Subject: Can melons grow on the ground?

From: [email-masked] (Dean McCrae)
Date: Fri, 07 Jun 1996 18:44:57 GMT

I have just planted honey melons (Sugar Baby) and water melons in my garden. The
plants are lying on the ground, but I have never tried this before, so I am not
sure if that is the right thing to do. Can anyone help me with this??

Also, if the melon plants go on the ground, what about the actual melons. Can
they just lie on the soil without rotting or getting damaged?

Thanks for helping.

From Henk Beentje Tue Jun 18 10:04:24 EDT 1996
Article: 11268 of bionet.plants
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
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From: Henk Beentje
Subject: Re: Madagascar Palm
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Mike Maxson <[email-masked]> writes:

>I have a palm called Dypsis baronii (Neodypsis compactus) from 
>Madagascar. The  palm is in a one gl. pot and is only about 1 
>foot tall and is starting to branch. I know this palm is known 
>to branch but is it normal to branch this early.

I have seen it branch in the wild, usually pretty close to the ground. It's
rare, though, for baronii to branch. I wouldn't expect more than one
branching point either - if you have more you might have D. lutescens
or D. andrianatonga. They're almost impossible to tell apart when sterile.

Henk

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From: [email-masked](Michael L Roginsky )
Date: 10 Jun 1996 21:11:44 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Dean McCrae)
>they just lie on the soil without rotting or getting damaged?

Melons can grow on the ground just fine. What is needed is a loose
sandy loam. I had lots of problems with melons due to "terapin" turtles
feeding on them. But a short chicken wire fence takes care of turtles
coming for lunch.

In heavy clay soils I have to prepare the ground in advance by adding a
lot of mulch. My problem is that most bees have been wiped-out as
result of fighting the jap beetle infestations with sevin (carbaryl). I
do OK by hand polinating.

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From: [email-masked] (Fure-Chyi Chen ���ֺX)
Date: 10 Jun 1996 19:42:24 -0700

You can put some rice or other cereal straws beneath the fruit to prevent 
rotting. Chen