How to Grow Egusi Melons UK

At a Glance

Quick Facts

Factor	Value
Time to harvest	180-240 days
Soil texture	A soil rich in manure or partially decomposed organic matter (PROTA). Fertile, humus-rich and loose rather than heavy. PROTA records that nitrogen and potassium fertilisers significantly increase yields.
Drainage	Free draining. Its natural habitats are forest margins, gallery forest and the moister savannah, plus fallow land and clearings.
Lifecycle	Perennial in habit but grown as an annual seed crop, sown with the rains and cleared after harvest.
Edible parts	seeds, young leaves

Soil & Growing Conditions

Water: Unusually for a cucurbit, it wants shade rather than sun. Useful Tropical Plants records that it grows best in dappled shade and does not do well in the open or on flat land, which is why it is normally sited at a plot edge where it can climb. Sown with the onset of the rains and grown through the wet season.

Growth Stages

Stage	Notes
Sowing with the rains	Sown at the onset of the rainy season, March to May in West Africa. Useful Tropical Plants places 3-4 seeds in each planting hole, about 1.5-2cm deep, with germination in six to eight days. Put the holes where the vines will have something to climb.
Vining and ground cover	The vines run fast and knit into a near-complete ground cover within about four weeks, which suppresses weeds. Give them shrubs, a fence or trees to climb, and remember this crop prefers dappled shade to open sun.
Flowering	Separate yellow male and female flowers open on the same plant. As with any monoecious cucurbit, fruit set depends on pollinating insects moving between them.
Fruit filling	The ellipsoid fruits swell to 17-25cm and the seeds inside fill and harden. This is the stage where nitrogen and potassium tell, both recorded by PROTA as significantly boosting yield.
Ripening and seed harvest	Fruits turn from green to pale yellow. Harvest runs September to December, six to eight months from sowing. Split the fruits, wash the seed out, and dry it thoroughly before storage.

Harvest & Storage

When to pick: This is a long crop and a late one. PROTA plants at the onset of the rains in March to May and harvests six to eight months later, from September to December. The signal is the fruit itself: an ellipsoid berry 17-25cm long that turns from green to pale yellow as it matures. The fruit is not the crop, though. It is split open for the flat white seeds inside, which are then washed, dried and stored. PROTA is candid that the processing is labour intensive, which is a large part of why the species is losing ground to the other egusi.

Storage

Dry the cleaned seed thoroughly and store it protected. PROTA records storage beetles damaging dried seed where no protection is given, so an airtight container matters as much as the drying.

Diseases

Damping-off (seedling collapse)

high

Rhizoctonia solani

Damping-off (seedling collapse at soil line); Wilting with chlorotic, dropping leaves

PROTA names damping-off caused by Macrophomina phaseolina as a threat to production. With three or four seeds going into a single hole at the start of the rains, seedbed hygiene and drainage matter more here than the…

Egusi, a Seed Crop That Grows in the Shade

One name, several different plants

Egusi is a name for the seed, not the species. This is Cucumeropsis mannii, the white-seed melon or egusi-itoo; the other egusi is a form of watermelon. PROTA records this species being displaced in cultivation by that one.

Grown for the seed, not the flesh

The kernels are richer in oil and higher in protein than groundnuts. They are pounded into a whitish paste that thickens soups and stews, roasted as a snack, or pressed for cooking oil.

It wants shade, unlike most cucurbits

Useful Tropical Plants records that it grows best in dappled shade and does not do well in the open or on flat land, which is why it is usually planted at a plot edge.

It climbs, so give it something to climb

Stems run to 5m and occasionally 10m. In West African gardens the vines are let up into shrubs and trees rather than trained on a frame.

Six to eight months from sowing to seed

PROTA sows at the onset of the rains in March to May and harvests September to December. This is a long-season crop, not a quick one.

The processing is the hard part

Fruits are split, dried and the seed washed out by hand. PROTA is candid that this labour is a large part of why the species is losing ground to its easier rival.

References

1. Plant Resources of Tropical Africa (PROTA), authors J.K. Egunjobi and A.A. Adebisi - Cucumeropsis mannii (PROTA)

   Fetched and read directly. Source for the wild distribution from Guinea Bissau to Sudan, Uganda and Angola, the monoecious climbing habit to 5-10m, fruit size and colour change, the seed paste and oil uses, March-May planting at the onset of the rains, the requirement for manure-rich soil and physical support, response to nitrogen and potassium, damping-off caused by Macrophomina phaseolina, storage beetle damage, and the fact that this species is being displaced in cultivation by egusi melon.

2. Useful Tropical Plants (tropical.theferns.info) - Cucumeropsis mannii

   Aggregates Burkill, The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa (1985-2004) and Protabase. Source for the dappled-shade requirement and poor performance in the open, altitude to 1,150m, sowing 3-4 seeds per hole with germination in 6-8 days, harvest 6-8 months after sowing, and yields of roughly 300 kg/ha extensive and up to 900 kg/ha intensive.

2 independent sources are cited for this crop. Where they disagree - soil pH is the clearest case - every figure is preserved rather than averaged into false precision.