How to Grow Bitter Melon for More Fruit? Master the Key Growing Techniques

Bitter melon is a vegetable that is “good medicine that tastes bitter” - although it tastes a bit bitter, it can clear heat and detoxify, reduce inflammation and fever, and promote appetite. Many farmers grow bitter melon, so how do you grow bitter melon for more fruit?

1. Seed selection: To grow any crop well, choosing the right variety is absolutely one of the most important conditions. Here, Big White Bitter Melon and Green Bitter Melon 915 are recommended. These two varieties have good quality, strong disease resistance, and high yield, and are loved by many bitter melon growers.

2. Sowing: If you choose open-field cultivation, you must first raise the seedlings well in a solar greenhouse. Remember to prepare the nutrient soil the day before sowing and put it into nutrient pots. On the second day, spray the nutrient soil with water once, then scatter a layer of fine soil and you can sow.

3. Seedling stage management: After sowing bitter melon, the greenhouse can be sealed well to raise the indoor temperature. Insert small arch sheds in the sowing bed, cover with plastic film, raise the temperature and preserve moisture, keeping the daytime temperature at 30-35°C and the nighttime temperature above 15°C. When 50% of the seedlings emerge, promptly cover the film of the small arch shed again. After the seedlings emerge completely, keep the indoor temperature at 20-25°C during the day and around 10°C at night. Water whenever the soil looks dry, adopt the principle of controlling temperature but not water, and keep the seedlings growing robustly. After that, gradually lower the temperature inside the shed, and open all the shed film a few days before planting to harden the seedlings.

4. Planting: Bitter melon is a vegetable variety that likes warmth and tolerates fertilizer, so sufficient base fertilizer must be applied. Generally, for every 667 m2, apply 5,000 kg of high-quality organic fertilizer and 30 kg of diammonium phosphate. After mixing evenly, first make flat beds and water them. After the soil dries and loosens, make small raised beds with a bed surface width of 80-90 cm and a height of 10-15 cm. Cover with plastic film 5-7 days before planting. Two rows per bed, with a plant spacing of 60 cm, and plant along a marked line.

5. Field management: After bitter melon seedlings recover from transplanting, remember to irrigate with recovery water in time, but the water should not be too much. After the bitter melon plants enter the vigorous growth stage, determine how to water according to the plant growth conditions and weather changes. Note that the demand for fertilizer and water is large during the fruiting stage.

6. Topdressing: Bitter melon has many fruiting cycles and a long harvest period, and consumes a large amount of water and fertilizer throughout its life. Therefore, strengthening fertilizer and water management is an important guarantee for achieving high yield. In addition to applying sufficient base fertilizer, generally apply heavy topdressing during vine growth, flowering, and fruiting, while topdressing at the seedling stage can be less. The first topdressing is about 7 days after planting, and you can apply 10% concentration of decomposed human manure or 0.5% compound fertilizer water. After that, apply once every 5-7 days, gradually increasing the concentration. By the time of flowering and fruiting, the concentration of human manure can be increased to about 30%.

During the flowering and fruiting period, apply heavy fertilizer 2-3 times to extend the harvest period. Generally, at the beginning of flowering, use 25-30 kg of cake fertilizer, 15-20 kg of compound fertilizer, and 10 kg of urea per mu, and apply once in combination with hilling; after the first harvest, continue to apply 20-25 kg of cake fertilizer and 20 kg of compound fertilizer once more; afterward, for every 1-2 harvests, apply 30%-40% human manure or 10-15 kg of compound fertilizer. Topdressing should also depend on the weather and leaf color, and be handled flexibly with appropriate increases or decreases.

7. Pest and disease control: Because bitter melon has strong disease resistance and few diseases, leaf mold, powdery mildew, and similar diseases generally occur in the later growth stage. Generally, use 50% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder at 1000 times or 10% triadimefon emulsifiable concentrate at 1500 times for spraying. Use 20% omethoate at 1000 times for spraying to control aphids, and keltane at 1500-2000 times for spraying to control red spiders and tea mites.

If you want bitter melon to bear more fruit, a good variety and field management are indispensable. Without these two things, bitter melon may bear relatively little fruit.