I planted a tray of melon seeds, they do not look healthy, they are kind of palid and yellowish. Maybe they need a bit more heat. The zucchini on their side are going jam.
Is the soil they’re in healthy? Do they need more nitrogen?
When you have them in trays or pots, the night time temparatures can lower the soil temperature to almost the same as the air temperature. That’s a lot cooler than how cool soil would be if they are in the ground. There is a constant source of heat from below and only the very top soil layer would be getting closer to air temperature. Free growing roots of seedling on the other hand would be already quite deep which makes them quite comfy. Even melons do tolerate fairly cold air temperatures, just not frosts.
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Here is a better photo. The zucchini were planted at the same time. And they look way better. Maybe are faster growers. Still, the seedlings on the zucchini are kind of curly.
It is 50% potting soil from last year, and 50% new potting soil. Maybe it got all the potting soil from last year and it was nitrogen deprived because of the watering.
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My direct seeds melons have not germinated yet.
Only this patch is showing sprouts, and I suspected those are zucchini volunteer instead of melons. I water all the zone with sprinkles, and that particular patch is not the one that is watered the most.
Yes, probably they got something, the think that intrigued me the most, is that even the brassica seedlings got a bit of burned/dry leaves.
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On the ground temperatures stay more constant so they aren’t prone to germinating when there is a short period of warmer weather. So it’s likely that your melons in trays germinated while temperatures where sufficient and then there has been cold that has stopped them in their tracks. It’s possible, and even likely, that there are other factors in play also. Over the years I have found out that trays/pots can be a nuisence. In the sun black part heats up too much, and in turn heats soil too hot even for those that prefer heat. That in turn affects root capacity to extract water which easily leads to soil getting too wet. Same happens with cold nights. Brassicas might be suffering from the former.
How is your melon patch doing this year?
Pretty bad. Very few melons this year.
There is always next year, right around the corner 