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Bowdon, GA

I found a catepillar on my best melon yesterday right on the top. I pulled it off and covered the melons in dipel. It bored a small hole maybe only an 8Th of an inch deep. Today it had a spot of congelled liquid in the bottom about the size of a pen head. It seems to have hardened. Do you guys think it will be ok? Is there anything I should do or should I leave it alone and see what happens. I hope it will be ok it is the fastest growing melon I've ever had. It is now 22.5" long and 30" in girth. I measured it by an OTT table I found. 110"=45lbs. This doesn't seem feasible to me,but I weighed a smaller melon and it was fairly accurate on it. I do have one not far behind if this one does go down, but I'm praying it makes it.

6/24/2008 4:41:09 PM

formerly RGG

I'm sorry to hear that Holloway.Superglue is sometimes used on human skin to seal it.But I am not positive this would not be toxic to the melon.I have room for and so am growing only one plant.So if I have a major failure my season will be over.I sure hope your melon gets better. BTW - what is your personal best in years gone by?I grew only once before and managed just 103 pounds.

6/24/2008 5:31:57 PM

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Well, I know that pumpkins get bigger than melons, but here is my take:

1. as the fruit gets bigger this "scar" will get bigger too...but I don't think it should have a major effect on the growth...or your chances of bringing it to the weighoff.

2. super glue will be more of a problem than a solution since it hardens and when it does (and the pumpkin keeps getting bigger) it may cause weird problems...

3. I think as long as the spot dries out and remains free of infection (perhaps some fungicide like captan) you should be ok. I would also recommend putting a fan on it 24 hours a day to ensure it dries faster and moving air helps prevent fungus from growing.

Good luck.

6/24/2008 6:52:12 PM

Rochester, Minnesota

Geeze you guys in GA already having 22.5" melons. My largest is probably 5". If you can keep it from rotting, and these melons are so prone to rotting, then you should be fine. You will take a bit of a hit on size, but who knows. I kept one alive once that had the back end eaten into by a deer. I was able to get it to ripeness and recovered seed from it before it went down.

6/25/2008 9:36:49 AM