When is the best month to plant the Horned Melon sweet melon? Including maturity and market availability times and planting methods

The Horned Melon sweet melon is a variety of sweet melon, an early-to-mid maturing variety, resembling a horn, hence the name Horned Melon. So when does the Horned Melon sweet melon mature and hit the market? Which month is best for planting? Here is a compiled guide to the planting methods as follows:

Under natural conditions, the Horned Melon sweet melon matures and is marketed in August.

Which month to plant the Horned Melon sweet melon

The Horned Melon is a type of thin-skinned sweet melon, with the standout characteristics of high sugar content and good taste. However, this variety has problems such as being prone to premature aging, severe fruit cracking, and poor disease resistance, and many melon farmers have given up growing it.

Take multiple measures, focusing on preventing premature aging of sweet melons

The Horned Melon sweet melon has a relatively long growing period. If the weather is poor or management is improper, premature aging is very likely to occur in the late growth stage, starting with yellowing of the lower leaves, weakened photosynthesis, and reduced production of organic nutrients, seriously affecting the yield of the sweet melon. So how can premature aging of the plants be avoided?

1. Grafting to prevent premature aging and dead plants

Sweet melon roots are prone to suberization, have weak regenerative capacity after root damage, and have relatively poor disease resistance. Especially when planted in continuous cropping, premature aging and dead plants of sweet melons are prominent, seriously affecting the yield and quality of the sweet melon. To prevent these problems, Master Li uses pumpkin as rootstock for grafting, improving root disease resistance and reducing disease occurrence. When grafting sweet melons, pay attention to the following points:

First, master the sowing times of the rootstock and scion. Master Li explains that, generally speaking, the pumpkin rootstock should be sown about 15 days earlier than the Horned Melon sweet melon, and the sweet melon sown for about 5 days; when the two cotyledons are flat and spread out, grafting can be carried out. The grafting method is also very simple, the same as the top grafting method for watermelon, so it will not be introduced here. Master Li says that the Horned Melon and pumpkin have good compatibility, and the grafting survival rate is very high. What needs attention is strengthening disease prevention; one day before grafting, both the scion and rootstock can be sprayed with 75% chlorothalonil at 800 times dilution to reduce pathogens that the seedlings may carry. Two days after grafting, spray once more with 75% chlorothalonil at 800 times dilution mixed with 72% streptomycin sulfate at 2000 times dilution to prevent diseases from infecting the wounds.

Second, environmental regulation after grafting. Master Li says that after grafting sweet melons, special attention must be paid to managing the temperature and humidity inside the greenhouse. Generally, a small arch shed needs to be set up inside the greenhouse to facilitate timely adjustment of the internal environment, quickly raising the temperature and humidity inside the shed, and benefiting the healing of the graft union. Within 3 days after grafting, the small arch shed must be sealed tight, with increased shading, keeping the air humidity inside the shed at 90%-100% to prevent the scion from losing water and wilting, which would affect healing of the union; the temperature should be controlled at 28-32°C during the day and 20-22°C at night. After 3 days, the arch shed can be opened during the day to let the grafted seedlings receive appropriate light, promoting photosynthesis, improving the nutritional status of the grafted seedlings, and promoting healing of the graft union; at this time the temperature can be lowered to 26-28°C during the day and to 18-20°C at night. About 7 days after grafting, the wound has basically healed, and normal management can be resumed.

2. Strengthen management to prevent premature aging

The quality of management is the key factor determining the growth condition of sweet melons. If vegetable farmers want to strengthen management and avoid premature aging of plants, they can start from the following aspects:

1. Deep plowing of the soil and reasonable watering and fertilizing to create a good growing environment for the root system is the foundation for avoiding premature aging of plants. Generally speaking, per mu, 8-10 cubic meters of well-rotted manure, 50 kg of compound fertilizer, and 50 kg of Fengyangyuan can be used as base fertilizer, with deep plowing of the soil to more than 30 cm to ensure uniform fertilizer application. Before planting, apply biological bacterial fertilizer in furrows or holes, such as Jikangjun 968 Zhuangmiao Keshu, Dayuan Luodi Shenggen, Feitian Sheng, etc., which can use bacteria to inhibit bacteria, reduce the number of pathogens, and promote root development. After the sweet melon is planted, attention should be paid to controlling water and fertilizer, delaying the covering of plastic film, and doing more intertillage and hoeing to improve soil aeration, which can effectively promote deep rooting of the root system, form a strong root mass, improve the root system's ability to cope with harsh environments, and avoid premature aging of plants. During the growth period, attention should be paid to timely topdressing to supplement nutrition. Before fruit set, if the plant growth is relatively weak, Jikangjun 968 seedling-stage water-flush fertilizer, etc. can be applied to enhance seedling growth and help cultivate strong plants; after fruit set, high-potassium water-soluble fertilizers can be applied with irrigation, such as Dengta, Haolibu, Fangrun, Jiake Pengguosu, etc., once about every 10 days, 5-8 kg per mu, to improve nutritional supply and promote fruit expansion.

2. Increase row spacing, increase functional leaves, and improve the plant's ability to produce organic nutrients. During plant growth, the nutritional supply of leaves is the key to determining sweet melon yield, especially for the Horned Melon variety. When planting, Master Li deliberately increased the row spacing, with the operation row width at about 1.2 m and plant spacing at 0.5 m, which can greatly improve light penetration between plants, promote photosynthesis, and provide more sufficient nutrition for fruit expansion.

On the basis of improving light penetration between plant rows, Master Li adopted the method of pinching side branches to increase the number of functional leaves, improve the plant's organic nutrition supply, and avoid premature aging of plants. The method of retaining side branches is: from the bottom upward, most side branches above 7-8 leaves are retained, and side branches are pinched after retaining 2-3 leaves. This increases the number of functional leaves on the plant and better ensures nutrition supply during fruit expansion of the sweet melon.

3. Pay attention to leaf maintenance in the middle and late stages.

In the middle and late stages of plant growth, that is, the fruit expansion and maturation period of the sweet melon, the plant's reproductive growth is vigorous and needs to consume large amounts of organic and inorganic nutrients. The burden on the root system and leaves is heavy, nutrient reserves are low, and resistance weakens. At this time, attention should be paid to strengthening leaf maintenance; foliar spraying with chitosan at 1000 times, Leduoshou foliar fertilizer at 500 times, Aiduoshou at 6000 times, etc. can be done once a week to supplement foliar nutrition and improve leaf activity, which is very beneficial for preventing leaf aging and avoiding premature aging of plants.

In addition, attention should also be paid to avoiding damage to leaves from pesticide injury, hormone poisoning, etc. When spraying, avoid using sensitive pesticides, do not mix too many types of pesticides, and spray evenly to avoid pesticide injury.

Careful management to prevent deformed and cracked sweet melons

The Horned Melon sweet melon, like other thin-skinned sweet melons, commonly has a tendency to crack and become deformed. Through years of exploration, Master Li focuses on strengthening management in terms of pollination time, fruit-setting node position, and water and fertilizer management to reduce deformities and fruit cracking and increase the rate of premium melons.

First, choose sunny weather for dipping melons. Environmental conditions are an important factor affecting the rate of premium melons. Master Li says that for dipping sweet melons, sunny weather must be chosen. At this time the plants grow vigorously, nutrition supply is sufficient, activity is strong, and after fruit set the growth speed is fast and the premium melon rate is high; if consecutive cloudy days occur, the fruit-setting node should be appropriately raised to avoid the impact of consecutive cloudy days on melon dipping.

Second, choose a suitable fruit-setting node. The height of the fruit-setting node directly affects the yield and maturity period of the sweet melon. If the fruit-setting node is low (5—6 nodes), there are fewer leaves on the lower part of the plant, and nutrient supply in the early stage of fruit development is insufficient, inhibiting vertical growth of the fruit, while in the later stage of development the fruit expands faster, resulting in small and flat fruit. If the fruit-setting node is too high (15—16 nodes), there are more leaves below the fruit and fewer leaves above, which favors vertical growth in the early stage of fruit development, but later horizontal growth is inhibited due to insufficient nutrition, producing deformed fruit. Therefore, sweet melons should have fruit set in the middle part of the stem vine, and the suitable fruit-setting node is at 7—12 nodes.

Finally, strengthen management to prevent fruit cracking. When the sweet melon grows to the size of an egg, that is, 10 days after pollination, is the period when fruit cracking occurs most severely. During this period, special attention must be paid to temperature regulation and water and fertilizer management to avoid fruit cracking. During this period, the daytime temperature can be controlled at 25-30°C and the nighttime temperature at about 15°C; four or five days later, the sweet melon enters a rapid expansion period, and the daytime temperature can be raised to 30-33°C to promote fruit expansion.

During the “danger period” of the Horned Melon sweet melon, watering and fertilizing must absolutely not be carried out, so as not to worsen fruit cracking.

According to variety characteristics, strengthen disease prevention

The Horned Melon sweet melon is delicious, but its disease resistance is not strong, and it is prone to powdery mildew, brown spot disease, etc. Diseases mainly depend on prevention; once they occur, they are not easy to cure. Therefore, prevention and control mainly focus on these three aspects.

First, regulate the greenhouse environment to create an environment unfavorable for pathogen infection and disease occurrence. High humidity is most likely to cause disease occurrence. As the outside temperature rises, watering should be reasonable and ventilation strengthened to reduce humidity inside the greenhouse.

Second, enhance the disease resistance of plants. Water and topdress reasonably, promote root growth, and pay attention to leaf maintenance. Chitosan, seaweed acid, nucleotides, etc. can be selected for spraying or root irrigation to improve the function of roots and leaves and promote enhanced stress resistance of plants.

Finally, chemical control should be reasonable. In ordinary greenhouse management, when there is little disease occurrence in sunny weather, broad-spectrum fungicides such as chlorothalonil and Amistar can be sprayed about once every half month to prevent diseases; on cloudy days, the number of applications should be appropriately increased, changed to spraying once every 7-10 days, which can achieve a very good disease prevention effect.