When I lived in Monson, MA I successfully raised Jenny Lind, Minnesota Midget, and either Pony Yellow or Yellow Doll watermelons.

I had a bed against the south side of the house that got reflected heat from the light-colored siding and I trellised the vines up that wall.

First thing Jim did you send me some steeles black whipporwill. I can't remember and I can't seem to find them.
The difference between a cantelope and a muskmelon is a cantelope is a true melon meaning it does not slip when ripe. To determine ripeness must use the dry tendril method like a watermelon. Muskmelons turn yellow when ripe and the stem slips or detaches from the vine. Making muskmelons very easy to determine ripeness. True cantelopes also don't ripen after picking just like other melons such as watermelons or cucumbers. Whereas a muskmelon is picked slightly green and will continue to ripen similar to a tomato. In the store or market in this country what we call cantelopes are actually muskmelons. Muskmelons derive their name from the strong melon smell when ripe. True cantelopes or european melons do not have a strong scent. Do not slip from the vine and may not turn color when ripe. True cantelopes can have smooth rinds warty rinds but I can not think of any that have netted rinds like muskmelons do. Also for the most part cantelopes are smaller ie single serving size small but in my opinion much sweeter almost sikening sweet if eat too much. Cantelopes do fine as an early crop or late crop for me but do not produce well in the heat and humidity of our southern summers were as muskmelons excell. Jim for you true cantelopes I would think would do just fine in the summer.

A recommendation for anyone who has not grown melons before is to grow muskmelons. They do well in the heat or cool, they are easy to determine ripeness and are prolific producers.

Muskmelons have their roots in the Americas. Spanish explores brough various melons from the middle east to america in the 15th and early 16th centuries. They weathered better than the finiky "French"cantelopes of Europe.
By the time the English began colonizing North America the Native Indians were growing Muskmelons as far north as Canada and until the 20th century it was believed that muskmelons were native to the Americas but researchers have determined otherise.

We began calling muskmelons cantelopes due to an advertizing campaign in the early 1900s in New York I believe. A grower or a vender had a variety of Muskmelon that he claimed was so sweet it rivaled the french cantelopes of Europe and he called the muskmelon variety "cantelope" . since then most people associate any netted fragrant muskmelons as cantelopes on the east coast. I have found many people still call them muskmelons in the midwest and in the south the older varieties and larger muskmelons are called muskmelons. But I believe anywhere in the grocery or market the sign will say cantelope vice muskmelon when refering to muskmelons. It is like would you buy a chinese goose berry or a kiwi. They are both the same. The chinese goose berry, due to an advertizing campaign in this country which capitalized on the New Zealand Chinese goose berry crop that local people commonly called Kiwifruit because the native Kiwi bird ravaged the fruit.
My personal preference in a muskmelon is the small to midsize types. Real large muskmelons lack taste to me and are too much to consume in one sitting by me and the wife and unless they are in a seal contanier they will empart their fragrance on everything in the fridge.
Of the ones you have listed and that I have grown I like the
Mo. Gold
Old Time Tenn. This is large but very good
Hales best and Edisto are two old standard comercial melons from the 50-60s around here. I sell these as plants each spring
Not on your list but Highly recommended and I will gladly share seed with you is
Amish melon
ambrosia
I would also stagger planting like you would corn to have a continous crop. Most muskmelons ripen within a two period. So for two weeks you will have more than can be eaten. So I plant a hill every month starting in April with the last planting in Mid July.

Rodger

Wow Jim, thank you for that post. I'm saving it for future reference. Very informative!

Argh, I meant Rodger. Wish we could edit these posts. ;)

Don't thank me. Thank Rodger and ppod. I am wowed too.

I will respond to them after I absorb what they said.

Jim

Aawwww. You didn't mean me? Sob, sob.

Jim

Another muskmelon I highly recommend is the banana melon. These can be big 18inches long 6in diameter but they have large hollow cavities so only about an inch thick orange flesh but excellent flavor.
A new one to me but a historcal muskmelon is Ann Arundel. I am growing it for BakersCreek seed co. It is light green fleshed very productive as I have a bumper crop right now and I will let y'all know about taste in about a week which is when the first fruit should be ready to pick. I planted seed 15 April so about 70days. This melon is a cross between a cantelope and a nutmeg shaped muskmelon. and it would seem that they are a small to mid size melon. good size for an evening snack.

another note cantelopes European melons and muskmelons are all the same family so they will cross with each other.Rodger

Jimster

Great info. in the thread you started! (Thanks, Rodger!)

I must add one more to your list. Burpee's Early Crenshaw Hybrid.

For many years I ate and grew different varieties of muskmelons, always looking for the "perfect" taste. I certainly like muskmelons and am growing eight plants of Ambrosia this year. But I'm also growing seven plants of the Early Crenshaws. It is tops in my book, weighing in at 10-14 pounds, sweet, large, smooth-skinned, turns yellow when ripe, and the fragrance perfumes the entire garden as it ripens. I much prefer it to the Ambrosia muskmelons, being a bit sweeter and juicier, though it's close to muskmelons in taste, color, and fragrance. You have to keep slugs away from the fruits though -- the smooth rinds don't deter these buggers.

I use Burpee as a vendor only for the Early Crenshaws and Brandy Boy tomatoes, since both were developed by Burpee and are apparently sold by few if any other vendors.

In my quest to wean myself altogether from Burpee seeds, I'm setting my list of future seed purchases to include other Crenshaws and OP tomatoes. I nearly bought Lily Crenshaw seeds, a smaller Crenshaw than Burpee's offered by Johnny's this year but decided to use up the various melon seeds I already have first.

Anyway, long story short, if you have room, you might also try at least one Crenshaw. In a blindfold taste test, I'd bet it beats out every single muskmelon on the table!

My recommendation would be a nice perfectly ripe Canary Melon all the way. I love the sweet honey flavor that taste kind of like a watermelon meets honey dew.

If you have different melons planted close together will they produce true, or will you have odd fruit? Dont plant on saving seeds so this is not a problem.

Makete, cross pollination, with just about any plant, is really only an issue if you save seeds. The mother plant will make whatever type of fruit the mother plant makes no matter who daddy plant is.

The seeds inside the fruit is another story, but that's only a problem if you grow them.

I grew Canoe Creek melon last year and it was quite good. The Tigger Melon is fun...not real sweet but very colorful.

This year I'm growing
Ambrosia Cantaloupe
Tigger Melon
Canoe Creek Melon
Blacktail Mountain Watermelon
Golden Midget Watermelon
Sucrin de Tours (cantaloupe)
Fordhook Gem Melon
Arancino Melon but did not germination :(
Yellow Icebox Watermelon (looks like Yellow Doll) grew 2 yrs ago

I love orange or yellow watermelons and just about any cantaloupe.
Peggy

The very best cantaloupe I have ever tasted has been Burpee's Early Crenshaw. It may not be the easiest melon to raise under certain conditions, but when you get a really good one, it is the melon to drool about.

Rodger, I did send you Steele's Whippoorwill some time ago and you sent me some peas and beans. I've misplaced those too but I am quite sure they are within 5 feet of where I am sitting and I just need to straighten this place up to find them. I will be happy to send you more Steele's Whippoorwill. They are getting old and need to be grown out soon. E-mail your mailing address. I've lost that too. :-)

Amish and Ambrosia sound like a good choices for me and I will take you up on your offer to send seeds. Thanks.

Early Crenshaw has a lot of fans, so I want to try than one too. I should be able to find seeds locally.

Charantais has a good reputation. I have a packet of seeds and will try that as a true cantaloupe, if I have learned correctly from Rodger's post.

I got an education in melons from your great post Rodger. It surpassed all my expectations. But then, it's not the first time.

Jim

bump

Jim I do not know where 7 MA could be except maybe out by the ocean which means it would be cool in the summer. I think melons like it hot but then I have to study what Rodger said. That was a great explanation that I must look over better.

I have not had much luck with melons but then I did not realize the differences roger talks about.

I am inland in MA and it gets hot here in the summer and colder in the winter.

I was under the impression that the best we do around here even in RI and CT is zone 6. So I wonder where zone 7 could be.

Last summer I drove through Amish country in PA and wow. They sell huge melons for low prices. I bought too many. hehe.

I went out to pick some lettuce today and it is totally destroyed by a million slugs chomping on the leaves. Good thing I dont sell veggies or I would be in trouble. I hope I have not accidently eaten some slugs. YUCK.

2009 the year of the slugs

This year I planted fastbreak muskmelon and Athena muskmelon. The information I read up on the fastbreak says it is a fast grower and the muskmelon are quick to mature once they start. Just recently the fastbreak has picked up and started growing like crazy.

The Athena, according to the information I read, grows more slowly. This is proving to be the case. Both plants are healthy and both are budding, but I have yet to see any baby melons growing off the vines. I'm not sure when this will start.

I'm so glad I checked in here! I have always wanted to try cantaloupes, but after my sad failure with watermelons, never have! Thanks for all the great info in this thread. Rodger, do you have any planting/growing/cultivating/space allotment tips for a deep south gardener? Next year...muskmelons it is!

gardendawgie,

I'm on Cape Cod, 45 miles or so out in the ocean, at the Northernmost tip of zone 7a. Remember, hardiness zone relates only indirectly to growing season. Temperatures never go below 0°F in winter and 0°F is rare. Summer is usually 5°F lower than mainland and winter is 5°F higher most of the time.

Sorry about your slug problem. Slugs are not a terrible problem here. I think they don't like sliding along on sand.

Yes Donna, Rodger is a great contributor with his wealth of practical knowledge. He's most active on the Bean Forum. So check in there for more good stuff.

Jim

To clarify a few things and hopefully answer some questions. My experience has been that in SC zone 8a our summer heat and humidity are too much for true cantelopes. They grow great in the spring begin to produce then it turns stiffling humid hot here starting mid Jun till Sept. and the true cantelopes fail. I have had marginal luck with a late fall crop. So I tend to think these melons would do well in a zone 6 or lower. and 7a can surely make a go at it. Probably the biggest factor with any crop is not so much the day time temps but the night time temps. This is what distinguishes the south from the north when talking about summer heat. Mid Jun July and Aug nights here are 76-80 deg with 80plus percent humidity. It may be 95 in NY and 95 in SC on the same day but it is 65 in NY at night vice the 80 deg at night here. This cooling period and obviously cooler ground allow crops which fail in the south to flourish up north. But to my advantage I can grow 365 days a year. and a lot of new england summer crops are my late fall early spring crops.
So Gardendawgie, I would think the true cantelopes would do fine for you and you are correct in stating melons ie watermelons casabas etc like the heat. Muskmelons are well suited in most areas because they do well in the stiffling heat of the South and the cooler summer nights of New England and I know they do well in the mid and upper midwest and the dry heat of the desert southwest. So muskmelons are a good melon choice for any gardener wanting to try melons. For the more experienced grower or some one ready for the challenge go for the specialty melons
Donna you are in Watemelon country, so there is no reason for you not to be able to grow good watermelons though they are more demanding than muskmelons. All melons need three things.
1)soil that is very fertile and loaded with organic mater
2) full sun all day long for maximum sugar production and vine growth. With out vines covering a 12ft by 12ft plus area for watermelon and 6ft x6ft area for muskmelons cantelope etc and leaves so thick they completely cover the ground you really can't produce a good sweet crop of melons.
3) a steady 1in of rain/ water each week.

"Aawwww. You didn't mean me? Sob, sob.

Jim"

There, there, Jim. I'm grateful to you for starting this topic so I could learn so much. =)

Very informative. I will be trying melons for the first time next season as well and found this to be a good start to my search for what to grow.