When to Plant Winter Melon? Latest Planting Time and Method Guide
Winter melon is a common delicacy on our dining tables, and every part of it is useful: the seeds, the peel and the flesh can all be used to make medicine. The benefits of winter melon we know best are that it reduces internal heat and helps with beauty and weight loss, so it is loved by a great many women. Now let's take a look together with the editor at when winter melon is sown and how to plant it.
Planting Time
The planting time of winter melon varies somewhat with the different climates of different regions. Generally there are two sowing seasons for winter melon, namely spring and autumn. That is, from December to around March of the following year counts as spring sowing, and from July to September generally counts as autumn sowing. In fact, seen this way, it seems winter melon is sown all year round. For example, the usual sowing time in Guangzhou is January and February, while in the Hunan region it can be said that sowing can be done from December to September of the following year.
Planting Methods
1. Choosing and preparing the land
Winter melon is generally planted on plots with good drainage and irrigation and loose, fertile soil. Winter melon has strict requirements for water; too much water will lead to blight or symptoms of poor development in the winter melon. When choosing a melon plot, be careful not to choose a plot where any cucurbit plants have been grown in previous years. Many people in rural areas know that if you plant melons after melons have been grown there in previous years, basically only vines will grow. When preparing the land, make the drainage ditches well so as to lead water for irrigation and drainage, and be sure to spread a layer of farmyard manure as a base fertilizer.
2. Sowing and raising seedlings
The sowing methods for winter melon include direct sowing and transplanting. Direct sowing means sowing three to five seeds in each soil hole at intervals of 30 to 50 cm, then covering with a thin layer of fine soil to conceal the seeds. If the transplanting method is used, the seedlings must first be raised, and when the seeds germinate and grow to 5 to 10 cm, they are planted at intervals of one plant each.
3. Field management
If direct sowing was used, you need to see where seedlings are missing; if any are missing, they must be replanted in time. But if transplanting was used, then if there is no rain, water once every three days until new roots and leaves grow. When the seedlings grow to 20 to 30 cm long, we can consider that if the land area is fairly large, they can simply be allowed to creep along the ground to grow, but if the land is not particularly spacious, trellises need to be set up, and then the seedlings must be manually guided onto the trellises so that they grow along them, and this can also avoid many diseases.
4. Fertilizer and water management
Fertilizer and water management during the seedling stage is also rather troublesome. Generally, winter melon needs to be fertilized three times during its growth period. The first fertilization is generally after transplanting is completed, at which time it is to speed up the growth rate of the melon seedlings; the second fertilization is when the seedlings have grown to a certain extent and begin to flower; the third fertilization is carried out more than ten days after the fruit sets, which can promote the growth of the winter melon. Of course, also, the amount of fertilizer used each time should not be too much, otherwise it will keep growing vines and forget to set fruit, and then all the work will have been wasted.
5. Timely harvesting
As for harvesting, that depends on you. If you want to eat small winter melons, then they can be eaten once they are about the size of two fists. Of course, you can also wait until they grow larger, that is, when the leaves on the vine show slight yellowing and aging, it means the winter melon is ripe and can all be harvested. Do not wait too late, because by then your melons may already be old or spoiled, and that kind of winter melon does not taste very good.