In my past post (click here to read) I talked about my melon growing woes, and how my melon plants were infested with leaf miners. I found a solution to these pests, and managed to plant them successfully in the garden. I have not kept rosemary near these plants in the garden, but they have done fine none the less. Perhaps the leaf miners are more prone to potted plants because I just recently started sunflowers, lettuce, and more kale. They have all been infested with leaf miners.You will know when your melon plant is doing well, when they grow wild and crazy with vines, and their pretty yellow flowers are abundant! You will also see a few bees flying around, pollinating the flowers. The bees love the melon flowers, just as much as the basil!
Usually I see many bees out in my yard, all fluttering and hovering around my basil plants. More recently though I see them near my melon plants. - Which is a good thing, because I want them to pollinate and help my melons grow! To my surprise this morning, I finally found a melon growing nicely!
Now, like in my previous post about melon growing, the thought still comes back to haunt me...FRUIT FLIES. I am going to be keeping an eye out for those nasty buggers, to ensure that this, my one and only melon does well and survives! This little guy is the size of a softball right now, and I hope it survives the next month to grow into a decent sized cantaloupe. - Without bee stings, and rotting or getting eaten by fruit flies.
1) Place my melon in a brown paper bag, to prevent bee stings and other bugs from getting to them.
2) Occasionally letting it out of the paper bag to breathe, and also spray with a non-chemical bug deterrent.
What do you think? Anyone have success growing melons and battling the same pests? Please let me know what you have encountered and other possible solutions to my melon growing obstacles.
3 comments:
I've had success growing Tiger Melons, Ukrainian and Silver line melons. It definitely helps to cover the fruit in a bag when it sets fruit to prevent some kind of crawly grub bug from setting up camp inside
Has anyone successfully used row hoops with nonwoven ag cloth? That is my thought to avoid pickleworms and other such nasties.
Yes, I tried row hoops and nonwoven ag cloth. Little suckers must have been camping out near the cantelope when I put the cloth down which I buried the edges on all the way around the vines. What I did learn, was that my cucumbers which were infested with pickleworms in summer, thrived in winter and --- NO PICkLE WORMS outside with no protection. 95% of them were fine and we had a fine crop. I wish I had had melons to test out during that time. This year I will try. I even tried melons in my greenhouse. Result: accidentally allowed a melon and a cuc to touch the side of the greenhouse which was shadecloth. Pickle worms were able to lay eggs through the shadecloth. Other melons didn't have pickle worms but for some reason, cantelopes were 3" in diameter and should have been 8". What a disappointment.
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