What are the characteristics of fertilizer and water management for grafted watermelon seedlings?

The root system of grafted watermelon has a stronger ability to absorb nutrients than that of own-rooted watermelon. If the fertilizer amount for own-rooted watermelon is used, it can easily cause excessive vegetative growth of the plant, delay fruit setting, and make the rind thicker and the flesh color paler. Therefore, the fertilizer amount for grafted watermelon should be appropriately reduced. When using gourd as the rootstock, the amount of base fertilizer should be reduced by 20% to 30% compared with own-rooted watermelon; when using pumpkin as the rootstock, the amount of base fertilizer can be reduced by 30% to 40%. After applying sufficient base fertilizer, generally little or no topdressing is needed before fruit setting, and the application of nitrogen fertilizer should especially be controlled to prevent affecting fruit setting; after fruit setting, topdress with fruit-swelling fertilizer, mainly phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, to improve the quality of the watermelon.