Your comments and tips

19 Jan 13, Keryn (Australia - temperate climate)

I planted rockmelon plants approx 9 weeks ago. They have grown well, and plenty of flowers, but no fruit. Not many bees this year, so what do I do to "pollinate" the flowers?

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02 Jan 13, Reg Offord (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Should i prune the runners on my rockmelons? I have 3 vines, one came up itself, (it is doing best), the other 2 i planted in compost, and because of the heat, i have now mulched with lucurne.

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10 Dec 12, joyngire2MCLEOD HOLDINGS (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

how do you tell male to female flowers. is it hard to grow rockmelon in subtropical areas

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20 Dec 12, Bert (Australia - temperate climate)

Rock melon as in other such plants like pumpkin can be identified by the swelling at the base. The male will have a (dont want to be rude) pistle I think it is called, protruding in the flower. With the female you can already see the fruit, just needs the male to get going.

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25 Nov 12, Ean Sutton (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I live in Newcastle (Australia) and seem to be having trouble with rockmelon polination. Is there a sure fire way of rectifying this problem and is there an obvious difference between the male and female flowers appearance

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24 Nov 12, (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

High I have grown water mellon on the North West Coast of Tasmania and grew on almost clay and a cup of water each plant per day and I now live on the east Coast of Tasmania and have tried to grow again but I must say the seed was old so have brought fresh water mellon seeds and are trying rock mellon as well would like to know any hints you may have might I also add we have had to make all our own soil with composting anything and everything we live inland and it is quite hot over the summer months for Tassie, up to 30 and very dry

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30 Oct 12, Suzanne (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I have just planted rockmelon seedlings & would like to know if they prefer cow manure, horse manure or chook manure, as I can get any of the above. Also on the seedlings punnet it says to grow them on a fence or trellis? I had not heard of this before? what benefits are there to this type of growing? Thank You.

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01 Jan 13, Michael (Australia - temperate climate)

Suzanne, Do not use horse manure unless you compost it. Cows have 4 stomachs and any weed seeds are disolved. Do not make the mistake that l did & use horse manure. Horses only have one stomach & you will get a fine crop of weeds, year after year.

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07 Jan 13, Suzanne (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Thank you Michael, I have lots of rockmelons on the vines, but when I picked 4 yesterday, only one was edible, due to little holes in the others and when cut open they had little fruit maggots in them! They have obviously been "blown" by something? What should I spray the other young ones with before I lose even more. It was so disappointing as the melons that I picked were ripe and smelt delicious!

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18 Aug 12, Patri (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I started rockmelons from seed in April and May. I transplanted them into my garden bed and none of them has given me any fruit so far!! Just one of the vines (out of 6) is growing one rockmelon eventually... Are they difficult to get pollinated?? I've pollinated them myself because I dont trust bees so much ( I dont get many, that's what I mean) but I haven't been very successful...nanyone with the same problem?

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