How To Grow Honeydew Melons

We Love Lions by Shaun Livingston

3 years ago

Honeydew melons, like their familiar cousin the cantaloupe, are members of the cucurbit or gourd family, which also includes cucumbers and squash. Honeydew melons are one of the tastiest melons and are high in vitamin C and potassium.

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Honeydews are eaten fresh because of their sweet, pale green flesh. The peel can be pickled or boiled, while the seeds can be roasted and dried or pressed for oil.

The honeydew melon has an oval to round shape with a smooth creamy yellow rind that is peeled away to reveal the fragrant, pale green inside. These melons are 4 to 8 pounds (2 to 3.5 kg) and grow on a vine with three to four melons per vine.

Honeydew has been difficult to grow in the past for both home gardeners and commercial farmers due to its susceptibility to downy and powdery mildew and its attractiveness to a number of insects. Most fungal ᴅɪsᴇᴀsᴇs are now resistant to varieties like ‘Floridew,’ ‘Morgan,’ ‘Earlidew,’ and ‘Tamdew.’

“How to cultivate a honeydew melon?” remains a question once you’ve chosen the seeds or seedlings for the kind you want to grow. Honeydews can be cultivated in the garden or in a large pot.

If you’re beginning from seed, fill peat moss pots with potting soil or compost, then plant one seed about 12 inch (1.5 cm) into the soil in each, then set the pots on a shallow plastic tray.

Fill the tray with water mixed with soluble fertilizer up to an inch (2.5 cm) high and place it in a room with a temperature of 70-90 F (21-23 C) to germinate. If required, keep adding water. The seeds will germinate in two weeks, but you should continue to nurture the plant inside until it has at least two leaves.

Once the soil temperature reaches 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius), plant honeydew in the garden and water thoroughly. Mulch around the transplant to keep weeds at bay and conserve moisture.

Honeydew melons can be harvested if the honeydew fruit has developed a smooth, evenly pigmented skin after three months. So, how do you go about picking honeydew? Because it does not easily slip off the vine like most melons, it must be cut from the plant.

How do you know when honeydew is mature enough to harvest honeydew melons if easy removal from the vine isn’t an indicator? Size, skin color (totally wʜɪᴛe or yellow), and smoothness, as well as the timing of roughly three months after planting, are signs for when to begin harvesting honeydew melons.

The fruit will be firm and, while mature, will most likely not be ripe. So, when does a honeydew melon get ripe? Honeydews can be matured for a few days at room temperature.

Place on the counter or in a plastic bag with tomatoes or apples to produce ethylene and speed up the ripening process.

The full melon will stay in the refrigerator for a week if ripe, but once sliced into, it should be consumed within a few days. Cut melon absorbs aromas from the refrigerator.