I have tried growing melons before but had problems with the nutrient mix & melon variety. If I were to do it again I would choose a short season melon.

This thread has a bit of information on nutrient & watermelon:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hydro/msg0817102017051.html

At the bottom of this link is a grower who has hydroponically grown potatoes:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hydro/msg101848093693.html

I will e-mail you other sites I have come across.

Hello
I believe that carrots and melons require well draining soils so you would probably want to use a mix high in sand or perlite. You want to make sure it drains very well. I think the best way would be a drip system that recycles the nutrient solution. You might be able to do an ebb and flo system but with media like sand perlite or sawdust it would be risky. I have been experimenting with Coco Fiber which is a great product. If you made a mix 50% Coco Fiber, 25% Worm Castings, 25% Perlite. That would probably work well of course with experimentation of proportions of these three ingredients. You could use a simple pump and some irrigation lines, drip lines, and all other fittings, and a reservior,and the mix I just mentioned. Then you experiment with a timer and your drippers to see how many times irrigation will occur each day or how long irrigation will take place each day. You want your media to go through wet and dry cycles but not too dry. You can recycle your nutrient solution or waste it if you recycle make sure you have a post pump filter.
Let me know if you have any questions or if you have succeded I would like to know how.
Amar

I have had great luck producing loads of carrots in a straight perlite bed. The bed was about 16 inches deep, and held about 1 inch of solution at the bottom as a reservoir. I top watered the bed three times a day, and allowed the solution in the bottom to wick up into the perlite, and maintain even moisture levels. A 19 inchx24 inch container like this produced almost 200 carrots. The flavor was absolutely wonderful. Probably the hardest part of growing the carrots is to be sure that the seed stays moist, but is not washed down into the perlite when it is first started. I use a gentle mister twice a day to keep the bed moist while the seed is germinating. I've done watermelon a couple times in a similar bed, but using a mix of peat and perlite (50/50). The melons grew like crazy. The bottom solution storage was very important for the melons, because they used lots of solution/day. In the greenhouse, one container used over 8 quarts per day.

Renais

hi all
new to this site but finding it helpfull to say the least.
ive be very interested in hydroponics lately but mostly just experimenting with next to nothing to grow..in regards to Renais i am trying this idea but using vermiculite but also trying to grow cabbage..

remember this is a 1 off trial

filled a pot with vermiculite soaked this with a weak miracle-gro sulotion (10ml per 4.5gal)then placed a 1 inch disc of oasis in the centre which is soaked in just water,placed a small hole in the centre of the oasis to put the seed then stood the pot into a tray which had a standard miracle-gro sulotion(25ml per 4.5gal) in it aprox 2-3 inches deep.
this i have left to do it stuff i shall spray water twice a day morning and evening to keeep the top moist..

if i can i shall keep you updated as the plant progresses

if this is going to be a waste of time could you let me know asap so as not to sit and wait for nothing

thanks in advance john