Canteloupe, lots of young ones on the vine, pick them off?

[SuperChemicalGirl]

I continue to try and get melons up here in the north. I planted early canteloupe this year, and it's actually doing pretty well. I have two plants in two different locations. Each plant has between 6 and 8 small melons on it - we're talking between golf and baseball sized. One of the plants has a few more just fertilized (so about a quarter sized) baby canteloupes on it.

My question is: I really want melons so do I pick off all but one so I can ensure I actually get a melon this year? I'm assuming that if the plant keeps putting energy into making small melons that they might not mature. After all, it's already July in Maine. It'll be winter any day now.

As hard as it is for me to prune them off (after all the promise of 8 melons is much more enticing than one) I will if it means I get a melon.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[catjac1975]

I am in Massachusetts. I do not pick off the fruit. I do however, place the fruit on top of old plant pots to lift them into the sun.(One with holes so they do not sit in water.) I have found beautiful large fruit and then when I go to pick them find that they have been eaten from a hidden hole in the bottom of the plant, presumably by a mouse. Lifting them keeps this from happening. I read that bringing them out into the sun makes them sweeter. They are ripe when the stem slides off and they smell very sweet.

 

[OldGuy43]

I am in Massachusetts. I do not pick off the fruit. I do however, place the fruit on top of old plant pots to lift them into the sun.(One with holes so they do not sit in water.) I have found beautiful large fruit and then when I go to pick them find that they have been eaten from a hidden hole in the bottom of the plant, presumably by a mouse. Lifting them keeps this from happening. I read that bringing them out into the sun makes them sweeter. They are ripe when the stem slides off and they smell very sweet.

What a marvelous idea. I never would have thought of that.

 

[vfem]

I usually plant mine on a trellis and then pit the fruit in 'knee highs' to tie them up with to the trellis (for air circulation) . I do notice if I have 5-6 fruits, only 2-3 ever really mature. Sometimes a few won't get any nutrients to thrive and they just stop growing, or shrivel. I pick them off them. Otherwise I leave them be.

 

[desertlady]

My canteloupe has 10 on one vine !! some are climbing on a fence!, I have to make a "Baby bag" or carrier to hold it up. I am afraid the weight on it my break when wind blows!

 

[Prizewinner]

I would leave the cantaloupes alone and let them mature in there own time. If they are already golf to baseball size it will only be a week or two until they're ready.

 

[SuperChemicalGirl]

Really??!! That's all it's going to take?? It appears like they're going to take longer. :tools

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Im having the same dilema.
I hand pollinated about 20 of them, but I know my containered plant cant handle that many.
I think Im gonna remove more than half and leave myself with say 6-8.
Im also going to make sure there is not more than 2 on each individual vine.

I staggered the pollination into 3 groups so Ill choose which melons I leave on very carefully according to which vine its on and where its at on the vine.

Im basing this off the idea that each melon robs energy from the melons that come after it on that particular vine.
I am also cutting off all new male and female flowers as I do not want them stealing energy from what I already have.

Disclaimer: I am a beginner, but I read alot