From

Location

Message

Date Posted

formerly RGG

A "finger" on one of my plants started normal enough. After it had grown about 2 feet however the vine turned broad & flar like it was 2 vines running side by side. The leaves it put out were 3 and somtimes 4 at a single node.It finally has produced a female flower and at that same node has split into 2 separate fingers. Any chance this female might be viable and if so might it produce a good melon? What type experiences have you other growers had with vines like this ?

6/26/2009 9:41:13 PM

formerly RGG

Haven't any of you growers ever dealt with a "double wide" vine before? Surely they are not all that rare.

6/28/2009 9:44:40 PM

Mt.Pleasant,Iowa

I wish I could help but in 6 years growing these I have not seem one yet.I would say they would be like a pumpkin double vine (a pain). I know some pumpkin growers have grown decent fruit from a double.Good luck and let us know how it goes.

6/29/2009 7:12:18 AM

Rochester, Minnesota

I can't recall ever having a double vine, but I don't know if I would trust it because of the potential of splitting.

6/29/2009 10:11:37 AM

sevierville, Tn

I had a few vines that had double leaves, but that was the extent of my experience with melons.
I did have a pumpkin with a double vine. I agree with MMM. If you set it after the split on a normal looking vine, you would probally be ok.
Which plant is giving you the double vine ??

6/30/2009 3:31:14 PM

formerly RGG

Chris, I am thinking about starting a diary just so I can post some pictures of this vine since it seems so unusual. After my mishap with the Gibberellic acid that wiped out my first crop of plants I lost track of what was what. I actually ended up with two plants that are Mountain Hoosier. I had ordered the seed from a catalog and planted some of them. Then I decided not to grow any but some of them must have sptouted late in a pot I had reseeded with Carolina Cross seed. So my 2 biggest nicest plants in the best spot in my garden are the wrong kind of melon.I found this out only after they had set melons.So the answer to your question is I no longer have any idea of which plant came from what grower. I pulled 2 plants [they were crowded anyway] to make more room for the biggest two. So all I know for sure is I have 6 Carolina Cross plants and 2 Mountain Hoosier plants. I will let you know if I get some pictures of the double vine posted. It only ran double for 4 or 5 feet and then split into 2 separate vines. One of these vines has 3 leaves at the first node and I thought it might go back double but so far so good as it is looking normal after that.

6/30/2009 10:39:13 PM

formerly RGG

I started a growers diary so anyone interested can take a lokk at my double vine. It should be posted by Monday July 6.

7/5/2009 10:34:01 PM

sevierville, Tn

Looks ok to me, i'd go with it. Its even on the good side of the vine !

7/6/2009 2:18:38 PM

Bowdon, GA

Hey Tennesse,
I had a double vine last year. I wanted to get one set before the spit to see what would happen, but I didn't get one set until after the split didn't seem to hurt it though

7/8/2009 5:33:19 PM