Why should autumn-crop watermelon vines be trained in time?

Compared with early spring, autumn temperatures are higher, and watermelon growth and development are noticeably faster.

In the early stage of vine spreading, when the watermelon stems and vines reach 30 cm, carry out the first vine training. At this point, the watermelon root system has basically finished expanding and nutrient supply is sufficient; under clear weather and suitable temperatures, the vines grow very quickly. If not trained in time, in just a few days the vines can grow a large length, with branches and tendrils becoming tangled, making training difficult; moreover, when the vines are too long, they are easily damaged during training, which affects growth vigor and makes them prone to disease infection. Therefore, vine training after watermelon planting must be done in time.

During the vine-training period for autumn-crop watermelon, the light is intense and the temperature is higher, so at the first vine training, several more vines should be retained than for spring-crop watermelon. Spring-crop watermelon mostly retains 3 to 4 vines, while autumn-crop watermelon should retain more than 4.