GreenlyHow to grow Melon
Cucumis melo · muskmelon, cantaloupe
Heat-loving trailing vegetable that produces sweet, fleshy fruits. Requires high temperatures and a long growing season to reach full sugar content.
Quick facts
| Type | Vegetable |
|---|---|
| Family | Cucurbitaceae |
| Light | Full sun |
| Soil pH | 6–7 |
| Frost | does not tolerate frost |
| Soil for sowing | from 18 °C |
| Germination | 7 days |
| Seedlings ready | 45 days |
| Sowing to harvest | 110 days |
| Where it grows | Greenhouse, Open ground |
When to plant
Sow for seedlings about 7 weeks before planting out.
Plant out in open ground about a week after your last spring frost, once the soil is warm.
In an unheated greenhouse everything moves about three weeks earlier.
The first harvest comes about 110 days after the shoots appear.
Care
Greenhouse
| Stage | Watering | Temperature | Feeding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seedlings | every 3 days | 20…28 °C | balanced (NPK), 14 days into the stage |
| Growth | every 4 days | 18…30 °C | nitrogen, 14 days into the stage |
| Flowering | every 3 days | 18…32 °C | phosphorus and potassium, at the start of the stage |
| Fruiting | every 3 days | 18…32 °C | potassium, at the start of the stage; potassium, 21 days into the stage |
Open ground
| Stage | Watering | Temperature | Feeding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seedlings | every 3 days | 18…25 °C | balanced (NPK), 14 days into the stage |
| Growth | every 5 days | 15…30 °C | nitrogen, 14 days into the stage |
| Flowering | every 4 days | 15…32 °C | phosphorus and potassium, at the start of the stage |
| Fruiting | every 4 days | 15…32 °C | potassium, at the start of the stage; potassium, 21 days into the stage |
Growing notes
Light
Full sun is essential for fruit ripening and sugar development.
Soil
Rich, sandy loam with plenty of organic matter; must be well-draining.
Care
Provide a trellis or mulch the ground to keep fruit off the soil and prevent rot. Water consistently but reduce watering as the fruit nears ripeness to concentrate sugars. Hand-pollinate flowers if bees are scarce in greenhouses.
How to tell it is ripe
- Rind between the netting has turned from green to tan or yellow.
- A crack has formed around the stem where it joins the fruit.
- A ripe melon separates from the stem with a gentle pull.
- The blossom end gives slightly and smells sweet.
- Wait until the stem slips, because a melon stops gaining sugar once picked; smooth honeydew types do not slip, so cut them when fully yellow.
Pests and diseases of Melon
- Anthracnose
- Bacterial wilt
- Cucumber beetles
- Downy Mildew
- Fruit cracking
- Fusarium Wilt
- Leaf Curl Virus
- Two-spotted spider mite
- Verticillium Wilt
- White mould (Sclerotinia)
- Whitefly
Sources
Figures cited from these sources.