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Muskmelon Cucumis melo reticulatus

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Wild populations of Cucumis melo occur in desert and ... Muskmelon Cream Pie. Muskmelon Products & Other Uses. Value-Added Products: Melon Blossom Honey ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Muskmelon Cucumis melo reticulatus


1
Muskmelon Cucumis melo reticulatus
Carrie Stellpflug Organic Seed Saving June 3, 2004
2
Geographic Cultural Origins
  • Wild populations of Cucumis melo occur in desert
    and savanna regions of Africa, Arabia, SW Asia.
  • Cultivated in Egypt early as 2400 BC but no
    distinction made between netted and non-netted
    types and name muskmelon was used.
  • Early evidence of spreading across Mid-East (Iran
    and India), thought to be another point of origin
    and diversification. 
  • By the 1500s Spain had brought C. melo var.
    reticulatus into production.  

3
Journey to the New World
  • Muskmelon crossed the Atlantic on Columbus
    second voyage, where Native Americans put it into
    production. Seeds were dispersed quickly from
    tribe to tribe, and by the mid-1600s, it was
    cultivated from Florida to New England.
  • In 1881, Burpee introduced a highly netted
    cultivar- Netted Gem- from which many modern
    muskmelons have been derived.

4
Relatives Ancestors
Other Cucumis melo include
  • Cantaloupe
  • (C. melo cantalupensis)
  • Honeydew
  • Armenian Cucumber
  • (Snake Melon)
  • Asian Pickling Melon
  • Vine Peach (Mango Melon)
  • Casaba
  • Pocket Melon
  • (Vine Pomegranate)

5
Uses of Muskmelon Relatives
  • Throughout Asia, numerous non-sweet varieties of
    C. melo are grown for pickling. After the seed
    cavity is emptied, the thin flesh and rind are
    brined or made into fresh condiments. The fruits
    are also used like summer squash in various
    ethnic dishes.

6
Uses of Muskmelon
  • Produced mainly for fresh fruit consumption as
    breakfast and dessert melons
  • Recipes include
  • Melon drinks like juices, smoothies, granitas,
    lassi
  • Melon Soup
  • Melon Salsa (great with meats)
  • Muskmelon Spinach Salad
  • Ginger Pork and Melon
  • Melon Cheesecake
  • Muskmelon Cream Pie

7
Muskmelon Products Other Uses
  • Value-Added Products
  • Melon Blossom Honey
  • Spiced Muskmelon Butter
  • Muskmelon Preserves
  • Honey Muskmelon Dressing
  • Muskmelon Sorbet
  • Muskmelon Bread
  • Melon Seed oil?
  • Medicinal Uses
  • Fruits
  • cooling light cleanser or moisturizer for skin
  • first aid for burns and abrasions
  • Flowers
  • Expectorant emetic
  • Seeds
  • Antitussive, digestive, febrifuge vermifuge
  • Root
  • Diuretic emetic

8
Muskmelon Plant Characteristics
  • Muskmelons are andromonoecious
  • Tender, heat-loving annuals
  • Easily identified tendril-bearing vines
    alternate leaves
  • Produce a plant hormone called ethylene that
    makes the melon detach fall to the ground,
    which happens in 24 hours. To prevent decay
    during storage, hand harvest before they fall.
    However, not all melons ripen at the same time,
    so a single field of cantaloupe may need to be
    hand harvested up to 7 times.

9
Flowers
  • Female blossoms (A) sit atop a small, immature
    fruit or ovary, while male blossoms (B) are
    attached only to a straight stem.
  • First produce groups of male flowers in leaf
    axils, then produce single perfect flowers.

10
Summer is Muskmelon Season
  • Warm-season crop
  • 80 to 120 days of warm, preferably dry weather to
    mature
  • Best melon quality is obtained in areas with high
    temperatures, high light, minimal rainfall, and
    relatively low humidity during the growing season
    (CA, TX, AZ).
  • Fungal diseases often defoliate crops in humid
    areas such as the southern states, resulting in
    small or cull fruit, poor netting, sunburn, bland
    taste and low sugar.

11
Seed Propagation
  • Outbreeding Plants
  • Rely on bees small flies for pollination.
  • Very small flowers whose sex is more difficult to
    identify than the large flowers of squash.
  • Will abort 80 of the female blossoms, plus hand
    pollination is even less effective than insect
    pollination. There's no way to tell which
    flowers the plant is going to abort, so only
    10-15 of hand-pollinated blossoms will develop
    into fruits.
  • For all these reasons, melons can be the most
    frustrating of Cucurbitaceae to pollinate.

12
Three Methods of Saving Melon Seed
  • Isolation Easiest, but not always practical
    because ½ mile is recommended between varieties.
  • Caging with introduced pollinators Commonly used
    at research stations universities, which often
    employ a beekeeper who maintains small, specially
    constructed hives built into the sides of the
    cages. Complex and can be quite expensive, and
    seldom used by home gardeners.
  • Hand-Pollination Not difficult, but very
    time-consuming. Flowers are tiny require a
    delicate touch, careful observation is required
    to identify male and female blossoms that are
    ready to open.

13
Steps of Hand Pollination
  • Inspect plants and blossoms every day to find
    blossoms that are still green (immature), or are
    about to open, or have already opened. Male and
    female blossoms that will open the next morning
    must be taped shut and marked in the evening.
  • The next morning after the dew has dried, pick
    the male flower and some of its stem, remove the
    tape and tear off all of the flower petals.
    Carefully remove the tape from the female flower.
  • Gently rub the pollen from the anthers of the
    male flower onto the stigma of female flower.
    Retape female and mark the stem.
  • Remove fruits that aren't hand-pollinated to keep
    the plant blooming and improve the chances for
    successful hand-pollinations.
  • If the melon's stem attachment is still green
    after 3 days and the tiny fruit has slightly
    enlarged, chances are good that the pollination
    was successful.

14
Harvesting Processing Seeds
  • Melon seeds are mature when the fruits are ready
    to eat. Slightly overripe fruits have 2-10 more
    mature seeds, but are not very palatable.
  • Cut melons open carefully with a bowl ready.
    Work the seeds between your fingers to free them
    of any attachments pulp.
  • Add enough water to allow the hollow seeds the
    attachment fibers to float. Pour off the water
    debris, repeating the process until only clean
    seeds remain.
  • Pour the seeds into a strainer rinse thoroughly
    under a stream of cool water to remove any traces
    of sugar. Dry the bottom of the strainer on a
    towel to remove as much moisture as possible.
  • Dump cleaned seeds onto a glass or plastic plate
    or onto a cookie sheet to dry.
  • Melon seeds will remain viable for 5 years when
    stored in cool, dry, dark conditions.
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