Help with melons please

I am growing melons in the polytunnel and they are almost golfball size. A friend has said it is now best to remove a lot of leaves so that energy is focussed on the melon itself. The leaves on my plants are enormous, has anyone heard of this or done this please.

 

Well, cant profess to be an expert on melons, but if they are only golfball size I'd be inclined to reduce the amount of melons on each stem maybe to one or two maximum, but I'd leave all the leaves alone until mabe the melons are full size, at that point removing leaves might help the ripening process.
What kind of melons are they BTW?

 

They are f1 Emir from Sutton’s. I have restricted each stem to one melon, but the leaves are at least 18ins wide and seem to be growing quicker than the melons.

 

Ok, Not a plant I'm familiar with, but until someone else comes along my thoughts are don't cut any leaves off yet, you can pinch out the growing point of the stems with melons that have set.
I'd then pinch out the growing points of any side shoots that form after that after one leaf.

But I think at this stage you need leaves.

 

Ah, I see, is it grafted?

 

Yes, does that explain all, or make a difference

 

It does explain why the plant is so vigorous, the rootstock is giving it extra energy, which is good, just go with it, keep feeding and watering.
The leaves are doing a good job of converting the water and feed, so dont cut them off.

 

Ok thank you for the help