[3759allen]

as title suggests, do i need to nip off the growth tips? i'm thinking this will put all there energy into thr fruits rather than growth.

they are going nuts, growth wise but not so many fruits yet. i know these are hard to get fruits from in our country at the best of times, mine were also a little later than i'd hoped.

i'd rather have less fruit that ripen rather than lots of small un ripe fruit that pretty much useless.

thanks for any advice.

[JayG]

Not sure what you mean by 'not so many fruits yet' - unless they are swelling into recognisable baby melons (and have been for at least a week) you may have a pollination problem, in which case you can't afford to be stopping the production of new flowers, although it is getting late and if it has yet to set proper fruits I don't think you should aim for any more than 1 or 2 per plant, and you could be lucky to get that.

When I grew Sweetheart melons I thought I was going to get 7 or 8 per plant but in the end got 3-4, and they are a small variety. The 'missing' melons appeared to set but then aborted, which is probably just as well as the remainder only just had enough time to ripen.

Good luck! 

[3759allen]

i'll have a proper look tomorrow. i've just been letting them get on with it until now. i did this last year and did get a few ripe ones.

this year i have a lot more foliage (not sure if thats a good thing).

if i'm still not sure i may take the tips and unwanted young fruit off half and let the other half get on with it. sometimes it's just a case of try it and see when your learning.

[surbie100]

Might be worth checking if slugs are eating the baby melons. They have eaten at least 4 of mine.

[Snoop]

When I grew Sweetheart melons I thought I was going to get 7 or 8 per plant but in the end got 3-4, and they are a small variety. The 'missing' melons appeared to set but then aborted, which is probably just as well as the remainder only just had enough time to ripen.

I grew sweetheart melons once, expecting them to perform well here. But they were worse than useless.

In case you're interested, I've had great success with the Galia melons from T&M, Arava (another Galia type) from More Veg and the Ogen melons from Nicky's Nursery.

[3759allen]

i've had a look and can only see tiny fruits and not many of them, looks like nothings going to come of them this year.

i tried some from seeds i got from supermarket melons last year and although they was started late i still got a few fruit from them (not as much foliage).

this year i thought i'd give it a go with proper seed and just seem to have loads and loads of greenery with next to no fruit.

i'll try next year and also try one of the other varieties mentioned. if still no success i'll give up and use the space for something else.

[Snoop]

What did you feed them with? They love muck but they also need something for the fruit. I put in plenty of muck, but I also give them a fair dose of wood ash at the beginning of the season and then supplement with P and K (no N) later on a couple of times during the season.

[3759allen]

i have to admit i haven't put a great deal of feed in.

it had manure dug in before planting and a think layer of rabbit manure mulch when planted.

this is still far more than there was last year, as it was un used soil before with not a lot of organic matter in.

just can't really work out why there is so much foliage compared to fruit this year. i can't see any pests that would have eaten them. i haven't actually noticed that many female flowers either, most seem to be male.

[BabbyAnn]

just can't really work out why there is so much foliage compared to fruit this year.

and the answer is:

it had manure dug in before planting and a think layer of rabbit manure mulch when planted.

manure just encourages leafy growth - you could perhaps do with feeding with potash (comfrey tea would do) for flower production, and oh, try watering in a little magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts) which may help with fruit set

[3759allen]

i'll bare that in mind next year. would it be better to dig in manure when i take the melons out this year so it has the winter to work into the soil? or just not bother?

i'm assuming the mulch would be ok as everything seems to like that stuff in the patch.

[Snoop]

What's going in after the melons?