When Is the Best Time to Sow Watermelon? A Complete Guide to Planting Methods
Watermelon is a great fruit for cooling off in summer. In China, watermelons from Xinjiang, Lanzhou in Gansu, Dezhou in Shandong, Liyang in Jiangsu and other places are the most famous. So when is watermelon sown, and what are the planting methods? Let's tell you below.
The best sowing time for watermelon is: for early-spring watermelon and greenhouse watermelon, the planting time is from March 10 to 20; for small and medium-sized tunnel watermelon, it can be postponed by about ten days or so; for solar greenhouse watermelon, it can be appropriately advanced by five or six days compared with greenhouse watermelon. After planting early-spring protected watermelon, management should be strengthened. The focus of management is temperature, humidity, fertilizer and water, and flower and fruit retention. There is also one season of watermelon sown in summer and harvested in autumn. At that time the climate is warm, and it also coincides with the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, when market consumption is relatively large and the price is relatively high, so it has certain prospects for development. The sowing period for autumn watermelon is relatively strict. In Jiangxi, sowing generally in mid-to-late July allows normal ripening, but appropriately advancing it to early July is more reliable. Appropriately early sowing can increase fruit shape and increase sugar content.
There are many watermelon varieties sold on the market now, and they are also very chaotic. Regarding the characteristics and traits of watermelon varieties, such as disease resistance, fruit size, sugar content, yield and other traits, some units often exaggerate them. Therefore, melon growers are reminded that in addition to reading the introduction on the packaging, they should also learn more about variety information, such as the source of the variety, the breeding unit and the breeder.
For watermelon planting, the first thing is to choose environmental conditions suitable for watermelon growth. The suitable growth temperature for watermelon is 18°C-32°C. Watermelon is a drought-tolerant crop, but it needs a large amount of water throughout its entire growth period. Especially at the vine-running stage, vine-extension stage and fruit-swelling stage, its water requirements must be met in particular to obtain excellent quality and relatively high yield. Sufficient light is also the most important condition for cultivating watermelon. During the entire growth period of watermelon, there must be at least more than 600 hours of light to meet the needs of growth, flowering and fruiting. The watermelon root system is weak, tolerant of dryness but not of moisture, and belongs to deep-rooted crops, so sandy loam with good drainage, deep soil layer and fertile soil texture should be selected for cultivation.
Watermelon can be planted by direct seeding in the field, or by raising seedlings and transplanting them. For seedling raising and transplanting, the seedling age is generally between 20 and 30 days, so sowing for seedling raising should be 20 to 30 days before the late frost period. Seedling raising must have protective facilities. Now small arched sheds are mostly used, and electric heating wires are laid under the nutrient pot bed of the arched shed. The nutrient bed soil for seedling raising should have water retention and good aeration, while containing an appropriate amount of nutrients and having no hidden danger of pests and diseases. For cultivating cotyledon seedlings, soil blocks can be used, but for cultivating large seedlings, containers must be used; paper bags, plastic or flower pots are all fine. If cultivating large seedlings with 3 to 4 leaves, the container diameter should not be less than 8 cm, and the height should be about 10 cm.
Finally, attention should also be paid to preventing pests and diseases and picking in time, so that in the hot summer we can eat sweet and delicious large watermelons.