How to Grow High-Yielding Open-Field Watermelons? A Must-Read Planting Guide for Melon Growers

Watermelon is a refreshing, heat-relieving treat in the hot summer days, and it is also a fruit cultivated all over the country. Every year in early spring, in February and March, melon growers begin sowing. Let's take a look below at the high-yield open-field watermelon planting techniques!

1. Basic facts about watermelon

1. The name watermelon is the most widely known, but few people know that it also has names such as summer melon, cold melon, and Qingmen Lyuyu Fang. Although watermelon is widely planted in our country and has a great many varieties, the original species came from Africa and was only introduced to our country during the Jin and Yuan dynasties.

2. Watermelon is an annual trailing vine plant with thick stems and branches. The stems, branches and leaves are all covered with long, dense white or yellowish-brown soft hairs; the leaves of watermelon are white-green papery, triangular-ovate, with wavy or sparsely toothed edges, bluntly rounded tips and heart-shaped bases; watermelon is a monoecious plant, and its pale yellow flowers also have soft hairs. Each year after the vines are trained, it will bloom and bear fruit.

3. Watermelon tastes sweet and juicy, refreshing and thirst-quenching, and has the title of “King of Midsummer”. It is rich in nutrients such as vitamins, glucose, protein, and fruit acids, and has effects such as reducing swelling and promoting urination, moisturizing, sun protection and whitening, stimulating gastrointestinal motility, and helping with bowel movements. It is very suitable for pregnant women and people who sit for long periods in offices, but note that the amount eaten each time should not be too much, to avoid adverse reactions such as diarrhea.

2. What are the high-yield open-field watermelon planting techniques?

Watermelon can be propagated by seed soaking and sprout hastening. First, select plump, high-yielding, good-quality, strongly disease-resistant watermelon seeds and sun them for two days for disinfection, then soak them in warm water at about 55 degrees. After treatment, the watermelon seeds can be sown and planted once they grow embryo buds half a centimeter long.

1. Watermelon is a fruit that likes a warm, dry climate, so the planting site is best chosen in a place with deep soil and rich organic matter; before planting, the soil should be deeply plowed and sun-dried, and at the same time fully decomposed farmyard manure, compound fertilizer and other fertilizers should be mixed with the soil that needs to be backfilled.

2. For open-field watermelon fields covered with plastic film, the sowing period is preferably in late April. The sowing method is dibbling in the middle of the plastic film, about 2-3 seeds per hole, with a sowing depth of 2 cm. After dibbling, cover flat with fine soil and press firmly. Generally, about 200 grams of seed are used per mu.

3. After sowing, when the watermelon seedlings emerge, the film should be opened to ventilate the young seedlings. After the watermelon has three or four leaves, it can be transplanted. The planting density per mu is best kept between 600 and 800 plants, with the density determined according to size.

4. The planting temperature for open-field watermelon is hard to control. We must pay attention to the watering issue during the planting period, but the amount of water watermelon needs at each stage is different, so below we will discuss watermelon watering by stage.

(1) Watering watermelon at the seedling stage must be well controlled. After wetting the seedbed, do not water until germination, and water less in the later period. For directly sown and transplanted watermelon seedlings, open furrows and water so that the water seeps down.

(2) Once watermelon grows vines, the amount of watering should be appropriately increased, generally according to the moisture condition of the soil. If moist, do not water; if the soil is dry, water. The best time to water is in the morning.

(3) During the flowering and fruit-setting period of watermelon, watering should be well controlled, neither too dry nor too wet; in addition, when watermelon begins to expand, the amount of watering should be appropriately increased, generally watering once every four or five days; during dry weather and when watermelons are two or three jin, this is the peak water-demand period, roughly watering once every two or three days. Watering should be stopped before the watermelons are ready to mature and go to market.

5. Reasonable topdressing is the prerequisite for high yield and high quality in watermelon, so attention should be paid to topdressing during the watermelon growing period. Generally, topdressing should be determined according to actual conditions; after transplanting, apply seedling fertilizer or compound fertilizer; after true leaves grow, apply vine-promoting fertilizer; when young fruits are set steadily (egg-sized), apply heavy fruit-swelling fertilizer and fruit-strengthening fertilizer (mainly decomposed human and livestock manure or compound fertilizer).

6. Finally, note the damage to branches, leaves and young melons caused by fusarium wilt, anthracnose, melon aphids, American leafminer and other pests during the watermelon growing period. Melon growers must promptly detect them during planting management and carry out chemical or physical control; plants infected with disease should also be removed promptly.

The above is the open-field planting technique for watermelon introduced for everyone. In addition, everyone is reminded that harvesting is best done in the morning, and according to the actual maturity situation, they should be brought to market in batches.