Detailed Guide to Growing Winter Melon in Pots: You Can Grow Winter Melon at Home Too

Sowing

For pot cultivation, sowing usually involves raising seedlings for transplanting or direct sowing, and we recommend the first method. Put the soil into a disposable cup, then use your hand to dig a hole in the soil and put the seed in. Then cover with a layer of soil and water until the soil is moist.

Emerging Seedlings

Winter melon seeds have somewhat thick coats, so their water permeability is relatively poor, and their water absorption is the same, which leads to slower germination. Usually, after planting, it takes about 15 days before true leaves grow. Since we are growing them ourselves, slower is no problem. As for the germination rate, generally it is enough if two or three survive.

Thinning

If multiple seeds in one cup all sprout, just leave one and thin out the rest.

Transplanting

Next, prepare a larger flower pot, preferably with a depth above 30cm and a diameter above 30cm. Then we need to dig a hole in the flower pot about the size of the cup, put the soil and the winter melon seedling in together, firm the soil and water it, and the winter melon seedling is planted. It is recommended to transplant in the evening.

Trellising

When the winter melon seedling grows vines, it is time to set up a trellis. Choose relatively good materials. After setting up the trellis, you can use string to guide the winter melon vines onto the trellis.

Flowering and Fruit Setting

Flowering will occur after about 50 days. For fruit setting, each winter melon plant only needs to keep two or three young melons. When the fruit has grown to about the right size, it can be cut off with a knife.