Key Field Management Techniques for Winter Melon After Transplanting
Winter melon is a very common vegetable in China, popular with many people, and it is grown on a very large area in China. Winter melon can generally be grown by several methods, including direct seeding and raising seedlings for transplanting. When raising seedlings for transplanting, good management work must be done after the winter melon seedlings are transplanted to increase the survival rate of the seedlings. So how should winter melon be managed after transplanting? Below, the editor will give you a brief introduction. Let's take a look together!
1. Water and Fertilizer Management
After the winter melon seedlings are transplanted, the first thing to do well is water and fertilizer management. After transplanting, some clear manure water can be appropriately applied to promote seedling growth, increase the survival rate of the seedlings, and provide sufficient nutrients for seedling growth. Then each winter melon seedling should be appropriately given some fertilizer for the vines to spread, applied into the planting holes under the plastic film. The fertilizer should mainly be urea and compound fertilizer, and then no further topdressing is needed until the winter melon plants set fruit. Water appropriately; when soil moisture is poor, water in time, but the amount of water should not be too much, to avoid root rot and reduce yield and quality. When the fruit has set and the melon reaches about one jin, then appropriately topdress and water, with urea as the main fertilizer.
2. Pruning and Training
Under the condition of ensuring water and fertilizer, if the winter melon is not pruned and trained, the winter melon plants are very prone to excessive vegetative growth, which will consume a large amount of nutrients and affect the yield of winter melon. Therefore, in order to avoid this situation, we should prune in time, removing some side branches, old and weak branches, and some crossing and overlapping branches from the plants. However, each plant should retain about 3 robust side branches. Then the excess branches and male flowers should also be removed in time. After the plant has grown about two melons, pinch off the growing tip to improve field ventilation and light penetration.
3. Supplementary Pollination
After winter melon enters the flowering stage, if it is left to pollinate freely, the pollination rate is relatively low, and the number of melons set is also not high. Therefore, after entering the flowering stage, attention should be paid to doing supplementary pollination work well. Whether it is the fruit-setting rate of winter melon or the yield of seeds, there will be a clear increase. The flowering time of winter melon is generally around seven o'clock every morning. When the flowers have just opened, collect some newly opened male flowers, then dip the pollen and directly pollinate it onto the stigma of the female flowers. Some bees can also be released in the field to use bees for pollination.
4. Protecting the Melons
After the fruit has successfully set, good melon protection work should be done for the winter melons that have already formed. A layer of dry grass should be spread under the winter melon so that the melon does not directly touch the ground, avoiding the occurrence of rotten melons. If it is in a high-temperature and strong-light environment in summer, shade work should also be done for the melons, such as covering with grass or building shade nets. This avoids the melons being exposed to direct strong light, which can cause sunscald on the melons and reduce yield and quality. At the same time, we should also do a good job in the prevention and control of diseases and insect pests, strengthen management, and ensure the normal growth of winter melon.
The above is a brief introduction to how to manage winter melon after transplanting. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and I hope it can help everyone!