Your comments and tips

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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17 Apr 20, Brian (Australia - temperate climate)

Why are rockmelons tasteless the last few years. Live in Sydney and they are all tasteless. Occasion try again and again over many years. What's going on .

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05 Feb 11, Kate (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I'm about to try growing some RM in a garden bed. I've noted from a few websites to make sure they're well drained. I'm not too sure how this will go as the soil is quite heavy in clay. I've been preparing the soil for months now with lawn clippings, organic compost and mulch and claybreaker. Currently I have a crop of Jap pumpkin in there from which I've harvested four good sized pumpkins. My biggest problem is when about the size of an apricot, they rot and fall off the vine. I only water when the vine is wilting. If they grow larger I raise them by placing a terracotta saucer underneath them (have found this works well) but I lose so many before they are large enough to raise. Will the same happen with RM? BTW, my pumpkin self seeded and grew out the side of my compost bin. Nothing else has done this. Just pumpkin.

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06 Feb 11, Randy (Australia - temperate climate)

Hi Kate, Your problem is lack of pollination, so the fruit wither and die. Worldwide, bees are disappearing and while there are theories, nobody knows for sure why it is happening. Pollinate them yourself with a small paint brush or cotton bud, wipe some pollen from the male flowers (these are just a flower on the vine) and wipe it onto the stamen in the middle of the female flowers (these have the small fruit behind them). Good luck. - Randy

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30 Jan 11, sue (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I live in SEQ,and have jusr found rockmelons growing in the front yard. I can only assume they started in our compost bin. Is this usual?? I know they are rockmelons as there are 3 half grown fruit on the vine.Rock melons have never been planted in our yard before.. Would be interested in knowing if this has happened to anyone else. thx

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20 Mar 11, Mike (Australia - temperate climate)

We used soil from our compost bin when we repotted some celery, strawbs and chilli. Within a couple of weeks some vines had started growing in most of the pots. We watched and waited to see what they would grow into. We've just now had our first rockmelon (yummo!) and there's about 6 or so coming along nicely. Whilst these are growing in hot houses, there's still plenty of bees that find their way in and do the rounds of all the blooms.

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12 Jan 11, Alison (Australia - temperate climate)

Hi, This is my first time growing rockmelons. I'm in Melbourne region. I planted them out in late November, and they are spreading across the garden bed like weeds, and have tons of flowers on them, that look nice and healthy. Do I need to do anything to them to make the flowers become fruit??? I'd hate to just watch the flowers dissappear to nothing after all this! (Do they cross-polenate with other types of veg/fruit? eg Toms/cucumber/capsicum that I'm also growing in there). They are growing in a no-dig veggie garden of mushroom compost/lucerne hay/straw/chook poo layers.

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19 Sep 10, Mark (Australia - temperate climate)

A couple weeks ago (early september) I planted some Rockmelon seeds in a seed tray and most have come up. At how many weeks should I put them in the ground? I have about 10 seedlings going. How many fruite would I be expecting per plant.

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