Hales Best Jumbp Cantaloupe Heirloom Seeds

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Cantaloupe: Hales Best Jumbo (2g, 75 seeds)

Our Price: $2.19

Availability: Orders received by 4pm EST ship same day!
Product Code: 17HALES_BEST

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Hales Best Jumbo is one of the more popular varieties of heirloom cantaloupe. Dating back to 1924, Hales Best is a great early non-hybrid.

Flesh is orange, sweet, fragrant and delicious. Average: 85 days

Detailed planting instructions:

If you have long, hot growing seasons direct-seed into garden. To ensure ripening in areas with shorter growing seasons and cooler weather, choose fast-maturing varieties, start plants inside, use black or IRT plastic mulch to warm soil and use fabric row covers to protect plants.

Direct-seed 1 to 2 weeks after average last frost when soil is 70 F or warmer. Plant ½ inch deep, 6 seeds per hill, hills 4 to 6 feet apart; or 1 foot apart in rows 5 feet apart. Can plant at closer spacings if trellised. Thin to 2 to 3 plants per hill.

For transplanting, sow seeds indoors ¼ inch deep in peat pots (2-inch square or bigger), 2 to 4 weeks before setting out. Plants should have one or two true leaves when transplanted.

Transplant at same spacings as direct-seeded crops - 2 to 3 plants per hill in hills spaced 4 to 6 feet apart, or 1 to 2 feet apart in rows 5 feet apart. Transplants are delicate and roots are sensitive to disturbance. If you need to thin, use scissors. Keep soil intact around plant when transplanting.

Mulch plants after soil has warmed to help maintain consistent moisture and suppress weeds.

If using fabric row covers, remove at flowering to allow pollination by bees. Good pollination is critical to fruit set.

Plants require consistent moisture until pollination. Once fruits are about the size of a tennis ball, only water if soil is dry and leaves show signs of wilting.

To prevent insect damage to developing fruits, place melons on pots or pieces of wood.

If growing melons on a trellis, support fruit with slings made from netting, fabric, or pantyhose. Trellising improves air circulation around plants and can help reduce foliar disease problems. Choose small-fruited varieties and reduce plant spacing.

For large plantings, leave a strip of rye cover crop every second or third row perpendicular to prevailing winds to protect plants from damaging wind.

To reduce insect and disease problems, avoid planting cucumber family crops (melons, squash, pumpkins) in the same spot two years in a row.

HARVESTING

Cantaloupe should have a yellowish orange color and be just slightly soft ONLY on the stem end. This end should also be a rounded small cavity with no pieces of stem left. This would mean it was picked before it was ripe. There may be some bleaching on the skin where the melon was laying on the soil, and that is okay, but it shouldn't be green or have dark, soft spots.

Cantaloupes are ripe when they pull off the vine with ease...no pulling should be necessary. You'll want to watch the fruit carefully and harvest daily once they start to ripen. Some people "thump" their melons and listen for a hollow sound which means they are ripe. You can also look for the base of the stem to look cracked, which is a sign it will pull off easily. Refrigerate melons immediately after harvesting or bringing home from the market.

SAVING SEEDS

Pick the fruit at the peek of ripeness. The seeds inside the melon will have matured by this time and can be harvested as you enjoy the outer fruit. Cut the melon with a sharp knife and carefully scoop out the inner seed lining and save them for processing the seeds. Place the seedy pulp into a bowl and remove as much of the pulp as possible by hand. Discard the pulp and add warm water to the bowl. You can then skim the surface of the water to remove seeds that will not produce plants, as they will be floating on the top. Rinse the rest of the seeds once more to remove any remaining sugar and pulp and place on a screen to dry.

Allow these seeds to dry for about 3 days. Place the seeds in a bag and mark with type of seeds they are and when they were harvested. Place the bag in the freezer until next season.

Features

Comes in E-Z Lock resealable, reusable triple-layered foil packets
Seeds are open pollinated and can be grown, harvested, and replanted endlessly
Dried & sealed airtight for long-term storage
Nutritional value: An excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin A, iron, and calcium.

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