CANTALOUPE PROBLEM AND GARDEN TIPS

Tips, Tricks

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NOTE: PLEASE READ DESCRIPTION Yesterday I checked this cantaloupe and saw a crack in the rind near the soil. I decided to video this for the information that would be useful for my viewers. The cantaloupe maturity date was 8-2 12 and it was 7-25-12 so it was in the window of being ripe. The stem would not move when I pushed on it two days ago which is the sign that it is ready to pick. When a cantaloupe cracks open it is usually past being ripe and/or it has gotten too much water. I could not figure out why this happened. After the video I looked at the other loupes in the patch and none were affected I rotated each one 90 degrees so that the bottom was now on the side. They were dry and perfect and were sitting on dry compost. People do put a upturned pot on the ground and put the loupe on it to prevent this from happening. I looked where this loupe came from and notice that the loupe had been sitting on one of my 2 gallon a hour drippers. You can see it in the video. It was just a fluke that it grew right on top of the dripper on the irrigation line and that is why it was rotten. It was sitting in a soil soaked hole and not on top of the soil. The irrigation was put down before any fruit had set. Mystery solved on the rot. The watery taste does mean that they were probably getting too much water, but I have to water them when the leaves are drooping. Usually cantaloupe are ready to pick when you can pop the stem off the loupe with one finger and little pressure. When I do this I hold the loupe with one hand and push with a finger on my right hand. I had the camera in my right hand and it was harder to push the stem near the skin so I used the stem to push the stem off the cantoloupe.

Comments

Thanks for the video :)

Thank you sir for sharing......going to grow cantaloupe here in the Las Vegas desert

SAD

I tried growing them for two years now and had the same problem. Seems like if they are on the ground they rot. This year I'm going to try growing them vertically on a hog panel and using little slings to support the fruit. Wish me luck!

Thanks for taking the time to make the video and the mindfulness to know that this kind of thing would be valuable for others to learn from.

sorry to hear about the cantaloup........have a hard time trying to grow them here

Well the 2 I have are still green right now pa, and they are just starting to get a couple of silver dollar size areas that are netting out with that brown color. There for a while I thought maybe the nursury I bought them from had mis marked them as cantalopes and that they might be some other kind of melon cause of their size. I sure do appreciate your advise about this cause this is the 1st time I ever growed cantalope. I will cut back the water when they net out more : )

Oh nooo, thats a bummer, I'm glad I saw this video, as you might now I'm a newbie at all this with this being my first time planting, but my cantaloupe plant has alot of cantaloupes on it, and they are getting big, never new its best to put something under them...will mulch work?

So you think maybe your melon got too much water? Im concerned caused I have a raised bed with the cantalope growing and it is always watered moring and evening. There is just 2 on the vine but they are gianormous..the one is almost as big as a soccer ball and the other ain't far behind. Maybe I best cut back on the water a bit

Don't that just stink? At least by sharing we know we aren't alone in our garden woes. Hope the rest turn out O.K.