Winter Melon Planting Methods: Teaching You to Grow the "Nicotine Nemesis" Well

Winter melon is cultivated in all parts of our country. It is a green vegetable that can also be processed into candy, and its fruit and seeds also have medicinal effects. So, what are the planting methods for winter melon? Let's take a look together!

1. Site selection and land preparation

Winter melon is generally planted in plots with good drainage and irrigation and loose, fertile soil. Winter melon has relatively strict water requirements; too much water can cause fusarium wilt or symptoms of poor development in winter melon. When choosing a melon plot, be careful not to choose a plot where any cucurbit crops have been grown in the previous few years. When preparing the land, make water ditches well to facilitate irrigation and drainage, and be sure to spread a layer of farmyard manure as base fertilizer.

2. Sowing and raising seedlings

Winter melon sowing methods include direct sowing and transplanting. Direct sowing means sowing 3 to 5 seeds in each soil hole at a spacing of 30 to 50 cm, then covering with a thin layer of fine soil to cover the seeds. If using the transplanting method, you must first raise seedlings, and after the seeds germinate and grow to 5 to 10 cm, transplant them at the spacing for each plant.

3. Field management

If direct sowing was used, you need to check where thinning has occurred, and if there are gaps, replant in time. If transplanting was used and there is no rain, water every three days until new roots and leaves grow. When the seedlings grow to 20 to 30 cm long, you can consider letting them crawl along the ground if the land area is relatively large, but if the land is not especially spacious, you need to build trellises and then manually guide the seedlings onto the trellises so they grow along them. This can also help avoid many diseases.

4. Fertilizer and water management

Fertilizer and water management during the seedling stage is also rather troublesome. Generally, winter melon needs three fertilizations during its growth period. The first fertilization is usually after transplanting is completed, at which time the aim is to speed up the growth rate of the melon seedlings. The second fertilization is when the melon seedlings have grown to a certain extent and begin to flower. The third fertilization is carried out more than ten days after fruit set, which can promote the growth of winter melon. Of course, the amount of fertilizer used each time should not be too much, otherwise it will cause the plants to keep growing vines without setting fruit.

5. Timely harvesting

If you want to eat small winter melon, then it can be eaten once the winter melon is about the size of two fists. Of course, you can also wait until it grows larger. When the leaves on the vines show slight yellowing and aging, it means the winter melon is ripe and can all be harvested. Do not wait too late, because by then the melon may already be old or spoiled, and that kind of winter melon does not taste very good.

The above are the winter melon planting methods compiled for you by the editor. I hope they can help you!