants around the 4-month mark, right when they are trying to ripen melons. Regardless of how many times I inspect the plants and spray, the infestation always gets out of hand... but not in the 2007 season. That year I decided to experiment with Peaceful Valley Farm Supply's Brix Mix foliar fertilizer. I sprayed the plants once every two weeks. While I didn't notice any improvement in growing speed or melon sweetness, I did notice that I have yet to see a single aphid anywhere on the plants. And this is five months into the season. Considering that there are milkweed and oleander bushes that are heavily infested with aphids just feet from the melons this is amazing. The Peaceful Valley people claim that the spray increases the Brix of the plant's tissues making them less appetizing to insects. While this single case hardly proves the value of this product it's certainly one I plan continuing to use. Even if it doesn't feed the plant it's worth it just for aphid protection. (This protection broke down a month later. Two sections of the trellis became infected with aphid colonies. A good soaking with a 1-percent insecticidal soap spray brought the infestation under control. Had the plants been growing on the ground there would have been no way to stop the spread of the aphids. In a week or so the plants would have become completely overwhelmed and the second crop of menlons lost.)

Training melons up a trellis is repetitive, tedious work. Anything that makes it easier is worth considering. I discovered that taping a bent-wire hook onto the back of a spool of the twist tie used for the training is a major time saver.

It allows me to hang it on the trellis or hook it on my belt after cutting off a piece of tie, enabling me to have two hands free to work the plant.

A Trick When Spraying for Aphids

Mature plants cover the trellis so tightly that when spraying a aphid infestation it's easy to get lost and lose track of which leaves have been sprayed. I find it helpful to use the trellis as a grid, spraying all the leaves in one square before moving on to the next. Working one column of squares at a time I'm sure of covering the entire plant. If I take a break it's easy to remember where I left off.

Attack of the Nematodes!

I noticed that a late planting of tomatoes in the bed to be used for melons in 2008 seemed to slow down considerably before they should. When I dug the plants up I discovered why: Nematodes

These microscopic worms burrow into the roots of plants, creating colonies that cause lumpy growths on the roots and restrict the plant's ability to collect nutrients and water.

While there are chemical soil treatments that'll eliminate them and more organically friendly options, I decided to use SOLARIZATION to test how effective that technique is in eliminating them. I solarize the soil during the 2007-2008 winter, plant in the same bed next Spring and examine the plant roots when I dig them up in Fall to see how effective it was at eliminating the pest. Please check back then for an update.

2008 Season

Although the last frost-free date in my high desert location is April 17, I got a head start this year by growing melon transplants inside under lights, sometimes as much as 2 months early. Using large pots is great because it reduces root binding but creates the problem that the soil and root ball can weight 20 pounds or more at transplant time. Such a large clump of potting soil is almost certain to break up when removing it from the pot. I avoid this problem by lining the pot with 2-inch mesh chicken wire leaving enough extending above the top of the pot to grab onto and pull the root ball out of it. The mesh folds the soil together yet lets larger roots expand without being constricted. Here's a 2-month old Burpee Honey Bun bush melon being lifted out of its pot:

This technique becomes awkward when dealing with normal vining melons because at two months of age they can be six feet tall. The trellis set into the pot for them must be sturdy or the vines may flop around and break. This may seen like a lot of hassle, but realize that allows the ambitious grower to extend his or her melon season by a full two months. This makes it possible to grow a top quality, main-line melon like Ambrosia in the north where it might otherwise be impossible.

(As far as the Honey Bun bush melon is concerned, I'm not a fan of bush types because they are so compact they aren't able to collect enough sunlight to manufacture the amount of sugar needed for great tasting melons. I try one from time to time but so far have not been impressed.)

Besides Burpee's Honey Bun, I also started an Ichiba Kouji green-fleshed muskmelon two months before the transplant date in early April. This is the most popular ultra-high quality melon grown in Japan for the gift exclusive fruit market. Many of these melons demand prices of $200 each. When I transplanted it, the main vine was 6-feet tall, there were half a dozen side shoots and it had been producing female flowers for three weeks. Getting an early start with this variety is important because the melons take 55 days to ripen, almost twice as long as a normal melon. I hope to harvest the first melon in mid to late June so please be sure to check back then to read my evaluation of this reportedly outstanding plant.

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