Growing rockmelon and honeydew
Before you start
Jerry Lovatt, Ross Wright, Noel Meurant & Lynton Vawdrey, Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries
This information has been extracted from the Agrilink Rockmelon
and Honeydew Information Kit and the Agrilink Rockmelon and Honeydew
Information Kit Annual Update 1998, which provide information on all aspects
of growing and marketing rockmelon and honeydew in Queensland.
Introduction
This is a checklist of the things you need to know before you start. It will help you make the right decision about growing rockmelon and honeydew. The information here is brief and to the point. We provide more detail on important areas in other sections of the Agrilink Rockmelon and Honeydew Information Kit.
An overview of the Queensland rockmelon and honeydew industry
Queensland grew about 1500 ha of rockmelons in 1994-95, producing about 36 416 t
worth $26 million. Honeydews were grown on about 230 ha. The Bowen-Burdekin
(Dry Tropics) area produces about 55% of the rockmelon crop, 25% comes from
the Bundaberg-Burnett region, and most of the remainder from the Chinchilla-St.
George region. Honeydews are produced mainly in the Bowen-Burdekin area with
the balance from the Bundaberg-Burnett districts.
Queensland produces about half of Australia's rockmelons and almost all the honeydew crop.
Queensland melons are produced all year. Harvesting starts in the Dry Tropics in May and finishes in south-west Queensland in April. The only competition for Queensland melons over winter and spring comes from the Northern Territory.
Most rockmelons and honeydews are sold in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, but some are consigned to all the major Australian markets. There is a small export trade, mostly to New Zealand and south-east Asia.
The melon plant
Rockmelons and honeydews are vigorous, prostrate annual melons with a vining or running habit, and an extensive but shallow root system. They have tendrils that twine around other plants and weeds. Careful management of nutrition, soil moisture and pests and diseases is essential if heavy yields of good quality fruit are to be produced. Their dense foliage means that thorough pesticide application is very important. The vines generally produce separate male and female flowers that are pollinated by honeybees.
Rockmelons and honeydews are members of the cucurbit family, which also includes chokos, cucumbers, grammas, gourds, pumpkins, squash, watermelons and zucchinis.
Know what you are getting into
Here are some of the important things you need to know.
- A high level of management skills and thorough knowledge of the crop is needed to grow and market melons successfully. Poor management of cultural operations can seriously reduce yield and quality. Do a thorough business plan. This will give you a more accurate picture of what you are getting into.
- Failure to control diseases such as powdery and downy mildew will result in lower yields and poorer quality fruit. Powdery mildew is worse in dry conditions, while downy mildew is more common in wet weather. Several viruses, which are carried by aphids, can reduce yield and quality substantially. Infection early in the crop can cause complete crop failure.
- Too much rain, especially near harvest time, can result in serious fruit breakdown and poor quality fruit with a low sugar content.
- Excessive nitrogen use, especially close to harvest, results in soft, poor quality fruit.
- Losses from postharvest diseases can be severe if fruit are not treated after harvest. Losses will be greater after wet weather.
- Some melon varieties, particularly honeydews and hybrid rockmelons, are highly susceptible to plant collapse caused by sudden wilt or gummy stem blight infection. Almost all the crop can be lost.
- Poor irrigation management can result in plant losses from sudden wilt, as well as split fruit and melons with a low sugar content.
What you can expect to make
Yields
Yields can vary considerably depending on climatic conditions, pests and diseases, and whether melons are grown on the ground or on plastic mulch. Melons are usually sold in trays or cartons. Yields range between 1000 and 2500 trays per hectare. For budgeting purposes, a good average yield would be 1800 trays for rockmelons and 2000 trays for honeydews.
Prices
Prices vary from $3 to $30 per tray, with an average of $13 per tray. The break-even price is about $11 per tray for a crop yielding 1800 trays per hectare. Prices and throughputs for the 1997 season in the Brisbane and Sydney markets are shown in Figures 1 to 3. For comparison the three-year average for 1994 to 1996 is also shown. The bigger the variation above or below the average price, the greater the opportunity or risk involved.
Gross income
At an average yield of 1800 trays per hectare and an average price of $13 per tray, the gross return would be $23 400. To calculate your net income, you need to deduct growing and marketing costs, plus fixed costs such as rates, depreciation, electricity and living expenses.
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Figure 1. Average price, 1994 to 1996 and 1997 average price per 32 L carton on the Brisbane market for rockmelons and honeydews |
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Figure 2. Average price, 1994 to 1996 and 1997 average price 32 L carton on the Sydney market for rockmelons and honeydews |
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Figure 3. Throughput for 1995 to 1997 on the Brisbane and Sydney markets for rockmelons and honeydews |
Production costs
Table 1 shows the estimated average costs in dollars per hectare for a transplanted crop grown with trickle irrigation and plastic mulch and producing 1800 trays per hectare.
Table 1. Estimated average costs in dollars per tray and per hectare
| Costs | $/tray | $/ha |
| Total preharvest costs |
2.98 4.40 3.88 11.26 |
5 364 7 890 6981 20 235 |
Gross margin
The gross margin (income after growing, harvesting and marketing costs) for the yield and price averages used here is $1.74 per tray or $3165 per hectare. Remember that no allowance has been made for fixed costs, loan repayments or living expenses.
The capital you require
The capital investment to set up a melon production unit, including machinery and equipment, is likely to be about $150 000. This assumes all equipment is purchased new. Second-hand prices are about half the new prices.
The farm you need
Soil
Soil must be well-drained or able to be hilled to provide drainage. A soil with a crumbly surface allows the underside of melons to dry out faster, reducing fruit rot. Most melons are grown on plastic-covered beds.
Climate
Melons need a warm growing season with day temperatures above 20oC, low rainfall during harvest, and protection from wind. The optimum temperature for growth is around 30oC, while cool night temperatures slow growth and reduce fruit size.
Slope
Slope should be minimal to allow for even watering and easy access for spray rigs. Uniform slopes are desirable but not essential. Erosion can be a problem on steep slopes while depressions can result in waterlogging.
The slope affects the type of irrigation that can be used. Slopes below 5% are not a limitation but slopes above 5% require soil conservation practices. Slopes above 10% make it difficult to operate machinery safely and to maintain uniform irrigation.
Water
The amount of water required varies from two to four megalitres per hectare. If irrigating from farm dams, you need storage capacity for greater volumes to allow for evaporation and other losses of water.
Rockmelons and honeydews have a medium tolerance to salty water. Yields will be reduced as water conductivity (salt level) increases above 1500 microSiemens per centimetre (mS/cm).
The machinery and equipment you need
The essential and optional machinery and equipment needed for rockmelon or honeydew production is shown in Table 2. Access to a cold room during harvest is essential. The prices listed are estimates only. Second-hand machinery would cost about half the new price.
Table 2. Estimated cost of new machinery and equipment
| Equipment | New prices $ |
| Essential Tractor (30 kW) for planting, cultivation and spraying Tractor (45 to 60 kW) for plough, ripper and rotary hoe Trailer and/or farm truck Bed-former/plastic and trickle tube layer Waterwheel transplanter Fertiliser applicator and direct seeder Creep feed, washing unit and sorting/grading table Dip or flood spray Spray equipment for crop Spray equipment for interrow herbicides Half-tonne bins (each) Buckets (each) Pallet jacks Cultivation equipmen Irrigation equipment ($/ha) |
30 000 50 000 6 000 3 500 12 000 12 500 2 000 - 4 000 12 000 - 15 000 4 000 100 - 170 5 650 20 000 - 25 000 2 500 - 4 500 |
| Optional Seedling nursery Harvest aid (picking boom) Grader Shed fork-lift Bin tipper 12 to 20 pallet cold room Mulch gatherer Slasher/pulveriser |
5 000 3 000 5 000 - 12 000 30 000 1 000 - 5 000 25 000 8 300 3 000 - 6 000 |
The labour you need
One person could manage the growing of 10 ha of melons, but extra casual labour would be required for laying plastic mulch and trickle tape, planting and early weed control. Four people would be needed to harvest and pack each hectare of melons.
A standard picking rate is about 20 trays per person per hour, depending on fruit set and harvesting method.
A standard grading and packing rate is about 20 trays per person per hour, depending on the quality of fruit and the equipment being used.
Other considerations
Growing melons involves hard physical work. This includes tractor driving, handling heavy machinery and fertiliser bags, weed control, harvesting, and packing and handling packed cartons.
You need skill to manage finances, staff and the crop. An ability to operate and maintain machinery, and to read and understand chemical labels, is essential. Careful attention to details, and the ability to recognise and treat problems early is necessary to be a successful grower. Knowledge of integrated pest management is highly desirable because pests and diseases are major problems in melon production.
Experience in growing these crops is very valuable because simple mistakes can lead to major losses in marketable yield and quality. Weather conditions can also result in very high or even total loss of rockmelon and honeydew crops.
Quality is the most important factor in successful rockmelon and honeydew production. This starts with good land preparation and variety selection and continues through growing the crop to the careful harvesting, grading and marketing of the melons.
Neither hydroponic nor organic production is well suited to production of rockmelons and honeydews.
Overview of the 1998 season
Wet weather made this a difficult year for melon growing in most districts.
Bowen/Burdekin
Prices were only mediocre for most of the season with only short periods of good prices for the Dry Tropics region. Mosaic virus became a major problem after August. Yields were moderate, but higher rainfall than normal caused fruit losses at times. Quality varied with weather conditions.
Bacterial fruit blotch caused very large losses in both the Burdekin and Gumlu areas, with smaller losses around Bowen. Blotch had previously only been of economic importance in watermelons, but DPI pathologists have established that there are different strains of blotch.
Silverleaf whitefly infestations were severe around the Burdekin and to a lesser extent around Gumlu and Bowen. The problem in the Burdekin was accentuated by:
- some growers not leaving a sufficient time period of no cropping over summer
- failure to control volunteer plants
- widespread occurrence of wild cucurbits, for example wild gherkin and prickly cucumber.
Urgent research is required into the control of silverleaf whitefly.
Bundaberg
A wet and stormy spring created a range of problems for melon growers in the Bundaberg district. Hail wiped out some blocks, while the wet weather made conditions ideal for downy mildew and gummy stem blight. Fruit symptoms of gummy stem blight were unusual, appearing as slightly depressed dark spots on undamaged skin with a shallow reddish-brown discoloration just under the skin, rather than the deep, dark discoloration that usually occurs. Wet weather also reduced fruit quality and increased the number of rejects, so the supply of fruit was down and prices during the Bundaberg season were higher than normal.
Several growers suffered heavy losses from a dark blemish on the fruit that penetrated just under the skin into the flesh of rockmelons. The problem was identified as a different symptom of gummy stem blight. Leaf symptoms of bacterial fruit blotch, rockmelon strain, were also found on one farm.
South-West
After a wet start at planting time the South-West finished up relatively dry through November. A few days of rain in early December and over New Year caused some problems with cracking. Gummy stem blight was not as severe as in other seasons, however powdery mildew came back with a vengeance. Prices were generally good for quality fruit through December, with fluctuations starting in January after the Griffith and South Australia areas started to pick.
Further information
The complete Agrilink Rockmelon and Honeydew Information Kit, produced by the Agrilink Information Unit of the DPI&F, provides information on all aspects of growing and marketing rockmelon and honeydew in Queensland.
The kit includes the following sections:
- Before you start
A checklist of things you need to know before you start growing the crop. - Common questions
The 20 or so most commonly asked questions about growing the crop.
Growing the crop
Our guide for establishing, producing and marketing the crop. - Key issues
Detailed information on the key decisions affecting the crop. - Problem solver
A picture series of the common problems and how to solve them - Contacts and references
A list of industry organisations, product suppliers, and further reading. - Index
An A to Z index to help you find information quickly. - Your information
A place for you to store your special information.
Contact Agrilink on our Infoline on 1800 677 640, by e-mail to agrilink@dpi.qld.gov.au or go to the Agrilink web site www.dpi.qld.gov.au/agrilink to buy the kit or for further information on the Agrilink series.
For commercial enquiries on rockmelon and honeydew, contact:
DPI&F Business Information Centre: Phone 13 25 23 (Queensland residents, 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. weekdays). Non-Queensland residents: Phone (07) 3404 6999. Email: callweb@dpi.qld.gov.au
Information contained in this publication is provided as general advice only. For application to specific circumstances, professional advice should be sought. The Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Queensland has taken all reasonable steps to ensure the information in this publication is accurate at the time of publication. Readers should ensure that they make appropriate inquiries to determine whether new information is available on the particular subject matter.
Last updated 22 February 2004
