Seedless watermelons are a bit more difficult than seeded watermelons. primarily in getting good germination. regular watermelons are not difficult, nor are cantaloupes. each takes space however unless yo go with bush varieties which only give you about two fruits per plant. In zone 6 I grew on black plastic to get the soil temps up. Don't have to worry about that here. Watermelons like sandy soil and while they grow ok sometimes don't get sweet in heavy soils. Cucumis melo are not as choosy although soil conditions do affect taste.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dill's Cucumis melo

I've had good success with melons, but like Farmerdill I'm in a nice warm zone. What have you tried to make your melons grow and in what way have they failed? I've been growing the Charentais type melons the past couple of summers and been happy with the results.

I have had some very good success whenever the plants don't get diseased. Disease is the bane of melons and melons and acorn and hubbard squash are three things that of all the varieties of garden crops I grow that can be difficult.

I have clay loam soil and where I have added peat moss and sand to the gardens, they can grow very nice melons if they don't get diseased.

I also have had extra good results on an old unfarmed fence row that is likely silty clay loam. Now this soil does not fit the profile of sandy soil, but it grows very large and very sweet melons of high flavor. Actually it is dark and heavier soil.

Yes, I raised one Cooperstown seedless watermelon there. It produced 3 melons. The first was smaller. The second was 20 pounds and extra delicious. The third was nice sized and late in the season I picked it at the usual time. However seedless late in the season need to be left on the vine extra time.

The seeded watermelons were very large and very sweet. One Raspa was 38 pounds. A Yellow Crimson was 30 pounds. A Gold Strike made an early melon and on the second setting, I got it down to three melons and they weighed 99 pounds. It set on a third setting, but the season with declining vigor and my pulling the plant up stopped them.

The cantaloupes here this year were fantastic. I don't think you could go wrong with Willhite's Sugar Queen. One Burpee Early Crenshaw weighed 22 pounds. One Goddess was superb.

For Watermelons I would recommend Coopersstown, Raspa, Sangria, and Yellow Doll. I start mine inside...April 17th to 28th in 3 inch plastic pots and set them out in the sunshine in the daytime where it is wind protected. I do fertilize and add a pinch of Azomite to the seed starting mix.

I planted three plants of water mellon (Florida giant)and I got 5 huge fruits from the three plants. For water mellon you have to plant at least three unless you want to pollinate by hand which is a pain in the AZ. Also I don't want water mellon plants to take over my garden so i do some thing called clipping to prevent the plant from growing more branches. I got huge fruit because my trees did not waste any energy making branches but all the energy went to the fruit. I did not get lots of fruit only 5 one of them was over 20 pouns.
Abe

You might first try getting your soil tested for watermelon growing. You might be surprised with the results. I'd also till your melon patch before planting. As Farmerd said, melons need loose soil. I'd also ask my extension agent which melons are recommended for your area, and stick with those. Not all melons do well for everyone. Since you have limited space, as I do, I'd try to stay with crown bearers such as Crest & Greystone or ones recommended by your agent. As for cantalopes, Willhite's Super 45 is a superb melon.

Grow on black plastic with row cover over the plants until they flower. Cut water back in mid summer. Do not plant in cool soil.

I grew 'Amish' from seed savers last year. It was prolific, and 'good', I wouldn't say the flavor knocked my socks off, but it was good.

Our summer was so WEIRD for Iowa though, who knows if my crop was a fluke or not.

Edited to add: My zone used to be posted here, so I didn't mention it, but I am in Iowa City, I would think our climates are pretty close!

Here is a link that might be useful: Amish melon

This post was edited by greenmulberry on Wed, Dec 19, 12 at 21:26

Last summer I (tried to) grew Sweet n' Early and Athena hybrids. These were my test subjects for the new raised beds I'd put in. The plants grew but the melons only...just almost...ripened before the first frost...and then the yellow jackets devoured them.

An interesting thing I observed tho: my beds run north and south, so I planted the melons just off center in a zigzag pattern, east, west, east, west with about 3' feet apart. The melons that were planted to the west side of the bed, and vines guided to the east side of the beds grew well over twice as fast as their eastern planted counterparts. I have no idea why.

In the past, cucumber beetles have wiped out all of my cantaloupe type melons. Last year I tried Goddess, which is resistant to the wilt, and had at least 20 nice melons off just one plant.

If your season seems too short for watermelon, Blacktail Mountain was by far my earliest watermelon last year; ripe melons in just 48 days from transplant. In my experience, young transplants, less than two weeks old, do better than older transplants. It must be a root-bound issue but the older ones don't grow much for a week or two and the younger ones seem to keep on growing.

BTW -- I bought the blacktail mountain seed from Sandhill Preservation, which is located somewhere in Iowa. It might be close to you.

In my former post I forgot to mention I had sangria hybrid and sugar baby. The most important part is to sow the seed into the garden directly Watermelon does not like to be sprouted inside then transplanted. This is a fact stated by all experts. The way I did it I prepared a ditch of 1.5 foot diameter and one foot deep. I filled the ditch with 50% humus and 50% sand, (Watermelon loves sand). Planted 4 seeds in every ditch later thinned to two plants. I fertilized with pigeon droppings (watermelon loves that thing) and miracle grow. When I saw few melons on the fine I clipped the top of the runner to prevent the fine from taking over my garden and to let the plant directs all its energy to the fruit.
Some people say you can grow the watermelon in a bush but you will get the melon which is near the ground. You have to cut any small melon on the top because it will have no support unless you have the time to build supports for it. I never tried the bush method. I do it for cucumber all my cucumber is planted beside and climb on my chain link fence.
Abe

0and

"Watermelon does not like to be sprouted inside then transplanted. This is a fact stated by all experts.

Well, I am going to dispute that somewhat. Commercial watermelons are mostly started indoors and transplanted out. I start mine like that too and have learned to have great results...you got to know what you are doing, see?

Runswithscissors- my guess is that the soil in the west side of your bed was noticably warmer. Possibly a microclimate was created because the east side gets sun in the morning when the air temperature is low, but the west side gets hit by the sun when the air temp is high. Combine that with the vines being trained east, perhaps shading the soil on the east side of the bed... unless you trained the other vines west. That's just a guess, don't know if that would realistically happen. Be interesting to find out.

Nah, I'm not having the midwinter garden withdrawal, not me

skip the cantaloupes, they are a real PITA when it comes to harvest, they can go from almost ripe to mush in a day.
I'd recommend to try crenshaw melons, they taste very similar and take longer to ripen giving a few extra days to work with during harvest.

pawneepapa, what I see of Goddess is resistance to fusarium wilt but nothing about bacterial wilt.

Cucurbits all do better when direct seeded but do fine transplanted, carefully. I transplant all of mine but some of the cucs. The trick is the same with corn and Napa cabbage- plant out before the plant is very big. With corn 2 weeks is plenty. With melons 3 weeks is fine.

What transplanted melons hate is to be popped into cold wet soil and especially when they are not fully harden in. Until the roots are established, they cannot abide cold and wet conditions. They cannot abide much cold and wet soil period. The thing to do is to wait until things warm up [May 15th-24th here]. Another thing you can do is provide a hoop house for the early, early going or provide cloches with plastic mulch.

Yes watermelon does not like wet soil. From my experience I get the best watermelon in sandy soil. I spread a lot of sand on watermelon beds I steal the sand from the kids sand boxes, just kiding I BUY PLAY BOX SAND FROM Lows it cost about 3.50 per bag. It is very clean sand. I sow the seeds directly in early May and I do the same for Cucumber and squash.

Seedless watermelons are usually started inside because they are so touchy about germinating.

"Seedless watermelons are usually started inside because they are so touchy about germinating."

You can say that again. They don't come up as well and for a short while they are puny, but quickly catch up.

The tomatoes that are field raised here are started as plugs. They are small and skinny, but take off pretty well.

Which of these seedless watermelon varieties would you fine folks recommend?

http://www.harrisseeds.com/storefront/s-187-seedless-watermelon.aspx

This post was edited by Creek-side on Sat, Dec 22, 12 at 9:08

What problems have you had with the melons? Poor germination? Bad fruit?

I didn't plant cantaloupe, but they sprouted from my compost from one single heirloom cantaloupe I bought at a store. Some sprouted in my acidic, blueberry bed. The plants grew like weeds, but all the melons cracked and then rotted. They never got sweet.

The cantaloupe that came up in my rich, compost-amended, balanced-PH, raised beds also grew like weeds and the fruit didn't crack. I had A LOT of delicious melons that ripened without cracking from those beds.

The blueberry bed and other beds all received water on the same schedule, had the same sun, etc.

So, for me, I know the type of soil I use is key. For you, it might depend on how much sun you get or other factors...

Here is a rundown of my problems:

Seeded watermelon - these grew fine two years ago, but my family wouldn't eat them. Many volunteered this past year, and I had another bumper crop of melons nobody would eat. My son took one to a party, where it became the guest of honor.

Seedless watermelon - in two tries, I haven't gotten these to germinate.

Honeydew - This past year I bought a couple of small plants from the nursery as replacements for two that the rabbits ate, and planted them sort of late. No fruit matured.

Cantaloup - I grew two plants this past year, and I had two melons which matured and I ate. A few more rotted before they were ripe, or else they were ripe and were just small.

try watching Victorian kitchen garden on youtube. he British can grow melon you guys can all need it little bit time effort.

I find the key to success with melons is getting early varieties, then giving them an early start by warming the soil.

Several times, I've direct seeded melons next to transplants. They always catch up by the time the vines start to set fruit.

I find the problems I've had are diseases....after you have learned to raise them well.

Come on...I can't be the only one with fungals.

Sorry Wayne, I think fungal diseases are primarily a northern
problem. I've never had to worry about them.

Hi Wayne, I too lose 2-3 vines every year due to disease. When spotted early I'll carefully remove the wilted vines if possible, the extra space if filled in fast. Another Yellow Doll & Raspa fan here thanks to you.
Creek-side, do you use fertilizer? I'll spread and rough in some "Gardentone" about 4 weeks prior to setting out plants, and as others have said - transplanting into a warmed soil is important, also when nite temps stay above 50-55F

Hi, vgkg.

I wouldn't think that disease would be limited to the north. I believe that fusarium wilt was first identified in South Carolina or somewhere like that in the 1880s. Anyway, What I have observed is that watermelons and cantaloupes do splendidly well the first two years in a new location if well cared for. Then the next year they just don't thrive as well and cannot seem to finish up the fruits with full flavor and vigor.

The next year some of the plants die suddenly of classic fusarium wilt about the time the fruits set on.

Then what I have had happen is the next year the watermelons do splendidly until the fruits are 2/3 grown and whammy, the whole patch wilts in unison on a hot day. They recover at night , but every hot day they grow worse until most of them die. A few regrow from the center, but are too late to finish good sized fruits. Purdue calls this Mature Vine Decline [Sudden Wilt].

I didn't have that problem in the old melon patches last year, but a new problem that looked nothing like any pictures of melon diseases. The melons again grew splendidly until the fruits were well along. Then one plant on the end got yellow leaves in the center. Further out on the vines the leaves were mottled yellow and green. This developed until the leaves fell off. Then a neighbor plant got it and then the next one got it until one by one the whole row had it. This happened in all three locations.

I belatedly used a fungicide Anyway, most of the plants recovered and started a whole new growth from the center and set on more fruits and were extra healthy.

In my new location the melons were exceptional in size and number...see not diseased. Some commercial growers fumigate to get them through the season. I cannot do that. Even the big growers have all the fungals they want and more and they watch and spray like a hawk.

Last year, I was beset with the worst powdery mildew ever.

Another reason to pick early varieties is to get some fruit before the disease takes over.

vgkg - the only fertilizing I do is to spread a healthy amount of horse manure in the fall. And I use no chemicals of any kind.

Maybe I'm the lone stranger, but I've been growing melons in the same two patches for five years in a row and have never had a problem, and I don't spray.

Sorry to have been away from here. Wayne the vine wilt I sometimes get is instant overnite droop and has always been before fruit set, or tiny fruits stage at the latest. It hasn't been a disaster as of yet.

Creek-side I'm with you on the no chems too. Gardentone is "mostly" organic in nature or at least the better of the ones I've found for fruits and veggies. I've used various manures and compose over the years too but have found that melons can be heavy feeders that may need a little extra.