Matthew:

Cantaloupe vines are highly susceptible to a number of fungal and viral diseases, particularly in cool, rainy conditions. With the unusually rainy weather that has covered the east and much of the midwest this season, many melon growers are hurting. So it's not just you.

Under poor conditions, it is particularly important that melon vines dry out quickly in the morning sun, and the hours of sunlight you are providing your vines is marginal at best. Growing melons on black plastic is also helpful since it prevents rain from kicking up fungus from the soil onto the vines, as well as warming the soil for root development and preventing weed growth. Heat is important in the root zone, not on the vines. I always grow on 6 mil. black plastic, 10 ft. wide, which I purchase at Lowe's. Heavy grade black plastic like this can last for 3 growing seasons, and holds in moisture so well that you never have to water.

Growing improved varieties with inbred disease resistance is another factor that can be critical. Heirloom varieties have none of this. I suggest you obtain a copy of the Stokes Seed catalog, which caters to commercial growers who insist on the best. You will find a wide selection of melons bred with resistance to wilts and mildew. The "Primo" variety they sell is the most reliable cantaloupe I have grown, and has excellent table quality.

If you want to take even more precautions, you can spray the vines with a fungicide, but you must do this very early in the season when the vines are still small and developing rapidly, because that is when disease gets started. It's a question of prevention, not cure, and spraying now would have little to no effect. It sounds like this season is a washout for you, but there is always next year, when the weather may be better if we are lucky.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

don, thanks for the insight. This season has been rainly to say the leas. I would also admit that I didnt give them the sunniest spot to get the heat they need. This is my first year and its a learning experience.

I have cantaloupe and watermelon planted 3 varieties of each and I'm in mid Ohio and mine are growing great. They seem to like the rain here.That's confusing when everyone Else's are doing bad.Makes me wonder why the difference.