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Post by lynnee on Jun 26, 2023 10:15:48 GMT -5
Yay! Go Kajari!  |
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Post by scarfguy on Jul 5, 2023 15:27:31 GMT -5
UPDATE!
The Kajari melon has taken off like a rocket! Today I cut off the primary growing tips. I'm letting the secondary vines fill in the spaces a bit. The female flowers have all sprouted from the secondary vines. Many people have said to cut off the secondary vines but that idea seems to come from commercial growers who want to produce one large melon per plant with multiple plants densely spaced. I want 1 plant to produce multiple melons even if they will be on the small size.
So far, I have pollinated 3 female flowers and ALL of them have taken! There are 4 more female flowers that will be open within the week.
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I think we made a mistake starting with the minnesota midget. Either I've become a better pollinator or the Kajari hand pollinates much easier. Looking at the male flower, the pollen is much more powdery than the midget which seemed to be a bit sticky (we surmised it was so as to stick to the bees butt better). The particular pollinators in India are probably different species of bee that those in minnesota. The powdery pollen seems to transfer much better.
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The small melon on the right is a galia melon. It's doing well also but was started about a month later as I had a terrible time germinating my seeds this time. The sprouts would get leggy and fall over.
As it grows bigger, I'm going to have to keep track of the vines to avoid cross-pollination.
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Post by lynnee on Jul 5, 2023 17:22:12 GMT -5
Interesting, scarfguy! I'm going to get another chance at pollinating when my AG cukes arrive. They will go into the Farm that had indeterminate tomatoes. I don't know what went wrong with my pollinating of the Midgets. I was never sure where the pollen was on the male flowers. Yes, it had to be the yellow stuff, but nothing ever seemed to transfer, sticky or otherwise.  |
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Post by scarfguy on Jul 18, 2023 12:54:10 GMT -5
UPDATE: 7/18/2023
The Kajari melon is growing great. These melons are really gourd-looking!
SO... It has been really easy to pollinate. When the first female flowers appeared, I pollinated the 3 melons you see here. All three were successful. Over the next few weeks, I successfully pollinated 5 more flowers. Those didn't wilt BUT they didn't grow either. It's like the plant says I can only do so much at one time and these will have to wait. As the first three are approaching ripeness, a couple of days ago, one of the 5 additional pods began to grow. So it appears to be pacing itself. 8 or 9 melons is all I'm going to get as the plant is producing no additional female flowers and all of the male flowers are beginning to wilt.
It says, "I'm done! I've only got so much energy!"
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Post by lynnee on Jul 19, 2023 1:38:17 GMT -5
Fascinating, scarfguy! What are you attaching the net melon holders to? Vines? Trellis? Nothing?  |
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Post by scarfguy on Jul 19, 2023 5:53:27 GMT -5
Fascinating, scarfguy ! What are you attaching the net melon holders to? Vines? Trellis? Nothing?
Yes, these red netting things are way too big as they come. I cut them in half and threaded a piece of loom cord through the open end to make a "drawstring". Then I pinned the drawstring to a trellis line with a texsolv pin. If the melon breaks off of the vine, it will catch it so it doesn't fall to the floor and smush.
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Post by gingercat on Jul 19, 2023 9:21:44 GMT -5
I am floored by how cool this is. #goals!
🤯🍈
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Post by lynnee on Jul 19, 2023 12:32:12 GMT -5
Oh, I can see the drawstring and attachment now, scarfguy!  |
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Post by scarfguy on Aug 7, 2023 8:56:59 GMT -5
UPDATE: 8/7/23
The first of 4 Kajari melons slipped off the vine this morning!
This was not the first one I pollinated but it is the largest. Perhaps because it was the closest to the window and got some extra morning sun. At harvest it weighs almost 3 lbs. From planting to harvest was 93 days.
It turned from dark green to this orange-ish color overnight two days ago signalling it was ready for harvest.
Having struggled my entire life trying to pick ripe melons at the grocery store, I'm just amazed that home-grown melons always tell you they are perfectly ripe and ready to eat by falling off the vine!
I'm gonna let it sit on the counter for a day or so but when I cut it, I'll post a pic of the inside.
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Post by gingercat on Aug 7, 2023 9:27:15 GMT -5
Beautiful! 🤩 Excited to see what this looks like on the inside.
Ripeness confidence is definitely a plus to growing your own melons—an underripe melon from the store is so disappointing!
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Post by lynnee on Aug 7, 2023 11:15:38 GMT -5
How wonderful, scarfguy! You have assembled a true "Grow Anything" setup!  |
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Post by scarfguy on Aug 9, 2023 8:46:24 GMT -5
Critique!
Color is orange-er than I thought. The seed cavity is quite large.
The flesh is creamy, a bit grainy, a little like a banana
Very sweet and juicy. Flavor is closer to a cantaloupe than a honeydew.
All-in-all, a nice melon. So far, I liked the minnesota midget better.
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Post by lynnee on Aug 9, 2023 14:40:49 GMT -5
I'm so impressed by the size of your melon!  |
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Post by scarfguy on Aug 9, 2023 14:44:54 GMT -5
I'm so impressed by the size of your melon! Yea, it's kinda strange. I got 2 larger melons and 2 more that are still on the plant that are much smaller. They aren't growing any more but should be ripe soon. |
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Post by scarfguy on Aug 30, 2023 7:45:12 GMT -5
Today my first galia melon slipped off of the vine!
This is my third cantaloupe trial. First was the Minnesota midget. Second was the Indian kajari, and, this time, I tried a Galia melon.
This plant has produced 4 melons. The first one always seems to be the largest at harvest with this one coming in at 3 pounds. Duration was 82 days which is consistent with the literature of 80-100 days.
I've already started my next one which is now a healthy 6 inch seedling. This time it will be a Jenny Lind "turban top" variety.
Right now, I have room for 2 melons growing concurrently. If I can find the space for one more, with careful timing, I should be able to have a fresh, ripe melon year around!
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Post by lynnee on Aug 30, 2023 13:06:54 GMT -5
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Post by agnoob on Aug 30, 2023 16:04:47 GMT -5
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Post by scarfguy on Aug 30, 2023 16:37:47 GMT -5
Yes, Sugar Cube would be a good choice. It's on my short list.
I've had a lot of trouble getting some varieties to germinate. The ones that I've grown so far are the ones that germinated. I've been putting 4 or 5 different varieties of seeds in a bounty at the same time. The one that germinates first and looks healthy is the one I go with and I discard the others. I want a Tuscan melon but I haven't been able to get it to germinate well yet.
As for growing in a farm XL, I think you would have enough room. Wrap the vines around in a circle. Don't cut the side shoots too aggresively. The melons frequently form on the flowers of the side shoots.
Commercial growers cut the side shoots vigorously. That is because they want the main vine to grow straight up and produce one melon. They can actually get more yield that way cause they can plant multiple vines closer together.
We don't want to do that. We want a high density of multiple vines in a compact area. SO... don't prune the side branches except to keep them under control and within the farm.
If you aggresively pollinate, you should get a couple of melons forming BEFORE your main vine reaches the top of the farm. Once you get a few melons forming, you can cut off all of the growing tips on the main vine and the side vines. That will stop the plant from continuing to climb into the lights and it will turn it's energy to fruit production.
Looking forward to learning from your endeavors!
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Post by lynnee on Aug 30, 2023 16:39:25 GMT -5
Like you, agnoob, I think that it's possible to grow dwarf melons in a Farm 12XL. My Minnesota Midgets were growing fine, and had both male and female flowers. However, I couldn't get the hang of pollinating them--despite scarfguy's coaching. The only reason I ended the project before the plant produced a melon, was that I was really tight for time. Growing melons in an AG requires serious nurturing, because the blooms must be hand-pollinated. I'm planning to try again, but I'm busy with the Slicing Tomatoes project at present.  |
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Post by scarfguy on Nov 10, 2023 17:29:12 GMT -5
I'm resurrecting this Cantaloupe thread with this post rather than put it in the "what did you grow today" thread. That way, we'll keep melon related stuff together.
SO... This grow cycle, I'm trying to grow 3 different cantaloupes at the same time! Since melons only produce 2 to 5 fruit per plant, you really don't get much yield from one plant.
I'm growing 3 different varieties of "normal" looking cantaloupe. That is, they will all have orange insides and the classic netting pattern on the outside. The varieties are (left to right in image) sweet mini stripe, tuscany, sweet granite.
Three bounties, one plant in each, and external lighting at various locations going up the "vine wall".
I've been pollinating daily and it's about time to stop it and cut off the growth tips and let them ripen the fruit they have started. I've found that if you get greedy and try to produce more than the plant can handle, you will just get a bunch of tiny melons instead of a few nice big ones.
The left melon produced a single female flower very early which is quite unusual. Usually, 5 or more nodes of male flowers come out first. I pollinated it but didn't think it would be fertile having opened so early. As you can see, it's growing very nicely and I don't even have to support it as it's just happily laying there on the grow deck!
The tuscany in the middle has just started producing female flowers. It has a long season over 100 days. So I expect these will be the last to be harvested.
The one on the right seems to be the most prolific. As you can see, I have 2 rather large melons but I also have about 6 more that look like they will develop. We'll see... If I suspect it's too much, I can terminate a few of them.
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