Cantaloupe (muskmelon)

About Cantaloupe (muskmelon)

Cantaloupes, also called muskmelons, are netted, orange-fleshed melons that tell you when they are ripe by slipping off the vine. They need warm soil, full sun and a hot summer for the best sugar.

Grown as a warm-season annual in every zone; it is killed by frost, so plant it out after the danger of frost has passed.

When to plant

Timing is counted from your average last spring frost (and first fall frost). Sow & Tell works out the actual dates for your ZIP code.

• Start seeds indoors: 2 to 4 weeks before the last frost
• Set out plants: 2 to 3 weeks after the last frost
• Sow seeds outdoors: 2 to 3 weeks after the last frost

Days count from seeding or transplanting depending on variety; fruit ripens 35 to 45 days after pollination. Set transplants out once nights stay above 50F; rows 5 to 6 feet apart.

Soil

Well-drained sandy loam rich in organic matter; cut back watering as fruit ripens for sweeter melons.

Follow a soil test and keep soil pH 6.0 to 6.5; without a test, about 3 lb of 5-10-10 per 100 sq ft, and no more than 1 inch of compost.

Feeding

• when vines start to run (send out runners), before flowering: nitrogen fertilizer such as 21-0-0 or 34-0-0. Sprinkle 3 to 4 Tbsp of 21-0-0 around each plant (or about 1 lb of 34-0-0 per 100 ft of row) and water it in.
• after bloom, when fruit is forming on the vine: nitrogen fertilizer. Side-dress a second time beside the vines and water it in.

Too much nitrogen gives big vines but less fruit, and soil below pH 6.0 gives yellow plants that set little fruit.

Harvest

Pick at 'full slip,' when the stem separates easily from the fruit with a gentle twist. The netting turns coarse, the skin between it turns from green to yellow, and the melon smells sweet.

Each melon is picked once at half- to full-slip, and melons on a vine don't all ripen together, so check every other day early on and daily at peak season. Planting at different times spreads the harvest out.

Varieties (39)

Good neighbors

Winter squash and pumpkin

UMN and Illinois Extension note Blue Hubbard squash can be used as a trap crop to lure cucumber beetles away from other vine crops.

Pests to watch for

Cucumber beetles, Aphids, Squash bug, Squash vine borer, Twospotted spider mite, Whiteflies, Root-knot nematodes, Pickleworm, Pillbugs and sowbugs, Squash beetle, Mole crickets, Mice (house mice and deer mice), Raccoon, Strawberry sap beetle, Seedcorn maggot, Melonworm, Blister beetles

Diseases and problems

Bacterial wilt, Powdery mildew, Downy mildew, Alternaria leaf blight, Gummy stem blight, Fusarium wilt, Poor pollination, Ozone injury, Sunscald, Frost and freeze injury, Angular leaf spot, Verticillium wilt, Mosaic viruses, Anthracnose, Damping-off, Southern blight, Sooty mold, Cucumber mosaic, Zucchini yellow mosaic, Squash mosaic, Watermelon mosaic, Curly top, Tomato and tobacco ringspot

In the kitchen

Eaten fresh in slices, fruit salads and smoothies.

Keeping it: Keep whole melons at room temperature for up to about a week, or chill them a bit longer. Refrigerate cut melon in a covered container and eat within about 5 days.

Pets: Not listed as toxic by the ASPCA