Vegetable / Warm season
Hale's Best Jumbo Melon
Warm, wide beds or trellised systems with sling support.
Sweet orange flesh with classic muskmelon aroma.
Seed spacing and maturity
- Days to maturity
- 85
- Germination temperature
- 70-95F
- Seed depth
- 1 inches
- Spacing
- 36 inches
- Row spacing
- 60 inches
- Start method
- Either
Frost-date timing
- Indoor start
- 3 weeks before last frost
- Direct sow
- 14 days after last frost
- Transplant
- 14 days after last frost
Action plan
- Can I plant this now?
- Use your local last-frost, first-frost, and soil-temperature checks before treating this crop as plantable today.
- Start indoors or direct sow?
- Direct sow or transplant depending on your soil warmth, bed readiness, and frost-risk plan.
- How much space?
- 36 inches in-row spacing, 60 inches between rows, and 1 inch seed depth.
- Best companions?
- Use crop-family rotation first, then pair with compatible timing, spacing, and canopy size rather than relying on a simple companion chart.
- Common failure modes?
- Do not transplant oversized seedlings; cucurbits dislike root disturbance. Provide steady water during vine growth, then reduce swings near ripening. Warm, fertile, well-drained soil with plenty of compost.
Is it still worth sowing this year?
Every region this site covers (Texas, North Florida, Central Maryland, New York City and York County, PA) publishes a muskmelon planting window, so the answer for this variety is already dated. No other region is covered yet.
- What Texas gardeners can still sow, Hale's Best Jumbo Melon included AgriLife lists muskmelon for Texas (AgriLife Region III); the page measures that window against this variety's 85 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
- North Florida sow-by date for Hale's Best Jumbo Melon UF/IFAS lists muskmelon for North Florida; the page measures that window against this variety's 85 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
- What Central Maryland gardeners can still sow, Hale's Best Jumbo Melon included UMD Extension lists muskmelon for Central Maryland; the page measures that window against this variety's 85 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
- New York City sow-by date for Hale's Best Jumbo Melon Cornell CCE lists muskmelon for the New York City area; the page measures that window against this variety's 85 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
- What York County, PA gardeners can still sow, Hale's Best Jumbo Melon included Penn State Extension lists muskmelon for York County, Pennsylvania; the page measures that window against this variety's 85 days to maturity and the region's first frost date.
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Provide steady water during vine growth, then reduce swings near ripening.
- Soil
- Warm, fertile, well-drained soil with plenty of compost.
- Watch
- Do not transplant oversized seedlings; cucurbits dislike root disturbance.
- melon
- cucurbit
- warm-season
- vining
Browse context
- Vegetable Catalog Category collection
- Cucurbit Family Rotation and family context
- Warm Season Seeds Season collection
- Either Seeds Start-method collection
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Source: CSU vegetable planting guide