Spring Open-Field Winter Melon Planting Methods and Technical Key Points
How is winter melon planted in open fields in spring? How is it managed after planting? For spring open-field winter melon planting, you can refer to the following methods: 1. Variety selection: choose mid- and late-maturing varieties with good plant vigor, relatively weak branching ability, strong resistance to sunscald, large fruit type, and a waxy bloom, such as Beijing Ground Winter Melon and Fenpi Winter Melon. Generally...
How is winter melon planted in open fields in spring? How is it managed after planting?
For spring open-field winter melon planting, you can refer to the following methods:
1. Variety selection
Choose mid- and late-maturing varieties with good plant vigor, relatively weak branching ability, strong resistance to sunscald, large fruit type, and a waxy bloom, such as Beijing Ground Winter Melon and Fenpi Winter Melon. Generally, green-skinned winter melons are not chosen because of their poor resistance to sunscald, making them unsuitable for ground-training cultivation.
2. Site selection and bed preparation
Choose a plot with relatively high terrain, good drainage, and loose soil. The cultivation bed is generally composed of two parts, the planting bed and the vine-running bed, arranged alternately. There are usually the following two methods of bed preparation:
1. Single-direction bed method: the bed width is 83 cm. Two beds, north and south, are paired as one group. The north bed is the planting bed, and the south bed is the vine-running bed. The north bed is higher and gradually slopes toward the south bed, which can block the north wind and prevent cold. Open a furrow along the centerline of the planting bed to apply base fertilizer in a band, plant 1 row of winter melon on the base fertilizer, and let the winter melon vines extend southward.
2. Two-direction bed method: make a planting bed 1.3-1.5 m wide along an east-west extended direction, and make 1 parallel vine-running bed on each of its north and south sides, each 83 cm wide. Open a furrow along the centerline of the planting bed to apply base fertilizer in a band, plant 2 rows of winter melon on the base fertilizer, with the south row extending southward and the north row extending northward.
3. Planting
The planting time is after the local spring late frost. The planting depth should be enough to bury the soil ball of the melon seedlings. The methods are divided into two types: the ordinary planting method and the water-settled seedling method.
1. Ordinary planting method: in the planting bed, dig planting holes 60-66 cm in both length and width, gently place the seedlings into the holes, cover with soil to bury the soil ball, and then water with planting water.
2. Water-settled seedling method: first open a shallow furrow 13-16 cm deep and 20 cm wide in the planting bed, pour water into the furrow, and when the water has seeped down halfway, place the seedlings into the furrow, and after the water has completely seeped down, seal the furrow with soil.
4. Fertilizer and water management
For ground-training winter melon, fertilizer and water management focuses on the planting bed, and watering and fertilization can be carried out together; the vine-running bed generally does not receive special watering and topdressing, and can be managed according to the requirements of intercropped and relay-cropped crops. In the early stage of vine growth, open a 20 cm deep furrow in front of the seedlings, broadcast farmyard manure in the furrow, 10 kg per furrow, then irrigate, and after the water seeps down, apply chemical fertilizer, 1 kg per furrow; after the stems and vines cover the planting bed, no longer open furrows for watering and fertilizing, but water according to soil moisture, and apply chemical fertilizer and diluted manure with the water. In the dry season, generally water once every 5-10 days; in the rainy season, do not water, and pay attention to drainage to prevent waterlogging.
5. Other field management
1. Cultivation and weeding: carry out cultivation after watering the planting water. Cultivation should be done on the principle of not loosening the roots of the seedlings, and when cultivating, appropriately form a semicircular mound of soil at the base of the seedlings. When soil moisture is good, carry out 2-3 cultivations before watering.
2. Vine coiling and vine pressing: when the stems and vines extend to 60-70 cm long, carry out vine coiling and vine pressing. The method is: open a semicircular shallow furrow along the north side of the root of each plant, 6-7 cm deep, coil the vine northward into the furrow, cover with soil and press firmly. When pressing the vine, take care to leave the 2-3 small leaves at the tip of the stem exposed above the ground, and do not bury the growing point in the soil. When the stems and vines extend forward another 60-70 cm, use the same method to open a shallow furrow on the south side and carry out a second vine coiling and vine pressing. Press the vine once every 4-5 leaf nodes, and this can be done three or four times over the whole growing period. Take care to remove excess lateral vines, tendrils, and male flowers cleanly. For plants with strong vigor, the vine can be pressed deeper, and the stem can be twisted and split and pressed into the soil; for plants with weak vigor, it can be shallower, and the node spacing should be farther, and it should not be close to the fruit (preferably separated from the fruit by one or two nodes), and especially the node of the female flower should not be pressed into the soil. For the lateral branches that emerge, the principle in production is to keep them if there is space and pinch them off if there is no space.
3. Fruit selection and fruit setting: the fruits set on the second to fifth female flowers are preferable. Select and keep young fruits with good varietal characteristics, normal shape, fast development, large fruit type, and abundant fine hairs. When the young fruit has set and "bends its neck" and the single fruit weighs 0.3-0.5 kg, fruit setting can be carried out. Keep 1 or 2 fruits that develop fastest, are largest, and are the most robust, and remove all the other fruits.
4. Fruit turning and fruit padding: when turning the fruit, be careful and cautious. Each time, gently turn it about 1/4. When turning, the fruit should coordinate with the fruit stalk and vine, and do not break the stems and leaves. Generally, turn once every 5-8 days, and it is best to do so on a sunny day. To prevent the fruit from rotting, place 1 straw pad under each fruit, and pads made of wheat straw, rice straw, and the like are preferable.
6. Control of common diseases and insect pests
1. Common diseases: common diseases include damping-off, Phytophthora blight, Fusarium wilt, anthracnose, downy mildew, viral disease, powdery mildew, and so on.
① Control of damping-off. Choose a plot where cucurbit crops have not been planted in the previous crop as the seedling bed. The bed soil should be turned and sun-dried as early as possible, the organic fertilizer applied should be thoroughly decomposed, the bed surface should be flat and free of large soil clods, and before sowing, cover early to raise the bed temperature above 20°C. When seedlings show disease, use copper-ammonium mixture for control (that is, use 1 part copper sulfate and 2 parts ammonium bicarbonate, grind them into powder and mix, and store them in a sealed container for 24 hours). Each time, take out 50 g of copper-ammonium mixture and dilute it with 12.5 L of clean water, and spray the bed surface.
② Control of Phytophthora blight and other diseases. For Phytophthora blight, spray 72% DuPont Curzate, or 69% Anchor Mancozeb wettable powder at 900 times dilution; for Fusarium wilt, spray 50% Hunsha sulfur suspension concentrate at 500 times dilution, or 70% mancozeb wettable powder at 500 times dilution; for anthracnose, spray 50% carbendazim wettable powder at 800 times dilution, or 2% antimycin at 200 times dilution; for downy mildew, spray 58% metalaxyl-mancozeb at 500 times dilution, or 40% fosetyl-aluminum wettable powder at 200 times dilution, or 25% ridomil at 1500 times dilution, once every 6-7 days, for 2-3 consecutive treatments; for viral disease, use Virus A, Zhibingling, 83 Zeng Kang Ji, and the like for control; for powdery mildew, spray 15% triadimefon wettable powder, or 20% triadimefon emulsifiable concentrate at 2000-3000 times dilution, once every 7-10 days, for 2-3 consecutive treatments.
2. Common insect pests: common insect pests are melon aphid and whitefly, and low-toxicity pesticides should be sprayed early for control.
7. Harvest
When the fruit has fully developed and grown to a certain size, it can be harvested at any time according to market conditions. Harvesting too early results in lower yield, but fruit intended for storage must reach the physiological maturity standard.
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