How to Grow Black-Skinned Winter Melon? Latest Planting Techniques and Method Tutorial
Black-skinned winter melon is a common vegetable and a gourd crop that farmers have actively planted in recent years. It has the advantages of high yield, good quality, and tolerance for storage and transport, with excellent prospects for development. So how should black-skinned winter melon be grown? Let's find out together.
1. Sowing and Raising Seedlings
Choose a plot with convenient drainage and irrigation and fertile soil. Apply 1000-1500 kg of decomposed farmyard manure per mu, rake it fine and level, mix it evenly with the soil, then make beds. Before sowing, first soak the seeds in 40°C warm water for 4 hours, then disinfect them with a low-concentration potassium permanganate solution for 3 minutes. After removing the seeds, wrap them in clean white cloth, and of course place them in a suitable temperature environment for germination. When the seeds begin to show white, they can be sown. Use double-row sowing, with a plant spacing of 85-90 cm, sowing about 900 holes per mu, generally sowing 3 seeds per hole. When the seedlings grow two leaves, they can be transplanted, leaving one seedling per hole.
2. Fertilizer and Water Management
Black-skinned winter melon has a high fertilizer demand, so sufficient base fertilizer should be applied. After transplanting and establishing, apply a thin nitrogen fertilizer every 7-10Ian, or apply 40-50 kg of compound fertilizer per mu, and 60-80 jin of raw bran. In winter, fertilize frequently with thin fertilizer, light first and heavier later, and reasonably combine nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers. After the vines are trained onto the trellis, water demand increases, so water frequently. Keep the soil moist to meet the needs of gourd growth. In the rainy season, pay attention to drainage to avoid water accumulation that causes root rot.
3. Vine Training and Vine Pressing
Black-skinned winter melon generally sets fruit on the main vine. When fruiting, remove side vines in time. Before fruit set, remove all side vines. Before training onto the trellis, coil the main vine within the plant spacing range, pressing the vine once every 3*4 nodes, for a total of 3-4 times, to promote the formation of adventitious roots. When 16-18 nodes are reached, guide the vine onto the trellis. Use 3 or 4 bamboo poles to build a drum rack, with a horizontal bamboo pole on top as the dragon root. When the winter melon grows to 3-4 jin, tie a rope around the fruit stalk and fasten it to the dragon root of the drum rack. After fruit set, top the vine at about the 15th node. At the same time, reasonably retain fruit according to the plant's growth state. Generally, retaining fruit at the 3rd-4th female flower on the main vine is ideal. Artificial pollination can be used to improve the fruit-setting rate.
4. Pest and Disease Control
The main diseases of black-skinned melon are fusarium wilt, phytophthora blight, and anthracnose, which can be controlled with agents such as chlorothalonil and thiophanate-methyl. The main pest is thrips. At 25-30°C, July-September is when the disease is most severe. For control, promptly spray agents such as bisultap and acetamiprid emulsifiable concentrate. The agents should be used alternately to avoid resistance.
The above is an introduction to black-skinned winter melon planting techniques. We hope it helps you. To learn more related knowledge, please follow us.