Best time to plant rockmelon in St George
Cucumis melo var. cantalupo
Also called Cantaloupe, Cantaloup, Muskmelon, Spanspek
Sow rockmelon in St George in Sep to Jan.
Rockmelon is the Australian name for the netted melon North Americans know as cantaloupe, prized for sweet, fragrant, usually orange flesh, and weighing from half a kilogram to 5 kilograms. Seed lines filed here can also include smooth or mottled relatives from the same species, such as honeydew, whose flesh is green or pale.
When to sow in St George
St George, QLD is in the arid zone. The zone also plants in Aug, but St George's frost dates make those months risky for a frost-tender crop.
Broadly matches local guides, with some differences.
Your local conditions can shift any months shown here, so treat them as a guide.
Frost in St George
Frost usually arrives in St George around early June and finishes by late August. In about 1 year in 10 it comes as early as mid May or as late as mid September, so frost-tender crops are planned around those dates.
From its Bureau of Meteorology station, 1991 to 2020, counting a night at 2°C or lower as a frost. Frost hollows and hillsides can shift these dates by weeks, so ask the growers at your garden too.
On a shared plot: needs a lot of room
Vines wander, so train them back into your plot or up a frame.
Growing details
- How to start
- Raise seedlings, then transplant
- Sowing depth
- 2.5cm
- Plant spacing
- 40-60cm
- Row spacing
- 120cm
- Height
- 40cm
- Germination
- 3-14 days, in soil of at least 15°C
- Time to harvest
- 85 days
- Frost
- Frost tender
- Sun
- Full sun
- Life cycle
- annual
These are typical figures, and varieties differ. Your seed packet takes priority.