Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
three-year-old seeds are indeed best [, and others have] confirmed that fresh cucumber seeds
yield little more than leaves and vines” (Barfuss 1894).
MELON
Cucumis melo
Melons are a diverse lot of tropical annual vines, and all appreciate lots of heat. The many types of
melon come from two distinct subspecies,
agrestis
and
melo
. Most varieties grown in China and India
are agrestis melons; these generally have white flesh that is not sweet and either hard and crunchy or
mealy. They are often eaten raw like cucumbers or harvested young and cooked. Melo melons are
much more common in the West. Some ssp.
melo
types:
• cantaloupe, muskmelon: fruits are ribbed, mid-sized, with a hard, scaly or raw surface; flesh is sweet,
aromatic, and usually orange; muskmelon types have netted (not ribbed) rinds
• Inodorus Group (honeydew, casaba): fruits are usually larger, later-ripening, and better-storing than
cantaloupes and muskmelons; rinds are smooth or wrinkled, but not netted; flesh is white or green;
ripe fruits do not slip (separate on their own) from stems
• Flexuosus Group (Armenian cucumber, snake melon): cucumber-shaped fruits, non-aromatic; used
unripe like cucumbers
• Dudaim Group (Queen Anne's pocket melon): small fruits with a strong, characteristic aroma, car-
ried about in earlier days for their perfume
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
• six to 12 healthy plants
• fruits at eating-ripeness stage
POLLINATION NOTES
Melons are monoecious—each plant produces separate male and female
flowers. Although female flowers can be pollinated by male flowers of the same plant, cross-pollina-
tion via bees and small flies is more typical. For this reason, crossing of multiple varieties of the same
species grown too near each other is not only possible but likely. Melons do not cross with watermel-
ons, cucumbers, or squash, however. Hand pollination is possible (follow the instructions given for
squash) but more difficult than for either cucumber or squash, as a high percentage of hand-pollinated
flowers fall off. Hand pollination is time-consuming and requires a steady hand. The first few female
flowers are the most likely to take. Remove non-hand-pollinated flowers and fruits so the plant can
produce more flowers for hand pollination. At Arche Noah we have achieved high pollination rates
growing melons in isolation cages with introduced pollinators.
