Here in Pennsylvania, I sow the seeds indoors in peat pellets in mid-April for planting outdoors in late May or early June. If you opt for growing watermelon in containers by seed, head outside a week or two after the danger of frost has passed.
Bury each seed to a depth of about one inch. Follow the guidelines presented in the section on selecting a pot to know how many seeds to plant in your container. Do not over plant. If you want to grow more watermelons, buy more pots. Give them oodles of room. Plant them to the exact same depth they were in the nursery pack or peat pellet. No deeper. If you grew in peat pellets, remember to peel off the outer layer of fine plastic mesh before planting them.
If the transplants were grown in nursery packs or pots, try not to disturb the roots when planting them. Immediately after planting your watermelon seeds or transplants, water them in thoroughly. Never allow the soil to become completely dry. Water like you mean it. Aim the hose nozzle directly on the soil and apply lots of water, soaking the soil completely and repeatedly.
Excess water should be freely running out the drainage holes in the bottom of the pot. For my gallon pot, I add about 3 to 5 gallons of water each time I water. This can lead to root rot and starve the plant roots of oxygen. Do not subject the vines to extended dry periods followed by lots of irrigation, especially when the fruits are close to being ripe. Watermelons are heavy feeders. Alternatively, use a liquid organic fertilizer with a slightly higher amount of phosphorous in it to feed your container watermelons every three weeks, starting when the seedlings develop their first true leaves.
Waiting too long to pick your melon means a mealy texture, but not waiting long enough might mean throwing an unripe treasure into the compost bin. Commercial melon farmers rely on a brix refractometer , a tool used to measure soluble sugar content of the fruits.
The tendril starts to shrivel and turn brown when the melon is ready to be harvested. Unlike cantaloupes, ripe watermelons will not naturally separate from their stem. You have to cut the ripe melon from the vine with a knife or a pair of pruners. To make the fruits sweeter, mix tablespoons of Epsom salt and tablespoons of household borax in 5 gallons of water. Stir well and spray this solution on the vines.
Cantaloupe plants particularly suffer from charcoal rot, anthracnose, fungal infections, and powdery mildew. Common garden pests like aphids, pickle worms, cucumber beetles, and spider mites can be taken care of with the use of insecticides.
When you are going to notice the color of the fruits changing from green to tan or yellow-gray, it is the time to harvest the Cantaloupe. They also start to smell sweet at this point. Carefully cut the melon from the vine, making sure that you are not damaging the plant in the process. The good news is that with a pinch of creativity and a dash of careful setup, anyone can train cantaloupe to grow vertically on a trellis of nearly any type.
I planted a hami melon in a pot at my balcony. Its climbing upwards n now about 6 feet tall. I am going to run out of space height. Any advice on how to reduce its upward growth. Thank you for your assistance. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Balcony Garden Web is all about gardening. Here we serve you the best and informative gardening ideas, creative DIY's and limited space gardening tips and tricks. Sign in. Forgot your password? No space for a sprawling melon plant? Good news! If you have a five-gallon pot and a sunny place to put it, you can still grow cantaloupe. Like its cousin the cucumber, cantaloupe can be trained to grow vertically, reducing its usual sprawl and making it a suitable container plant. And growing cantaloupe in containers allows you to extend the growing season by planting earlier in the spring and bringing the young plants inside on exceptionally cold nights.
Growing cantaloupe in containers requires choosing the right type of cantaloupe — a dwarf variety usually works best — selecting a container of appropriate size, preparing a quality planting mix, and training the vines up a support structure of some kind.
You can purchase seedlings from a local nursery or start your cantaloupe from seed either directly in the container or in trays. Although full-size cantaloupes can be grown in containers, dwarf varieties have shorter vines and smaller melons better suited to small spaces and vertical growing. Here are a few recommended varieties:.
For dwarf cantaloupe varieties, choose a container at least 16 inches deep and 14 inches wide, or five gallons in volume. A clean utility bucket with holes drilled in the bottom for drainage works well in a pinch, or purchase a half-barrel planter for multiple plants or a full-size variety. Rest the melon in the sling, which provides support to the developing honeydew. Harvest the honeydew melon when the melon reaches its ripe color, which is usually white or pale green depending on the variety.
Ripe melons feel slightly soft at the blossom end and some varieties may slip from the vine on their own once mature. Some honeydew varieties develop a sweet fragrance near the stem end when ripe. Jenny Harrington has been a freelance writer since Her published articles have appeared in various print and online publications.
Previously, she owned her own business, selling handmade items online, wholesale and at crafts fairs.
Harrington's specialties include small business information, crafting, decorating and gardening. By Jenny Harrington.
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