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Who does n’t love bite into a juicy watermelon or a tasty cantaloupe ? Fresh , homegrown melon savor like heaven , and , no doubt , you ’ll desire to find oneself all the ways to increase your melon vine harvest .
Melons are big plants that grow prolific vines , that spread out throughout your garden . But I struggled for years to produce fruit . The vine would grow , but I would never have an impressive melon vine harvest .
That was until I learned some of these tips to raise more melon .
It turns out that I missed a few vital stone’s throw to grow these plants decent . Let ’s take a look at a few of these tips and what you need to know for success .
12 Tips to Increase Your Melon Harvest
Homegrown melon are the thoroughgoing affair in the middle of the summertime on a hot even . Do n’t let a small harvesting ruin your repast plans ; use these tips to increase your melon vine harvest and have yummy fruits for weeks to issue forth .
1. Amend the Soil Before Planting
rectify the soil in your garden is the first whole tone to increase your melon vine harvest and grow sweeter melons than ever before .
Start by mixing four to six inch of compost into the garden beds before planting . You should mix organic plant food such as manure or compost into the soil every three to four weeks as well .
Their love for nutrients is one understanding that many gardeners opt to plant melon in their compost piling . Not only does this provide your plant with tons of nutrients , but compost plenty generate mickle of heat , which melon plants apprise as well .
2. Check Your Soil pH Range
One mistake that I made when growing melon in my garden was failing to check and meliorate my soil pH. Most melon opt soil that is slightly acidulent ; the ideal range is between 6.0 and 6.5 .
Testing your soil ’s pHis easy ; use anat - home testor mail a sample to your state extension power . It ’s important to keep the pH in the right range because if the soil is too acidic , it will lead to works with yellow leave and few or no fruit .
3. Start Your Melon Plants Inside
I ’ve try growing melon plants from seeds that I lead sowed in the garden , but the harvesting are never astonishing . I found an well-off mode to increase your melon harvest time is to begin the seedlings inside .
You plant them outside the same time that you ’d flora melon vine seed , but the seedling are larger and already reap . You do n’t have to worry about thinning the sprout either . I start the seeds inside three to four weeks before I call for to transplant them outside .
4. Don’t Plant Too Early
It ’s easy to get frantic and start planting in your garden too early , but that ’s a bounteous problem for your melon plants . Melons are a warm - season harvest that can not outlive a freeze . They choose daily average temperatures between 70 - 80 ° F .
Planting your melon at the right time is one simple way to increase your melon harvest home . Wait until the danger of frost passes , repair the dirt , and reckon covering it with blackened charge card a few week before planting to warm up up the soil .
Seeds plant in warm soil commonly germinate faster than seeds planted in cool soil , specially melon vine seeds .
5. Find The Warmest Garden Location
Your garden has microclimates – that intend some areas in your garden will receive more or less sunlight , heavier or more frequent wind , or more frequent icing . All these elements change the climate and maturate status in those small areas .
Since melon are estrus - be intimate plants , look for positioning in your garden that warm up up betimes in the spring and abide blistering throughout your full growing season . A south side of a fencing or wall is a great selection because the complex body part plunge rut and light , reflecting it back onto the melon vine plants .
Another option is to believe planting melons near a sunny brick terrace or any other paved surface . These locations engross the rut , creating the perfect microclimate for heat - loving plant .
6. Give Them Space
Whengrowing melon , never overcrowd them . Most gardener plant melons on mound with three plants to a mound . Melons have vine so mounds give the vines space to originate , and each mount involve to be spaced two feet apart with the rows six foot apart .
Overcrowding melon plants cause a variety of problem because it make an environment where fungous diseases fuck to grow . More gentle wind circulation is always secure in a garden . Also , it causes the crammed plants to vie for the nutrients in the soil .
7. Give Melons Plenty of Water
When you bite into a chunk of watermelon , you notice and feel the juice in spite of appearance ; melons are juicy . That ’s part of their appeal , and one manner to assure you have mellifluous , juicy melons is to give the plants plenty of H2O .
Melons need a lower limit of one inch of water per week , but I suggest upping the lacrimation amount to two inch per week , especially when it ’s red-hot outside . My plants develop best when they receive plenteous water .
Also , ensure your industrial plant have plenty of grease drainage . Like any other plant , melon call for to grow in well - debilitate soil .
8. Fertilize Your Melon Plants Regularly
melon vine plants , similar to squash plants , are big feeders and require deal of fertilizers to grow . These plants need to be fecundate every two to three weeks to farm to optimal size of it .
What ’s the best fertilizer for melon plants ?
expend a phosphorous and atomic number 19 heavy plant food when fecundate melons . The best alternative are 5 - 10 - 15 or 10 - 15 - 20 . Too much N will cause your plant to produce more leaves than fruits . You want to boost growth , flowering , and fruiting to increase your harvest .
9. Mulch Around Your Melon Plants
Once your melon plants sprout and start to grow larger , it ’s time to mulch the filth . Covering the soil has several benefit .
First , you suppress weeds that compete for necessitate nutrient in the soil . Weeds compete for the nutrients that you require your plants to have to increase your melon vine harvest .
secondly , mulch helps to retain moisture in the soil . think of , piddle is good , and mulch means you need to water less often .
Last , mulch maintain the melons off the soil . You do n’t desire the fruits laying directly on the soil ; that ’s a surefire way to end up with disease and pest job . Speaking of …
10. Watch for Insects and Diseases
melon vine plants are know for give pest and disease problem , so being vigilant is life-sustaining . other spotting and treatment make it easygoing to preserve your plant from destruction .
Some of the common insects and diseases to watch out for include :
11. Slow Down Watering When Ripening Happens
You have a go at it that melon flora love water , but as the net hebdomad of mature happen , too much water is a bad thing .
Why ?
supererogatory water dilutes the wampum substance of the fruit . You ’ll terminate up with melon that do n’t taste as sweet as they should , and no one wants that .
As the fruit on the plants start to reach their full size , shorten how often you irrigate your plant . You want to only provide enough water to keep the plant from droop .
12. Know When to Harvest Your Melons
No melon savour delicious when picked green . You want to lie with the sign of ripeness so that you could plan harvesting at the veracious time .
A few signs that your melons are ripe and quick to harvest include :
If you seek to remove a melon and the vine does n’t fall apart away easily , chances are the melon is n’t quick for harvesting . The highest gelt subject matter happens when the yield detach from the vine on its own or when the vine becomes wither and ironic .
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