Melon farming - any do's and dont's?

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paradoxbox
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Melon farming - any do's and dont's?

Post by paradoxbox »

So, spring is upon us. I think the early melon growers are already starting to harvest or are just about to.

I have put some of my first seeds onto a heating mat which should give me seedlings to plant around the rainy season. I am thinking of putting them on the dry, southeast facing part of my house as the eaves block most rain there. There's even a rather large cactus growing there.

But for growing more traditionally in a row or patch, any advice about how to survive rainy season, avoid rot, and dealing with bugs / animal / bird damage?

The wild pigs seem to have gotten the message for now, but I have a feeling melons will bring them back out of the woods..! And the birds must also love melons. I've heard putting a good water source off to the side of the field keeps birds from eating berries and melons - anyone know if this actually works?

I unfortunately do not have a shotgun permit so blasting the things away is unfortunately out of the question.

Advice appreciated!

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Re: Melon farming - any do's and dont's?

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Most of the melon farmers in these parts already have sizeable plants under low tunnels and they all without exception use green plastic mulch rather than the more traditional black one. There must be a reason but I have no idea what it is. I'm purely guessing here but maybe they are trying to harvest before the rainy season has been going for too long and avoid getting too many fungal diseases on large plants.

You must keep musk melons off the ground, you can buy special plastic trays to do this at your local taneyasan, actually most musk melons are grown vertically and inside vinyl houses over this way. Each day you need to caress each individual melon with soft material gloves to develop pattern on the skin, a lot of work but then these things can sell for ridiculous prices in Tokyo. For personal home use you don't need to bother with that. Any musk melons grown in contact with the soil get attacked by some sort of worm and we've had ours totally wiped out by them over the last few years or they some sort of fungal disease rots the fruit before they have formed properly.

Watermelons have a very different skin so may or may not suffer those problems (I'll let you know in the autumn when we've tried Eric's ones) but I'd be inclined to keep them off the soil as well. Although quite how we are going to keep that giant one he sent us off the ground I haven't quite figured out yet :) , we'll face that hurdle when we come to it.

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Re: Melon farming - any do's and dont's?

Post by paradoxbox »

My local centers don't have those melon trays I've seen you post before, would floppy plastic plates be good enough I wonder?

Yep, I have seen on TV people massaging the melons to develop the stress patterns. I don't think I'll bother with that since I only have around 15 or 20 plants going. Will probably eat the fresh stuff myself and freeze the rest or turn it into a jam or something.

How do you deal with fungal diseases organically?

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Re: Melon farming - any do's and dont's?

Post by gonbechan »

You could always go the fancy route and grow square or heart shaped melons. They bring big money in Japan.
You can get the molds at Melon Molds

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Re: Melon farming - any do's and dont's?

Post by Zasso Nouka »

paradoxbox wrote:How do you deal with fungal diseases organically?
Outside of the rainy season バチスター works quite well or you could use neem or a baking soda spray. During the rainy season, good spacing between plants and a healthy airflow along with the plants own natural ability to resist fungal attack seem to be the best option. The heavy rainfall then washes neem and baking soda off the leaves leaving them open to fungal attack and bacillus subtilus only provides protection on some species.

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Re: Melon farming - any do's and dont's?

Post by Zasso Nouka »

paradoxbox wrote:My local centers don't have those melon trays I've seen you post before, would floppy plastic plates be good enough I wonder?
I've not seen the trays in home centres, mostly they only seem to be stocked in Taneyasan's that have melon farmers nearby. Although they are primarily aimed at melon farmers a lot of kabocha farmers also use them so if you have kabocha farmers in your area you may be able to find a taneyasan that stocks them.

The main thing when looking for an alternative would be that it doesn't have too many points where a kabocha or melon is in contact with it so it has airflow underneath the fruit and is free draining so the pumpkin isn't setting in moisture after rain or dew in the morning.

Next time I'm in our Taneyasan I'll try and find out the proper name and maker so you might be able to find it online.

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Re: Melon farming - any do's and dont's?

Post by Eric in Japan »

Try your local Noukyou. If anyone would have them, they would.

I think you should just grow the melons vertically. That ensures airflow, and raises the fruit to a convenient height for all the creatures who will steal them before you get a chance to pick the melons.
"... so, the cucumbers said to the cabbage, `Lettuce Go.`"

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Re: Melon farming - any do's and dont's?

Post by Zasso Nouka »

paradoxbox wrote:My local centers don't have those melon trays
Apparently they're mats rather than trays.

Image

And a quick search on Google for "メロンスイカマット" brings up a host of results

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