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Grittyville, WA

I have a couple questions actually. First, in terms of getting good results are cantelopes and cucumbers similar? Second, has anyone had better results with a grafted cantelope? If so what did you use for rootstock?

Thanks

1/31/2021 7:55:15 AM

Bethlehem CT

I used Shintosa in 2017. I grew 2 100' rows of hybrid "eating" cantaloupes. I am not sure how much grafting helped with disease, I haven't bothered with it since. Really clean "new" soil is a must for good production.
I would guess that a grafted melon and a grafted cucumber would behave in a very similar fashion. Have you ever noticed how similar they look? The seeds are pretty much identical and the leaves and vines share a lot of similarities. For whatever reason, I can grow a crop of cucumbers easily with out much of a problem. Melons require a bit more skill.

1/31/2021 8:11:33 AM

Bethlehem CT

This is a picture of the crop before it went downhill.
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=277698
You can see the weeds were starting to get away from me in that picture. I didn't have the time to get back in there and hoe. So the plants were left on their own. They should have been able to still produce a decent yield based on the start they got. Instead the plants loaded up with fruit and fell to disease. Not sure what disease as the shintosa should have protected them from fusarium. I am not sure if it did. Perhaps the vines rooted in and picked it up that way. Or maybe it was a bacterial wilt? I try to grown on plastic mulch now to help with the weed problem that I can't keep up with in a wet year. It probably helps with disease too.

1/31/2021 8:21:15 AM

Grittyville, WA

I realize these plants dont always handle disease well. I think the are designed to self sacrifice in other words they go downhill when quick when they decide to put all energy into their set fruit rather than their roots. For example, one method to keep a cucumber plant alive is to strip off all the cucumbers.

Thanks for the response. I did watermelons onto bushel gourds last year but so far neither bushel gourds nor cantaloupes do well here.

So I was thinking a fancy hybrid cucumber as a rootstock. I might go as far as trying to put one onto an Atlantic Giant rootstock, with low expectations for success.

2/2/2021 7:27:45 AM

Hawesville, ky

Cantaloupes like really hot and dry in my experience. Cantaloupes in my experiences either get big or blossoms blow up. Not much in between. They seem to never give me any issue with disease. I dont see any need in grafting them but more along the lines of figuring out more how to grow the plant to keep from blowing them up. Just my observations

2/17/2021 1:52:42 PM

Grittyville, WA

Thanks. I wouldnt know what blows them up. I am a ways away from having that problem. Maybe its a micronutrient issue?

2/17/2021 6:25:01 PM

Hawesville, ky

Canteloupe grow the most right before they turn yellow when they are ripe. I grew some on scales last year same as my watermelons. The blossom end is very thin and the flesh is already tough and when that last big surge comes along before they turn the blossom can split very easily.

2/19/2021 8:50:32 PM

Hawesville, ky

Canteloupe grow the most right before they turn yellow when they are ripe. I grew some on scales last year same as my watermelons. The blossom end is very thin and the flesh is already tough and when that last big surge comes along before they turn the blossom can split very easily.

2/19/2021 8:54:08 PM

Bethlehem CT

I just bought RST 04 109 Rootstock,(its a C. max x C. moschata) I may have to give it another try, but this time with giant cantaloupe. I have read lots of good stuff about grafted cantaloupe performance in University trials. Brent Loy (the melon/cucurbit Master breeder) at UNH showed real good results.

3/3/2021 12:38:19 PM