Melon Growing Attempt #2

Well summer has come and I have attempted to grow melons once again. This time I feel I have been a bit more successful, DESPITE my melons still not making it. :(

Why you ask? Well I have basically just experimented once again, this time more seriously, and have come up with better solutions and ideas for successful growing, for next summer. I had started four melon plants and planted them in my garden. Two survived transplant and two slowly died off (which is expected). I then watched them diligently, for bugs and pests, mold and rot. Eventually melons started growing. Slowly at first, and then more started growing once the intial two had grown larger.   

  

My melons did good, and I even made some garlic pest spray to keep away the ants and aphids that normally plague my melons. For this spray, I just boiled some water and a few mashed garlic cloves. While boiling I added a pinch of cayenne pepper powder. Once I let it boil for a few minutes, and the water turned a little yellow, I took the pot off the burner to let my water cool. Then I put it in a recycled bottle. Every two days, in the evening after the sun had stopped shining on my plants, I sprinkled the solution onto the leaves and melons of the plants. I found this successful in keeping away ants and other pests.

I kept this up for a few days, but stopped...because I got lazy (bad choice). Eventually the rain came and this is where my woes began. I know rain attracts bugs and mold. My melons were sitting on the damp earth throughout the entire rainy week. This caused it to rot in several places and allowed ants to have a party.  This is when I decided to build a "hammock" out of panty hose to keep my melons off the ground. I didn't have a trellis for my plants to climb onto, hindering my hammock usage. I had to tie them to my bean poles and hang them from their, since they were growing next to them. But my saving technique was done a little too late.

Lesson learned: USE A TRELLIS always, to allow melon vines to grow onto. USE HAMMOCKS to hold them up, keeping them off of the ground, away from moist soil and bugs. And lastly, spray with garlic-cayenne water to further deter pests.

Melons can grow in Hawaii!

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.

Here are some precautionary measures that I will take...

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.

Melon Growing in Hawaii - Lots of Problems...

I have read on the gardening forum for Hawaii gardeners, that melons do not do well here. Big tomatoes like beef steak, squash, and melons do not do well because of bugs. Fruit flies eat the fruit and damage it. I have encountered leaf problems with my melons this summer. They are tiny bugs that go into the plant from the soil and eat through the leaves from the inside out. When I looked up this problem, I found that the bugs are called leaf miners.

As you can see on the left leaf, there are tiny white lines going all over it. That is where the leaf miner bugs attacked. This happened to all four of my melons that I have been growing in these cups. To solve the problem, I pinched off the leaves that were eaten through, then I placed my melon plants next to my rosemary plant. I also took some sprigs from the rosemary and placed them in the cup, on top of the soil. The rosemary keeps bugs away! To further test my experiment, I grew about six new melon plants. I placed the rosemary in the cup from the time they were very little sprouts. It has been about three weeks, and so far there are no bugs or more specifically, no leaf miners, attacking my newly planted melon seeds. When I plant these babies into the garden, I will need to remember to place rosemary around them as well. A garden is a giant playground for all sorts of pests and bugs, and I don't want them ruining my newly grown melon plants. Now the next thing I have to worry about is the  pesky fruit flies. I don't want those things to start eating the melons once they start developing. I'm going to have to go do some research on keeping them away.