I plant my cantaloupes ,honey dews, canarys, crenshaws, and specialty melons like Dove under the same conditions. Most of the variation in production is related to variety. I have not had much luck with the original honeydew. Tam Dew is the only open pollinated honey dew that has done well so I usually stick to the earlier hybrids. The pickle worms arrive here around the Fourth of July and do a number on any immature cantaloupe, squash, cucumber.

Thank you. It sounds like you treat the honeydews and cantaloupe pretty much the same. For lack of any other information, that's what I was planning to do. I've never seen pickleworms, and the moths are pretty conspicuous. I spray BT on many things, and I might start doing it on my melons.

honeydews are melons just like cantaloupes and like similar growing condition and growing methods.

Well, it was pointed out in an earlier thread that honeydews tolerate soil contact, while cantaloupes do not. That makes for a very different growing method. Also, I've heard that honeydews don't like humidity. Cantaloupes do slips, while honeydews don't. No, they're different, and I just need to flesh out exactly how. I know cantaloupes well, and I just need to extend that knowledge to honeydews.

Let me add a related question. Do animal pests ravage honeydew as much as they do cantaloupe? My cantaloupe has to live under chicken wire, or possums, squirrels, and who knows who else comes and nibbles on it. Seems to me that a fruit with a substantial rind, like honeydews and watermelons might be more immune to such attacks. I know that large beasts like deer and coyotes can attack watermelons, but we don't have many of those pests.

Only major animal problems for me have been voles, deer, box turtles and raccoons. They prefer cantaloupes will take honeydews especially if they crack or split. Some honeydew varieties are prone to cracking.

That's what I was suspecting. I'll protect all my melons, but maybe I won't try as hard on my honeydews. Yes, we have raccoons, but I've never seen one in my garden. Squirrels and possums up the kazoo, though. What a vole wants, a possum and a squirrel would enjoy. I grew Charentais for the last few years, and they were great, but they split routinely. Somewhat oddly, the pests prefered the full sized muskmelons and largely ignored even those splitting Charentais.