Growing Cantaloupes

Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Cantaloupes

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Cantaloupes—or muskmelons—are a delicious, heat-loving fruit with a relatively long growing season, making them especially well-suited for southern gardeners. Here’s how to grow cantaloupes in your garden!

What is commonly referred to as a ‘cantaloupe’ is not actually a true cantaloupe—rather, a type of muskmelon. (True cantaloupe has a rough, warty rind and is not widely grown or commercially available in the US.) Their cultural and growing requirements are very similar to other melons and they have a net-like, tan rind, with sweet orange flesh. The names muskmelon and cantaloupe are used interchangeably. We will use the name cantaloupe on this page to avoid confusion.

Planting

Amend soil with aged manure or compost before planting. (Learn more about soil amendments and preparing soil for planting.)
Growing the vines in raised rows, known as hills, ensures good drainage and will hold the sun’s heat longer.
If you are in a cooler zone, start seeds indoors about a month before transplanting. Cantaloupe vines are very tender and should not be transplanted until all danger of frost has passed.
If you live in warmer climes, you can direct sow seeds outdoors, but wait until the soil temperature warms to at least 65 degrees to avoid poor germination. Plant seeds one inch deep, 18 inches apart, in hills about 3 feet apart.
If you have limited space, vines can be trained to a support, such as a trellis.

Care

Cantaloupe likes loamy, well-drained soil. Handle them gently when you transplant. Add lots of compost to the area before planting and after planting.
Mulching with black plastic will serve multiple purposes: it will warm the soil, hinder weed growth, and keep developing fruits clean.
Fertilize when vines start growing.
Row covers are a good way to keep pests at bay.
While melon plants are growing, blooming, and setting fruit, they need 1 to 2 inches of water per week. Water in the morning, and try to avoid wetting the leaves. Reduce watering once fruit are growing. Dry weather produces the sweetest melon.
If you’ve had an exceptional amount of rainfall during the ripening stage, this could cause bland fruit.
Once fruit begins to grow, prune end buds off vines. Your plants may produce fewer melons, but they will be larger and of better quality.
Vines produce male and female flowers separately on the same plant. They often begin producing male flowers several weeks before the females appear. (Don’t be discouraged when the first blooms do not produce fruit.)
Blossoms require pollination to set fruit, so be kind to the bees!

Pests/Diseases

Harvest/Storage

When rinds begin to change from green to tan or yellow, the melon is probably ripe, but be careful not to pick too early.
Look for a crack in the stem where it attaches to the fruit. This is a sign of ripeness as well. The fruit should be easy to separate from the vine, but if they fall off by themselves they are usually overripe.
Harvest melon when vines are dry, and be careful not to damage them.
They will soften after harvesting, but will not continue to sweeten off the vine.
Cantaloupe can be stored uncut for 5 or 6 days. If cut, they can last in the refrigerator for about 3 days, wrapped tightly in plastic.

Recommended Varieties

‘Hale’s Best Jumbo’ — 80-90 days to maturity. Produces 3-pound, aromatic melons.
‘Minnesota Midget’ — 70-80 days. Early variety suited for Northern gardens. Produces 1-pound, sweetly flavored melons.
‘Bush Star’ — 90 days to maturity. Bush variety suits gardeners with limited space.
‘Ambrosia’ — 85 days to maturity. Among the sweetest varieties.

Wit & Wisdom

Cantaloupe was named for Cantalupo, a former papal villa near Rome.

If your muskmelons taste flat, the trouble could be a lack of magnesium in sandy soil. Sweeten the fruit by spraying the vines with this solution: Dissolve 6 ½ tablespoons of Epsom salts and 3 ⅓ tablespoons of borax in 5 gallons of water. Spray the foliage when the vines begin to “run” and again when the fruit is about two inches in diameter.

Recipes

Reader Comments

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Cantaloupe

How do I grow cantaloupe in a backyard garden? Where do I have to grow it? What do I use and how much?

Cantaloupe I bore

What is I bore and can it be seen. My vines blossom and the next day it looks like something is digging into the root of the plant

Vine Borers

Check out our pest page on Squash Vine Borers for pictures and more information on these pests: https://www.almanac.com/pest/squash-vine-borer

Cantalope

Should I put something under the fruit, like cardboard while fruit is still growing, like watermelon?

Cantalope Protection

Hi David,

Yes, putting cardboard or a towel or tarp under the fruit while it’s growing can help to protect the underside, but it’s not necessary.

I love in Texas it's not hear

I love in Texas it's not hear all the time we have a farmer's market and one gentleman has the sweetest cantaloupe I've ever eaten and his watermelon is excellent the hot sun he is from Pecos Tx!!! I am going to use his seeds thanks for sharing your information!!!!

Seeds didn’t germinate this year

I bought a delicious cantaloupe (musk melon) from Fairway. It was so good I decided to try to grow my own and gathered the seeds, dried them, stored them in a dark space and planted last year in peat pots and then to small garden. Unbelievable - I got a 14 lb for the first one. The rest were 6 & 7 lbr’s. All amazingly delicious. This year I went to my same seeds stored in the same place and planted the same way in pots and out of sunlight to no avail. After 4 weeks I broke open peat pot(s) and none spouted. Can seeds go bad? Any ideas? Thanks

Storing Seeds

That sounds like it was quite a yield last year! Too bad about this year’s seeds. Seeds do go bad eventually (unless frozen and stored professionally), but cantaloupe seeds typically last longer than one or two years if stored properly.

This year, did you plant seeds from last year’s fruit or from the year before? If you planted seeds from last year’s fruit, it’s possible that the plants cross-pollinated with another member of the cucurbit family, producing unviable seeds. However, if you planted that same seeds this year that you have previously had success with, perhaps they were not stored properly or were simply bad seeds. After drying the seeds completely, store them in an air-tight container in a fridge or cool cellar.

French melons

We have a melon vine which has produced a few melons, however the melons are cracking open from the base of the fruit before ripening. What causes this? Can we prevent cracking on future melons?

French Melons

Hi Debbie,

Melons crack due to stress, usually from soil that holds too much water or from inconsistent watering. In the fall, add compost to where you will grow melons next year to make for a well-draining mix. Also, melons enjoy pH of 6.0 to 6.5, so testing the soil never hurts. Plant next year’s melons in mounds 6 to 8 inches high to help with drainage as well. For watering, try to water 1 to 2 inches a week when there is no rain.

thank u for the good and

thank u for the good and point by point information. i am living in south India, Karnataka state. whether it is advisable to grow snap melon in dry hilly area with little water ? which month is suitable to plant seeds? here rain starts at the beginning of june. pl advise me which verity is good . mulching is necessary in dry hill area? watering once in a week is sufficient?

Fall temperatures and ripening muskmelon?

Is there a temperature at which muskmelons will no longer ripen? We are having highs in the 70's this October, with lows in the 50's. But a low of 37 is predicted for one evening later this week, followed by a return to the 50's lows/70's highs. Will temps in the mid/upper 30's stop the ripening process (in which case I'll pick my melons and hope for the best) or will they continue ripening up until frost?

Cantaloupe and Frost

I live in Saskatchewan, Canada, and for the first time have planted cantaloupe in my raised gardens. I have two plants and 5 lovely green cantaloupes. However, we will soon be experiencing frost, and I am wondering how susceptible cantaloupes are to frost. I look forward to receiving an email with an answer. Thank you very much.

Take Cover

Hi, Holly: Like all melons and “water-heavy” fruit, cantaloupes are indeed susceptible to frost. You will want to cover them with blankets or towels at night to help retain the earth’s warmth and then remove same during the day so that they continue to ripen in the sun. Labor-intensive, but it can be done! Good luck and thanks for asking!

Cantaloupe sprinkled with

Cantaloupe sprinkled with fresh ground black pepper is great!

Origin of Rocky Ford cantaloupe 120 years ago

Where did the Rocky Ford cantaloupe seeds originally come from 120 years ago? Cantaloupe were not native plants.

melon history

The modern melon we know today was not imported but was created by the Burpee company who introduced this cultivar in the early 1880s. This was a different kind of melon with a net-like skin covering. It became known as the Rocky Ford melon (named for the region of Colorado). It was landowner, politician, and entrepreneur George Washington Swink who helped built the melon industry; he transformed the region by developing a canal-based irrigation system; he also introduced honeybees to the region and invented the cantaloupe crate. Later, California and other states built up their melon business and surpassed Colorado.
Read more: http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0974/ANR-0974.pdf

cantaloupe

I grew cantalopes from seed. I never did this before. I didn't know when to pick it. I picked it and cut it open but is was not ripe yet. Is there anything I can do to make it ripe after already cutting it open and taking seeds out.

unripe melon

Once a cantaloupe is harvested off the vine, it will no longer sweeten. There are a few ways to ripen a whole cantaloupe if it was picked to soon, but not when it has been cut into. For melons already cut, you can try to get it to soften a bit by placing it in a container with a little lemon juice or orange juice. Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve (storing at room temperature can encourage bacteria). Use within a day or two.

I am growing muskmelons for

I am growing muskmelons for the first time. I got one round melon and the rest have been flat on the bottom when ripe. Any suggestions as to why this is happening?

flat melon

The most common causes of misshapen melons are poor pollination and/or dry soil or high temperatures. Either one of those extreme weather conditions could have affected your fruit. And the weather could have influenced pollination: it can be (and has been) too hot to achieve effective pollination. In future, try row covers to help to shelter the plant from extreme heat without sacrificing sunlight. The cover also helps to retain moisture—but note that the cover is not a replacement for mulch.

We hope this helps.

I want to work on

I want to work on adaptability of muskmelon on ecological zones. pls kindly help me with relevant materials and guide me on how to be successful in planting to have bumper harvest

Cantaolupe

My cantaloupe was doing really well and all of a sudden the blooms dropped of and the stems started drooping over instead of standing tall as they had previously. Any ideas about what could be causing the issue?

wilting melon vines

this sounds like what we call squash bore I bore that enters the vines close to the heart. We had this a year or so ago and everything squash related died. The bore digs into the vine and kills it. it can also harbor overwinter in your garden so if you are suspicious of this pest take all the vines off the garden and destroy them. Look it up on the internet to learn more. Hopefully I am wrong! :)

EARWIGS

I live in So. Cal. My biggest problem is earwigs.
What is the best way to keep them from eating my plants?

Earwigs on Plants

Earwigs like to hide so set out some traps such as a tuna fish can with ½ inch of oil in the bottom; set near shrubbery and ground cover plantings or against fences. Sink the can into the ground so the top of the can is at soil level. Dump captured earwigs and refill cans with oil.

Also, you need to remove any leaves or weeds or areas where earwigs hide. Never have heavy ground cover such as ivy to grow near vegetable gardens. Watch out for mulches; they often harbor earwigs. Birds (chickens and wild birds) love to eat earwigs so invite them to your garden!

Using Horse Manure

I love using horse manure in my garden, and I'm reading these comments, which say cantaloupe love manure. But I also read the plants like an acidic soil. So what I did was use half of acidic soil and half of manure, planted a few seeds in a pot, covered it with a plastic dome to retain the sun so the seeds germinate. I know I have to wait about a week to see if this worked, but did I use too much manure? And will the manure lower the ph level or raise it? Would really love to have a healthy productive plant this year.

Hi Gloria,

Melons love aged maure and compost. The manure you added is not going to change the pH value of your soil. Just make sure that the soil is well-draining and take the plastic off as soon as you see signs of seedlings. Good luck!

Mulching with black plastic

I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean about mulching with black plastic. Should I lay black plastic sheeting down with nothing over top of it? Thanks

black plastic mulch

Correct. Put nothing but the canteloupe vine on the black plastic mulch for the reasons given above. See below, for another option. One reader uses pine bark instead. (Many sources say that the pine mulch will have little to no effect on pH of the soil…but it doesn’t hurt to check it before planting again.)