Muskmelon (Kharbuja)
Cucumis melo
A hot-season vine grown for a small, sweet, aromatic summer melon that ripens all at once and must be sold within days — on river-bed sand in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and on drip-and-mulch beds in Punjab, Rajasthan and the south — where sugar is built by a hot, dry finish with water cut off before harvest, and where downy mildew, the melon fruit fly and aphid-borne mosaic are the three problems that decide the crop.
Quick Summary
The key points from this page in about two minutes — read it or have it read aloud.
Quick Summary
Muskmelon (kharbuja) is a warm-season trailing vine grown for its small, sweet, aromatic fruit. It is a summer crop, sown from November to March so it ripens in the April–June heat before the monsoon. India grows it on river-bed (diara) sand along the Ganga, Yamuna and Gandak in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and on raised beds with drip irrigation and plastic mulch in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Muskmelon is more quality-sensitive than watermelon. The fruit builds its sugar and aroma only in a hot, bright, dry finish, so water has to be reduced and then stopped in the last days before harvest — rain or heavy irrigation then gives a bland, cracked, low-sugar melon. The fruit also ripens quickly and all together, does not store, and must reach the market within two or three days of picking.
Three problems decide the crop. Downy mildew can strip the vines in a humid spell and leave the fruit to scald and stay sour. The melon fruit fly stings young fruit and rots it from inside, and has to be trapped and baited from fruit set. Aphids carry mosaic viruses, to which muskmelon is very prone — mottled leaves and small, bumpy, unsellable fruit. The red pumpkin beetle can also clear a seedling stand within days.
Choosing the right variety for the market matters: thin-skinned, intensely sweet types like Hara Madhu for nearby sale, netted types like Pusa Sharbati or a firm hybrid where the fruit must travel, and powdery-mildew-resistant Arka types where that disease is common.
- Crop type
- Warm-season annual trailing vine (fruit)
- Season
- Summer crop; sown Nov–Mar, harvested Apr–Jun
- Suitable states
- Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
- Growing duration
- 65–95 days from sowing to first harvest
- Water requirement
- Steady during fruit growth; cut off before harvest for sugar
- Temperature
- Hot, 24–35°C; frost-killed, poor set and sugar below 18°C
- Soil type
- Light, warm, well-drained sandy loam or river alluvium, pH 6.0–7.0
- Difficulty level
- Easy–moderate (downy mildew, melon fruit fly, mosaic virus)
- Expected yield
- 15–25 t/ha (open-pollinated); 25–40 t/ha (hybrids)
- Key risk
- Rain or heavy watering near harvest — bland, cracked, low-sugar fruit
Overview
Muskmelon, or kharbuja (Cucumis melo), is a warm-season trailing vine grown for its small, sweet, aromatic fruit — netted-skinned orange-fleshed types, and smooth-skinned green-fleshed types like Hara Madhu. It is a summer crop, sown from November through March so the fruit fills and ripens in the dry pre-monsoon heat of April to June.
India grows it in two main ways: on river-bed (diara) sand along the Ganga, Yamuna, Gandak and other rivers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, using the moisture stored in the sand; and as a main-field crop on ridges or raised beds, now usually with drip irrigation and plastic mulch, across Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
Muskmelon needs heat, strong sun and a dry ripening spell even more than watermelon does. The sugar and the characteristic aroma are laid down only in the last hot, bright, rain-free stretch, so water is reduced and then stopped before harvest. The fruit ripens all at once, does not store, and must be sold within a couple of days. Downy and powdery mildew, the melon fruit fly, and aphid-borne mosaic virus are the problems that most often cut the crop.
Crop timeline, sowing to harvest
A quick visual map of the season — jump to any section below for the detail behind each stage.
- Day 0
Sowing
Seed sown 2–3 cm deep in pits or on the ridge shoulder; river-bed crop November–January, main-field crop January–March, often pre-germinated in warm moist cloth for a faster stand.
- Day 5–10
Germination
Seedlings emerge in 5–10 days in warm soil; the red pumpkin beetle attacks from the cotyledon stage and must be watched from day one.
- Day 20–35
Vine growth
The vine runs and branches; main water and nitrogen demand. Weeding and any vine training are done before the canopy closes.
- Day 30–45
Flowering
Male flowers open first, then the female flowers (each with a tiny melon behind it) — many are borne on short lateral branches, so pinching the main vine tip can bring on more female flowers. Bees do the pollination.
- Day 40–65
Fruit development
Fruit sets and swells; a potassium top-dressing and steady, even moisture now build size and prevent cracking. Fruit fly stings young fruit through this stage.
- Day 65–90
Ripening & harvest
Water is cut back for a dry finish that concentrates the sugar and aroma; fruit is picked at the "slip" stage when it parts easily from the vine and the skin colour turns.
Suitable states
States where this crop is grown at scale, highlighted below. Your local Krishi Vigyan Kendra is still the final word for your specific block.
- Jammu and Kashmir
- Himachal Pradesh
- Punjab
- Uttarakhand
- Haryana
- Delhi
- Uttar Pradesh
- Rajasthan
- Bihar
- Jharkhand
- West Bengal
- Sikkim
- Assam
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Meghalaya
- Nagaland
- Manipur
- Mizoram
- Tripura
- Gujarat
- Madhya Pradesh
- Chhattisgarh
- Maharashtra
- Odisha
- Goa
- Telangana
- Andhra Pradesh
- Karnataka
- Kerala
- Tamil Nadu
- Puducherry
- Ladakh
- Chandigarh
- Lakshadweep
Grown here
Climate requirements
Muskmelon is even less forgiving than watermelon about a wet finish — the aroma and sugar that define the fruit are laid down only in the last dry, hot days, and rain then cannot be undone.
Ideal temperature
A hot-season crop that grows best at 24–35°C with strong, bright sun. Below about 18°C the vine barely grows and both fruit set and sugar are poor; frost kills it. The fruit needs genuine summer heat during ripening to develop full sweetness and aroma.
Rainfall
Grown in the dry season on irrigation or river-bed moisture. Rain at flowering causes poor pollination and fruit drop; rain or high humidity during ripening causes cracking, low sugar, fruit rot and a very short shelf life — which is why the crop is timed to finish before the monsoon.
Humidity
Low humidity strongly favours it. Humid, overcast weather brings on downy mildew and powdery mildew fast, and these two diseases are the main reason a muskmelon crop fails in a wet spring.
Sunlight
Full, strong sun for vine vigour and, above all, for fruit sugar and aroma. A shaded or crowded crop makes vine and small, flat-tasting fruit.
Soil requirements
River-bed sand is close to ideal — warm, deep, instantly draining, and holding sub-surface moisture the taproot can follow down through the season with little or no applied water.
Suitable soil
Light, warm, deep, free-draining soil — sandy loam, loamy sand and river-bed alluvium — that warms fast in spring and drains instantly. Heavy clay stays cold and wet, delays the crop and rots the vine collar.
pH range
Best at pH 6.0–7.0; tolerates up to about 7.5. Muskmelon is a little less salt-tolerant than watermelon, and saline soil gives small, poor-flavoured fruit.
Drainage
Free drainage is essential; the vine base and roots rot quickly in wet soil. On any but the lightest land the crop is grown on ridges or raised beds.
Organic matter
Moderate. Well-rotted farmyard manure improves the light soils the crop favours, but too much nitrogen grows leaf and vine at the expense of fruit set and sweetness.
Land preparation
Same four steps whichever region you are in — only the timing shifts with the sowing window.
- 1
Prepare pits or beds
For the river-bed crop, dig pits about 60 cm across and 45 cm deep down to moist sand. For the main-field crop, form ridges or raised beds 1.5–2.5 m apart with a channel between them.
- 2
Fill with manure and basal fertiliser
Mix 3–4 kg well-rotted farmyard manure plus a handful of NPK and single super phosphate into each pit, or spread 15–20 t/ha of FYM across a main field before bed-forming.
- 3
Lay drip and mulch (main-field crop)
On beds, lay the drip line and, where used, plastic mulch before sowing — the mulch warms the soil, saves water, keeps the fruit off damp ground and cuts weeding.
Seed information
How the main varieties compare, so you can pick by duration, yield, disease pressure or what you are growing for.
| Variety | Duration | Yield | Disease resistance | Best state | Suitable for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A classic IARI variety with medium, round, netted fruit, a firm greenish rind and highly sweet, aromatic salmon-orange flesh. Grown across north and central India; the netted rind travels better than the smooth-skinned types. | First harvest ~85–90 days | 15–20 t/ha | No special resistance; watch downy and powdery mildew | Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan | General fresh market, medium transport |
A Punjab Agricultural University variety with large, round, smooth (non-netted) fruit, light green skin and very sweet, thick, light-green flesh — one of the sweetest melons grown in India. The thin skin bruises easily, so it suits nearby markets only. | First harvest ~90–100 days | 15–20 t/ha | No special resistance claimed | Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh | Local fresh market where sweetness matters more than travel |
A PAU variety with medium, round, slightly flattened fruit, yellowish-green netted skin and firm, sweet, deep orange flesh; more transportable than Hara Madhu and widely grown in the north-west. | First harvest ~85–95 days | 18–22 t/ha | No special resistance claimed | Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh | North-west fresh market, medium transport |
A Rajasthan (Durgapura) selection for hot, arid conditions — round, netted, sweet fruit on a hardy vine, grown across the dry north-west and in river-bed plantings. | First harvest ~80–90 days | 15–22 t/ha | Hardy in dry heat; standard cucurbit disease watch | Rajasthan, Gujarat, western Uttar Pradesh | Arid and river-bed cultivation, hardy open-pollinated seed |
An IIHR (Bengaluru) variety with round, netted fruit, a thick white-cream flesh and good keeping quality, and resistance to powdery mildew — a strong choice where that disease is a regular problem. | First harvest ~90–100 days | 20–25 t/ha | Resistant to powdery mildew | Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu | Powdery-mildew-prone areas, medium-to-distant transport |
A small-fruited IIHR type (about 300–500 g) with orange, aromatic, high-carotene flesh, powdery-mildew resistance and use as a table melon as well as for juice, squash and chutney. | First harvest ~80–85 days | 10–15 t/ha | Resistant to powdery mildew | Southern and western India | Small single-serve fruit, juice, squash and processing |
A PAU F1 hybrid — one of India's first muskmelon hybrids — with round, netted, uniform fruit, firm orange flesh and higher, more even yield than the open-pollinated PAU varieties. | First harvest ~80–90 days | 22–28 t/ha | No special resistance claimed | Punjab, Haryana, north-west plains | Commercial fresh market wanting uniform hybrid fruit |
Private F1 hybrids (Bobby, Madhuraja and similar) Widely grown company F1 hybrids (Namdhari, Nunhems, Syngenta and others) with uniform netted fruit of 800 g–1.5 kg, firm orange flesh, high sugar and rinds bred for handling and transport — the mainstay of large commercial fields. | First harvest ~75–90 days | 25–40 t/ha | Varies by hybrid; several carry field tolerance to mildew or wilt | Commercial belts nationwide | Large commercial fields where a company hybrid is locally proven |
- Seed rate
- 2–2.5 kg/ha for open-pollinated varieties; 300–500 g/ha for F1 hybrids. On an acre, roughly 0.8–1 kg for open-pollinated and 150–200 g for a hybrid.
- Certified seed
- Buy certified or company seed of a named variety or hybrid from a reputable source. Choose the type for the market — a thin-skinned very-sweet type like Hara Madhu for nearby sale, a netted type or firm hybrid where the fruit has to travel, and a powdery-mildew-resistant Arka variety where that disease is common. In wilt-prone soil, grafted seedlings on resistant rootstock are an option.
- Spacing
- Rows or beds 1.5–2.5 m apart; plants 45–60 cm apart in the row, or 2–3 plants per pit at 1.5–2 m in the river-bed method.
- Seed treatment
- Soak seed for 12–24 hours and, for a faster stand in cool early-season soil, sprout it in warm moist cloth before sowing. Treat with a fungicide such as thiram or carbendazim against damping-off, and with imidacloprid seed dressing to hold back the red pumpkin beetle at the seedling stage.
Sowing guide
A pre-germinated seed into warm, moist soil gets the seedling up and past the red-pumpkin-beetle window quickly — a slow, cool-soil stand is the one that beetles thin out.
- Best time
- River-bed crop: November to January as the flood water recedes, for harvest in March–May. Main-field crop: January to March in the plains, for harvest in April–June before the monsoon. South India also grows a post-monsoon crop.
- Row spacing
- 1.5–2.5 m between rows or beds
- Plant spacing
- 45–60 cm in the row, or 2–3 plants per pit
- Sowing depth
- 2–3 cm; a little deeper in dry river-bed sand to reach moisture
- Method
- Dibble 3–4 seeds per hill or pit, then thin to the 2 strongest seedlings after 12–15 days. Pinching out the tip of the main vine once it has 4–5 leaves encourages the lateral branches that carry most of the female flowers.
Fertilizer schedule
A split dose beats one large dose applied at sowing — nitrogen especially is lost to the air and to leaching if it all goes in on day one.
- 1
Basal (at sowing)
Day 0
15–20 t/ha FYM plus about one-third of the nitrogen and the full phosphorus and potassium — a common dose is 25–35 kg N, 40–50 kg P₂O₅ and 40–50 kg K₂O per hectare, placed near the pit or along the bed.
- 2
Vine growth
20–25 days after sowing
About one-third of the nitrogen as the vine starts to run; on drip this is split into weekly fertigation doses through the vegetative stage.
- 3
Fruit development
40–50 days after sowing
The remaining nitrogen plus an extra potassium dose (potassium sulphate or MOP, or foliar KNO₃) as fruits set and swell — potassium at this stage drives fruit size, sugar (TSS) and shelf life. Stop nitrogen once fruits are near full size.
Irrigation schedule
1. Establishment
Day 0–20
Light, frequent water to establish the seedlings; the river-bed crop draws on sand moisture and is watered only if that runs short.
2. Vine growth and flowering
Day 20–45
Regular irrigation every 5–7 days (or steady drip) through vine growth and flowering; water stress now reduces fruit set.
3. Fruit development to ripening
Day 45 onward
Keep moisture steady and even while fruits are swelling — wet–dry swings crack muskmelon badly — then reduce water and stop 3–7 days before harvest for the dry, sugar-concentrating finish.
Critical stages
- Flowering and fruit set
- Fruit swelling (steady, even moisture)
- Final ripening (dry finish)
Water-saving tips
- Drip irrigation with plastic mulch cuts water use by a third or more, keeps the fruit clean and dry, holds soil moisture even (which prevents cracking) and lets fertiliser be spoon-fed.
- The river-bed pit method uses almost no applied water — the pit reaches moist sand and the deep taproot follows the falling water table.
- Stop irrigation 3–7 days before harvest: the dry finish is what builds the sugar and aroma the fruit is grown for, and it also firms the fruit for handling.
Weed management
Common weeds
Organic control
- Two hand-weedings before the vines cover the ground — at about 15 and 30 days — handle most of the weed pressure; the closed vine mat then suppresses later weeds.
- Straw or plastic mulch on the bed suppresses weeds, steadies soil moisture (which prevents cracking) and keeps the fruit off damp soil.
- Pull out wild and volunteer cucurbits nearby — they host the same fruit fly, mildews and mosaic viruses.
Chemical control
- A pre-emergence herbicide cleared for cucurbits, applied to the bed before the vines run, controls early weeds; after that the crop is hand-weeded because the sprawling vine cannot be sprayed over.
- Plastic mulch removes almost all in-row weeding; confirm any inter-row herbicide with your KVK.
Nutrient deficiency identification
What a shortage of each nutrient actually looks like on the plant, so you can tell a deficiency apart from a disease before you spray the wrong thing.
Potassium
Visible symptom
Scorched leaf margins on older leaves and small, low-sugar fruit with poor aroma and short shelf life — the deficiency that most limits muskmelon quality.
Boron
Visible symptom
Poor fruit set, corky brown patches on and inside the fruit, and a hollow or glassy heart; common on sandy, alkaline or leached soils.
Magnesium
Visible symptom
Yellowing between the veins of older leaves, moving up the vine under heavy fruit load on light sandy soils.
Diseases to watch for
Symptoms, likely cause and what actually treats it — not just a spray name.
Downy mildew
- Symptoms
- Angular yellow patches on the upper leaf surface, bounded by the veins, with a fine grey-to-purple mould on the underside in humid weather; leaves brown and die from the crown outward, exposing the fruit to sun-scald and leaving it sour.
- Cause
- Pseudoperonospora cubensis, a water mould that spreads fast in cool, humid, overcast weather and heavy dew.
- Treatment
- A downy-mildew-specific fungicide (for example a metalaxyl or dimethomorph product) at the first symptoms, repeated on schedule while the weather stays favourable.
- Prevention
- Wider spacing and drip (not overhead) irrigation to dry the canopy, avoiding dense nitrogen-pushed growth, and a resistant variety where available.
Powdery mildew
- Symptoms
- White, powdery patches on both leaf surfaces and on stems that spread to cover and yellow the leaves; the vine defoliates early and the fruit ripens small and low in sugar.
- Cause
- Podosphaera xanthii / Erysiphe fungi, favoured by warm days, cool nights and moderate humidity without free leaf wetness — common in the dry pre-monsoon plains.
- Treatment
- Wettable sulphur or a recommended fungicide at the first patches, repeated as needed, observing the pre-harvest interval.
- Prevention
- A powdery-mildew-resistant variety such as Arka Rajhans or Arka Jeet, adequate spacing, and balanced (not excess) nitrogen.
Fusarium wilt
- Symptoms
- Yellowing and wilting of a runner or the whole vine, usually one side first, with a brown streak in the split lower stem; plants collapse as the fruit fills.
- Cause
- The soil fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis, which survives for years in the soil and builds up where cucurbits are grown too often.
- Treatment
- No cure for an infected plant; remove and destroy it. A Trichoderma soil drench around healthy plants can slow spread.
- Prevention
- A 3–4 year rotation away from cucurbits, good drainage, grafting onto resistant rootstock on badly infested land, and avoiding water stress that worsens the collapse.
Mosaic virus (cucumber / muskmelon mosaic)
- Symptoms
- Yellow-and-green mottling and blistering of young leaves, downward-curled and narrowed leaves, stunted vines, and small, mottled, warty, unsellable fruit.
- Cause
- Cucumber mosaic virus and related viruses, carried from plant to plant by aphids; muskmelon is highly susceptible.
- Treatment
- No cure. Rogue out infected plants early, and control aphids hard on the rest of the field.
- Prevention
- A reflective (silver) plastic mulch to deter incoming aphids, seed treatment and early aphid sprays, removal of weed and volunteer-cucurbit virus hosts, and not planting downwind of an older, infected cucurbit crop.
Pests to watch for
What to look for before the damage is visible, and organic options before you reach for a chemical.
Melon fruit fly
- Identification
- A brownish fly a little larger than a housefly that stings young fruit to lay eggs, leaving a small puncture and often a drop of gum; the fruit then develops a soft, brown, maggot-filled rot and drops.
- Damage
- The single most damaging pest of muskmelon — losses of a third to a half of the fruit are common where it is not managed from fruit set, and often worse than in watermelon.
- Organic control
- Cue-lure or methyl-eugenol pheromone traps and protein-bait spots from the start of flowering, prompt collection and deep burial of all stung and fallen fruit, ploughing the field after harvest to expose pupae, and bagging fruit on small plots.
- Chemical control
- Bait sprays (protein hydrolysate plus a small dose of insecticide) applied as spots rather than a full cover spray, from fruit set; do not spray open flowers, to protect bees.
Red pumpkin beetle
- Identification
- Bright orange-red beetles 6–8 mm long that eat round holes in the cotyledons and young leaves; the grubs feed on roots and on fruit lying on the soil.
- Damage
- Can destroy a seedling stand within a few days of germination; grub damage scars fruit that touches the ground.
- Organic control
- Net or cloth cover over seedlings until 4–5 true leaves, hand-collecting beetles in the cool early morning, ash or neem dusting, and delaying sowing past a known beetle peak where possible.
- Chemical control
- Imidacloprid seed treatment, and a foliar insecticide at the cotyledon-to-2-leaf stage if beetles are numerous.
Aphids
- Identification
- Colonies of small green, yellow or black soft-bodied insects on the growing tips and the underside of young leaves, with sticky honeydew and curled leaves.
- Damage
- Direct sap loss stunts young vines, but the real damage is that aphids carry the mosaic viruses muskmelon is so prone to — the leading cause of small, mottled, worthless fruit.
- Organic control
- Reflective plastic mulch, neem sprays, and conserving ladybird beetles and lacewings; remove nearby weed and volunteer-cucurbit hosts.
- Chemical control
- A recommended systemic insecticide when colonies build up early, especially near virus-source fields, rotated between groups.
Leaf-eating and sap-sucking complex
- Identification
- Epilachna (hadda) beetles skeletonising leaves, leaf miner trails, thrips causing silvery leaf patches, and mites causing fine stippling and bronzing in hot dry spells.
- Damage
- Together these cut the leaf area that fills and sweetens the fruit; thrips and mites flare fast in the pre-monsoon heat.
- Organic control
- Regular scouting, neem sprays, yellow and blue sticky traps for thrips, and keeping broad-spectrum sprays to a minimum to protect natural enemies.
- Chemical control
- A specific product for the pest crossing the threshold — an acaricide for mites, not a general insecticide — observing the short pre-harvest interval.
Common mistakes to avoid
The mistakes that cost growers the most, ranked by how often they show up in the field — not in the order you might expect.
- 1
Watering right up to harvest.
Why it hurts
Water in the last few days floods the fruit with moisture — it ripens bland, low in sugar and aroma, and cracks on the vine. Muskmelon needs its irrigation stopped 3–7 days before harvest for a dry, sugar-building finish.
- 2
Letting soil moisture swing between wet and dry during fruit swelling.
Why it hurts
Muskmelon fruit cracks badly when a dry spell is followed by a heavy irrigation or rain. Steady, even moisture (a mulch helps) is what keeps the fruit whole through the swelling stage.
- 3
Ignoring downy mildew until the leaves brown.
Why it hurts
Downy mildew moves through a humid crop in days; once the canopy is gone the fruit scalds in the sun and never sweetens. It must be sprayed at the first angular yellow patches, not after die-back.
- 4
Not controlling aphids early for mosaic.
Why it hurts
Muskmelon is very prone to mosaic virus, which aphids carry. Once the leaves are mottled the fruit is small and warty and cannot be sold, and there is no cure — early aphid control and a reflective mulch are prevention, not cosmetic.
- 5
Picking by the calendar instead of the "slip".
Why it hurts
A muskmelon picked early never sweetens and one left too long goes soft and splits. Pick at the slip stage — when a light push parts the fruit cleanly from the vine and the skin colour has turned — and get it to market within two or three days.
- 6
Growing a thin-skinned type like Hara Madhu for a distant market.
Why it hurts
The sweetest smooth-skinned types bruise and break down within a day or two of picking. They are for nearby sale; for a distant market use a netted type or a firm hybrid bred for transport.
Harvesting
Pick at full maturity, 65–95 days after sowing depending on variety, judged by the fruit rather than a date. Most netted types are picked at "full slip" — the fruit separates cleanly from the stalk with a light push; a few firm types and hybrids are cut at "half slip" for a distant market. Harvest in the cool of the morning.
Signs it is ready
- The fruit parts easily from the vine at a light push (full slip), leaving a clean, round scar
- The skin background colour has changed from green to yellow, cream or tan
- A sweet muskmelon aroma at the stem end
- The netting (on netted types) is well raised and corky, and the blossom end gives slightly to gentle pressure
Tools
- Fingers and a light twist for full-slip fruit; a knife for half-slip types, leaving a short stalk
- Shallow, padded crates — muskmelon bruises far more easily than watermelon
- Shade for the picked fruit and quick despatch to market
Expected yield
Roughly 15–25 t/ha for open-pollinated varieties and 25–40 t/ha for hybrids on well-managed drip-and-mulch beds. On an acre this is about 60–160 quintals.
Post-harvest & storage
Storage
Muskmelon is highly perishable and barely stores — a ripe full-slip fruit holds only 2–4 days at room temperature. Hold at 4–7°C and high humidity if a cool room is available to get 1–2 weeks; below about 2°C it suffers chilling injury. It continues to soften and lose aroma after picking, so it must move fast.
Packaging
Grade by size and check the stem scar and blossom end for softness and rot. Pack in single layers, netted side up, with padding between fruit; do not stack more than two deep.
Transportation
Despatch within a day of picking, cushioned against road shock and kept cool and shaded. Bruised or over-ripe fruit rots in transit and downgrades the whole load.
Shelf life
2–4 days at ambient for a ripe fruit; 1–2 weeks at 4–7°C. Half-slip fruit picked slightly early travels a day or two further but must still be sold quickly.
Market prices
Today's mandi price near you, pulled live from the government's own Agmarknet data.
Live daily mandi prices from the government Agmarknet dataset.
Synced from data.gov.in (Agmarknet). Rates are ₹ per quintal.
Weather
Current conditions and a 5-day outlook for your selected location, with one line of stage-aware advice.
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Profit calculator
Your own cost sheet, expected yield and selling price — not ours.
Where the money goes
Share of the total cost per acre, using the calculator’s own default cost sheet below — adjust the numbers there to match your field and this picture will no longer apply to you exactly, but the ranking rarely changes.
- Labour26% (₹10,000)
- Land rent21% (₹8,000)
- Pesticide & weedicide13% (₹5,000)
- Fertiliser11% (₹4,000)
- Irrigation11% (₹4,000)
- Seed8% (₹3,000)
- Machinery5% (₹2,000)
- Interest5% (₹1,800)
Official downloads
Government and ICAR documents only — everything below is hosted on an official server.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my muskmelon not sweet?
Usually water too close to harvest, or wet–dry swings during fruit swelling, sometimes with too little sun, a potassium shortage, or picking before the slip stage. Stop irrigation 3–7 days before harvest, keep moisture even during swelling, give a potassium top-dressing at fruit set, and pick only at full slip.
What is the biggest problem in growing muskmelon?
Three things: downy and powdery mildew, which can strip the vines in a humid or a dry-warm spell; the melon fruit fly, which stings young fruit and rots it from inside; and aphid-borne mosaic virus, to which muskmelon is very susceptible. All three need managing from early in the crop, not after damage shows.
How do I know when to pick a muskmelon?
For most netted types, at "full slip" — the fruit separates cleanly from the stalk with a light push, leaving a round scar. The skin background turns from green to yellow, cream or tan, the stem end smells sweet, and the blossom end gives slightly. Firm types for distant markets are cut a little earlier at "half slip".
Which muskmelon variety should I grow?
Hara Madhu or another thin-skinned sweet type for nearby sale; Pusa Sharbati, Punjab Sunehri or a firm netted hybrid where the fruit must travel; Arka Rajhans or Arka Jeet where powdery mildew is a regular problem; Durgapura Madhu for hot arid and river-bed conditions. Confirm the local recommendation with your KVK.
Can muskmelon be grown without irrigation?
In the river-bed (diara) method it is grown with almost no applied water — the pit reaches moist sand and the deep taproot follows the falling water table. A main-field crop on ordinary land needs regular, even irrigation until the final few days, when water is cut off for the sugar finish.
Does muskmelon have an MSP or a mandi price?
There is no MSP for muskmelon. It trades widely on Agmarknet as "Karbuja (Musk Melon)", with heavy records through the April–June season from the northern plains, Rajasthan, the peninsula and the river-bed belts. Price is highest for the earliest fruit and falls at the seasonal peak.
Still have questions?
The FAQs above cover the common ones. For anything specific to your field and soil, your nearest Krishi Vigyan Kendra is the authoritative answer.