Melons taste like canned carrots! Why?

[JulieB]

I grow all kinds of plants here but I've had no sucess with watermelons and melons. The bees helped everything else, but the melons still taste like wet cotton batting.

I'm an organic gardener, grow all kinds of corn, vegetables, and squash, but the melons aren't worth the trouble of carrying in to the house, much less growing.

I'm on acid soil, I'm adding lots of organic material each year, we do have downy mildew problems, and I don't know if I'm growing the right kinds for a fairly "strong flavor" local palate.

I need crisp, aromatic, preferably colorful product. I'm growing in 4a but used to it -- I grow okra and lots of other "southern" crops other gardeners don't even try.

Should I choose different kinds? Is the fungal pressure doing it? Should I get more beehives? Is there something I'm missing completely?


JulieB

[GreenZone]

Julie,If the plants are setting fruit at all then it's not a pollination problem. since you say they don't taste good I'm assuming vthat you ARE getting fruit. I'm guessing...are you growing where there's a lot of heat and sunlight during the growing season? Most melons and watermelons need both.
--Randel

[JulieB]

Not a lot of heat in zone 4a, but I can grow other hot veggies without issue -- I've even matured peanuts and sweet potatoes. I have routinely grown eggplants and okra. I know that when I was a young woman I used to grow melons and watermelons with flavor.

Before I bought the bees I used to have a lot of dropped fruit and spotty pollination; this is more like wimpy plants with bland, starchy fruits.

I routinely grow lots and lots of winter squash and am using the same methods on the squash that I use on the melons -- I can get really big, healthy squash with some coddling.

Everything else I grow tastes way better than grocery store food. The melons are the only food I grow that flunk a grocery store side by side taste/texture test.

JulieB

[Pharmerphil]

Julie,
I live in Mn. and having moved here in 96 from a stong zone 5, I have experienced the bland melon syndrome too.
Although melons need lots of water, they also need very good drainage.
If this isn't the case, try raised beds or mounds, as long as the water drains away, this is also true for the area the vines are in...no puddles, or overly wet spots!
Heat, was another problem, I used mounds, with black plastic collars about 3 foot in diameter, weighted with soil, and covered with a light mulch.
Of course the soil borne pathogens will make a difference in your melons, but tends to be more of a factor in the ripening process.
Now that I had some of the wet and warm things figured, I thought I would be ok, wrong, in trying so hard to be a Minnesota gardener, I had forgotten a very basic practice, that will make even a big ol' Rattlesnake melon bland...down south.
Melons need Water...Yes; However, take care not to over water the plants. Over watering during the 3 weeks prior to harvest can produce melons with a watery, tasteless flesh. Cut back your watering slowly, first week prior to the hoped for,(or package 'days to maturity') cut the water by 1 third, second week, Two-thirds.....
And you know what, my melons are now sweeter, than store bought, Even varieties that are NOT suppose to do well here, fore I; like you, just Love a challenge, and have grown most everything here they told me I couldn't. :D

[JulieB]

Hey! That's one thing I've known to do with tomatoes and other fruit, around harvest time we tend to get some pretty heavy cold rain. I started tarping to protect them from late-season fungus, discovered the flavor improvement as a perk.

I'll try it -- thanks!

JulieB

[Pharmerphil]

I'm rooting for Ya, I believe that cutting the water is the key! Plus, late season rains seem to 'tempt' them to pop wide open!

[zebraman]

Melons prefer a more Limey Soil and Drier(less Rich) as well.Melons are indigenous to S.Africa.and cutting the water in the last few weeks will also greatly improve taste.

[TennOC]

Whenever we have a wet spring here, we have to give the cabbage a one-quarter turn to break a few roots onderground so they don't suck so much water and bust open. Don't go past the 1/4 mark tho. Now for vines, I wonder if you can't push a spade in the ground a couple inches away from the stem, maybe sever 1/4 or 1/3 of the surface roots, thereby cutting water uptake? Only in the last few weeks, of course.

[KimB]

Having enough heat and the watering approaches others mentioned are very important. As a matter of fact, the decrease in water at the end will probably do the trick, but I thought I'd mention something more.

The more leaves you have on the vines, the more sugar they can ship to the fruit. When downy mildew or other diseases infect the plant, the ability of the leaves to produce or move sugar to the fruit is impaired. Your best bet is to stay on top of any diseases. The few melon plants I had that got powdery mildew had terrible tasting melons even though it appeared I had the powdery mildew under control.

Also, as soon as the melon is picked, it starts to respire and this slowly uses up the sugars in it, so if not eating right away, refrigerate it to slow the respiration. (Be careful refrigerating Honeydews, Casabas or Crenshaws because the cold damages their flesh)