Kiwano (horned melon)

[Elmigo]

After all it grows in desert like areas with a low temp night but a high temp day. It makes sense. Next year I'll be testing them on solid land too!

[Primrose]

Well we're certainly expanding our knowledge on this forum ! I imagine the thick skins help preserve the moisture inside the fruits. As you say, when they can be produced so prolifically in good conditions one wonders why they are so expensive to buy but of course transport and air freight costs to other countries will absorb a large percentage of the cost.

[giaur500]

Next year I'll be testing them on solid land too!

To get the best result, make sure used place is sunny (more direct sun = better) and sheltered from wind. Plant your seeds indoor (use small flower pots) at the end of winter, then remove from pots and plant to ground as soon as risk of frost ends (be careful, don't break the roots). Before you move outdoor, let them to get use to direct sunlight and uv radiation, first expose to direct sunlight one hour daily, then keep increasing exposure time each day. After moving outdoor, water plants and keep soil wet all the time. When watering, avoid cold water on leaves , the best is only watering roots in place. You can also use sprinkler. It's recommend to perform watering at the evening, hot sun + water is not recommended.

[giaur500]

Some tips about storing kiwano: https://ucanr.edu/datastoreFiles/234-2128.pdf interesting reading. In summary, avoid temperature below 15 °C, otherwise it will decay in 2 months

[Elmigo]

Hi everyone, it's been a long time because we're finally moving to the house with a sunny garden! I am both really excited for it and also kind of afraid for all the new challenges coming with the garden we're about to inhabit.

I forgot to post about it but I already ate my kiwanos (horned melons) and gave some away to my parents and friends to taste too. They are still green but you can squeeze them gently so they're ready to eat. They may not be yellow like in the store and their size is a bit smaller (picture below is one of the smallest kiwanos), their taste is amazing! I really had to harvest them as the plant started dying off from the cold autumn weather.

And yes, I cut off the "horned" part because these fruits really do have a couple of sharp thorns on them. Fill a bath tub with those kiwanos and you can lay on it to perform acupuncture!

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Despite their size and color with smaller seeds on the inside, they do taste the same and they are delicious! In fact I'm about to eat this one for breakfast right now.

[Primrose]

Good to hear from you Elmigo. Your posts have been missed. Good luck with your house move . If the weather in Holland today is anything like the UK your new garden is anything but sunny!

Glad your horned melons turned out to be a success after all your efforts. Thanks for the update. Sounds like this is one experiment you will be trying to repeat in your garden next year.

Think I,ll pass on the bathtub acupuncture suggestion though!

[Elmigo]

I'll pass too, I need a lot more land for that much kiwanos to grow but yes, I will definitely try kiwano again next year if the garden is ready on time!

It's anything but sunny for sure, autumn strikes and we even had a little bit of frost already. If more frost comes we have another challenge in the garden.

[giaur500]

Hi everyone, it's been a long time because we're finally moving to the house with a sunny garden! I am both really excited for it and also kind of afraid for all the new challenges coming with the garden we're about to inhabit.

I forgot to post about it but I already ate my kiwanos (horned melons) and gave some away to my parents and friends to taste too. They are still green but you can squeeze them gently so they're ready to eat. They may not be yellow like in the store and their size is a bit smaller (picture below is one of the smallest kiwanos), their taste is amazing! I really had to harvest them as the plant started dying off from the cold autumn weather.

And yes, I cut off the "horned" part because these fruits really do have a couple of sharp thorns on them. Fill a bath tub with those kiwanos and you can lay on it to perform acupuncture!

20191102_091253.jpg

Despite their size and color with smaller seeds on the inside, they do taste the same and they are delicious! In fact I'm about to eat this one for breakfast right now.

I still advice to wait a while or place with apples to speed up ripe process:



Left one on pic is still not ready, right one is almost ready to eat. More ripe - better taste. It should be orange, color similar to orange fruit, for the best taste.

[Primrose]

We're getting a lot of good advice on here for when climate change has increased sufficiently to make growing them a viable crop here in the UK.

[giaur500]

If you have green fruits, put them together with ripe apples, into hermetic container. After 3-5 days all fruits will be orange. Size of fruits does not matter.

That's natural way to speed up ripe process

[Stephen]

Congratulations on your fruit. Well done.

[Elmigo]

This is something unrelated but I think also worth sharing. One and a half years ago I started sowing seeds from a dragon fruit I bought at the store. Those fruits are rare. Only in a lucky year they can be found at some stores, around christmas. Just like Star Fruit. So these are my tiny Dragon Fruit cactusses! They started making roots mid-air to obtain moisture from the humid air in the room. It surprises me that they remained so small after more than one year, they have been said to set fruit after 3-4 years. Cactusses are fairly easy to maintain, just water once in a while and keep them at room temperature. Especially Dragon Fruit (Pitahaya) should be an easy cactus but apparently it grows very slowly by nature.

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On the sides of those cactus seedlings, it's funny to notice how the cacti started making more seedlings. If you break them off and put them in new soil they continue to grow!

[giaur500]

You can always ask Chinese friends, they bascially own eveyrhing: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000393418263.html. That's possible to grow dragon fruit indoor, it's even possible to get fruits, but not so easy. Taste is not as impressive as therir look though. In my opionion, there is no any taste.it's rather blandness

[Primrose]

Eldmigo, I,m amazed you' ve managed to keep these going undamaged amid the chaos of a house move but perhaps their native conditions has built in a genetic resistance to hardship. It will be interesting to see if they ever grow large enough to bear fruit. Do they have to be pollinated or are they self fertile?

[Elmigo]

I'm not sure about pollination yet. Perhaps I'll just look it up when and if it starts flowering. I expect them to grow a lot more in 2020, especially during summertime!