Latest Causes of Deformed Melon Fruits and Prevention Methods
Melon flesh is delicate and sweet, a fruit suitable for all ages, extremely popular in the market, but during cultivation, due to the growing environment and improper management, melon fruits grow deformed, seriously affecting the marketable rate and reducing growers' income. So what causes melons to produce deformed fruits? How should they be prevented? Let's take a look at the detailed introduction below.
1. Flat fruit
Flat fruit is caused by the young fruit failing to fully develop longitudinally in the early stage of growth. The main reason is insufficient plant nutrition, resulting in small leaves; because the fruit lacks sufficient nutrient supply, its growth is hindered. In addition, during the fruiting period, lower or higher temperatures in the growing environment can also cause flat fruit to appear; controlling water in the early flowering stage and then irrigating with large amounts of water in the later stage can also cause melons to form flat fruit.
Prevention methods: fertilize in time to provide what the plant needs for growth, so that it has sufficient nutrition to grow and set fruit normally; improve the temperature of the growing environment, keeping the temperature at 23-34 degrees when the fruit first begins to grow and develop, and keeping the temperature at 27-30 degrees during the rapid expansion stage; pay attention to watering methods during the flowering period, and do not control water excessively.
2. Long fruit
The opposite of flat fruit. It is caused by the fruit's vertical diameter being greater than its horizontal diameter during growth. The leaves are relatively large and photosynthesis is strong, so the nutrients synthesized are sufficient, causing the fruit to grow too quickly in the early stage; in the later stage, due to premature aging of the plant or withering of the leaves, nutrients drop sharply, forming a long melon.
Prevention methods: strengthen fertilizer and water management for the plant to prevent premature aging due to lack of nutrients, strengthen leaf management to prevent pests and diseases from damaging the leaves, and increase light so that the leaves can continuously synthesize nutrients.
⟦NL>3. Small fruit
Small fruit shows no obvious difference in appearance from normal fruit, but its weight is far lighter than normal fruit. Generally, after growth and maturity, any fruit weighing no more than 200 grams is considered a small fruit. The main reason is that the plant is weak in growth and, together with having fewer leaves, cannot synthesize sufficient nutrients for the growth of the plant and fruit; in addition, when the plant sets too many fruits, the nutrients are too dispersed, which can also form small fruit; excessive plant nutrition causing the optimal fruit-setting time to be missed leads to insufficient fruit nutrition and causes small fruit.
Prevention methods: strengthen fertilizer and water management during early growth to make the plant grow robustly; when the plant is growing too weakly, remove some fruits so that the remaining fruits have enough nutrients to grow; use artificial supplementary pollination to promote fruit setting.
4. Cracked fruit
Cracked fruit refers to cracks on the surface of the melon. These cracks are large and deep, and in severe cases can split the entire melon into two halves, seriously affecting quality. The cause is that the fruit skin becomes too hardened; exposure to intense sun in clear weather and excessive irrigation during the rainy season can both cause cracked fruit.
Prevention methods: choose varieties with fewer cracked fruits for planting, water and irrigate reasonably, water less or not at all during the fruit expansion stage, drain promptly and prevent waterlogging during the rainy season to avoid excessive water accumulation around the roots, and provide shade promptly when sunlight is strong to prevent direct sunlight from hitting the fruit.
The above are the causes of deformed melon fruits and prevention methods. We hope this helps you. To learn more about melon cultivation knowledge, please stay tuned to us.