Yes, patience, grasshopper. :) I'm not growing them this year, but they did like to get a good sized vine before really producing, and then they are pretty prolific. Sort of like the cherry tomatoes of the cucumber world. Just hang in there a little longer.

thanks sunnibel. Just yesterday I noticed one of the female flowers had shriveled and the ovary appeared to be swelling. I start things at the "right" time pretty much but everyone else always seems to be harvesting pounds of everything before I am!

I'm growing them now. There was one on the vine that was much bigger than a grape tomato. It did not look ripe, but it was so big! I picked it, and ate it. Oh my gosh, it was BITTER. I hope they're not all like that.

You don't want to let them get that large before picking. Pick them small, while the stripes are still dark green. At that stage they will taste sour (like a sour cucumber) but not bitter. You won't get many at first, but if you keep them picked, the yield will increase throughout the season. I liked the small ones (about pencil thickness) added to salads.

I saw this thread had resumed, and I just wanted to report that I had two seasons with great results from the mouse melons. They sprouted as volunteers last summer but unfortunately not this year and I have not replanted. My cucumbers always get wilt from cucumber beetles, but the mms did fine and are just as tasty in salad.

All of mine were bitter, even the tiny ones. They were not for me. I pulled the vines to grow something else.

Going to grow some of these seeds. how much room do these take, how high do they climb? Do they climb readily like a vine or a bean? Or just sprawl?

I read that they are vigorous, but also they sound rather small and delicate. 10 feet vine, or just 3 feet? I've read both. Is low support plenty, or climb up 6 feet? Do they compete well with other plants? Or need more care?

I highly recommend growing mouse melons.
They climb very readily and have tendrils. My single plant is extremely vigorous, and is, to some extent all through my 6'x10' raised garden bed, and at least 6' up a trellis. Pretty sure it would be taking over the lawn if it was allowed.

It is in a sense small and delicate, the vines are lightweight and delicate, and I don't think it would be too hard to keep it smaller/ more under control than I have.

I think you could grow them on a low trellis, though a taller one probably makes better use of space and makes harvesting a little easier. My mouse melon sprawls in all directions and is very happy to grow on the ground as well as up the trellis and over other plants... They compete very effectively with other plants!

I direct seeded my mouse melon in early October (Spring here), begun harvesting mid January. The harvest has been increasing exponentially ever since. It is a difficult to keep up. I have pickled some, and given plenty away.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with what happens to a Mouse melon plant in a mild frostless winter? Three weeks till winter here, and it keeps growing.

I wonder will it die back? Stop fruiting at some minimum temperature?

The vines are - as mentioned above - rather delicate compared to other cucurbits, although they do branch heavily. I grew the plants in clusters of 2-3, with 24" between clusters. In my climate, they are slow growing, and can easily be grown on a 4-5" trellis. They could be allowed to sprawl on the ground (many of the lower branches did so), but the fruit quality will be reduced, and they will be VERY hard to find. The attractive vines closely resemble a miniature ivy in appearance, so could possibly be used in edible landscaping.

I should note that the seedlings are far more tolerant of artificial lighting than most members of the gourd family, so they can be started indoors as transplants, several weeks before the intended planting date for warm weather crops.

I found some seedlings at a cool nursery, left two plants in the pot, planted about 3 weeks ago. Way ahead of the seeds I planted. These vines are very thin but I have a dozen vines, these multiply like mice. Even tiny flowers and tiny melons.

Those are marvelous. I need to try them. But what exactly do you DO with them? Just snack on them like grapes? Cut for salads?

I put the smaller ones in salads whole. They are also good on sandwiches, and are very nice pickled. Apparently the are good in stir-frys but I haven't tried that yet. Also i like them eaten raw with spicy Asian noodles, and they are good on sushi. I think they would work most places where you'd use cucumbers.

My mouse melon is still producing, however I do think it's finally slowing down now that winter is here.

I found that you can bury a bit of vine, leave it a week or so until it forms roots, remove it, and you've got a new plant.

Wow, this little "melon" is growing like crazy in Ohio. Planted two seedlings 4 weeks ago and i"ve got dozens of vines growing in all vertical and horizontal directions like a weed, a few 6 ft/2m high. Seem to get little rice sized baby melons with the little yellow flowers, but the baby melons fall off instead of growing. It's been hot and very rainy. Do they fruit better in milder weather? Or do they like the summer heat?

Noki33, that sounds odd. The species is tropical in origin, so provided the plants are well watered, heat (other than 100+ days) should not bother them. Once fruiting began, mine produced non-stop throughout the summer. It almost sounds like the flowers are not being pollinated, which often occurs when members of the gourd family first begin blooming. It is still early in the season, hopefully blossom set will begin in a week or two... keep us posted.