PlantLife Online

Answer

Cantaloupes, like most other vining crops including your cucumbers, pumpkins, squash and watermelons, require pollination for fruit set. This means pollen must be transferred from the male blooms to the female blooms. Cantaloupes are slightly different from other vining crops because they have flowers which contain male and female parts as well as those which contain only male parts, pollination by bees is still necessary. High temperatures or high fertility can cause the cantaloupe to produce only male blooms which results in poor fruit set. Unlike the cantaloupe cucumbers have separate male and female flowers that also require pollination from bees anything that interferes with pollination of the female flowers will reduce the yield, including cold temperatures and rainy weather that hamper bee activity or improper use of insecticides that kill bees. In both cases the lack of pollinating insects in your garden due to insecticides and other environmental factors will lead to small crops. Just another reason to grow organic at home.