Have you tried growing golden Hami melons?

Costco in Hawaii sold these last summer and I saved the seeds, now I'm growing them this summer. Hardly any growing posts online about them since it seems they only recently started being mass exported from their origin in China. These suckers grow fast though and every day it seems like there's a few more melons forming. Apparently because of the crunchy texture they have quite a long shelf life and can grow quite large given the right conditions, I guess what I'm trying to say here is I think more people should start growing these ourselves since it's such a fast growing reliable crop that can be stored for a while. I lazily use a bug net just plopped over the relatively small vine and the tiny flowers with tiny amounts of pollen are still pollinated by tiny bugs while the nasty pests can't get in (I still check on them daily in case I have to unalive some pests but it's been working great).

Never heard of them, so I had to look them up! Also known as Chinese Hami melon or snow melon, says Wikipedia.

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Sounds delicious!

Melons come from Hami are most famous due to the unique intense sunlight, high day time temperature and cool nights of the local weather. I bought a pack of seeds from Trade Winds Fruit to grow this year. I am expecting some decent melons but they won't match the sweetness of those from their high desert origin.

Rachel Lindsay wrote:Never heard of them, so I had to look them up! Also known as Chinese Hami melon or snow melon, says Wikipedia.

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Sounds delicious!

Yeah that's the golden one like I'm growing, apparently Hami is a generic label for a range of like 40 different melon varieties that were bred in the Hami region of China.

May Lotito wrote:Melons come from Hami are most famous due to the unique intense sunlight, high day time temperature and cool nights of the local weather. I bought a pack of seeds from Trade Winds Fruit to grow this year. I am expecting some decent melons but they won't match the sweetness of those from their high desert origin.

It's an excellent variety in terms of texture and shelf life alone though and will still be sweet. It's kind of like how here in Hawaii I can grow certain vegetables but will never get them as sweet as people growing them in areas that get frosts to sweeten them up. However the sweetness of melons last summer was confirmed related to watering habits in the final stages of their life for me. The first few sugar babies were very crisp,tasty, and sweet but then last few sugar babies had people literally saying "wait this isn't just the sweetest watermelon I've ever had, it's like extra sweet" to the point where I wouldn't eat as much in one sitting due to the sweetness. The difference was on the first few that grew I couldn't slow down the watering or it'd affect another plant that was also growing watermelons.

How are your melon plants dealing with humidity? Do you need to trellis or get the fruits off the ground somehow?

👍I have some this melon bought from Chinese Hong Kong supermarket in West Covina CA. They It was imported into the U.S from Hami Xinjiang province China. For sure. That is only place they original from. In xinjiang province China, they are more desert and dry weather for this type melon. So california is best place to grow hami melon for 100% sure. But in Hawaii, its weather is more humid and raining days I think.
I was born in Beijing and lived there 26 years.
I always love to eat and enjoy hami melon every summer time over there.because It is so tasty.

Currently growing from seed collected from melon purchased last year. Got a late start(beginning of July) so planted seed directly in the ground(raised bed) and drip irrigation. Zone 7B, 5100 ft above sea level, humidity typically 5-15%. They were slow starters but have really taken off in the last 2-3 weeks. I have several melons bigger than my fist. I see multiple others coming along…..melon growth rate appears fast…..almost feel like I can see perceivable growth every day.