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| This little plant grew out of the January batch of compost. IMO, it is either a rockmelon or a cucumber. I have checked online to try to distinguish between the two prior to fruit making it obvious, but it is not easy. |
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| I want it to be a cucumber. If it is a rockmelon, I will pull it out. I have to get a pack of cucumber seeds. |
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| I was devastated to find this little Rockie lying on the pebbles this afternoon, being too heavy for his poor vine to hold him. Not that she is big mind you, this rockmelon. Runt-sized would be more like it. It does not smell ripe around the stem-area, so I will leave it another 10 days, and see if any progress can be determined. |
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| And here I am with tickets on myself as a garden whisperer. Baloney! Had I been such, I would have stuck some support under the fruit to help the vine. Better late than never, I supported the second fruit, and the third one is already resting on the pebbles. |
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| The Watermelon is in no hurry either! At least it has set fruit come the new year. There is a week between these two shots. I have the vine trailing in between the Lilli-pilli hedge along the verge. Hope no idle passers-by notice them! |
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| I have had dozens of flowers on these two Rockmelon plants. Early on, a fruit set but could not hold-on. Finally, here is a fruit that looks likely to go the distance. Cannot see any more on the mass of vines though. |
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| This first one is the Zucchini. This thin layer of white mould is creeping over the entire plant, and the fruit production has dropped away dramatically. There is one (1) fruit coming, plus another flower, plus down at the base, what appears to be a suckered on plantlet which is forming flowers. I want to cure this plant, but shall buy another seedling tomorrow to ensure continuous supply. |
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| This second one is the Rockmelon. All these plants here - the zucchini, the rockmelon, the cucumber, and the watermelon - have a similar habit even though from a different genus. The head of the rockmelon is a bit crowded in the pot, so I will clear that away a bit tomorrow. Mostly, I water these plants with a 3-litre bottle of water every other day. I think it might be more lack of circulating air, rather than overhead watering. |
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| This next one is the Cucumber. This is not a white mould, rather a form of rust, which is probably just a variation upon mould. These cucumber plants (there are three in the same pot) are very fecund. And the final image is that of the Watermelon, which is showing no effect from mould - yet! |
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| See way down in there, that little yellow hairy thing? I think that is a just-hatched rockmelon. It is a bit more apparent in this second view. Same specimen. I hope to provide a running commentary, with images, on the life cycle of this delicious melon. What I think so far, and I am sooo new at this, is that there is a high flower to fruit ratio. Not sure if this is because some flowers are not fertile, or just a strangely high proportion of them are male. Whereas the Zucchini flower is easily distinguished, male from female due to the thickness of the flower stem, this does not appear to be the case with thr Rockmelon. The plant is nicely trailing down the pots and across the poebbles now. An issue for the future, I guess. |
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