Topic: Melons Are Sick...

[Dianna]

I don't know what is going on with this melon patch, but it's not looking so good right now. I think we may be able to pull a couple of melons, but the stems are still green so we aren't sure if we should or not. My thumper isn't broken, so that is not a good option for me. Is the patch dying?

The patch went from looking like this:



To this:



The foliage has brown spots all over it:



Help!

[Dianna]

Isn't there any help out there? These "Sugar Babies" are as big as a basketball, but are not turning yellow on the bottom or turning brown at the stem. It has been 90 days from when we first planted. Should we pick them or not? I sure don't want another one that is not ripe, but I don't want to lose it to whatever is spotting up the patch, either...

Patty, I'm sorry I didn't have a nickel out there, but you do know how big a basketball is, don't you?

[Patty S]

Dianna, I've only been doing melons for 3 years now, but if I remember right, that's what the plants start looking like when they're done for the year.

Hasn't it been a week or so since you cut into the one that wasn't ripe?  I certainly understand your not wanting to pick them if they aren't ready, especially if there aren't very many melons on the vine. (Last year, my Sugar Baby only put out 2 melons.) My thumper doesn't seem to work well on those little melons either... I think they're too small to get the "reverb" from thumping, like the bigger ones do. Mine also didn't let go of the vine very easily either, & I left one out there until it was so ripe & spongy, all it was good for was seed saving.

Wish I could help you out, but I guess you're just going to have to thump one (& remember what it sounds like, as Phil had suggested), cut it open, & check it out.  (Good luck!)

My Sugar Babies never got as big as basketballs. (Could have been my "loser soil"!) Our other melon was just a bit bigger than this one. (Last October.)
             
(I found something BETTER than a nickel!)

Have you ever eaten pickled watermelon rind?  My Gramma used to put them up every year.  ("Waste not, want not", I guess!)

[Pharmerphil]

First, I love your siggy Dianne..I HATE CLOWNS

Ok, down to business
I believe from your pics you have Anthracnose



and at this stage, buying and using fungicide is probably a waste of $$.
You can have a look here:
Melon Disease
probably quicker than I can at dial up speed.
my advice would be to hope they ripen b4 they start to rot.

[duh]

that is hard to hear.  I feel for you Dianna.  I know what loosing a crop feels like and it isn't fun. 

I'll cross my fingers that yours do ripen quickly.

[Dianna]

by Patty:

but if I remember right, that's what the plants start looking like when they're done for the year.

Should they be done, though, if we haven't picked a ripe one yet? One of the reasons we picked the first two was because we didn't think they would be huge when they got ripe...

by Pharmerphil:

my advice would be to hope they ripen b4 they start to rot.

We have our fingers crossed, Phil. Thank you for the link. I am hoping that out of fifteen watermelons, that we get at least three good ones. One for Aunt Bonnie, one for the neighbor, and one for us. The time for them to be ripe is 85 days, though. I am wondering if it is from the day they are planted, or the day that you see fruit?

by Duh:

I know what loosing a crop feels like and it isn't fun.

Duh, if we lose this crop we will consider it a learning experience. It is the first time we have tried to do melons. I sure hope that we get at least three, though!

[Pharmerphil]

I have always been under the impression that "Days to Maturity" meant:
Seeds...after they emerge...start the day count
Plants, from the time you set them out...I could be wrong, but never put much into it, I just us it as a reference, climate, heat, drought, many things can extend the DTM way beyond the number of days listed.