How to Select Seeds and Build the Plot for Cross-Year Cultivation of Small Thin-Skinned Watermelons from Winter through Spring and Summer
Seed Selection and Plot Building for Cross-Year Cultivation of Small Thin-Skinned Watermelons from Winter through Spring and Summer
Small thin-skinned watermelons, also known as gift watermelons, have a small and attractive shape, thin rind, crisp and refreshingly sweet flesh, good taste and flavor, and excellent quality. The fruit weighs 1.5-2 kg and is easy to carry, making it most suitable for small families of 2-3 people.
1. Variety Selection
Choose excellent varieties with small fruit, thin rind, attractive appearance, strong cold resistance and disease resistance, good quality, and high yield, such as Zaochun Hongyu and Nabite. The seeding rate is 32-35 grams per mu.
2. Plot Selection and Greenhouse Construction
For off-season greenhouse cultivation of small thin-skinned watermelons, it is important to choose a plot sheltered from the wind, with convenient drainage and irrigation, a low water table, deep and fertile soil, and loam or sandy loam soil where cucurbits have not been grown for 3 years. From October to November, before covering the greenhouse, carry out a full deep plowing and sun-bleaching. Connect bamboo tail sections to build a standard greenhouse 7 m wide, 30 m long, and 2.5 m high, with 0.8 m between greenhouses and a drainage ditch in the middle. After the greenhouse is covered, open a working ditch 0.1 m deep and 0.3 m wide along the center line inside the greenhouse, and divide each greenhouse into two beds, each bed 3.35 m wide and 30 m long. Fine-rake and level each bed. While preparing the land, in the middle of each bed in a plot 1 m wide and 30 cm deep, mix in decomposed chicken manure at 1000 kg per mu, along with 30 kg of ternary compound fertilizer with N, P, and K content of 15% each. After mixing evenly with the bed soil, level it into flat beds and water thoroughly to bring the soil moisture content to 70%-80%. Half a month to one month before planting, the plastic film and greenhouse film must already be covered. This can raise the temperature inside the greenhouse and the soil temperature, and maintain soil moisture.
1. Variety Selection
Choose excellent varieties with small fruit, thin rind, attractive appearance, strong cold resistance and disease resistance, good quality, and high yield, such as Zaochun Hongyu and Nabite. The seeding rate is 32-35 grams per mu.
2. Plot Selection and Greenhouse Construction
For off-season greenhouse cultivation of small thin-skinned watermelons, it is important to choose a plot sheltered from the wind, with convenient drainage and irrigation, a low water table, deep and fertile soil, and loam or sandy loam soil where cucurbits have not been grown for 3 years. From October to November, before covering the greenhouse, carry out a full deep plowing and sun-bleaching. Connect bamboo tail sections to build a standard greenhouse 7 m wide, 30 m long, and 2.5 m high, with 0.8 m between greenhouses and a drainage ditch in the middle. After the greenhouse is covered, open a working ditch 0.1 m deep and 0.3 m wide along the center line inside the greenhouse, and divide each greenhouse into two beds, each bed 3.35 m wide and 30 m long. Fine-rake and level each bed. While preparing the land, in the middle of each bed in a plot 1 m wide and 30 cm deep, mix in decomposed chicken manure at 1000 kg per mu, along with 30 kg of ternary compound fertilizer with N, P, and K content of 15% each. After mixing evenly with the bed soil, level it into flat beds and water thoroughly to bring the soil moisture content to 70%-80%. Half a month to one month before planting, the plastic film and greenhouse film must already be covered. This can raise the temperature inside the greenhouse and the soil temperature, and maintain soil moisture.