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Re: Melon update-can we compare notes?

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Okay, while on the subject of melons, maybe someone can help me.  I started
some watermelon seeds indoors, transplanted it outside in mid-May, and
plant has been doing wonderful.  In mid-June or so I had a melon form at
the bottom of the plant.  Right now it is about the size of a softball but
has been that way for awhile and doesn't seem to be growing.  The whole
plant is only a foot and a half to two feet tall with no other melons.
Some other female flowers appeared higher up on the vine, but the swelling
at the base of them dried up and turned brown within a few days of
appearing.  I assumed this was from the hot, dry, and humid weather we've
been having.  

Any advice for my *stunted* growth, both on the vine and the one watermelon
it's produced?  Nutrient deficiency, water deficiency?  TIA,

Kristine
Zone 5b, SE Ohio


At 02:22 PM 7/27/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
>About the melon flowers.  The first ones to form are males flowers.  You may
>notice that they do not have a swelling or tiny melon at their base.  The
>male flowers come first to attract pollinators like bees, butterflies,
>wasps, etc.  After the plant grows and puts out more foliage to create
>sugars through photosynthesis, the female flowers form--high up the vine.
>If pollination occurs, the melons form.  Don't worry if you have no melons
>at first.  Worry later if your female flowers don't set fruit.  If this
>occurs, get out a clean water color brush and transfer pollen from at least
>three different male flowers to the female flower.  You will get a melon
>that way for sure.
>Doreen Howard
>Zone 5b--Central IL, where the female melon flowers are just now appearing.
>
>
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