Detailed Guide to Bitter Melon Seedling Raising Methods: A Step-by-Step Tutorial to Grow Strong Seedlings
Bitter melon is a cucurbit vegetable with a fairly strong bitter taste, yet it holds a high status in China. Bitter melon has a range of benefits, including clearing heat and detoxifying, and nourishing and rejuvenating the skin. Its planting area is very extensive, and it is grown in every province across China. Today, most bitter melon cultivation uses seedling raising followed by transplanting. So how should you raise seedlings for bitter melon? Below, the editor brings you the bitter melon seedling raising methods. Let's take a look!
1. Preparing Nutrient Soil
Before sowing, you must first prepare the nutrient soil, and it is best to start preparing it 4-5 months in advance. First, choose soil that has never been used to grow cucurbit vegetables as the base soil, then prepare decomposed farmyard manure and pile it together with the soil; if there is no time for fermentation, you can pile the nutrient soil and use a disinfectant for sterilization. First dilute the disinfectant thoroughly, then sprinkle it evenly over the soil, mix and stir it fully with the soil, and cover it with plastic film to seal for about 3 days. Then spread the soil out for a week, and once the chemical effect has dissipated, it is ready to use. If you do not have a mixing method, you can also buy ready-made nutrient soil.
2. Seed Disinfection
Generally, bitter melon is sown by direct broadcasting of dry kernels, or the seeds can simply be soaked in clean water for about 4 hours. However, to prevent the seeds from carrying bacteria, we still need to do a good job of disinfecting the seeds before sowing. First soak the seeds for 4 hours, then use a seed treatment agent and stir it evenly with the seeds, or soak them in a solvent such as carbendazim for about 1 hour to prevent fungal diseases. After soaking, rinse the chemicals off the seed surface with clean water, and then you can sprout them or sow them directly.
3. Soaking Seeds to Promote Sprouting
After disinfection, place the seeds in warm water at about 55 degrees Celsius for heat treatment. Pour in the seeds while stirring to ensure they are heated evenly and prevent scalding, and stop when the water temperature drops to about 35 degrees Celsius. Then soak for about 7 hours to promote water absorption by the seeds. After soaking, wash off the dirt on the seed surface and air-dry the moisture. Wrap them in damp gauze and place them in an environment of about 32 degrees Celsius to promote sprouting. During sprouting, rinse them daily with warm water at about 32 degrees Celsius to keep the seeds free of dirty matter, improve permeability, and promote germination. After about 4 days, once most seeds have split and shown white, you can begin sowing.
4. Sowing and Raising Seedlings
Before sowing, prepare the seedling pots, then put the nutrient soil into the seedling pots, place them on the seedling bed, and water thoroughly. When the water has completely seeped down to the bottom, cover with fine soil. Then begin sowing, placing one seed per seedling pot. After sowing, cover with another layer of fine soil and plastic film to raise the temperature of the seedling bed and ensure the temperature needed for seed germination. After normal emergence, lower the temperature appropriately, keeping it at about 22 degrees Celsius, and do a good job of ventilation. Remove the film to allow the seedlings to absorb light freely, and cover them again at night. Three days before transplanting, remove the film to improve the cold resistance of the seedlings.
During the seedling raising period, note that if the nutrient soil lacks moisture, water it in time, but do not do so on cloudy and rainy days to prevent waterlogging damage, and try to meet the water needs of the seedlings. Apply additional fertilizer appropriately, and adjust the nutrient ratio and amount of fertilizer according to the growth of the seedlings and the fertility of the nutrient soil to prevent malnutrition. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only. Thank you for reading and your support.