Vegetable · Cucurbitaceae
Honeydew Melon
Cucumis melo
Give it full sun, warm soil, and a long season, and honeydew ripens smooth, pale, and sweet by late summer.
Full sun
Every 7–10 days
70–90°F · 21–32°C
80–110 days
Overview
Honeydew is the smooth, pale melon of late summer, a heavy globe of creamy, waxy rind over sweet, pale green flesh. It grows on a warm-season vine in the gourd family, the same species as cantaloupe yet nothing like it to look at. Where a cantaloupe carries a raised, tan netting, the honeydew's skin stays slick and clean, cream shading toward pale green as it ripens.
Two things stand out on the plant itself. It needs a long, warm season of 80 to 110 days for the flesh to fill and sweeten, and the fruit never breaks free of the vine as a cantaloupe does, staying clamped hard to the stem. New growers wait for it to drop and miss the moment. The signs to read are in the rind, which pales to creamy, and in the blossom end, which softens enough to give under a thumb.
None of this makes honeydew hard, though it does want patience and steady conditions. The vines run long and low across the ground, so they need room, deep but infrequent water, and open sun with air moving over the broad leaves. Crowd those leaves or leave them wet and the mildews and wilts move in, dusting and streaking the foliage before they cut the crop short.
Care
The short version: full sun and warm, fertile, well-drained soil, with deep watering of about 1 to 2 inches a week that eases off in the final week so the sugars concentrate in the pale flesh. Give each vine room to run and a long, warm season to ripen.
Light
Honeydew wants full sun falling on its broad leaves, and the more direct hours the better. Sun is what packs the sugars into the flesh, so a shaded plant yields watery, flavorless fruit even when everything else goes right.
Water
Water deeply but not often, around 1 to 2 inches a week, letting the soil dry a little between drinks rather than staying soggy. The step that matters most comes at the end: cut back water in the last week before harvest, since a late soaking floods and dilutes the sugars in the ripening flesh.
Soil
Plant in fertile, well-drained sandy loam rich with organic matter. A slightly acidic pH of 6.0 to 6.5 suits honeydew, and sharp drainage keeps the roots and crown clear of the rots that set into heavy, wet ground.
Temperature
Honeydew grows best in real warmth, between 70°F and 90°F (21°C to 32°C). It takes no frost at either end of the season, and cool, cloudy stretches stall ripening and leave the pale flesh bland.
Humidity
Ordinary outdoor humidity is fine, so there is no figure to aim for. What matters far more is airflow over the leaves, since still, damp air around crowded foliage is exactly what dusts them with powdery and downy mildew.
Feeding
Work a balanced fertilizer such as 5-10-10 into the bed before planting, then side-dress with a nitrogen feed like 21-0-0 once the vines begin to run. Steady feeding through that vining stage builds the strong, leafy frame that fills the fruit.
Pruning
Honeydew is barely pruned. You can pinch back the running vine tips to keep a sprawling plant within its bed, and in a short season removing the very last blossoms turns the plant's energy into ripening the melons already set.
Repotting
There is no repotting here, since honeydew grows as an annual, direct-sown or transplanted just once. Where seed is started early, sow into biodegradable pots and plant the whole pot, since the fine roots break and sulk at any disturbance.
Size & spacing
The trailing vines run 6 to 9 feet (183 to 274 cm) long across the ground, so give them room. Set plants 18 to 24 inches (45 to 60 cm) apart with wide aisles between rows for the runners and for air to pass over the leaves.
When to plant
Honeydew has no tolerance for cold and needs a long stretch of warmth to sweeten. Start seeds indoors a few weeks before the last frost, set the plants out only once the soil has warmed, and harvest from late summer into early fall as the rinds pale to creamy.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: start in biodegradable pots 2 to 4 weeks before the last frost; melons resent root disturbance
- Plant: transplant or direct-sow after frost once soil is 60 to 70°F (16 to 21°C)
- Harvest: harvested late summer into early fall when the rind turns creamy and the blossom end softens
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 3–11
Temperature: down to -40°C
Troubleshooting
Most honeydew trouble writes itself on the leaves and vines first, a dusting here, a streak there, with the occasional letdown hidden inside the fruit at harvest. Catch the early marks and you can step in before a fungus or a beetle takes the whole crop. Match what you see below, then act while it still counts.
A vine slumped flat on damp soil
A vine gone limp and slumped flat while the soil stays damp is the picture of bacterial wilt, which cucumber beetles pass from plant to plant. Cut a wilted stem, press the ends together, then draw them apart, and sticky white strands stretch out between the cut faces. The vine will not recover, so lift it, destroy it, and clear out the beetles before they carry it further.
Fix:
- Remove and destroy infected vines
- Control cucumber beetles promptly
Yellowing runners withering down a single side
A runner that yellows and dies along one side while the rest hangs on marks Fusarium wilt, a soil fungus that plugs the vine from within. Split a wilting stem lengthwise and brown streaks run through the pale inner tissue. Nothing cures it, so remove the plant and keep it out of the compost, then set resistant cultivars in its place and rotate the bed for 3 to 4 years.
Fix:
- Remove affected plants; there is no cure
- Do not compost diseased vines
Sunken stem cankers weeping amber gum
Sunken cankers that bleed a reddish-amber, gummy ooze down the stems are gummy stem blight, a warm, wet-weather fungus that rots the fruit as well. Tan spots freckle the leaves and small black fruiting bodies stud the tissue. Cut out and destroy the infected vines, treat with a labeled fungicide, and move the bed well away from cucumbers and squash.
Fix:
- Remove and destroy infected vines and debris
- Apply a labeled fungicide
- Rotate away from cucurbits
Flour-white powder dusting the leaf surfaces
That flour-white, powdery dusting spreading across the upper leaf surfaces is powdery mildew, a fungus that moves in where warm air lies still around crowded foliage. As it advances the patches turn the leaf yellow and then dry. Widen the spacing to let air pass, pull the worst leaves, and use a labeled fungicide only if it keeps creeping over the plant.
Fix:
- Improve spacing and air flow
- Remove badly infected leaves
- Apply a labeled fungicide if severe
Vein-edged yellow blotches across the leaves
Sharp-cornered yellow blotches, each one squared off against the leaf veins, are the look of downy mildew in cool, wet, humid air. Turn the leaf over and the underside carries a gray to purple fuzz. Water early so the blades dry quickly, spread the planting to move air through it, and reach for a labeled fungicide if the spots keep multiplying.
Fix:
- Improve airflow and drainage
- Water early so leaves dry fast
- Apply a labeled fungicide if severe
Ragged holes chewed through leaves and blossoms
The small beetles, yellow bodies barred with black stripes or freckled with black spots, chewing ragged holes in the leaves and blossoms are cucumber beetles, and the bacterial wilt they carry is the graver harm. Drape floating row covers over young plants until they flower, pick the beetles off by hand, and turn to a labeled insecticide only when they crowd in.
Fix:
- Cover young plants with floating row covers until bloom
- Hand-pick beetles
- Apply a labeled insecticide if numerous
Curled, glazed leaves blackened by sooty mold
Leaves that curl and distort, glazed with a sticky shine and darkened by a sooty black mold, are hosting melon aphids, small soft-bodied insects packed in clusters on the undersides. They drink sap and leave the shiny honeydew the mold then blackens. Knock them off with a strong jet of water, follow with insecticidal soap, and let lady beetles and lacewings work the colony. Ants shepherd aphids for that honeydew, so hold the ants down too.
Fix:
- Spray plants with a strong jet of water
- Apply insecticidal soap
- Encourage lady beetles and lacewings
Pale flesh that ripens watery and bland
A flat, watery honeydew almost always came off the vine too soon, its rind still hard and green-tinged, its blossom end firm. Wait until that rind turns creamy and the blossom end gives a little under your thumb, since honeydews cling to the vine rather than slipping free like cantaloupes. Ease off the water in the final week too, since a heavy late drink thins the sugars.
Fix:
- Leave fruit on the vine until the rind turns creamy and the blossom end gives slightly
- Reduce watering during the last week before harvest
Toxicity
For a home with pets, honeydew is easy company: every part of the plant is non-toxic, and the soft ripe flesh is a safe, refreshing treat to share. The only cautions are practical ones, since the tough, waxy rind and the flat seeds are hard to digest and are best kept off an animal's plate.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
A small bite of the soft ripe flesh does a cat no harm. Overdo it and the worst is a little loose stool, since a cat handles scant fruit sugar.
Dogs None
Ripe honeydew, sweet and juicy, makes a fine occasional treat for a dog. Keep the pieces small, since a big helping of that sugary flesh can bring on mild stomach upset.
Horses None
A slice of the pale flesh sits fine with a horse. Leave the tough, waxy rind out, since it is a choking hazard.
Rabbits None
The flesh is safe in the smallest amounts, rich and sugary as it is for a rabbit. A thumbnail-sized morsel now and then is plenty.
Livestock None
Goats, sheep, and cattle can eat melon scraps, rind and flesh alike, without harm and often with relish. The broad leaves and trailing vines carry nothing toxic either.
Birds None
Chickens and other backyard birds peck happily at the ripe flesh and the flat pale seeds. No part of the plant holds a toxin to worry about.
People None
Ripe honeydew is a sweet, cooling, pale green fruit eaten the world over and safe for everyone, children included.
Offer only small amounts of ripe, seeded flesh; rind and seeds are tough to digest and can cause stomach upset or choking.
Varieties
Honeydew varieties set themselves apart by how fast they ripen and by the color hidden under the rind. These are the ones worth knowing when you pick seed.
Honey Dew (Green Flesh)
This is the classic winter melon, its smooth, waxy rind ripening from cream to a pale green over sweet, pale green flesh, and it stays firmly gripped to the vine rather than slipping free.
Earlidew
A green-fleshed honeydew that ripens early, its pale interior arriving well before a short season runs out.
Temptation
An early hybrid whose flesh sweetens quickly in cooler, shorter-season gardens that would otherwise leave a honeydew watery and bland.
Orange-fleshed honeydew
Behind the same smooth, pale rind of a green honeydew, this one hides a vivid salmon-orange interior.
How to propagate
Honeydew comes from its flat, pale seed and little else, so the whole task is sowing at the right time and sparing the fine, easily broken roots.
SeedEasy
Start indoors 2 to 4 weeks before the last frost, or direct-sow after soil reaches 60 to 70°F (16 to 21°C) · Germinates in about 4 to 10 days at 70 to 90°F (21 to 32°C)
Honeydew grows from the flat, pale seed alone. Sow it indoors 2 to 4 weeks before your last frost, or set it straight in the ground once the soil holds at 60°F to 70°F (16°C to 21°C), and in warm soil the seedlings push up in 4 to 10 days. Drop the seed into biodegradable pots and plant the whole pot, since the fine roots break and sulk at the least disturbance.
Myths
Once ripe, a honeydew drops cleanly from the vine, just as a cantaloupe does.
Honeydews do not slip. The fruit stays clamped to the stem and has to be cut from the vine, so waiting for it to drop leaves you with a soft, overripe melon. Read ripeness in the rind as it pales to creamy and in the blossom end as it softens under a thumb.
A deep soak right before picking builds up the sweetness.
The opposite happens. A heavy drink in the final week of ripening dilutes the fruit and washes out the sweetness, thinning the sugars already laid down in the flesh. Those sugars build from full ripening under sun, so the water is eased back as harvest nears.
A honeydew is only a cantaloupe with paler flesh.
Both are the one species, Cucumis melo, yet they part into different groups. Honeydew is the smooth, waxy-skinned winter melon of the Inodorus group, while cantaloupe and muskmelon wear the raised netted rind of the Reticulatus group, and each ripens and leaves the vine its own way.