A Detailed Guide to Winter Melon Planting Time and Technical Points

Winter melon is a green and healthy vegetable, and many families use it for cooking and making soup. Eating more winter melon can clear heat and reduce swelling, and it is rich in nutrients, so many farmers grow winter melon. Let's take a look below at the planting time and techniques for winter melon.

1. Planting time

Winter melon is generally grown in the south, and both spring and autumn are very suitable for planting it. It is usually planted in early January or early July, and sandy loam soil with sufficient soil nutrients and convenient drainage and irrigation is more suitable for raising seedlings.

2. Planting techniques

1. Sowing: after the seedlings are successfully raised, transplant them into open-field soil. Disinfect the winter melon seeds once, then place them in a room with a suitable temperature to promote sprouting; once the seeds gradually show white, they can be sown. When raising seedlings, you can use nutrient cups to hold them, then cover them with a layer of film for insulation. After the young seedlings grow 3-5 true leaves, the film can be lifted for hardening off, and on clear mornings transplanting can continue.

2. Field planting: field planting work is generally carried out in early March. After the field soil is finely crushed, raise high beds, generally 1.2 m wide, and the 0.5 m height has a great bearing on later irrigation. In the field, every 60 cm, use a shovel to dig a small trench at an appropriate spacing, then bury some rotted manure into the dug trench as base fertilizer, and then cover it with fine soil and firm it down, to avoid the chance of the seedling roots touching the manure and developing root burn symptoms.

3. Trellising: when the vines grow to 30 cm, trellising is needed for vine guiding work. Generally, a 1.5 m high bamboo frame is built, and a horizontal pole is tied on top to fix it. Because winter melon takes a relatively long time to set fruit, and too many or too heavy vines can easily crush the bamboo frame, excess vines should be removed in good time. On the main vine, keep the nodes at the 23-25 position, which is beneficial for a high fruit yield.

4. Water and fertilizer management: winter melon needs relatively more water and fertilizer during the seedling stage. On warm spring mornings and evenings, water once appropriately; if the weather is relatively cold, do not water. After the vines are trellised, watering is needed almost every day in an appropriate amount, and in clear weather the watering amount should be exactly half the height of the trench depth. During the vine-growing period, winter melon does not need excessive water and fertilizer, but attention should be paid to whether fertilizer is sufficient from flowering to fruit set. After fruit set and even during the period before harvest, spray 1-2 times of compound fertilizer every 15 days. Especially after heavy rain, try not to apply nitrogen fertilizer alone, and pay attention to applying multiple nutrients.

5. Pests and diseases: the most devastating disease of winter melon is none other than fusarium wilt, because even if we disinfect the soil, this pathogen can survive for more than 5 years. Generally, before planting, the seeds need to be disinfected and sterilized with Shileshi before sprouting can be promoted. Before sowing, the entire field needs to be disinfected with formalin, and after field planting, Shileshi also needs to be used again for sterilization. If it is found that melon seedlings are still infected with the pathogen, they must be cleaned up in time and taken away to a distant place to be burned in a centralized manner.

The planting and management of winter melon are relatively simple, and the cost of growing the two is very low, making it suitable for farmers in the south to grow. Moreover, winter melon is an everyday vegetable, and its sales are also very good.