A couple other QQs that have not been asked about this plant, New Jungle:
~ How much cold can it take?
~ How big/tall does this get as a tree?
~ Is it particular as to what kind of soil that it prefers?
~ As a vine how far does it run? Would it be happy growing on a chainlink fence?
~ Atho this species produces flowers of both sexes does having a 2nd one nearby help any with fruit-set?
It sounds like a vigoruous plant but i think that knowing some of these things would help those folks who may be space limited or zone challenged to decide on this plant.
Cheers!
Paul M.
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I’ll do my best to answer from what I have experienced with this plant so far.
-as far as cold tolerance goes I am not sure. I believe the coldest we’ve gotten here is in the mid 60f so it might be on others to experiment with.
-It has a vining habit, but the main “trunk” is about 4” in diameter.
-on my property, I have very little soil sadly. However I’d describe it as moderately draining and slightly acidic. I will occasionally pile grass clipping at the base of it and in the two years I’ve had it, I have only fertilized twice with some leftover osmocote I had.
-As a vine, ive had runs of over 50ft but I keep it pruned to about 25 or so (which is the length of fence I have it on). It does handle pruning very well and to tell the truth, I hack at it back almost weekly now that it has stopped producing.
-I only have one vine or my property and got almost 60 fruits this year which was its first crop. It would’ve easily been around 80-100 if I had taken better care and was more proactive in a fight against melon worms.
Some additional info:
-I noticed the first flowers on Jan 13th with fruits forming around Feb 10th. I got my first ripe melon May 6th.
-I may have gotten fruits in the first year After planting, however the vine was killed back quite a bit by a BAD infestation of scale which I might attribute to out fire ant infestation. After treating for scale and fighting the fire ants off my property, the vine grew back quickly and was soon back to its original size. I haven’t had a problem with scale on the vine ever since.
If anyone has any other questions or would like me reiterate on something, please don’t hesitate to ask. Also if anyone wants some pictures of any part of the plant, feel free to ask. I hope this helps!
Kyle