What causes crooked melons in muskmelon? The latest control measures are here
Crooked melon is a common phenomenon during the growth of muskmelon, causing deformed muskmelons, seriously affecting the yield and quality of muskmelon, bringing quite a bit of trouble to farmers and reducing profits. So what causes crooked melons in muskmelon? How should they be controlled? Let's follow the editor to find out.
Causes of crooked melons in muskmelon
1. Poor pollination
When pollination is poor or spraying is uneven, the seeds will concentrate on one side of the melon, so the side with more seeds has sufficient nutrient supply and grows faster, while the other side has insufficient nutrient supply and expands more slowly, causing uneven expansion on both sides of the melon and forming a crooked melon.
2. Uneven temperature distribution
Uneven temperature on the melon surface can also cause crooked melons. The side facing the sun has a higher temperature and expands faster, while the shaded side expands slowly due to too low a temperature, forming a crooked melon that is large on top and small at the bottom. In addition, under low temperature and insufficient nutrients, crooked melons are also very likely to form.
3. Too many melons set
Setting too many melons leads to insufficient nutrient supply for the plant. Those that receive more nutrients grow quickly, while those that receive less grow slowly, forming crooked melons.
4. Plant damage
When muskmelon is expanding, local damage can also cause slow local growth, thus forming crooked melons.
5. Pests and diseases
When insufficient fertilizer and water supply leads to weak vine growth or damage from pests and diseases, at fruit set, because the effective area of the vines is small and the nutrient supply to the melon is insufficient, crooked melons form.
Control measures
Poor pollination can be addressed through manual supplementary pollination to ensure sufficient pollen and avoid the shortcoming of uneven pollination in natural pollination, preventing the formation of crooked melons. When temperature is uneven, turning the melons can make all sides receive light evenly and prevent crooked melons from forming due to too great a difference in melon surface temperature. The vines should be well protected to maintain growth, fertilizer and water supply and pest and disease reproduction should be strengthened, and good ventilation should be maintained. At the same time, excessive vegetative growth of the plant should be prevented, measures to promote fruit set should be taken, and preventing the fruit-setting node from being too far away can also prevent the production of deformed melons. Also, when too many melons are set, thinning the melons and keeping fruit reasonably can ensure a balanced plant load.
The above is an introduction to the causes of crooked melons in muskmelon and the control measures. We hope it can help you. If you want to learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.