MIXED MELON PRODUCTION
IN CALIFORNIA
Keith S. Mayberry, University of California Cooperative
Extension Farm Advisor, Imperial County
Timothy K. Hartz, University of California Cooperative
Extension Specialist,Department of Vegetable Crops,
University of California, Davis
Jesús Valencia, University of California Cooperative
Extension Farm Advisor, Stanislaus County
University of California • Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Publication 7209
PRODUCTION AREAS
Mixed melons (Cucumis melo L. Inodorus group)
include honeydew, crenshaw, casaba, Juan Canary,
Santa Claus, and Persian. Most of the mixed melon
acreage is sown to honeydew, with crenshaw being
the next most popular type. Although yields vary
with season, disease incidence, and type of melon,
fields can yield 1,200 to 1,300 cartons per acre. Yields
are usually considerably less.
Mixed melons are produced in the northern
Central Valley (Sacramento and Stanislaus
Counties); the Central Valley (Kern, Fresno, Kings,
Merced, and Tulare Counties); and the southern
deserts (Imperial and Riverside Counties).
HONEYDEW ACREAGE AND VALUE
Year Acres Average yield Gross
(tons/acre) value/acre
1994 18,100 7.8 $2,496
1993 16,500 8.0 $2,672
1992 17,500 9.0 $2,340
Source: California Agricultural Statistics 1994 (Sacramento:
California Department of Food and Agriculture, 1995).
VARIETIES AND PLANTING
The standard open-pollinated honeydew is Green
Flesh Honeydew. The hybrids Silver World (71-151),
Morning Ice, Honey World, and Honeybrew are also
grown. Orange-flesh honeydews or orange-flesh
melons such as Honey Gold are grown on a limited
scale. White Crenshaw is becoming more popular
than Green Skinned Crenshaw due to sunburn
resistance. White Crenshaw has a pale yellow skin
and salmon-colored flesh. Statewide, seeding rates
vary from 0.5 to 1.0 pound per acre (0.56–1.1 kg/ha)
for hybrids and 1 to 2 pounds per acre (1.1–2.2
kg/ha) for open-pollinated varieties. Desired final
in-row spacing is 8 to 10 inches (20–25 cm).
Southern California. In the desert growing areas
of Southern California, mixed melons are planted in
January for a late-May to July harvest. Growers use
several techniques to promote an early harvest. For
spring plantings, slant-bed culture increases soil
temperature by orienting the south face of the bed
toward the winter sun. To maximize heating, the
sun’s rays should strike the soil surface at a nearly
perpendicular angle. Maximum bed heating is
achieved with the bed angle at about 35 to 37
degrees from horizontal.
Seed is planted 0.5 inch (1.2 cm) deep on 80-inch
(2-m) beds. Custom-built, slant-bed planters using
random-flow seeding units are commonly used, and
vacuum planters may be used for precision spacing.
Seed lines should be located midway up the slope.
Growers must locate the seed line correctly as the
beds will be reworked and reformed during the sea-
son. Forming a bed with a depression at the crown
increases the incidence of fruit- and root-rotting
fungi.
After the melons are thinned to about 12 inches
(30 cm), growers work the beds to relocate the seed
line, shaving soil off the top of the beds and into the
furrow. After several passes with small tractor-
mounted discs, the field is virtually flat with seed
lines 80 inches (2 m) apart. Growers then sidedress
the field with fertilizer and make new furrows for
irrigation.
Another way to plant spring melons is the
“midbed trench” method. Growers use a bed shaper
to dig a trench or groove in the center of an 80-inch-
wide (2-m) bed. Although the shape of the trench
varies, they are usually 6 to 10 inches (15–25 cm)
wide at the bottom, 20 inches (50 cm) wide at the
top, and 12 inches (30 cm) deep. Trenches are seeded
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at the bottom using either a random-flow planter or
an air-type vacuum precision planter. Pre-emer-
gence herbicide is sprayed in the trench. A tractor-
mounted, plastic-mulch-laying machine is used to
stretch a 40-inch-wide (1-m) sheet of 1 to 1.5 mm
plastic sheet over the trench and secure the edges
with soil. The plastic mulch should be laid on a slop-
ing beds to prevent rain from collecting, causing the
film to sag and injure the plants.
Fields with midbed trenches are furrow-irrigated
to wet the seed lines. No additional irrigation is
needed for the next 40 to 50 days. After tempera-
tures begin to rise and the plants touch the plastic,
ventilation is needed to prevent injury. Holes are
punched by hand or machine to allow water vapor
to escape, and the plants acclimate to the lower rela-
tive humidity. After a few days, the plastic is
removed and the plants are thinned.
Growers of fall melons in the southern desert
place the seed in a single seed line down the middle
of alternate, 42-inch (105-cm), north-south beds. The
seed is planted about 0.5 inch (1.2 cm) deep. After
emergence, plants are thinned to 6 to 12 inches
(15–30 cm) depending on planting date and melon
type.
San Joaquin Valley. Mixed melon culture in San
Joaquin Valley differs substantially from that in the
Southern California deserts. Fields are generally pre-
irrigated, either by sprinkler or furrow. When the
soil is dry enough to till, fields are worked into 40-
or 80-inch (1–2-m) raised beds. Seed are planted just
below the tilled zone, with 3 to 6 inches (7.5–15 cm)
of loose soil over the seeded row to hold in mois-
ture. A single seed line is planted per bed. After seed
germinate, the soil cap is removed. With 40-inch
beds, every second bed is seeded; after thinning, the
unused bed is split and tilled to make the bed 80
inches with the plant row in the center.
SOILS
Melons prefer well-drained soils. Sandy or silt loams
are sometimes selected for the earliest crop. Heavier
soils are preferred because of their greater water-
holding capacity, which slows the onset of vine col-
lapse. Beds should be left cloddy to allow maturing
melons to develop with minimal soil contact and
good aeration.
IRRIGATION
Mixed melons are usually furrow-irrigated because
sprinkling tends to cool the soil. Growers schedule
irrigations as needed to allow moisture to be
replaced in the beds. Excessive saturation can stimu-
late root rot diseases and ground spotting of fruit,
especially near harvest. The last irrigation is usually
scheduled 1 week prior to harvest.
FERTILIZATION
Most growers apply preplant P2O5 at 100 to 150
pounds per acre (112–168 kg/ha). Commonly used
materials are liquid ammonium polyphosphate (10-
34-0) as a band application near the seed lines or
ammonium phosphate (11-52-0) broadcast before
listing the beds. A sidedressing of N is applied at
150 pounds per acre (168 kg/ha). Normally a liquid
solution of UAN-32 (urea–ammonium nitrate, 32-0-
0) or AN-20 (liquid ammonium nitrate, 20-0-0) is
used as the N source instead of dry N fertilizers.
POLLINATION
At least one colony of bees per acre is recommend-
ed; one and one-half colonies per acre is optimum.
The bees should be distributed on at least two sides
of a 40-acre (16-ha) field; distribution of bees within
fields is even better. Yields increase with heavy bee
saturation. Bisexual, or fruit-producing, flowers
open for only one day. On the average, a well-polli-
nated flower will receive at least 15 bee visits during
this time. If poorly pollinated, the flower aborts. The
highest quality, earliest maturing, and largest fruit
are produced near the crown of the plant. Therefore,
an adequate supply of bees must be delivered to the
field when the first male blossoms develop.
INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT
Contact the UC IPM World Wide Web site at
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu or your local county
Farm Advisor for current pest management informa-
tion (UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines, UC Pest
Management Group Publication 33).
Weed mangement. Most growers use only
mechanical cultivation and hand hoeing for weed
control. Available herbicides have limited effective-
ness.
Insect identification and control. Fall melons are
attacked by a number of insects including crickets,
ground beetles, silverleaf whiteflies, cutworms,
aphids, mites, loopers, leafhoppers, and leafminers.
Spring melons are attacked by melon aphids, cut-
worms, mites, loopers, leafhoppers, leafminers, and
silverleaf whiteflies.
Disease identification and management. Sudden
wilt (Pythium spp.) is a serious problem affecting
melons after fruit set. The problem is lessened by
alternate furrow irrigation, which allows a portion
Mixed Melon Production in California • 2
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of the root zone to remain dry. Mosaic viruses
including zucchini yellow mosaic (ZYMV), water-
melon mosaic II (WMV), papaya ringspot (PRSV),
and cucumber mosaic (CMV) are vectored by vari-
ous aphid species during the spring. There is no con-
trol for these viral diseases.
Powdery mildews (Sphaerotheca fuliginea or
Erysiphe cichoracearum) are foliar diseases favored by
warm weather and moisture that can be controlled
by dusting with sulfur or specialized chemical treat-
ments. Other diseases of lesser importance include
charcoal rot (Macrophomina phaseolina), root rots
(Monosporascus cannonballus, Fusarium spp., Pythium
spp., and Rhizoctonia solani), and gummy stem blight
(Didymella bryoniae).
Fusarium fruit rot (F. roseum) can cause severe
crop losses. Control measures must be preventative
(i.e., applied before infection) if they are to be effec-
tive.
HARVEST AND HANDLING
Mixed melons are field packed on mobile platforms
or picked and hauled to the edge of the field to
small, temporary packing sheds. The melons are
packed into cardboard cartons with 5, 6, or 8 melons
per 30-pound (13.6-kg) carton. All cartons are
packed using a partition that serves as a barrier or
cushion between melons to prevent bruising and
scuffing.
Honeydew, orange flesh, Persian, and casaba
melons, mostly spherical in shape, are the easiest to
pack: the melons are oriented with the blossom end
up. Juan Canary and Santa Claus melons are football
shaped and are packed on their sides (not on their
points) with the larger fruit sometimes leaning
against the carton or divider. Crenshaw melons, the
most delicate, are teardrop shaped and are the most
difficult to handle: they must be packed blossom
end up or the fruit will break down rapidly, and car-
tons should be cooled with forced air before ship-
ping.
POSTHARVEST HANDLING
Mixed melons are sensitive to chilling injury.
Honeydews, crenshaws, and Persians store best at
45°F (7°C) and casabas at 50°F (10°C). At lower tem-
peratures, surface breakdown and decay will set in,
and abnormal softening and poor flavor will result
when fruit are brought to room temperature. High
humidity (greater than 90 percent) is recommended
to prevent water loss.
MARKETING
Limited numbers of California mixed melons are
available starting in May. Production peaks in
August and the season ends in November. Melons
are shipped to markets throughout the United States
and Canada. A significant number of honeydew
melons are exported to Pacific Rim countries.
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Mixed Melon Production in California • 3
https://doi.org/10.3733/ucanr.7209
https://doi.org/10.3733/ucanr.7209
Text1: ISBN 978-1-60107-001-2
