<span style="font-weight: 400"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-54879 size-large" src="https://theenterprise.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2021/07/Cantaloupe_1627381114-1024x686.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="686" />Cantaloupe season is off to a sweet start in Virginia thanks to a streak of warm, dry weather at the beginning of summer.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">“People want sweet cantaloupes that have high sugar content,” said Halifax County produce farmer Don Reese. “That’s one thing this hot weather we’ve had does—it increases the sugar content in the melons and makes them sweeter. It’s been prime weather this summer for that.”</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Reese started selling cantaloupes at Reese Farm Inc.’s farm stand in Scottsburg on July 10, about 10 days later than usual. He also noted the first melons he harvested were relatively small due to unseasonably cold weather in April.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Despite the delay and early-season struggles, Reese said successive plantings through the end of June have fared much better with the warmer weather. He anticipates cantaloupes being available through the end of summer.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">“We have a really good crop overall,” he said. “They’re good quality and have the sweet flavor customers are looking for.”</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Accomack County grower Susan Dattner said the first of her cantaloupes were harvested July 19, and she noted the melons’ quality and taste were “great.”</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Dattner reported growing conditions on Virginia’s Eastern Shore have been favorable this summer, but with temperatures intermittently reaching the mid-90s, her crop may require some respite from the heat.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">“The melons do good in heat, but they don’t like excessive heat,” she said. “Too much will slow their growth.”</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Rob French, who grows cantaloupes at Sunnyside Farms in Cumberland County, also noted some of his initial crop was stunted by the cool spring.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">“The first set came off really small because of those up-and-down temperatures in spring,” said French, who also serves on the </span><a href="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001CCYRx82P0f3chQ1F2_x0VeOA_DinOehJfwDKmcrtPnQ5dwv6IyYAi8qFzWfdxWlA-gD8zEBVrKjy0GlkjYST5_7bsP_uo_8V12RDtMNKcN_QaZoRrm1BMl-YffkTMWZf7DRQXp7SLhU=&c=1VqIyEA3sDaisyILSRUX7BmXN2tyBxSvriI4k4FtZ0BzBbIbffiMPw==&ch=rqOC6bIlcoKZ57L_0fsjlAJzbZ2FGWzxF51QMIWYixmN3bdPYb9Cxg=="><span style="font-weight: 400">Virginia Farm Bureau Federation</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> Specialty Crops Advisory Committee. “We’re into our second and third set now, and they’re a really good size and have good flavor—sweet as they should be.”</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">French began selling cantaloupes at the beginning of July, and he anticipates sales continuing through mid-September at his farm and at farm stands in Buckingham and Powhatan counties and in Farmville.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">He said as long as his cantaloupes can avoid soaking rain, they’ll continue to thrive in the summer heat.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">“Warmer weather and minimal rain is what we need for the rest in the field to come through,” French said. “I know most farmers don’t want to hear that, but cantaloupes just can’t handle a lot of rain.”</span>
