Did you check the roots. It looks like maybe the stem was disconnected from the roots, by an animal? I'm not sure stem borers could kill it so quickly.

I checked the entire plant and there were no injuries or even signs of digging anywhere.

RoundUp? or other weedkiller that drifter over?

You might research Monosporascus Root Rot and Vine Decline. Sudden collapse late in season is what happens. Look for small black lesions on the roots.

Wow bummer. Looked this disease up and it does seem like the cause. I love melons, looks like I’ll have to give up on them for the next 5 years or however long this pathogens stays in the soil.

Couldn't you just grow them in a different spot? Or in a large container? I'm sure you don't need to deprive yourself of melons for 5 years.

I have another raised bed next to it where my cucumbers are growing but if its the disease I’m sure it would have contaminated that bed too. I don’t do potted veggies. One thing I always refused to do, its why I made the 3 raised beds for.

I took the whole plant out, I’m not sure if it was monosporascus. The roots were white and firm and looked heathy. Did not see any black lesions either. The only thing I noticed was it didn’t completely establish out of its oriignal potting mix rootball as you can see in the pic and there were just couple of longer roots out of it. So I’m not sure if its the lack of vigor and all the 10+ melons it had to sustain on top of that that weakened the plant. The root mass versus plant size was very uneven too. The plant was basically the size of that whole cattle panel if you count the part that was growing horizontally on the ground too, while the roots looked like it just made it out.

Does it need to be in a raised bed? It clearly hasn't worked since the plant hasn't rooted out into the rb soil. It also looks dry.

You have a lot of space if I recall. You could just grow melons somewhere else in the garden in the native soil. You have a lot of space if I recall. You could just grow melons somewhere else in the garden in the native soil.

I mean I guess I can plant it elsewhere in the garden for the time being until the pathogen dies out. I just like my garden very organized and have plants dedicated only to just a certain spot. I separate my gardens by natural habitat like I have my meadow garden, woodland, rock garden etc. And my annual vegetables were only meant to be in those raised beds. But I guess I do want melons every year so next year I’ll grow it like in them middle of my yard.

Do you have cucumber beetles there, they can spread a wilt disease quickly, it happens to me at times. If you cut the stem in half and it's gummy inside that's one clue.

https://www.google.com/search?q=cucumber+beetle+bacterial+wilt&oq=cucumber+beetle+wil&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCAgCEAAYFhgeMgYIABBFGDkyBwgBEAAYgAQyCAgCEAAYFhgeMgoIAxAAGIYDGIoFMgoIBBAAGIYDGIoFMgoIBRAAGIYDGIoFMgoIBhAAGIYDGIoF0gEPMTExMzYwMTg4M2owajE1qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I haven’t seen a single cucumber beetle this year since the lanternflies completely took over this year. Although they don’t do any damage to my plants. Just a nuisance.

I have had many watermelons and cantaloupes to suddenly die, dozens to

slowly wilt and not finish well.

In new ground that is not diseased pressured I have had some great melons.