I wouldn't remove any vines.

Maybe remove some melons, but I wouldn't do it yet. Mine have some small melons on some vines, but others are just starting to flower. I'm going to let them all go for another month or so and then remove some of the small melons on the ends of the vines that won't have time to ripen.

Not sure if this is good advice, so take it with a grain of salt!

Other (smarter) people, please chime in!!!

If you have 9 plants in that one little spot, you way too many plants. I'd remove at least half of them.

In the square foot gardening book he promotes this type of density. However having done his methods I concluded the limiting factor is sunlight. There is only so much surface area exposed to the sun. Plus easy to get fungus underneath I don't know that there is any advantage in removing any now, but let them grow out of their box.

It's a weird year weather wise (half the years are and always have been) so the weather may be at fault. my tomatoes aren't doing crap yet either.

I agree that is too many, but at this point let them go, but I would encourage to try 4 in that spot next time and compare results. I think you would get fewer melons, but they would be bigger. Sunlight isn't the issue, root growth is. Plants put close together have small root balls. Sometimes this doesn't matter depending on what you are growing, how much of a harvest you need etc. I used to do SQ Ft gardening, but I like the results of traditional spacing. Hundreds of years of farming at these spaces was done for a reason.
If you remove leaves/vines you decrease melon sugar content, of course the close spacing will also limit sugar content. Everytime I look at Sq. Ft. plots, the plants look small, and the fruit too. For 9 plants that is hardly any growth. Three of my melon plants produce that much foliage.

This post was edited by Drew51 on Fri, Jul 11, 14 at 10:45

My experience is that the planting area is the primary determinate of the yield, not the number of plants. So with more plants, you'll probably get fewer or smaller melons per plant, but the same gross melonage.

Grrr--another newbie muck-up. I'll stick to 4 next year. Thanks very much.

Were it me, I'd cut out a few plants, and try to take the remaining ones vertical/diagonal to increase the sun exposure each plant receives. IOW, spread out the vines to minimize overlap and shading.

The bed looks like it is a 4X8. Even after the plants sprawl outside the bed, that spot is good for 2 melon plants, or one watermelon plant. Cucurbita and small gardens do not work together. In fact, I do not know any fruiting plant that does well in small spaces, except those plants that are botanically fruits but commonly considered vegetables (zucchini, toms, peppers).

Thanks again! There are two varieties here--one seedless, one not.

I'd remove some of the pollinator melons, but fear disturbing root systems or ending up with no melons at all, since seedless melons are so finicky. So this will be a learning experience, just to see what happens.