Your comments and tips

02 Dec 11, Ian (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

As a new gardener myself ,hope my advice helps. My first two vines last season (Hale's Best) grew to about 3.5m in length 1.5 wide.Instead of using liquid feed every 4-6 weeks to assist growth I tried diluting the feed (100ml to 2l water) and applied it from one of those 2 litre reusable click on spray containers twice a day. Expecting 10 + per vine if I get it right again. Hope this helps.

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03 Oct 11, Shelly (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I was told that if I plant rockmelons and watermelons in the same paddock that the watermelons will be distaughted and small due to cross pollination from the bees, is this so? If so, what is the desired distance to plant from each other?

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13 Nov 11, Tracey in Melbourne (Australia - temperate climate)

Hi Shelly, They won't cross. Both are in the family Cucurbitaceae but they are each in a different genus - rockmelons are genus Cucumis and watermelons are genus Citrullus. For future reference, with plants that *can* cross-pollinate (eg. different varieties within the same species), you would not see any effect in the fruit you pick - you would have to collect the seeds and grow them out and pick the fruit they produced. So unless you are saving seeds for future use, cross-pollination isn't an issue. Hope this helps.

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27 Mar 11, Peter Harris (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

I have been given some rockmelon plants by a friend. Have just replanted them in some good potting mix with a slow release fertiliser. They are looking a bit sad after a few days. Will thet pick up ? Peter

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16 Mar 11, adam (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Richard. if you're in the southern Highlands of NSW, then it's cool/mountain, not sub tropical. It doesn't matter if they're on the ground or trellis, the bugs might get 'em on the ground, or they might rot if it gets too wet. In the cool zones, the rockies often don't ripen, it's a touch and go thing every year. I don't think they'll get much bigger, and the vines tend to start dying off this time of year. I get ripe ones about every four years, it's just too short a season. I got some smaller short season ones a few years ago, and on a normal year, they're okay. This year it was just too cold, not enough sunshine for them. If you're below 1100 metres, you should get some growing to maturity, but they'll probably be smaller than normal. Hope this helps.

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11 Apr 22, Mel (Australia - temperate climate)

We had a rockmelon vine come up by itself, in January I believe. Two melons on the vine and the skin is still pretty green. Will they still ripen this late in the season?

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22 Feb 20, Marie (Australia - temperate climate)

My plants have a lot of flowers but not setting fruit

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15 Mar 11, RIchard Wellsmore (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Hello, I have some rockies growing in the southern highlands. They are quite small but now the plant appears to be dieing so this may be the largest they get? Also should they be grown on a trellis or left on the ground?

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11 Feb 11, Cheryl (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I have a rockmelon vine, I picked a rockmelon thinking it was ripe, the flesh was white, when is the right time to pick, I have 5 rockmelons on the vine that are mixed sizes, I dont want to waste anymore by picking to early, this is the first time I have grown them. I live on the mid north coast of NSW

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22 Feb 11, Helen (Australia - temperate climate)

Just wait until the stem starts to break down where it joins the fruit - a ripe rocky will almost fall off when you touch it.

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