Sad Melon, help!

[sunnymay10]

Hi,

I've had my first nearly failure in my new polytunel and I don't know how to treat it.
I'ts a charentais melon, been in about 3 weeks, and slowly the leaves have starten to die off, it only had 4 anyway!
I tried adjusting the water, thought was it too much or too little, it carried on wilting, now I'm left with 2 very limp leaves, I took the other 2 off as they were
well gone, but there looks like a 2 small leaves right down at the base of the plant but i want to keep them!
Do I just leave them alone, they havn't done much this week, adjust the watering again, or is it too early to give it a bit of a feed with something, or is it too young for that, please help, I'm so sad about it, it's the first time I've tried a melon.

sunnymay.

[scarey55]

I have one like that too. I have definitely over watered mine. I usually find that if anything dies on me, that is nearly always the reason. I have got better but I still have a tendency to be a bit heavy handed with the watering can

[Tomatoking]

I had some in pots that looked similar, the problem with melons in the early stages is watering.

I planted mine in the soil a few days ago and they are looking better already, they did have a fair amount of roots on them, so I think they were a bit pot bound and there was not a lot of reserve left in the pot as it was full of roots.

To be fair, melons are the most difficult thing to grow in a greenhouse, so I always plant more than I need.


Mr TK

[Sanjo]

Sunnymay I have pm'd you.Sandra

[Jax]

Mine done the same, but Im almost positive it got frost on it through the breather holes in the top. Just gonna let it do its thing now, itll either go one way or another

[tamsin]

Could it have got a little chilly? I only just put mine out in my plastic greenhouse yesterday with my fingers crossed.

[sunnymay10]

Hi Tamsin,

no don't think it was the cold, our frost has been gone for a few weeks now and we had some great weather when it first went into the polytunel from being shop bought and temp in there has been quite constant.
I've got a feeling I might have damaged it putting it in the ground, the leaf death was so sudden, I've planted it next to my metal shelving area in the hope of trailing it up that and hanging any fruit on the shelving same as I did with the pumpkins last year, but what do they say, don't count your chickens!. I suppose I could always go and buy another one, but it was only a first attempt for me.If thats all I loose this year it won't be too bad.

sunnymay.

PS Thanks for your replies.