Rain-shelter cultivation techniques for summer vegetables: an old farmer's experience is worth learning from

In summer, from July to September, rainfall is concentrated, making sowing, seedling raising and cultivation management of vegetables rather difficult, and shortages often appear on the market. Rain-shelter cultivation of vegetables is a cultivation method in which plastic film is used to cover the top of a greenhouse, preventing rain from directly beating down on the plants while effectively improving temperature and humidity conditions, achieving high quality, high yield and high efficiency in vegetable production.

Supporting techniques:

1. Choose suitable varieties. Preferably select heat-loving, heat-tolerant vegetables and fast-growing vegetables, such as tomato, pepper, eggplant, cowpea, common bean, cucumber, Chinese cabbage, green bok choy, piao'er cai, lettuce, zucchini (seven-leaf gourd), etc.

2. Plant at the right time. Determine the sowing date and transplanting date according to the growth period of the variety and the concentrated rainfall period, so as to achieve the best rain-shelter cultivation effect.

3. Apply more organic fertilizer. In the high-temperature, high-humidity summer environment, soil permeability is poor and plants tend to grow excessively tall and spindly, so soil structure must be improved and soil fertility raised by applying more organic fertilizer.

4. Plant appropriately sparsely. In summer, plants grow vigorously, so the number of plants sown and transplanted should be appropriately reduced, allowing each plant to grow and develop well within the limited space.

5. Cultivate and drain in time. Summer vegetables should be grown on raised ridges, and drainage and irrigation inside and around the greenhouse must be unobstructed. During the growing period, cultivate and weed in time, irrigate timely and in the right amount, and pay attention to drainage.

6. Prune and trellis in time. In summer, plants grow quickly; for cowpea, common bean, cucumber, tomato, eggplant and others, prune and remove buds and put them on trellises in time to improve ventilation and light conditions in the middle and lower parts of the plants, ensuring vegetable yield and quality.

7. Strengthen pest and disease control. The high-temperature, high-humidity summer environment favors the occurrence and spread of pests and diseases, so effective control must be carried out in time. The main pests are thrips, whitefly, cabbage caterpillar and others, which can be controlled with pesticides such as imidacloprid, acetamiprid, buprofezin, chlorfluazuron and emamectin benzoate; the main diseases are downy mildew, phytophthora blight, powdery mildew and others, which can be controlled with pesticides such as dimethomorph, metalaxyl·mancozeb, propamocarb, copper hydroxide, dimethomorph·mancozeb, flusilazole and azoxystrobin.