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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Of melons and dreams...

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  • From: "Kieran &/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>
  • To: <fuwafuwausagi@muchomail.com>, "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Of melons and dreams...
  • Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:38:40 -0500

One of the things I read about melons interested me greatly. They have a reputation for preferring sandy soil. Turns out that they need it to make strong cell walls for what is essentially a bag of sugar water. If you don't already have sandy soil, I suggest you invest in a few bags of nice sand to pour around your plant's stems and roots. Consider also that if we are talking about a plant that obviously came from some sandy place, it's also likely to need good drainage. I am thinking of eggplants, they want sandy soil because they want BOTH plenty of moisture but NOT to have too much water around their stems and roots.
How much experience do I have personally in growing melons? Very little. I know they grow wild in the Florida orange groves, and that when one came up from a stray seed in my parents backyard in Florida that it made some very nice melons. I know that the plants will hardly grow in our clay soil here. Considering all the other things that grow ok in our soil, I'd come back to sand as one important factor. Also I met an old guy from over Lucky's way on the same red clay who told me that to grow watermelons the old folks would dig a "king posthole" and fill it with manure. I assume this would be for a corner post and thus would need to be set fairly deep. These vine crops all seem the same in that regard, given them a hugely fertile spot, be generous with water and they will crop like crazy. Half hearted inputs give half hearted returns. And minimal inputs give plants that fizzle out and disappear. Donna




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