What to Do About Split Melons? Causes and Prevention Methods
Melons are now increasingly popular in the market and increasingly in demand. Today's melon market is far beyond what it used to be, prices are gradually rising, and quality requirements are getting higher and higher. This has attracted a large number of people to rush into large-scale cultivation, but after the fruit has set for a period of time, many friends will find that melons have a very serious problem of fruit splitting. This seriously harms the quality and yield of melons and also has a huge impact on growers' economic interests. So what causes fruit splitting? How should it be prevented and controlled? Let's take a look together!
1. Uneven dry and wet conditions
Many friends, in order to prevent excessive vegetative growth of stems and leaves during the melon seedling stage, will control the amount of water in the early stage. In fact, this is very unfavorable to the growth of melons. It will cause severe water shortage during the fruit enlargement stage, causing the rind to become thick and hard, aging prematurely. Moreover, after the fruit enlargement stage, although melons need a large amount of fertilizer and water, many people will overwater, causing the interior of the melon to begin expanding rapidly, leading to fruit splitting. Therefore, the water requirements of melons at each stage must be well controlled to maintain good growth.
2. Hormone reasons
Since people began growing melons, many have used the plant growth regulator forchlorfenuron to increase the fruit-setting rate of melons. However, most do not strictly follow the usage specifications and methods in the instructions. When using growth regulators, the concentration should be properly adjusted according to changes in temperature. If the concentration is too high, especially in the early stage of fruiting, and if a growth inhibitor is used, the concentration should not be too high or too great. Excessive concentration will cause the fruit surface to age prematurely, while the internal growth speed accelerates, and the rind cannot keep up with the internal growth speed, leading to fruit splitting. Therefore, it must be used according to the methods in the instructions and according to changes in temperature.
3. Removing leaves too early
In the process of growing melons, in order to reduce the incidence of pests and diseases, prevent the occurrence of diseases, and enhance ventilation and light penetration in the garden, old leaves at the base of the plants are removed. However, if the old leaves are removed too early or too many are removed, the fruits at the base of the plant will lose the shading effect of the leaves. Melons exposed to prolonged direct sunlight will have the rind age prematurely, and when the rind contracts, round cracking patterns form, resulting in split fruit. Therefore, the timing and amount of old leaf removal must be well controlled to avoid prolonged direct sunlight on the fruit.
4. Trace elements
It may also be due to soil reasons. If the soil is too hard and compacted and the water infiltration rate is too slow, the aeration of the plant roots will be too poor, affecting the plant's normal absorption of nutrients. If the soil lacks trace elements such as calcium, especially on plots with continuous cropping, fruit splitting occurs more often. Strengthen intertillage of the soil, water frequently, and properly combine with topdressing to loosen the soil, enhance soil aeration, and reduce diseases caused by crop physiological factors.
The above are several causes of melon fruit splitting. Fruit splitting is a problem that occurs in many fruits. Everyone must not underestimate fruit splitting, because if one fruit begins to split, then it is very likely to become a large-scale fruit-splitting phenomenon. I hope everyone will pay attention to it. The above points may not be complete, but they are definitely relatively important points. I hope they are helpful to everyone.