watermelon/cantaloup vines HELP!!

16 years ago

what does everyone think of trellising watermelons and cantaloups? here it is only the end of june and these vines are almost at the top... what do i do with them when they reach the top? should i just cut them back when they do? in the past three days i swear they have grown over 12 inches... help!! i am having the same dilemma with my cucumbers, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! thanks!!sarah

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Comments (5)

koreyk
16 years ago
Sarah

what are you going to do if there is a hundred pound watermelon 25 feet up in the air. It might be dangerous to cut it loose. It might explode when it hits the ground and cause an earthquake.

Sarah this is what happens when you spend too much time reading seed catalog's all winter. But do not panic. The fire department has extension ladders that should reach up there high enough to bring down those huge melons.
franktank232
16 years ago
Thats a heck of a garden. Deer problems? Sweet fence. Thats what i should have, screw these little ones.
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barbeygirl
16 years ago
Regarding melons growing high above the ground: I hear you can make cloth slings for them. That is, put the melon in a sling attached to the trellis, thereby assisting the plant in bearing the weight of the fruit.

Never tried it myself...but I believe Dick Raymond's old "Joy of Gardening" book talks about it.
daria
16 years ago
The vines will double back again on themselves and climb down, so you should be OK. I've heard that pantyhose makes excellent slings for melons, too.
sarahlynnwhite
Original Author
16 years ago
thanks, i was mostly concerned with what to do with the vines themselves though. i have heard that mother nature takes care of herself and never will produce a fruit that the vine cannot hold, although cutting it loose would be a different story, we have a short watermelon season here in Connecticut so i highly doubt i will have any 100lb melons, i wish i had such a problem, i am just hoping i get some ripe ones this year, this is my 3rd year growing them and each year they get a little riper at the end of the season, but i have yet to get one that is ripe. i also have chosen a smaller melon because the larger ones don't have time to get to full size AND ripen. this is my 2nd season with the cantaloups, last year all my squash and vines were eaten by every garden pest imaginable so i got nothing! i am guessing i should just allow the vines to fall down along the trellises so they can climb back up... i wasn't sure if that would strangle the vines beneath. i don't know what to do about the cucumbers i think i must have a hundred out there already.... and as for the fence, we HAD a deer problem, not anymore. my husband refers to it as fort knox. thanks. sarah