Canteloupe

[vette-kid]

I now have several fruit on the vine, as it were. So how do I make sure they make it to harvest? The largest right now is about 4 inches or so, half a dozen that are nickel size and several bloom that may produce more. The vine is growing on a trellis and doing nicely from what I can see. I've heard of using womens nylons, how would that work exactly? I'm afraid they will get too heavy and fall from he vine before ripe or that something will attack it. My other thought was to use a small piece of wood to create a platform attached to the trellis for each fruit. That might also make it more difficult for critters to get at it.

 

[Chuck]

If growing up a trellis panty hose is easiest. Just cut a section of the hose, tie a knot in one end, put the cantaloupe in it and then tie the other end to the trellis.

 

[vette-kid]

If growing up a trellis panty hose is easiest. Just cut a section of the hose, tie a knot in one end, put the cantaloupe in it and then tie the other end to the trellis.

will this do anything to deter critters? Possum and raccoon are a concern here. Some are high enough that they are probably safe, but some will be low enough to be in danger.

 

[Chuck]

No, it will not deter anything. Coons are very smart. I have even wrapped chicken wire around cantaloupes. The coons just dug out the meat with their claws. I don't know of anything that will deter them long, not when they can smell a nice sweet cantaloupe wafting in the wind. I always have dog proof traps set on my property to help keep the population of coons and possums down. It works fairly good but then along come the field rats.

 

[vette-kid]

ok, well ill play with some ideas bouncing around my head. I'm determined and willing to go to stupid measures to get some melon out of this if it means sitting by them all night with a shotgun! It may be ugly, but a dual layer of chicken wire might do the trick, the outer one will just be fairly large, but it should keep coons from being able to reach it.

 

[Chuck]

ok, well ill play with some ideas bouncing around my head. I'm determined and willing to go to stupid measures to get some melon out of this if it means sitting by them all night with a shotgun! It may be ugly, but a dual layer of chicken wire might do the trick, the outer one will just be fairly large, but it should keep coons from being able to reach it.

Don't put the wire on until the melons have almost reached maturity and don' t wrap it tight.