A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Fruit Forum Cantaloupe question

So, I have some cantaloupe plants, four of them, and I don't have much space. They started taking up more space than I expected so I got some lumber and built some trellises for them to grow vertically to conserve space. Then the thought hit me, can they grow vertically? I have many flowers that are 1+ feet off the ground. When the melons start to get big, will their weight make them fall to the ground and get detached from the plant?

They'll grow vertically but they might break. Is there any way you can make slings for them and attach them to the trellis also? Kind of like a cantelope hammock.

Yes the weight can tear them right off the vine. What you can do is make hammocks for them from something expandable like pantyhose tied to the trellis to help support their weight.

I think I can do that. I like the idea of the hammocks. I'll try it out once the melons get a bit bigger. Also, can anyone help me with a flower problem? A bunch of flowers on the plants keep falling off and I didn't even touch them.

you want to fix the hammocks or slings before the melons get bigger so they don't strain and break your vine. as soon as the blossom fell off the melon, momma always used an old onion sack and tacked it to the frame the vine was growing on.

I'll put the hammocks on when the blossoms fall off, just like your mother did. Haha. They're very small right now, the biggest one isn't even an inch long.