City boy gardening-watermelon questions

[Notalentbum]

I decided to plant some watermelons this year. I did it once before and loved the homegrown melons. I planted them just off my back deck that’s about 18” above ground level. I’ve been out of town a couple weeks and came back to find several vines and a couple softball sized melons growing on the deck! Apparently the vines climbed up onto the deck while I was gone. I’m wondering if I should move the vine and melons back down to the ground. I only have a few days to do it because by Monday they’ll likely be too big to fit between the slats on the deck rails.
I also seem to recall from last time around that you’re supposed to trim the vines back once melons develop. Can anyone enlighten me on this as well?

Thanks, Matt

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I don't know about watermelons, bus I remember planting pumpkins as a kid and the vines grew up into the pine trees near the garden. We literally had pumpkins (some well over a foot in diameter) hanging from our pine trees. I would probably move them. A tip I heard of to prevent "ground rot" for melons was to set the individual melons up on tin cans with the top and bottom cut out to keep them off the ground and allow any rainwater to drain off and around the melon.