How to grow melon in open ground. Melon: how to grow a healthy and juicy dessert Rules for growing melon in open ground

Plant melon (lat. Cucumis melo)- melon crop, which belongs to the species of the genus Cucumber of the Cucurbitaceae family. Nowadays it is difficult to find wild melon, the cultivated forms of which were bred from Asian weed species. The first mention of this culture is found in the Bible: melon was grown in Ancient Egypt. The melon fruit comes from Central and Asia Minor, its cultivation several centuries BC. e. began in Northern India and adjacent areas of Central Asia and Iran, after which the melon spread both to the west and to the east, all the way to China. In Europe, this melon crop appeared in the Middle Ages, and it was brought to the territory of present-day Russia, in the Lower Volga region, in the 15th-16th centuries.

Planting and caring for melons (in brief)

• Landing: sowing seeds for seedlings - in mid-April, planting seedlings in the ground - in early June.
• Lighting: bright sunlight.
• The soil: rich in organic matter, light, dry, neutral reaction, preferably after black steam. It can be grown on medium loamy soil. Heavy loams, sandy, acidic and wet soils are not suitable.
• Watering: regular, preferably drip, on average once a week, in the morning. With the appearance of fruits, watering is reduced until it stops completely.
• Feeding: 2 weeks after planting the seedlings, a solution of 20 g of ammonium nitrate in 10 liters of water is added to the soil at the rate of 2 liters per bush. The same fertilizing is applied during the formation of buds, and 2-3 weeks after this the soil is fertilized with a mineral complex.
• Pinching, gartering, pinching: as soon as the seedlings take root, pinch out the main stem, but this does not apply to hybrid melon varieties. There should be from 2 to 6 ovaries left on each bush, and when they increase to the size of a tennis ball, they are placed in a string bag and tied to a trellis.
• Reproduction: seed.
• Pests: melon aphids, wireworms, spider mites, cutworms and melon flies.
• Diseases: powdery mildew, downy mildew, fusarium wilt, anthracnose, root rot.

Read more about growing melons below.

Melon fruit - description

Melon berry is an annual plant with a creeping stem 1.5 to 3 m long with large, entire, heart-shaped, palmately lobed leaves consisting of five lobes. Melon flowers are light yellow, unisexual. Each plant can produce from 2 to 8 fragrant fruits and berries. Green, light brown, yellow or white, often with green stripes, the melon berry can be cylindrical, flattened or round in shape. The flesh of the melon is white, greenish, orange or yellow. The growing season of the plant lasts from 2.5 months to six months.

Growing melon from seeds

Sowing melon seeds

In the middle zone, melon is grown in seedlings. Growing melon seedlings begins with preparing for sowing seeds three to four years old, because fresh seeds will grow into strong plants that will not bear fruit, since they will only bear male flowers that do not form ovaries. Large melon seeds are dipped for 20 minutes in a two percent solution of potassium permanganate (a level teaspoon of potassium permanganate is dissolved in one and a half glasses of water). You can also keep the seeds for 12 hours in a five percent solution of boric acid and zinc sulfate, then rinse and dry.

Some gardeners use a method of cold hardening seeds: first they are placed in a thermos with water at a temperature of thirty degrees for two hours, then, covered with damp gauze, they are kept for a day at a temperature of 15-20 ºC, after which they are moved for 18 hours to a refrigerator with a temperature of 0 to 2 ºC, and then again kept at a temperature of 15-20 ºC for six hours. The hardening procedure is carried out immediately before planting the seeds in the ground.

Melon seedlings are planted in mid-April. 2-3 seeds are planted in peat pots with a diameter of 10 cm to a depth of 1.5-2 cm. The soil mixture for growing melon seedlings should consist of nine parts of peat and one part of sand. 10 liters of soil mixture must be thoroughly mixed with a glass of wood ash.

Growing melon seedlings

How to grow melon seedlings? Until seedlings emerge, seed pots should be kept at a temperature of 20-25 ºC during the day, and the night temperature should not exceed 18 ºC. As soon as the shoots appear, and this will happen in about a week, the strongest sprout is left in the pot, and the rest are not pulled out, but cut off at surface level, so as not to injure the root system of the remaining seedling. After three pairs of true leaves appear on the seedlings, the seedlings are pinched, stimulating the development of side shoots.

They contain the emerging seedlings on the southern windowsill, but if you do not have this opportunity, you will have to organize daily artificial illumination of the seedlings with lamps daylight within 10-12 hours. Caring for melon seedlings consists of timely moistening the soil with warm water, and the first watering after sowing the seeds is carried out when the seedlings develop one true leaf, but it is very important that water does not get on the leaves and stems of the seedlings. If you are afraid that the seedlings may get blackleg, sprinkle the surface of the soil with dry sand.

During the period of growing melon seedlings, it is advisable to carry out two feedings with a solution of complex mineral fertilizers, and a week before transplanting the seedlings into the ground, hardening procedures begin: during the day the temperature is lowered to 15-17 ºC, and at night to 12-15 ºC, gradually making the ventilation sessions longer and longer.

Melon pick

Readers sometimes ask: “How to pick a melon”? Melons, like other pumpkins, do not pick, because their seedlings tolerate transplantation very poorly. That is why pumpkin seeds are sown in separate cups.

Planting melons in open ground

When to plant melon in the ground

When to plant melon seedlings in open ground? Melon is planted in the ground when the seedlings are 4-5 weeks old and the seedlings have developed 5-6 true leaves. However, you should not rush to plant seedlings; you must wait until the weather is warm. If, after planting the seedlings in the ground, frost occurs, you can cover the seedlings with film during this time.

For the heat-loving melon, choose a well-warmed, sunny area, protected from the cold wind, preferably on the south side. Melon grows best after black fallow and plants such as winter wheat, corn, barley, cucumbers, onions, garlic, legumes and cabbage, but melon cannot be grown in one place for two years in a row. Melon grows poorly after plants such as carrots and tomatoes. Good neighbors for melons are turnips, beans, basil, chard, radishes, sorrel, radishes and corn. Bad neighbors are potatoes and cucumbers.

Soil for melon

Melon loves neutral and light soils, but rich in organic matter. It is not bothered by dry and saline soils, but acidic and wet soil is destructive for it. Light, medium-loamy soils are most suitable for melon, but it does not like sandy soils and heavy loams.

Before planting a melon in the ground, you need to prepare it: In the fall, when digging to the depth of a spade, add 4-5 kg ​​of humus or manure, and add another half a bucket of sand per m² to the clay soil. In the spring, the area under the melon is harrowed and 15-25 g of potassium salt and 35-45 g of superphosphate per m² are added to the soil. Before planting, the area is dug up again, but with nitrogen fertilizers at the rate of 15-25 g per m².

How to plant melon in open ground

Before transferring the seedlings into holes located at a distance of 60 cm from each other, they are watered abundantly to make it easier to remove the seedling from the pot. The interval between the rows is about 70 cm. The seedlings are placed in the hole so that their root collar is above the surface level, otherwise there is a risk of it rotting or being affected by fungal diseases. With such a planting, the bush appears to be on a tubercle. In order to protect the melon from fungal diseases, after planting the bed is sprinkled with river sand. Seedlings are protected from the sun with wet paper, which is removed after two days.

Growing melon in a greenhouse

In greenhouses, melon is grown on trellises so that it takes up less space. Planting melons in a greenhouse is carried out in holes 70x50 cm at a distance of 20 cm between specimens at the same time as in open ground. Grow and harden seedlings as already described. Peppers and tomatoes can be grown at the same time as melons, but cucumbers and zucchini cannot. best neighbors in a greenhouse for this crop. Before planting the seedlings, add 1.5 kg of humus or compost into each hole, sprinkling it on top with a 3 cm thick layer of soil, then spill the hole with warm water and transfer the seedlings with a clod of earth into them so that they are 1.5 - 3 cm above the bed, otherwise the hypocotyledon may begin to rot. If frost occurs, the planting is protected with additional frames with film.

During the first week after planting the seedlings in the garden, if the temperature in the greenhouse rises above 30 ºC, ventilation is carried out. After a week or ten days, each melon is watered with two liters of warm water with nitrogen fertilizers dissolved in it (20 g of ammonium nitrate per 10 liters of water). The beds are moistened every week, but during the period of fruit ripening, the rate is adjusted downward until watering is completely stopped for 1-2 weeks, until the melons are finally ripe - this is done to make the fruits sweeter. Fertilizing melons with organic matter is carried out twice with an interval of 2-3 weeks, alternating fertilizing with herbal infusion and adding infusion of chicken manure, mullein or humus and adding a handful of wood ash to the holes.

A week after planting the seedlings in the greenhouse, the seedlings are pinched over 5-6 leaves and after the formation of side lashes with female flowers, the two strongest of them are tied to a trellis, and the rest are cut off. As the vines grow, wrap them around the twine on the trellis, since the melon vines will not climb up it on their own. If there are few pollinating insects in the greenhouse, you will have to help the melons to pollinate. To do this, you need to carefully transfer pollen with a brush from male flowers (these are those flowers that do not have ovaries) to the female pistil.

When the fruits appear, only 2-3 melons are left on each plant, and when they develop to the size of a tennis ball, each of them is placed in a net and hung on a horizontal trellis guide.

Sometimes plants can suffer from fungal diseases or harmful insects, such as melon aphids, cutworms or spider mites. Insects can be controlled by treating plants with Iskra-bio or Fitoverm. What does a melon suffer from and how to treat a melon against diseases, if such a need arises, read in the appropriate section.

The melon is harvested when the fruits acquire the size and color characteristic of the variety, and cracks appear at the junction of the fruit and the vine.

Melon care

How to grow a melon

Growing melon in open ground involves watering, weeding, loosening, hilling, pinching and tying vines, as well as feeding plants. It may be necessary to carry out artificial pollination, which is carried out in the same way as pollinating melons in a greenhouse. As soon as the melon seedlings take root and begin to grow, its main stem is pinched a second time.

This is done so that the plant does not waste energy on growing green mass, but spends it on the formation and growth of fruits. As a result, each melon should develop a main and two lateral shoots, the remaining shoots are removed.

This does not apply to hybrid varieties, on the main shoot of which there are female flowers, so they are not pinched, and the side shoots of hybrids, in order to avoid thickening of the planting, are pinched after 2-3 leaves. Otherwise, caring for hybrids is the same as for regular melon varieties.

When the ovaries appear, from two to six of them are left on each bush, no more, and when the fruits reach the size of a tennis ball, each of them is placed in a net and tied to a trellis, partially removing the load from the plant’s vines. From time to time, the growing fruits in the nets are turned over in order to achieve their uniform ripening. Place non-rotting material (foil, pieces of roofing felt) under the melons lying on the ground. If only one fruit grows on the bush, and the rest turn yellow and lag behind in development, then it’s time to apply fertilizer for the melon.

The row spacing in melon beds is loosened the first two times to a depth of 10-15 cm, subsequent loosening is carried out not so deeply - 8-10 cm, and the space around the seedlings requires even less deep and very careful loosening of the soil. When the side vines begin to develop, the melon is hilled up. Stop loosening the soil around the bushes when the foliage closes.

If you prefer to grow melons on a trellis, and it must be said that this method allows you to save a lot of space, install supports up to 2 m high in advance, since within a few days after planting the seedlings in the ground, the shoot needs to be tied with a rope, and its upper end secured to the trellis . Over time, the side shoots are also tied up.

Watering melon

Water the melon regularly - on average, once a week - with warm water (22-25 ºC), in the morning, not allowing drops to fall on the leaves, stems, buds, flowers and fruits. To avoid this, you can dig a furrow around the plants and pour water into it. But the best way to irrigate melons and melons is drip irrigation. Avoid over-wetting the soil, as this will cause the plant's roots to rot, so before watering the melon, make sure the top layer of soil on the melon is dry. When the fruits appear, watering is gradually reduced until it stops completely so that the melons gain more sugar.

Melon feeding

It is convenient to combine fertilizing with watering. How to fertilize melons in open ground? Two weeks after planting the seedlings in the ground, they can be fed with a solution of 20 g of ammonium nitrate in a bucket of water at the rate of 2 liters of solution per bush. When the process of bud formation begins, the melons are fed a second time with a solution of ammonium nitrate in the same proportion or with mullein (1:10). Then, after 2-3 weeks, a mixture of fertilizers is added to the soil in liquid form: 30 g of ammonium sulfate, 50 g of superphosphate and 20-25 g of potassium salt, dissolved in 10 liters of water.

Pests and diseases of melon

All varieties of melon for open ground, as well as melons grown under film coverings, can become infected with fungal, viral or bacterial diseases in case of improper care or non-compliance with agricultural practices. Melons also suffer from some harmful insects. To prevent crop loss, you must be able to recognize in time a disease or pest that has encroached on your melon, and also know what drug and how to treat the melons in this case.

Powdery mildew- a fungal disease that causes whitish spots to appear on the stems and leaves of a plant, which over time cover the entire surface and become brown in color. Under this coating, the leaves become fragile, dry out and curl. The growth of shoots slows down, the fruits lag behind in development, lose quality and sugar content. If signs of the disease are detected, treat the melon beds with 80% sulfur powder at the rate of 4 g per 1 m². Several sessions can be held with an interval of 20 days, but the last of them is no later than 20 days before harvest.

Downy mildew, or downy mildew, characterized by the appearance of yellow-green spots on melon leaves, which quickly increase, covering the entire leaf blade. During periods of high humidity, a gray-violet coating with fungal spores forms on the underside of the leaves. As a preventive measure, before planting, keep melon seeds for two hours in a thermos with water at a temperature of 45 ºC, and then for 20 minutes in a one percent solution of potassium permanganate. If you detect symptoms of peronosporosis, treat the area with a solution of 1 g of urea in 1 liter of water, and if this measure does not help, you will have to spray the melons with a solution of Topaz or Oksikhom in accordance with the instructions.

Fusarium wilt Same fungal disease, the pathogens of which live in the soil, from where they fall on plant residues and melon seeds. Most often, mid-season and late varieties are affected by fusarium, which reduces the yield and quality of fruits. The disease manifests itself at the stage of development of 2-3 true leaves or during the ripening period of fruits. In diseased plants, the leaves lighten and become covered with gray spots, then the affected above-ground parts wither and the plant dies within 10 days. As a treatment, melon beds are treated during the budding period with a solution of potassium chloride, and as a preventive measure, a five-minute disinfection of seeds before sowing in a forty percent formaldehyde solution is used.

Anthracnose, or copperhead, manifests itself as rounded brown or pinkish spots on the leaves, increasing in size as the disease progresses. Holes form in the affected leaves, the leaves curl and the melon dries, the vines become thin and break, and the fruit becomes deformed and rots. Treatment for anthracnose is spraying plants three to four times with one percent Bordeaux mixture at intervals of 10 days or pollinating the area with sulfur powder.

Ascochytaosis, like the previously described diseases, it is excited by a fungus and is manifested by the appearance of brown areas on the stems of melon growing in a greenhouse, which gradually spread throughout the plant. A diseased melon dies from damage to the root part. If you detect symptoms of ascochyta blight, reduce watering and dust the affected areas of plants with a mixture of lime and ash or spray them with one percent Bordeaux mixture, and as a preventive measure, we recommend disinfecting the seeds with Immunocytophyte or Silk before sowing.

Root rot It affects weakened specimens, while in young plants the stems and roots first turn brown, then become thinner and, as a result, the plant withers. An adult melon turns yellow and also withers, while the lower part of the stems and roots become brown. A preventive measure in the fight against rot can be considered treating the seeds before planting for five minutes with a forty percent formaldehyde solution.

Viral diseases- cucumber mosaic virus, highly specialized virus and watermelon mosaic virus - are transmitted by aphids, so the carriers are destroyed first, and only then melon diseases are combated. However, if a plant is infected with one of the listed viruses, it is impossible to save it, because cures for these diseases have not yet been invented. You can only quickly remove the plant from the garden bed before the infection spreads to neighboring melons. Symptoms of these diseases: the appearance of areas with mosaic colors on the leaves, shortening of internodes, developmental delays, deformation of leaves, falling of the ovaries, and the appearance of specks on the fruits.

Among insects, melons have the following enemies: melon aphids, spider mites, wireworms and gnawing cutworms.

melon aphid accumulates on the underside of the leaves and feeds on their juice, causing the leaves to curl and dry, and the flowers fall off before they have time to open. In addition, aphids are carriers viral diseases, from which plants cannot be cured. To destroy aphids, spray the melons with a ten percent solution of Karbofos or a thirty percent solution of Actellik.

Spider mites also prefer to settle on the underside of the leaf blade. They, like aphids, feed on plant sap. Most often, mites infect melons growing in greenhouses, but they also harm melon plants. You can get rid of ticks by treating with Fitoverm, Bicol or Bitoxibacillin.

Wireworms– larvae of click beetles – gnaw the underground part of plants, which leads to the death of melons. You can prevent the proliferation of caterpillars by deep autumn digging of the site and observing crop rotation.

Gnawing cutworms They are not dangerous in themselves; damage to plants is caused by their caterpillars, gnawing on the melon stem, causing the plant to die. To get rid of cutworm caterpillars, the area is dug deeply after harvesting. In addition, crop rotation must be observed.

Melon processing

To achieve the desired effect in the treatment of fungal diseases, fungicides are used in a block of 2-4 applications, without using contact preparations in between. Do not alternate fungicides from different chemical groups, use the same fungicide or its analogue. The intervals between fungicide treatment sessions should not be more than 12 days. After the last treatment of plants with a systemic fungicide, the contact agent can be used no earlier than 8-10 days later.

It is advisable to use systemic fungicides for the treatment of young, actively developing plants, and it is better to treat adult, aging plants with contact preparations.

Collection and storage of melon

Before you pick your melons, you need to be sure they are truly ripe. Pay attention to the color of the melon and the network of cracks on its surface. Ripe melons are easily separated from the vines, the mesh covers the peel all over the fruit, and the fruit turns yellow, but such melons will not be stored for long - at most two months.

A melon that is ripe enough to be stored has a medium mesh covering only half of the fruit. And those specimens in which the mesh covers the entire surface of the yellowed melon should be eaten immediately. In varieties that do not form a network on the peel, the only sign of ripening of the melon is its yellowing.

The degree of keeping quality of melons is determined according to the following scale:

• low – such melons are stored for less than two weeks;
• short-lived melons – shelf life from 15 to 30 days;
• medium-length melons are stored for one to two months;
• stored melons can be stored for up to 3 months;
• very shelf-stable - melons that can be stored for longer than 3 months.

Mid-season and late varieties of melon have the best shelf life, which, if properly stored, can last up to six months, while early, mid-early and some mid-season varieties are not stored for a long time, so it is advisable to eat them immediately.

Late-ripening melons, intended for long-term storage, are collected selectively in a state of technical ripeness, as the necessary signs appear on the fruits, without cutting, but tearing them off along with a stalk up to 3 cm long. This is done early in the morning, before the heat sets in, or in the evening, when the heat had already subsided. The picked melons are left for 3-4 days in the melon bed, carefully turning them over every 5-6 hours, after which they are placed in a dry, cool, but not cold, pre-disinfected storage.

Disinfection is carried out by spraying the room bleach. You can use smoke bombs to destroy viruses and pests. After treatment, the storage room should remain locked for several days, then it should be ventilated and whitened. wooden structures premises with freshly slaked lime.

Place the melons for storage on racks, laying the fruits on shelves sprinkled with sawdust or chaff in one layer. Or you can store melons in a suspended state, immersing each fruit in a coarse mesh and hanging it on a rack with crossbars. The air humidity in the melon storage room should be approximately 80% and the temperature within 2-3 ºC.

The proximity to potatoes and apples has a detrimental effect on the melon: potatoes give the melon an unpleasant taste and begin to rot, and the ethylene released by the apples accelerates the process of ripening and over-ripening of the melon. Inspect stored fruit as often as possible and immediately remove any that show signs of spoilage.

Types and varieties of melon

Melon (Melo), separated into a separate genus, is represented by three dozen species, two of them wild. Some of the species are native to China and Africa, although most grow in Central Asia, Afghanistan and Iran, and it was in these countries that the first cultivated varieties of melon appeared. The most aromatic and delicious melons are considered to be Central Asian. Among them, the most famous are:

• Zard- Chardzhou smooth, spindle-shaped melon with green skin, growing to enormous sizes - up to 25 kg and similar to a giant cucumber. In September it is hard and tasteless, but, having ripened in storage, in winter it becomes fragrant, tender and sweet. One of the most delicious varieties of this type is Gulyabi - these melons can be stored for six months;
• Khandalyak– early, small and tender melons with pear flavor;
• Ameri– Bukhara oval melons weighing 5-10 kg with crispy pulp exuding a vanilla aroma.

Asian Minor melons are also good, although they are inferior in taste to Central Asian ones. The most famous types:

• Cilician melon from Syria;
• Kassaba from Turkey, with virtually no aroma.

European varieties are derivatives of Central Asian melons adapted to cooler climates. An example of a European variety is the cantaloupe, a melon named after the papal estate of Cantalouppia. This is a segmented (ribbed) melon that does not have a special taste, but is capable of growing and bearing fruit even in England.

European varieties of melon are divided into early ripening varieties - very early varieties that ripen in 60-70 days, summer melons - larger, covered with a mesh along the skin, with sweet, tender and aromatic pulp, and wintering - medium-sized melons with a dark green or bronze, covered thick mesh skin with dense, crispy and sweet flesh. We offer you the best hybrids and varieties of melon for open ground, bred for cultivation in our climatic conditions:

• Blondie- a variety that ripens in 80-90 days, with bright orange, tender and aromatic pulp and thin, light, grayish-beige skin. The weight of slightly flattened, round segmented fruits containing carotene and a lot of sugar is up to 700 g;
• Wintering- a late variety that is difficult to grow in the middle zone, but in warmer areas, light yellow-green fruits without stripes ripen in 90 days, but with a coarse mesh on the peel with juicy, light green tender pulp. The weight of the fruit reaches 2.5 kg;
• Altai– the fruits of this variety have thin peel, oval shape, aromatic, tasty pulp and weigh no more than one and a half kilograms. The variety was developed in Siberia and is successfully grown here;
• Pineapple- one of the most early varieties oval in shape with a golden skin covered with mesh. The aromatic, sweet pulp is slightly pink shade. The weight of the fruit reaches 2 kg;
• Honey– this variety is grown in Mediterranean countries and Morocco. The fruits are smooth, elongated or round, green in color. The pulp is green, yellowish or yellow-red, sweet and aromatic, containing potassium, manganese and vitamin A;
• Galileo– a mid-early variety, bred specifically for cultivation in the south of Russia, with medium-sized fruits weighing up to 1 kg, the light brown peel of which is densely covered with a mesh, and the aromatic greenish pulp has a delicate taste;
• Charente- a variety of French selection with the smallest fruits in this varietal group, which are also considered the most aromatic and tasty. Melons of this variety are similar to cantaloupes. The fruits are round, slightly flattened, have smooth longitudinal grooves on the peel, the orange sweet pulp is very aromatic, in addition, low in calories and rich in vitamins;
• Augen- Israeli hybrid variety with slightly flattened elongated fruits of greenish, yellow or yellow-green color with longitudinal notches, spots and stripes. The pulp is green, aromatic and sweet;
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Melon is a popular crop that is successfully cultivated all over the world. Therefore, having your own plot and the desire to create with your own hands, you need to pay attention to the cultivation and rules of planting this favorite summer-autumn delicacy in open ground so that it can look healthy and have a wonderful taste.

In different regions, you can sow melon directly with seeds, or plant it first as seedlings. Cultivation and care must be carried out regardless of the area; shaping and feeding or tying to a trellis may also be necessary.

Is it possible to grow melons in the countryside in open ground?

Melon is a heat-loving plant that need a lot of light. She feels good in hot weather and even drought. The maximum humidity for this crop is 60-70%.

The culture has a massive root system that is capable of obtaining moisture at a depth of up to one meter. This plant requires a lot of free space for intensive development and comfortable growth.

Even though the melon is a southern resident, it can be grown in almost any area, the main thing is to know how to do it. Nowadays, a sufficient number of varieties have been developed that take root well and bear fruit in moderately warm and cold climates.

The most popular melon varieties to plant in the Middle Zone and Ukraine

There are many varieties of melons with different characteristics for open ground. When choosing a variety for planting, it is important to take into account the climate of the area.

According to reviews from experienced gardeners, the best varieties to plant at a dacha in central Russia or Ukraine, in the climatic conditions of the Moscow region, are Altaiskaya and Kolkhoznitsa.

Altai

Altai

Early ripening, allows harvesting in 70 days crop growth from the period of seedling formation. The plant is medium in size and forms a vine of moderate length.

The fruits are golden in color and have an oval shape. The ability to achieve 1.5 kg. The tender flesh is light orange in color and is characterized by sleepiness, sweetness and graininess.

From positive characteristics: adaptability to adverse weather conditions, excellent transportability and keeping quality.

Collective farmer

Melon belongs to the early ripening variety. The first harvest can be collected after 75 days after disembarkation.

The plant produces small orange-yellow round fruits with a convex stalk attachment. On average, the weight of one fruit is 1.5 kg. The dense pulp and durable crust makes it easy to transport the crop, which can be stored for a week after harvest.

Collective farmer

Growing a heat-loving vegetable is difficult in areas with a harsh climate, such as Siberia.

In such conditions, only certain varieties can grow, which include Early 133 and Yantarnaya.

Early 133

Early ripening variety, growing season - 60-70 days. The fruits are oval-shaped and have a yellow skin. It has white, dense, tender, sweet pulp with excellent taste and aroma. The weight of one fruit is approximately 1.5 kg.

It is valued for its excellent commercial qualities, good transportability and high immunity to major crop diseases.

Early 133

Amber

A mid-early ripening variety. Growing season from germination to ripening of melons 70-85 days. A plant with long vines of medium thickness. Juicy spherical fruits with juicy, fairly thick pulp and weight up to 2.5 kg.

Amber

What varieties are suitable for sowing in Bashkiria and the Urals

Vegetable growers in the Urals and Bashkiria who want to grow melon on their plots must choose a more suitable variety for the Ural region. The optimal sowing material for melons is Sybarite's Dream and Cinderella.

A sybarite's dream

An early variety that reaches technical ripeness after 50-55 days. The fruits have an original elongated shape and a green striped peel. The mass of one fruit is equal to 400 g.

Juicy crispy whitish flesh with a specific honey aroma and taste. The main advantages are increased productivity, continuous fruiting until frost, and good disease resistance.

A sybarite's dream

Cinderella

The variety belongs to early ripening crops, since the growing season is 60 days, for which the fruits are collected up to 1.5 kg weight.

Melons are yellow in color with a convex mesh pattern. The pulp is white in color and is characterized by juiciness and sweetness. Thanks to its rich aroma, it is valued in culinary matters.

The advantages include high resistance to temperature changes, various diseases and pest attacks. The disadvantage is short storage and poor transportability due to the rather thin rind of melons.

Cinderella

Planting rules

There are several ways to plant a crop:

• sowing seeds;
• seedling method;
• using grafted seedlings.

The simplest available method for any gardener is planting seeds in open ground. Other options are considered more complex and not suitable for everyone.

Preparation for planting seeds

To obtain a quality harvest it is important competent preparation seeds for sowing. Buy planting material in special stores or collect it yourself from fruit grown in your own garden and germinate it at home.

When collecting seeds at home, you must follow the basic rule: prepare only from large-sized sweet melons.

Seeds should be harvested only from large-sized sweet melons

One more nuance is important: only in the third year after collection You can use seeds as planting material. Because from fresh specimens, plants develop with the absence of female inflorescences, as a result of which they do not have the ability to bear fruit.

In order for the seedlings to be friendly and the plants to develop strong, seed material is needed etch in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for an hour. Then soak at 20-25 degrees in a thick layer of gauze, which is immersed in a container so that the water only slightly covers the seeds.

Every 4-6 hours, the seeds need to be ventilated and immersed in water again. The total soaking time is 12 hours. Then scatter the seeds in a thin layer on a damp cloth and keep until the first sprouts appear.

Selecting a site and preparing the soil for planting seedlings

Melon is a light-loving plant that does not tolerate shading. Therefore, areas that are well-lit by the sun and maximally protected from cold winds are suitable for this crop.

Melon does not tolerate shade when grown

When planning to plant melon beauty in the garden, you need to take into account what crops grew in the garden last year and the neighboring influence of different plants on the melon. As predecessors there may be garlic, onions, cabbage, peas, beans, winter grains.

Good neighbors that will repel pests, improve taste and promote growth are considered turnip, basil, radish.

It does not get along well with potatoes, which can cause them to wilt, and cucumbers, as the plants can become dusty with each other and become bitter in taste.

Melon is very demanding of soil, so light, medium-loamy soil with neutral acidity, rich in organic matter, is suitable for it.

The area for cultivating the plant must be properly prepared:

• autumn earth dig on the bayonet of a shovel and add humus, if there is heavy soil, saturate it with river sand;
• With the onset of spring, sprinkle the bed using peat or ash to speed up the melting of snow, then cover it with film to ensure maximum warm-up soil;
• when the surface layer of soil warms up to a temperature of +13 degrees, carry out deep loosening with the addition of potassium and phosphate minerals, strictly observing the amount of fertilizer applied, which is indicated by manufacturers on the packaging;
• Before starting the planting process, re-dig the area, filling it with fertilizers that contain nitrogen.

Conditions for proper cultivation and care

Gardeners are recommended to plant melon in the ground only in the southern regions. In northern latitudes and in the middle zone, it is better to grow only using mature seedlings, because melon may have time to sprout from seeds, but will not bear fruit until the cold weather. Favorable time for landing - last days of April.

To do this, you need to follow the following procedure, care for and love the plant properly:

1. Make holes 5-6 cm deep. Planting pattern: 1 m row spacing, row distance 0.7 m.
2. Equip each hole with humus and water with warm water.
3. Place 3-4 seeds in each hole.
4. Water the planted seed and cover it with dry soil.

It is better to carry out the planting process after rain in moist soil, then seedlings will form earlier. If cold weather is expected, you should cover the beds with film at night before seedlings appear.

Planting melon seedlings in the ground

The fruits are ripe late July - early August. When ripe, the vegetable acquires its characteristic color, the pattern is clearly revealed and the characteristic aroma inherent in melon appears. A signal of full maturity is easy separation from the stalk.

According to lunar calendar Gardeners in 2018 can begin the process of planting melons on March 27-28, from April 20 to 24, and in May on any day from the 19th to the 23rd.

The key to successful cultivation of melon beauty is sunny, warm weather, when pollination and development of sugary, juicy fruits actively occur. It is important to choose the appropriate variety and follow simple agricultural techniques, pick and pinch seedlings if necessary, and then a rich increase in the melon harvest is guaranteed.

An indigenous inhabitant of Central and Central Asia, the melon is gradually expanding into more northern territories. Thanks to the successes of breeders, honey fruits can be grown not only in the southern regions of the country, but also in the middle zone. Moreover, fruits with excellent taste ripen not even in greenhouses, but in open ground and on the balcony.

Of course, the melon is more capricious and more demanding in terms of living conditions than its closest relatives - cucumbers and pumpkins, but with proper care, this species is also submissive to the diligent gardener. What are the features of growing melon in open ground? What difficulties can you encounter, and how can you get plants to bear fruit at home?

Preparing melon seeds for planting

For sowing, strong, well-formed seeds are used, while experts advise taking seed obtained from the harvest two or three years ago. Watching how the melon grows in the photo, you can notice:

• powerful plants from fresh seeds produce male flowers in abundance, but there are very few ovaries on them;
• Melon vines made from older seeds are more productive.

To increase the germination of seeds, they are immersed for 12 hours in a solution of boric acid and zinc sulfate or another growth stimulant.

If you are going to grow melons in open ground in the middle zone, it is better to worry about hardening the seeds in advance, for which purpose:

• first immerse in warm water with a temperature of about 30–35 °C;
• then leave for a day at room temperature;
• for stratification, they are transferred to the refrigerator for 18 hours, where the temperature is close to zero.

The swollen seeds are ready for sowing in open ground or for seedlings.

How to grow melon seedlings at home?

Since all members of the pumpkin family do not like replanting due to the risk of damage to the roots, and the crop is very heat-loving, you need to consider that:

• the soil in the area intended for melons should warm up to 12–13 °C before sowing;
• sowing in peat tablets or small cups is carried out no earlier than two weeks before planting in the ground;
• In larger containers, seedlings can last up to 30 days.

For example, for the middle zone, it is acceptable to sow seeds for seedlings in late April, then by June the young plants should move to a permanent place.

Using peat pots allows you to avoid the pain of transplantation and save up to three weeks when growing melon in open ground.

To grow seedlings, make a soil mixture of equal parts:

• humus;
• peat cleared of impurities;
• sand;
• garden soil.

Before sowing, the soil is moistened and enriched with complex fertilizer containing microelements for melon growth. Two seeds are planted in each pot with a diameter of 10–11 cm, so that, depending on how the melon grows, in the photo, you can choose a stronger sprout and cut off the weak one without damaging the root system.

To prevent rot of young stems, the surface of the soil in seedling pots is sprinkled with a layer of clean sand.

To grow melon at home, maintain a daytime temperature of about 20 °C, but at night the air can cool to 15 °C. Watering for melons, including melons, needs to be moderate, as the top layer of soil dries out.

Selecting and preparing a site

For a southern culture that loves warmth and sunlight in open ground, they choose areas that are maximally illuminated, but protected from drafts and cold winds.

It is important that moisture does not stagnate in the melon plot, otherwise rot and fungal diseases of the plants cannot be avoided.

At the same time, for growing melon in open ground, the soil is prepared in advance. In the fall, I'll plant the future melons:

• dig no less than a spade's length;
• fertilize with organic matter, adding 4–6 kg of humus or rotted manure per meter of area.

Melon loves loose soils, so on loamy soils it is recommended to add river sand to the beds. In the spring, potassium and phosphate fertilizers are added to the melons before digging.

Planting a melon in the ground

The basic rules for growing melon in open ground are very simple:

• Young plants need protection from rain and cold.
• The quantity and quality of the harvest depends on the correct formation of the plants, removal of the tops of the lashes and excess ovary.
• A well-established watering schedule will help you get sweet, full-bodied fruits without cracks.
• Melon requires regular, competent feeding.

Planting of seedlings and seeds is carried out at a distance of at least 60 cm from each other.

The seeds are buried 5 cm, and, as with the seedling method, 2-3 seeds are placed in a hole. An additional teaspoon of nitrophoska or other nitrogen-containing fertilizer is added to the hole for both seeds and seedlings.

If plants are planted on the melon in peat pots, the earthen ball should not be buried. After sprinkling with soil, it should rise slightly above the general level, only after this the plants are watered and the already moist soil is mulched with dry soil.

In the future, it is better to protect melon seedlings from the sun, rain and possible cold snap for the first time, while acclimatization is underway. As they get used to it, the greenhouse is removed during the daytime, and at night the plants are again hidden under the covering material.

Features of melon care

When growing melons in open ground, the melon grower must pay attention to watering, loosening the soil, fertilizing and weeding the beds. In addition, you won’t get a good harvest if you don’t pinch off the vines that already have an ovary in time, and don’t remove empty shoots that take away the strength of the bush.

Loosening is carried out very carefully, to a depth of 10–12 cm, without damaging the roots. When the lashes grow, the melon is hilled. Weeding is carried out as needed.

Watering melons plays a special role in the success of growing melons in open ground. If plants do not receive enough moisture, they develop worse, bloom and set ovaries. Excessive watering leads to rotting of the vines and fruits, and the melons themselves lose their sugar content and become watery. Observing how a melon grows will help you understand the needs of plants, and the photo shows a drip irrigation system that allows you to use moisture as efficiently as possible:

• Usually, while there are no ovaries on the melon, the plants are limited in watering, preventing the formation of many side shoots.
• When the ovaries are already formed and need to develop, watering becomes more intense.
• A month before the approximate dates of ripening, the melons gradually stop watering so that the fruits gain sweetness and aroma.

Beginner melon growers often have a question: “Why does the melon in the garden crack and begin to rot? Obviously, the error lies in the watering schedule and its intensity.

Most often, fruits crack when, after a dry period, already formed ovaries receive an excessive amount of moisture at one time.

Fruit damage is also observed if the ripening melon lies on wet soil. Therefore, melon growers advise placing a shard or small plank under each ovary. You can avoid spoilage if you use trellises when growing melons in open ground and secure the heavy fruits with a net or fabric.

For the first time, the melon plant is pinched after the third or fourth leaf to induce branching and produce lateral shoots. When 5–6 ovaries are formed on the plant, the free tops of the vines are cut off, leaving 2–3 leaves until the last fruit. Further, as the plant grows, unnecessary flowers and empty shoots are torn off so that all the melon’s strength goes into filling and ripening the already formed fruits.

Regular feeding should help the plants with this, the first of which is carried out when the first true leaf appears. This time, fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus are applied to the melons, and then fertilizing with minerals and organic matter is alternated. The feeding schedule can be adjusted. Most often, the frequency of watering with fertilizer solutions is 10–14 days.

During mass flowering, it is better to give plants potassium-phosphorus mixtures. And fertilizing is completed at the first signs of the melons beginning to ripen.

Do not forget that melons easily accumulate excess chemicals and, especially with a lack of light, can become a source of dangerous nitrates. Therefore, melon growers should be careful with nitrogen fertilizers.

How to grow melon at home

If you put in a little effort and be patient, you can cut a sweet melon from a plant grown on your own windowsill or balcony. First of all, for the melon you will need to choose a pot or container of sufficient capacity, with a diameter of at least 20 cm. Drainage is required at the bottom of the pot, and the soil can be used the same as that used for planting the seedlings.

If in spacious beds the growing canes can lie quietly on the soil, then you can grow a melon at home only using a trellis. As it grows, lashes are attached to it, but since the plant is in a limited volume of soil, it would be reasonable to grow the melon in one stem.

We must not forget that melons are extremely demanding on lighting, so the main reason for the failure of growing this crop on balconies, window sills or terraces is the lack of light. It can be compensated by organizing additional LED lighting, which provides the needs of plants for 14–16 hours a day.

To conserve moisture, prevent weeds from germinating and provide the melon with a soil temperature of about 20–25 °C, the surface of the soil is lined with a special film or material. The supply of moisture can be entrusted to the drip irrigation system, adding or decreasing the amount of water supplied depending on how the melon grows.

When home-grown melons become the size of a fist, excess shoots, flowers and the top of the main vine are pinched off. At home, it is better to leave no more than three ovaries per plant, which are tied to a trellis using a net or soft cloth.

Video about forming a melon in open ground

Is there anyone who doesn’t like juicy, sweet melon? We are all waiting for the season when we can buy this magnificent southern fruit. Is it possible to grow melon in open ground in our not-so-warm latitudes? Today we will talk about how to provide yourself with melons yourself.

Growing seedlings

Melons of different varieties

Growing melon in open ground: varieties, planting and care

If you wish, melon can be grown anywhere, even in the North. Juicy, sweet, fragrant melon melts in your mouth and brings pleasure! There are many varieties of melons, different in shape and taste. But they all like to grow in the same conditions - dry and hot air. They do not like excessive watering and moisture. The sun is their best friend and comrade, and they are not at all afraid to expose their sides to the open rays of the sun. So it turns out that the best settlement for growing melons in open ground will be the south of our big country.

And how offensive it is to the northern peoples, and even to those who live in central Russia, that they cannot plant a melon in a garden bed or in a country house, and in the fall enjoy the wonderful taste of this southern beauty. But no! Don't be upset! You can grow melon both here, in the middle zone, and in Siberia.

Selecting and preparing a site

Since this southern beauty loves to grow in fertile warm areas of land, and even hidden from the wind, we will cook what she loves. And we’ll start preparing in the fall. In the fall, dig up the melon bed not deeply, using a spade, and apply humus as fertilizer, 3-4 kilograms per square meter. If your site has more clay soil, you will also need to “fluff” it with river sand (half a bucket of sand per square meter).

Fill plastic or cardboard pots with soil for garden crops or a soil mixture of the following composition: mix peat with sand (9 parts peat and 1 part sand) and one glass of wood ash per 10 liters of soil

So we’ll leave the garden bed until spring. In the spring we get to work again: dig up one more time and apply fertilizers with potassium and phosphate. And the proportions will be written on the fertilizer packaging. Before planting, you will need to add rotted manure or nitrogen fertilizers.

Seed preparation

The soil has been prepared, now you need to prepare the seeds to grow seedlings. You can buy seeds in the store, or you can prepare them yourself. Melons, as it turns out, are very interesting plants: from the seeds of last year's harvest, strong and strong plants can grow, but they will not produce hearths. This is because the flowers on them will be male and there may be no ovary. And so that there is good harvest, it is advisable to take seeds three to four years old.

You need to choose large seeds for sowing seedlings and you need to treat them with a compound for such seeds (you can buy them in the store). You can treat the seeds with a solution of boric acid and zinc sulfate. The seeds need to be soaked in this solution for 12 hours.

The seeds for sowing seedlings need to be large and they need to be treated with a compound for such seeds (can be bought in the store)

To grow melon in the Non-Black Earth Region, wise gardeners advise hardening the seeds. Immerse in warm (up to 35 degrees) water, remove and leave for one day at 18 to 20 degrees, then gradually reduce the temperature to 0 degrees and keep the seeds for another eighteen to twenty hours. After this, increase the temperature again to 20 degrees. And this needs to be done three times in the last week before planting the seeds.

All the time the melon grows in the ground, it must be loosened, weeded, watered and hilled

We grow seedlings

To grow seedlings, you need to purchase peat pots (or peat tablets) with a diameter of up to ten centimeters. Fill plastic or cardboard pots with soil for garden crops or a soil mixture of the following composition: mix peat with sand (9 parts peat and 1 part sand) and one glass of wood ash per 10 liters of soil.

By soaking the seeds for a day before planting, you can discard the empty seeds (they will float). You need to plant the seeds in prepared pots, two or three at a time, up to five centimeters deep. Pots with seeds should be kept indoors at a daytime temperature of 18-20 degrees until the first sprouts appear, and the night temperature should not be lower than fifteen.

In a melon patch, melon grows almost without moisture, then create the same conditions for it and water as moderately as possible

In about a week, the first shoots should appear; they need to be thinned out and one strong sprout left in the pot. When the third or fourth true leaf appears, the seedlings need to be pinched, this can lead to the development of side shoots. Care for the seedlings in the usual way, only water less, and without getting water on the leaves and stems. To prevent black legs, you can sprinkle a layer of river sand around the leg, only dry sand. The seeds need to be sown in April, and only after twenty-five days can they be transplanted into the ground.

Video - how to grow a melon

Planting melons in the ground

In the soil you have prepared, make holes 70-80 centimeters apart from each other both in width and along the length of the bed. During frosts, seedlings cannot be planted; it is better to wait them out. This will be in early June in central Russia.

Melon should be fed. And the first time this should be done after two weeks, planting in the ground

The most important thing when transplanting seedlings is not to damage the roots of the future melon. It is better to plant it together with the soil in which it grew in the pot. Before planting, pour water into the hole and add a little humus. The seedlings need to be planted so that the stem does not go deep. The lump of earth with which the seedlings were planted should be slightly on the surface of the earth. Water the planted seedlings again and sprinkle with dry soil. The first two days the seedlings need to create shade, so they will be better accepted. If there are strong temperature changes between day and night, create a film covering for the still fragile planting. Such covers can be installed at night and removed during the day. They can be used to protect against the rain that melons don’t like.

If you have your own greenhouse, we recommend that you read the article “Growing melon in a greenhouse.”

The beds where the melon grows should be weeded only when necessary.

When describing melon care, you can understand that caring for it is very similar to caring for cucumbers

Melon varieties

Alushta(Crimean experimental station), ripening period - 70 days. The fruits are large, oval, ripen up to 1.3-1.5 kg, orange-yellow, with rare elongated dark orange streaks. White, sweet, juicy pulp. Tasting score: 4.6. The yield is high, 145-175 centners per hectare.

Dessert 5 (selected by the Krasnodar Research Institute of Vegetable Farming), small, short-oval, fine-mesh surface, reaches 1.6 kg, a lot of pulp, white-green color, very sweet, tender. Tasting score: 4.8. High-yielding variety - 40-160 centners per hectare. It has good keeping quality.

Among the mid-ripening varieties (80-90 days), it is worth noting the variety Golden(created by the Krasnodar Research Institute). The shape of the fruit is close to round, the network is weakly expressed, the color is yellow with an orange tint, weight is 1.3-1.6 kg. This variety has juicy, white pulp. Tasting - 3.9-4.0. The average yield is 120 centners per hectare. The advantage of this variety is its resistance to disease.

Southerner, or it is also called water lily. (Kuban experimental station VNIIR). The fruits are round with longitudinal ribs, orange-yellow, large, 1.8-1.9 kg. Tasting score - 4.7 points. This variety is considered high-yielding; in good years, you can harvest up to 220-240 centners per hectare. Sugar content is like Kolkhoznitsa's.

The most stable, widespread and most suitable variety for the middle zone is Collective farmer(derived by the Biryuchekutsk experimental station). Melons of this variety are orange, round, weighing about 1 kg. The pulp is light, white, unusually sweet. Tasting - 5.0. You can collect about 100 centners per hectare per season.

It is better to take into account the weather conditions of your region and choose early ripening varieties for planting in the ground.

Melon care

The whole time the melon is growing in the ground, it must be loosened, weeded, watered and hilled. You also need to pinch the melon vines.

Loosening

The first two loosening of row spacing should be carried out no deeper than 15 centimeters. Next time, loosening should be carried out no deeper than 10 centimeters; this should not be done near the melon stem. After the first lateral vines appear, the melon should be hilled up by raking a roll of soil to the melon stem.

Watering

In a melon patch, melon grows almost without moisture, then create the same conditions for it and water as moderately as possible. And if there is dew on the grass in the morning, watering is canceled altogether. You need to water carefully between rows so that water does not get on the leaves and vines of the melon.

Topping

As we said before, the first time a melon is pinched is when it is still in seedlings. After planting the melon in the ground and adapting it, you need to pinch the main stem again (above the seventh leaf). The same should be done with the side lashes, then remove all excess flowers and leave three already tied fruits, which are not next to each other, but at a distance. All shoots that are left without fruit should be removed so as not to draw juices from the main stem.

The growth of the lashes should be regulated and directed so that they do not fall into the aisle

Top dressing

Melon should be fed. And the first time this should be done after two weeks of planting in the ground. Top dressing can be saltpeter, chicken manure or mullein. And the next feedings are carried out every 10 days. You can buy complex fertilizers for this or also diluted chicken manure and add ash. When the fruits begin to ripen, feeding is no longer necessary.

The beds where melon grows should be weeded only when necessary. The growth of the lashes should be regulated and directed so that they do not fall into the aisles. And under each melon that has set, you need to place plywood or planks, this way you will save the fruits from rotting when they touch wet soil.

When describing caring for a melon, you can understand that caring for it is very similar to caring for cucumbers. And if you know how to grow cucumbers, then you can also grow melons. The melon will also have time to ripen, and if you have to pick it up not very ripe before frost, it will perfectly reach ripeness at your home.

Of course, it is better to take into account the weather conditions of your region and choose early ripening varieties for planting in the ground.

And the main thing to remember is these three conditions:

• protect seedlings planted in the ground in time from late frosts;
• correctly form, pinch and remove unnecessary ovaries;
• Fertilize on time, repeatedly and systematically to stimulate melon growth.

If desired, melon can be grown anywhere, even in the North, there are simply greenhouses there. Try, try and you will definitely succeed!

How to grow melon?

Who is not familiar with the unique taste of melon, which delights us at the end of summer? You can eat melon just like that, make jam, jams, dry it, or dry it. This dietary product is useful for everyone, it has a very beneficial effect on health, is easily digestible, and helps with anemia and exhaustion. Melon is necessary for babies and old people, as it contains many useful substances, microelements, vitamins.

Melon has a beneficial effect on human health.

If you have a summer house or a small plot of land with a vegetable garden, then it is quite possible to grow a melon yourself. Both open ground and a greenhouse are suitable for this. To grow melon, you do not need special agricultural technology; it is enough to properly prepare the soil (and the greenhouse, if the cultivation will be carried out in it), and fertilizers. You will also need patience, because almost all plants require careful care. When growing in open ground, it is necessary to take into account that melon loves warmth, bright light and scanty watering (water is needed only when the top layer of soil is dry). There are also special requirements for the soil, which must be neutral or slightly alkaline and breathable. Mineral fertilizers (very weak solutions) are used for fertilizing; it is necessary to systematically loosen the soil. Melon does not like conditions such as:

Melons are best grown in greenhouses.

• slightly acidic and acidic soils, which are characterized by high density, as this prevents the roots of the plant from eating and breathing normally, and moisture from evaporating;
• stagnant, very humid air, cold drafts;
• watering with cold water, and generally cool weather;
• use of manure as fertilizer, concentrated and excessive doses of mineral and organic fertilizers.

Growing in a greenhouse is more simple, but all the above conditions apply here too. Warm, dry air, lots of light and proper watering. Here's everything you need to get your own sweet, delicious melon!

Conditions for growing melon

In order to grow a melon, all conditions and requirements must be strictly observed. This plant loves comfortable conditions.

What kind of lighting is required?

For melon of any variety, it is important that the lighting is sufficient, in which case its growth and development will be normal, the lighting intensity ranges from 5000-6000 lux. Despite all the requirements for excellent lighting, melon is a short-day plant. Its flowering occurs earlier with a shortened twelve-hour day, but a day that is too short can inhibit its development, so when growing it is necessary to remember this feature. The time at which the seeds were sown is also important.

The process of growing melons.

The experiments proved that melons that were planted from May to June had fewer female flowers than those that were sown from January to April. That is, excess light is not very useful for young plants, which affects fruiting in adulthood. Growing in a greenhouse makes it quite easy to solve such problems. When organizing additional artificial lighting we must remember that the optimal wavelength for melons is 550 nm at high light levels and 675 nm at lower levels (from 13 W/m2). The optimal time for planting melons is March, when there is sufficient light; growing in a winter greenhouse allows you to get a larger amount of crop with better qualities. Planting in December and January will not allow the required number of pistillate flowers to form; neither pinching nor special treatments with growth regulators will help. It is in the initial period that the melon is very sensitive to lighting conditions; in normal light, the formation of pistillate flowers takes up to five days, but when the lighting decreases, it can take more than a month. Growing melons in a greenhouse in the conditions of our region is possible until October, it is at this time that the plant receives everything it needs for its development and fruiting.

Temperature conditions

It is important when growing to ensure proper temperature conditions, since the collective farm melon, and other varieties, are very heat-loving. Seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of plus fifteen degrees, but twenty-five degrees is considered optimal for their development. thirty degrees Celsius. It is quite difficult to provide such conditions in the open ground in the spring, but growing in a greenhouse is quite suitable for this.

If such conditions are created, the seeds will germinate within forty-eight hours, but at higher temperatures this process is delayed. If you drop it below fifteen degrees, then development will stop; at a temperature below ten degrees, the assimilation process will completely stop; at one degree, after two to three hours, the seeds will begin to die.

Growing melon seedlings.

The collective farmer melon needs a certain ambient temperature throughout the growing season; conditions at plus twenty-eight are perfect for it. thirty degrees and dry air. In general, this variety is an early ripening variety, so compliance with all conditions will allow you to quickly reap an excellent harvest!

Growing in a greenhouse requires compliance with the following temperature schedule:

• after planting, it is recommended to reduce the temperature to twenty degrees so that the seedlings take root better;
• as soon as the seeds have sprouted, it is better to increase the temperature level to twenty-two during the day and eighteen at night;
• after the fruits have set, it is necessary to lower the temperature slightly to nineteen to twenty degrees during the day and to fifteen to sixteen at night.

Great demands are also placed on the soil; its temperature should be at the level of twenty to twenty-four degrees; if growing in a film-type greenhouse, then it is permissible to drop it to fifteen to twenty degrees.

Humidity conditions

Kolkhoznitsa melon, like other varieties, is quite resistant to drought and is not afraid of lack of moisture. But at the same time, its transpiration coefficient is quite high, that is, melon requires a lot of moisture to ripen. Therefore, watering and humidity are considered the most difficult and important option when growing. The need for water varies depending on the period of development; it is highest at the time when lashes and fruits are formed. In general, this process can be divided into the following stages:

Melons are quite resistant to drought, so lack of moisture is not a problem for them.

• 21% of moisture is consumed during the emergence of melon shoots;
• 37% of moisture is lost during flowering and fruit setting;
• 32% is lost during fruit growth;
• 10% . during ripening.

In a day young plant you need about 0.8 liters of water, up to one and a half liters on a sunny day and up to three to three and a half. during the period of growth. Growing in a greenhouse requires careful watering, usually it is moderate, but when the first fruits appear, the amount of water must be increased. When watering the plant, you need to make sure that water does not get on the ground parts, as this can cause bacterial and fungal diseases. It is also unacceptable for moisture to get on the root collar. The air humidity in the greenhouse should be at 60-70%; dry air is necessary when the fruits begin to ripen.

Learning to fertilize melons

Growing it yourself in a greenhouse also requires proper fertilizer. This applies to any variety, even such early ripening ones as collective farmer, Altai melon and others. The soil for planting in a heifer should be fertile, but not dense. Before planting, a root layer with a thickness of up to thirty centimeters and excellent drainage is poured. The soil should contain elements such as potassium, calcium, sulfur, phosphorus, sodium, manganese. The use of fertilizers should be minimal; melons respond best to potassium fertilizers. All solutions must be fairly weak; excess or too intense solutions are unacceptable; they cannot be fertilized with manure.

Melon varieties and their features

Today, a wide variety of melon varieties are grown in greenhouses, among which the most popular in our region is the early ripening collective farmer. But others like the Altai melon also stand out. This variety also belongs to the early ripening varieties, it includes such varieties as Luna, Gruntovaya Gribovskaya, Altai melon ordinary, Barnaulka 191, Gorkovskaya 310. Such varieties are resistant to frost and differ high yield, but their taste will be low if not properly cared for.

Golden melon, which belongs to the mid-early varieties, is excellent for greenhouses. Its ripening time from the appearance of the first shoots to tasty fruits is up to eighty days. The melon pulp is pale in color and has a strong melon aroma. golden melon can be grown in cold climates in film greenhouses without losing its excellent taste. We hope our tips will be useful and you will be able to grow excellent melons. We wish you a good harvest and the first juicy fruits!

ParnikiTeplicy.ru

Planting seeds

Melon seeds are planted in separate pots at the end of April. Pots with a diameter of 8 cm are filled with soil prepared from a mixture of peat and humus, with the addition of turf soil (1: 2: 1). Superphosphate and wood ash are placed in each pot to a depth of 2 cm.

The pots are covered with film to prevent the soil from drying out and placed in a warm place. After the melon sprouts appear, the film is removed.

The temperature in the room should not fall below +18 ° C; water the emerging sprouts only with warm water, when poor growth fed with nitrogen fertilizer. The pots should be placed freely, without the leaves touching.

Plants must be ventilated and hardened. Melon seedlings in cloudy weather needs additional lighting. Seedlings ready for planting should have 3 leaves. Seedlings are planted:

• in open ground;
• in the greenhouse.

Planting in unprotected soil

The place for planting melon seedlings is prepared in advance. After thoroughly removing the weed rhizomes, the ground for seedlings is prepared 15 days before planting:

• the melon bed is dug to a depth of 20-25 cm, manure is added;
• a groove 35-40 cm deep is dug in the center of the bed, it is filled with dry leaves or sawdust;
• the garden bed is well watered;
• cover with black film so that the bed warms up well before planting;
• after two weeks they begin planting seedlings.

Transplanting

An important condition for growing melons is low air humidity; when it increases, more than 70% of the plants develop fungal infections. Melon also does not tolerate waterlogging of its roots; you need to plant a melon plant by lifting the root ball along with the soil by 2 cm.

Make a hole for each plant, do not compact the soil, water it so that the plant, along with a lump of earth, settles into the soil. After this, add fertile soil without filling the root collar.

A mixture of sand and charcoal is scattered around the stem of the seedling. Plant the plants at a distance of 1 m in a row, cover the planting with film until rooting, and be sure to ventilate. The seedlings are protected from the bright sun with lutrasil and also protected from the coolness of the night.

Melon is valued for its excellent taste and pleasant aroma and is used mainly fresh as a dessert. According to the recommendations of the Institute of Nutrition, the consumption rate of melons and melons is 30 kg per person per year, of which 25% (6-8 kg) is melon. Let us recall the basic agrotechnological methods of its cultivation.

Predecessors. The best predecessor for growing melon is winter wheat, especially that which was placed after black fertilized fallow, perennial grasses, and corn for green fodder. An acceptable precursor may be barley. In vegetable crop rotations, melon can be grown after root vegetables, onions, cucumbers and cabbage.

Soils. Melon grows well on soils fertilized with organic fertilizers, preferably on light and medium loamy soils. Soils with a heavy mechanical composition are less suitable for growing melons, however, when applying fertilizers, high yields can be obtained here, but the quality of the fruit decreases.

Melon does not tolerate saline soils well, therefore, when the salt concentration in the arable layer is 0.5-0.7%, incl. 0.05-0.07% chlorine salts, melon plants die.

Pre-sowing tillage. After harvesting the previous crop, the stubble is peeled to a depth of 8-10 cm with disk ploughers LDG-5, LDG-10, LDG-15 or disked with a BDT-7 harrow, mineral fertilizers are applied, plowing is carried out with a plow with a skimmer PN-4-35, PLN- 4-35, PLN-5-35, etc. to a depth of 25-27 cm.

To preserve moisture in the northern regions, autumn plow harrowing is carried out. In the spring, the soil is harrowed (3BZS-1, 0; BZSS-1, 0), two continuous cultivations are carried out with a KPS-4 cultivator: the first to a depth of 12-15, the second to a depth of 6-8 cm. The gap between the first and second cultivation is 2 -3 weeks. Before sowing melons on soils of light mechanical composition, the soil is rolled with ring-spur rollers ZKKSH-6 for the appearance of friendly shoots.

Sowing dates. Early sowing dates ensure a high-quality harvest. The optimal sowing time is from April 20 to May 10, or when the soil at a depth of 10 cm warms up to 14-16 ° C. The last sowing date is June 10.

Seed preparation. When preparing seeds for sowing, special attention is paid to the weight of 1000 pieces, which affects the seeding rate and the future harvest, so it is advisable to calibrate the seeds. One of these methods is to calibrate melon seeds by specific gravity - immersing them in a 1-2% solution of table salt, followed by washing with water. Quality seeds settle at the bottom of the container with the solution, and poor quality ones float up.

Disinfection, or the destruction of pathogenic microflora on the surface of seeds, is achieved by treatment with chemical disinfectants, solar or ultraviolet irradiation.

To stimulate seed germination in the soil, it is soaked in aqueous solutions of microelements and biologically active substances. Among the biostimulants, the most effective are emistim C, fumar, succinic acid, biological growth stimulant (BSS), and agrostimulin.

Sowing. In the early stages, sowing is carried out with dry seeds. Warming the seeds at a temperature of 35-40 ° C for 3-4 days increases the yield by up to 10-15%, and at 60 ° C for 4 hours up to 24%. Solar heating for several days accelerates the germination of seeds in the soil and has a detrimental effect on pathogens.

At later sowing is carried out by soaking the seeds in warm water at a temperature of 25-30 ° C, with the appearance of 10% of sprouted seeds they are sown. The depth of seed placement is 4-6 cm. Sowing is carried out using a seeder SPC-6, SUPN-6, SUPN-12 SBU 2-4A, SBN-3. When sowing with a precision seeder, the seeding rate is halved.

Sowing pattern: 1.4 x 0.7; 1.4 x 1.0 m - for early varieties and 1.4 x 1.4; 1.8 x 1.0; 2.1 x 0.5 m - for mid-season and late varieties and hybrids. Sowing rate of melon (weight of 1000 seeds - 38.0-41.0 g) - 1.2-1.6 kg / ha.

Caring for crops. After the emergence of seedlings in the phase of the first true leaf, the first cultivation is carried out with a KRN-4-2 cultivator; KRN-5, 4; KOR-4-2, to a depth of 14-16 cm and manual weeding in rows.

The second cultivation is carried out in the phase of 5-7 true leaves to a depth of 8-10 cm and a second manual weeding is performed, during which one plant is left in each nest.

After the third cultivation, the tops are laid out and sprinkled if necessary.

The main difficulties of the growing season

The duration of the growing season characterizes the degree of early ripening of varieties. It is determined by climatic factors:

• The duration of the frost-free period;
• The sum of active temperatures;
• The amount of precipitation that falls during this period.

For plant development, the length of the growing season is of great importance, i.e. period with temperatures at which the complete development cycle of the plant is possible. The duration of the growing season depends not only on the biological characteristics of the crop or variety itself, but, no less importantly, on the processing conditions.

Melon is very sensitive to environmental conditions and often dramatically changes its varietal appearance with changes in temperature, humidity, light, and the nature of the soil.

The most important valuable economic traits for a variety are more variable. The most studied in melon is the variability of the growing season - one of the main varietal characteristics, which is important in the agroclimatic placement of varieties.

The growing season of melon can be divided into two main interphase periods:

• From germination to the beginning of flowering of female flowers;
• From fruit set to the beginning of ripening.

The period from sowing to germination often depends on weather conditions and quality seed material. The increase in the growing season of melon occurs due to the first interphase period (sprouting - flowering). This is explained by unfavorable conditions during the initial period of plant growth, often a lack of moisture in the soil. A lack of moisture, as well as an excess of it, lengthens the growing season of plants.

In some years, the difference between the ripening of mid-ripening and late-ripening varieties is smoothed out. Variability of the growing season is observed due to both phenological phases, but mainly due to the period from flowering to ripening and to a lesser extent from germination to flowering, which should be taken into account. The growing season of melon varies due to both phenophases, but to a greater extent due to the period from flowering to ripening.

The best results can be obtained with the correct selection of varieties for different growing areas.

Analyzing individual phases of plant development different varieties melons, European and especially Central Asian, it should be noted that between varieties there is no significant difference in the duration of the sowing - shoots and flowering - fruit set phases. The greatest differences are observed in melon during the flowering period - fruit ripening. They indicate that when determining the early ripening of varieties and hybrids and when assessing the effect of certain agricultural practices on the early ripening of plants, attention should be paid to the period from flowering to ripening of melon fruits.

Melon varieties are distinguished by their demands on environmental factors and their resistance to unfavorable combinations of them. Being early-ripening in one area, the same variety in other soil and climatic conditions can be mid- and even late-ripening.

Melon fertilizer

Melons are demanding on soil fertility and respond well to fertilizers, especially nitrogen-phosphorus ones. Fertilization is carried out using mineral fertilizer spreaders NBU-0, 5; MVD-0, 6, etc. The optimal dose is considered to be within N60P90K60.

The coefficient of use of fertilizers, especially nitrogen, increases significantly with their fractional use. Applying the entire dose of nitrogen during the growing season in the form of fertilizing significantly increases the yield, but significantly reduces the sugar content in the fruits. High accumulation of sugar and improved taste of fruits is achieved by applying nitrogen fertilizers in the early phases of plant development.

Half the dose - before sowing or during sowing, which provides nutrition to the plants during the germination period - the beginning of flowering, and the second half - in the phase of 4 leaves or before the start of flowering of female flowers. All this helps to increase the yield and sugar content of fruits. You can fertilize with complete mineral fertilizer N10P30K10 during the formation and growth of tops, and the yield increases up to 40%.

Watering melon

Melon plants respond well to irrigation. Obtaining high and stable melon yields in the steppe zone, regardless of weather conditions, is achieved when grown under irrigation. After the first watering (phase of the first true leaf), it is necessary to maintain a period of no watering for up to 40 days and then constantly maintain the lower threshold of humidity at the level of 65-70% of HB. At the beginning of fruit ripening, one or two waterings are sufficient.

When growing melon under irrigation, boundary irrigation, sprinkling and drip irrigation are used.

Sprinkler irrigation is usually carried out in fields with flat surface.

When irrigated by sprinkling, melon is sown with the same row spacing as in non-irrigated conditions, while the number of plants per 1 hectare is increased by 1.5-2.0 times.

Furrow irrigation is used in fields with a flat surface and slight slopes. The irrigation rate for irrigation by sprinkling and furrows varies depending on weather and soil conditions and ranges from 5000 to 7000 m3/ha.

Features of drip irrigation

With drip irrigation, the increase in yield compared to sprinkling is 50-80%, fruit ripening is accelerated by 5-10 days, saving irrigation water is 40-50%, the amount of fertilizer applied is reduced by 50% by optimizing the nutritional regime taking into account the needs of plants depending on the phase of growth and development.

The peculiarities of the main and pre-sowing tillage are that the peeling is carried out to a depth of 10 cm using hydraulically powered disk cultivators LDG-10. On heavy soils, use the disc harrow BDT-3, 0 in two tracks. An important element pre-sowing tillage is milling with a cultivator KPF-2, 8 or KFKh-3, 6.

In spring, to cover moisture, use toothed harrows BZTS-1, 0 with a clutch. Depending on the weediness and compaction of the soil, one or two continuous cultivations (KPS-4) are carried out with simultaneous harrowing to a depth of 10-12 cm.

After laying out the main and water distribution pipelines along the selected area, they begin sowing; when sowing manually, markings are carried out according to the scheme for planting and laying out irrigation pipelines at a distance of 1.4 m.

In the absence of moisture, watering is carried out to create one continuous moistened line on the soil surface between the drippers, corresponding to an irrigation norm of 200-300 m3/ha. After the emergence of seedlings, they begin inter-row cultivation with the cultivator KOR-4, 2% KRN-4, 2A; KFL-4, 2. In total, during the growing season, three to five inter-row treatments are carried out in combination with manual weeding in the rows. The use of guide slots allows minimizing the protective zone of the row.

A significant reduction in irrigation water costs, acceleration of growth and development of melon crop plants, as well as complete suppression of weed growth in the tape is ensured by covering the irrigation pipelines of the drip irrigation system with opaque polyethylene film (mulch).

With drip irrigation, the timing and norms of watering are set taking into account the condition of the plants and soil. To measure humidity, tensiometers are used, installing one at a depth of 50 cm in a row, and the second at a depth of 30 and 20 cm towards the row spacing from the first, to control the moisture in the root zone of plants. Soil moisture in the 0-40 cm layer within the moisture contour is maintained at 60-70% HB. Vegetative irrigation is carried out with the simultaneous application of soluble mineral fertilizers.

Cleaning. Melon is harvested selectively as the fruits ripen. When the melon fruit ripens, the color and pattern of the bark changes, a network is formed, and in some varieties the stalk separates and a specific aroma appears. When selectively collected in field conditions they use special conveyors TN-12, TShP-25, TPO-50 or mounted trays, which are made from pipes of sprinkler machines, and in the absence of the specified devices - manually with removal to the road. Fruits for storage are harvested in the afternoon in clear sunny weather with the stalk, carefully placed on a straw bedding in one layer and transported to storage.

Selection of varieties

Choosing a variety is the most crucial moment, especially for a beginning melon grower. Today, more than 3,000 varieties of melon are known, and it is sometimes difficult even for experienced melon growers to comprehend the intricacies of such diversity. When choosing a variety, you first need to take into account the weather conditions of your region.

When choosing a melon variety, in addition to early ripening, it is advisable to give preference to varieties with a compact bush shape or short shoots. The latter is especially true if a cover crop is used.

Dido- mid-early variety. From germination to the beginning of fruit ripening - 70-75 days. Fruits are spherical and obtusely elliptical in shape, medium and big size. The background color of the fruit is yellow, the mesh is solid. The pulp is light cream color, thick (5.0-6.0 cm), crispy, juicy, sweet. Tasting score - 4.8 points.

The weight of an average fruit is 2.0 kg. Productivity - 24.3 t/ha. Transportability is good. The fruits do not crack. The fruits contain 13.0-14.0% dry matter, 10.5% sugar, 30.0-33.0 mg% vitamin C. The seeds are medium-sized, ivory-colored. Seed yield is 1%, weight 1000 pcs. - 40.0-45.0 g. The variety is relatively resistant to powdery mildew and bacteriosis. Intended for fresh consumption and processing.

Fortune- mid-early variety, from germination to the beginning of fruit ripening - 68-78 days. The fruits are oval in shape, the background color is yellow, of different shades, sometimes with green spots. The mesh is full or partial. Pulp white, thick (up to 6.0 cm), juicy, sweet. Tasting score - 4.4 points.

The weight of an average fruit is 4.2 kg. Productivity on land is up to 28.0 t/ha. The fruits contain 11.5% dry matter, 9.8% sugar, 27.5 mg% vitamin C. Transportability is good. The seeds are medium-sized (length - 14.2 mm, width - 6.8 mm), white. Seed yield is 1%, weight 1000 pcs. - 48.2 g. The variety is highly resistant to fusarium wilt and powdery mildew.

Olvia- mid-season variety, resistant to powdery mildew and fusarium wilt. Intended for fresh consumption and canning. From germination to the beginning of fruit ripening - 75-85 days.

The fruits are short-oval, light yellow in color, with a network of mixed cracks. The pulp is thick, tender, sweet. Tasting score - 4.7 points. The weight of an average fruit is 2.5 kg. Productivity on land is up to 15.4 t/ha. Transportability is good.

New promising melon varieties

Fantasy- a new early-ripening melon variety with a growing season of 62 days. The fruits are spherical and slightly flattened, yellow in color with a partial mesh, the surface is smooth. Average fruit weight 2.9 kg, dry matter content 13.2-14.2%, white seeds, average, 10.0 x 5.0 mm. The pulp is white, 4.3 cm thick, juicy, sweet, productivity of one plant is 2.2 kg. Productivity on dry land is 15.0-18.0 t/ha. The variety is highly resistant to powdery mildew.

Prestige(photo on the right) is a new early-ripening melon variety with a growing season of 65 days. The fruits are oval-shaped with a dense net, yellow-orange in color. The productivity of one plant is 3.6 kg, the average fruit weight is 2.6 kg, the dry matter content is 11.0-12.0%. The pulp is white, average thickness 2.5-3.0 cm, juicy, sweet. Seeds yellow, 12.0 x 5.0 mm. The yield on rainfed soil is 15.0-16.0 t/ha. Highly resistant to powdery mildew.

First stage: site selection and seed preparation

As you know, melon is a very heat-loving plant. Therefore, the site for its cultivation needs to be selected appropriately: protected from the wind, well lit and warmed by the sun, fertile.

You need to prepare the site in the fall: dig up the bed shallowly (about the size of a shovel) and fertilize the soil with humus at the rate of 3-4 kg per 1 square meter. If clay soil predominates on the site, do not forget to fluff it up using river sand - half a bucket per 1 sq.m.

In the spring, continue preparing the beds. Dig it again and apply potash and phosphate fertilizers in the proportions indicated on the package. Just before planting the melons, add nitrogen fertilizer or composted manure.

Now start preparing the seeds for growing seedlings. You can buy them in the store or prepare them yourself.

Try to choose large melon seeds for growing

It turns out that melons have interesting feature. Seeds from a previous harvest may produce strong, robust plants that do not bear fruit. This is explained by the fact that the flowers on such a plant will only be male and will not set an ovary. To get a good harvest, it is better to take seeds that are at least three years old.

When choosing seeds for seedlings, pay attention to the larger ones. Be sure to treat them with a special composition for such seeds, which can be bought in the store, or a solution of zinc sulfate with boric acid. The seeds are soaked in this solution for at least 12 hours.

Experts advise hardening melon seeds for growing in the middle zone. Dip them in warm water (up to 35 degrees), take them out, and keep them at a temperature of 18-20 degrees for 24 hours. Then gradually reduce the temperature to 0 degrees, and keep the seeds in these conditions for about 20 hours. Raise the temperature back to the original setting. This procedure must be repeated three times in the last week before planting the seeds.

Growing seedlings

Peat pots or peat tablets with a diameter of up to 10 cm are perfect for growing seedlings. You can also use cardboard or plastic cups. The advantage of peat containers is that they can be completely immersed in the soil along with the seedlings without removing them. Peat will act as a natural fertilizer over time.

Seeds should be planted in specially prepared soil

1. Fill cups and pots with special soil for vegetables. You can prepare the following mixture yourself: 1 part sand, 9 parts peat, mix thoroughly, add wood ash at the rate of 1 cup per 10 liters of soil.
2. Soak the seeds for a day before planting. Empty seeds will float, discard them immediately. This way you will cull.
3. Plant 2-3 seeds in prepared pots to a depth of 5 cm. Before the first shoots appear, keep the containers indoors, observing the temperature regime: 18-20 degrees during the day, no lower than 15 degrees at night.
4. The first shoots should appear in about a week. Thin them out, leaving one of the strongest sprouts in the pot.
5. After the appearance of the third or fourth strongest leaf, pinch the seedlings. This promotes the development of side shoots.
6. Caring for seedlings is not at all difficult. The only feature is less watering without water getting on the stems and leaves. To avoid blackleg, place a layer of dry river sand around the stem.

Sowing seeds should be done in April, and seedlings can be transplanted into the ground after 25 days.

Planting melon seedlings in the ground

So, the melon bed on your site has already been prepared. Fluff the soil thoroughly using a rake. Make holes, maintaining a distance between them both in length and width, approximately 70-80 cm.

Please note: under no circumstances should you plant seedlings if frost has not yet passed. It’s better to wait until the final warming, otherwise the melons will die at the seedling stage.

Treat melon sprouts very carefully so as not to damage the roots in any way. It is best to plant seedlings along with the soil in which they grew in a pot or glass. It is in this case that you can be convinced of the benefits of peat cups or tablets: they are simply immersed in the hole and sprinkled with earth.

Maintain a distance of 70-80 cm between the holes in which the seedlings will be planted

Before planting, pour water into the hole and add a little humus. Plant the stem so that it does not go deep. The lump of soil with which you planted the seedlings should protrude slightly above the surface of the earth. Water the planted seedlings again and sprinkle with soil.

During the first two days, create shade for the seedlings to help them grow better. If there are strong temperature changes between day and night, cover the plantings with film, which will also protect the melons from rain.

The film can be replaced with the usual ones plastic bottles. Cut a large (2 to 5 liters) bottle into 2 pieces across. Cover each sprout with half the bottle. Such a simple design is very easy to remove before watering, and then put back in place.

The most popular melon varieties in the middle zone

1. The Kolkhoznitsa variety, bred by the Biryuchekutsk experimental station, is the most suitable for the middle zone. It is very stable and therefore has become widespread. The fruits of this variety are round, orange, and weigh about 1 kg. The pulp is white, very light and sweet. During the season, the harvest can reach up to 100 centners per hectare.
2. Variety Alushta, bred by the Crimean Experimental Station. The fruit ripening period is 70 days. The fruits are oval-shaped, large, orange-yellow, and weigh up to 1.5 kg. The pulp is white, juicy, sweet. Productivity can reach 175 centners per hectare.
3. Zolotistaya, a variety bred by the Krasnodar Research Institute, belongs to the mid-season varieties. The ripening period is 80-90 days. The fruits are round, yellow with an orange tint, with a weakly defined network. Weight up to 1.6 kg. The pulp is juicy and white. Productivity reaches 120 centners per hectare. The variety is very resistant to diseases.
4. Variety Dessertnaya 5, bred by the Krasnodar Research Institute of Vegetable Farming. Fruit small size, short-oval, with a fine-mesh surface. Weight reaches 1.6 kg. The pulp is sweet, tender, white Green colour. The variety is high-yielding and can bring from 140 to 160 centners per hectare. The advantages of this variety are the long-term storage of fruits.
5. Yuzhanka (sometimes the variety is called Kuvshinka) was bred by the Kuban experimental station VNIIR. The fruits are large, weighing 1.8-1.9 kg, round, with longitudinal ribs, orange-yellow in color. The sugar content is the same as that of Kolkhoznitsa. A high-yielding variety, the yield reaches 220-240 centners per hectare.

Melons of different varieties

We care for melon during the period of growth and ripening

Melon is not very demanding in care, but nevertheless, certain rules must be followed. During the entire growth period, the melon needs to be weeded, hilled, watered, and the soil around it loosened.

1. Do the first 2 loosenings between rows no deeper than 15 cm. The next time loosening is carried out to a depth of 10 cm, and the soil next to the stem is not affected. After the first side lashes appear, hill up the melon, raking a roll of earth towards the stem.
2. In melon conditions, the crop grows practically without moisture. Therefore, watering should be moderate. If dew falls in the morning, watering should be canceled. You need to water the row spacing so that water does not get on the vines and leaves.
3. The first pinching is done while the melon is still in seedlings. After the melon is planted in the ground and has gone through an adaptation period, perform another pinching over the 7th leaf of the main stem. Do the same with the side loops, and then remove the excess flowers, leaving 3 tied fruits, located at a distance from each other. Remove shoots without fruits so that they do not draw juice.

In addition, melon needs feeding. The first time this is done 2 weeks after planting in the ground. To do this, you can use saltpeter, cow manure or chicken manure. The following feedings should be done every 10 days. You can buy complex fertilizers or dilute chicken manure and add ash. Before the fruits ripen, fertilizing can be stopped.

To avoid rotting, place a board or plywood sheet under the ovary

Weeding the melon beds is carried out only when necessary. Do not forget to regulate the growth of the lashes; they should not fall between the rows. Place a board or plywood under each ovary to protect the fruit from rotting when it touches wet ground.

Please note: in the climatic conditions of the middle zone the best option There will be a selection of early ripening melon varieties. Even if the melon does not have time to ripen before frost, and you have to pick it prematurely, it will reach ripeness at home.

When growing melons, always follow three main rules:

• timely protection of seedlings planted in the ground from frost;
• correct formation and pinching of stems, removal of excess ovaries;
• timely systematic feeding.

This way you are guaranteed to get a good harvest of melon.

Video about growing melon in open ground

We hope that our tips will help you grow sweet, juicy melons even in our short summer. If you have experience growing melon in the ground, share with us in the comments, tell us about your methods, and recommend more suitable varieties. Good luck and have a warm summer!

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Svetlana Kovaleva Good afternoon, Svetlana is with you, a philologist. During my student years I really wanted to earn money on my own, but working in the city was difficult. evening time I couldn't find it.

Melon is a fragrant guest on the autumn table. Planting, growing, care

In this article we will talk about a sweet and aromatic representative of the large pumpkin family - melon. It is not without reason that this plant has gained popularity among gardeners and ordinary consumers. The sweet and aromatic pulp of a well-ripened melon can not only significantly lift your mood, but also improve digestion. Let's take a closer look at this melon crop so that growing it is not difficult.

So, melon (Cucumis melo) belongs to the cucumber genus, the pumpkin family and is a heat-loving melon crop. Asia is considered to be the homeland of melon. The melon fruit is an elongated cylindrical or round pumpkin, of various colors: yellow, green, white, brown, often with green stripes.

The characteristics of the fruits, as well as their number on one plant, depend on the plant variety. Now in central Russia not only adapted melons are ripening, but also southern melons from India, the cultivation of which has become possible using closed soils, where growing conditions as close as possible to natural ones are created. Fruits can ripen from 2 to 6 months.

Melon culture dates back about 400 years. In central Russia, the most common type of melon you can find is the common melon. Therefore, in this article we will dwell in more detail on it and its varieties.

This summer my melons are somehow especially small, most likely due to constant rains and acidification of the soil; the temperature for growth was often insufficient, although the variety itself is of great importance. Last year I planted an early ripening melon and there was no rain for a couple of months of summer. The fruits turned out sugary and very juicy. This year I chose a variety with an average ripening period, but summer let us down.

But you should still adhere to the basic features of growing melon in order to be guaranteed to get a harvest.

Melon planting

So, for melons you should choose open sunny areas, well warmed up, protected from cold winds. Preference should be given to southern slopes.

Choose light soils with a neutral reaction. Melon is resistant to drought and soil salinity, but does not tolerate soil acidification and high humidity. My aunt in Kursk has a huge melon tree in a field in the open sun; such melons are less likely to be affected by diseases and ripen better than their “brothers” in the shade. I have slightly acidic soil in my melon patch, so I always add wood ash before planting. Do not allow the ash to come into contact with the melon root system.

To get a good harvest, the soil needs to be filled with organic and mineral fertilizers. To do this, during the autumn digging it is necessary to add compost or humus, as well as mineral fertilizers in the form of double superphosphate. I liked the yield when adding fresh manure, the fruits were larger.

In central Russia, melon is grown by seedlings. To do this, in mid-March or late April, we sow seedlings with a sowing depth of about 1.5 cm. I use soil purchased at a specialized store.

If you make the mixture yourself, then it should consist of turf soil, peat, humus, mixed with mineral fertilizer and wood ash. Take peat and turf soil in equal proportions, humus - one part more.

It is better to plant immediately in separate containers, the diameter of which is at least 10 cm. My seedlings were about 40 days old at the time of planting; the isolation of the cups helps not to injure the plant during planting.

Melon seedlings love sunlight while growing on the windowsill, and a temperature of 20-25 ºС. At night the temperature in the room can reach 18-20 º C. If it is raining and cloudy outside, you need to lower the temperature in the seedling room so that it does not stretch out, as in the photo below.

During the development of plants, it is necessary to provide fertilizing:

1. When the seedlings have their first true leaf, it is necessary to add mineral fertilizers (superphosphate, ammonium nitrate, potassium chloride according to the instructions on the package).

2. After 2 weeks after the first, a similar feeding is done.

From the second ten days of May, when the seedlings have reached the stage of 5-7 true leaves, it is time to plant them in the ground. Having moistened the seedlings well, carefully plant them in holes prepared in the soil. The distance between plants is about 55 cm.

Make sure that the root collar is not buried, otherwise there is a high risk of fungal diseases. For the same purpose, river sand should be sprinkled around the plant. While the sprouts are taking root, water the seedlings with warm water.

Care for melon plantings

The most familiar way for everyone to grow melons is with vines spread on the ground (in a spread). With this method, to obtain the best harvest, a shoot above the 4th leaf is pinched, as a result of which 2 strong side shoots grow, which can subsequently be pinned to the ground and the shoots can also be pinched. The “pinching” method is good because the nutrients are not wasted on the green mass, but go into the fruit.

But we should not forget about the trellis method of growing melon, in which a frame about 2 m high is prepared in advance and already on the 4th day after planting the plant is tied with a rope, the upper end of which is fixed to the trellis. The plant will twist up the rope. With the trellis method, the growing point is also pinched. This happens immediately after planting in the ground above 3-4 leaves. After pinching, side shoots form from the axillary buds of the plant. Leave the 2 strongest ones, remove the rest. Tie both shoots in turn to the trellis. The advantages of this method are that the lashes are better illuminated and warmed up, which has a qualitative effect on the harvest.

When the seedlings are tied up, they need regular watering, which should be stopped when the fruits appear so that they can pick up sugar. When watering, it is worth considering that if there is excess moisture, the melon roots can rot.

Don’t also forget about fertilizing: after planting, when side shoots begin to form, and also before the buds appear, it is worth feeding the melon with liquid organic and mineral fertilizers, alternating them with each other... Be careful with nitrogen fertilizers, their excess leads to an increase in the growing season and a delay fruiting.

Melon varieties

When starting to grow melon, you should remember that this is a heat-loving plant, the optimal temperature for the ovary starts at 25 º C, and for fruit ripening - from 30 º S. Therefore, I recommend choosing a variety based on the characteristics of the region where you plan to grow melon. Varieties are divided according to the growing season into early, middle and late. For central Russia with an unpredictable summer, of course, it is better to take early-ripening varieties, in which case there is a chance that they will ripen and produce a harvest.

Altai melon

It will take 60-80 days for this variety to fully ripen. The fruits are oval, yellow in color, with thin aromatic skin and juicy fleshy pulp. The fruit weight can reach 600-1200 g. The variety is well transported. The length of the lashes is up to 2 m.

Melon Blondie

It will take 80-90 days from germination to full maturity. I planted “Blondie” once under film in a bed with manure. I really liked the unusual aromatic pulp. When this melon ripens, it gives off a sweet, strong smell that tells you it's time to remove it from the garden. At the same time, its color becomes a little beige. The variety is characterized by large, round, slightly flattened fruits and long vines. My fruits were small, weighing only about 400 g. In the original, during hot summers they can reach up to 700 g.

Melon Zimovka

This variety is a late variety. Most likely, it will be quite difficult to grow it in central Russia. More than 90 days will pass from germination to ripening. In the State Register, the variety is recommended for planting in the Lower Volga region. A strong climbing plant. The fruits are light yellow-green, without stripes, but with a large mesh on the skin. Juicy pulp of light green color. Not very crispy, but tender. The weight of the fruit can reach up to 2.5 kg. Well transported and stored.

Marina, Nekrasovskoe

I like melon - its aroma immediately improves my mood)) But I didn’t even think about growing it in our area - I thought that the plant was too heat-loving and capricious for the unpredictable summer of the Middle Zone. Vera, now I understand how mistaken I was and how much I lost by refusing the experiment! I'll fix it! :)) Thanks for the useful article!

Vera, Orel

Marina, thank you!!! To tell the truth, I am the most talkative gardener on the site. Sometimes it even surprises me how my plants survive.

Last year I decided to improve, they built a fully glazed greenhouse as an extension to the bathhouse, I thought, well, finally I’ll start operating in the greenhouse like a “crop-grabbing maniac,” but the winter brought so much snow that the roof collapsed, and the glass still doesn’t work. I can choose from there. Therefore, all my plants continue to survive in open ground conditions. If the heat-loving melon survives, then you will succeed!!! It’s true that you can’t do without seedlings.

Marina, Nekrasovskoe

Oh, Vera, I’ve been planning to build a greenhouse for many years now - and every time something is missing to fulfill this intention))) So, for me, too, everything that wants to grow grows in open ground :))

But summer is getting hotter and hotter every year, so I’m afraid that soon the question of a greenhouse may disappear by itself - as unnecessary. It was decided: by spring I will choose some early-ripening and not particularly demanding melon variety and will certainly try to grow it! And then I’ll write and tell you what came of it)))

Vera, Orel

It will be very interesting! From source to result!

Andrey, Russia

Vera and I’m like you!)))) I’m from the Black Sea coast, here melons grow only with watering, I won’t even try it at home...

OLGA, Kaluga

AND MY SEEDLINGS HAVE BEEN EXTENDED... WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Irina Belova, Kazan

carefully replant it into a deeper container, I tried it, if you don’t damage the root, everything will take root normally.

Salchak Iraida, Kyzyl

Hello, Vera! I’m pleased that in the reviews you can learn something useful for yourself, I live in Siberia and I want to try to plant melon and watermelon seedlings. Of course, at the beginning of April I sowed watermelon and melon in cups, they stretched out for me - I’m thinking of transplanting them into deeper dishes, but the question is whether there will be a harvest. I planted them three years ago - they turned out small, but ripe. Thank you for the advice. Iraida, Tuva.

Oksana, Russia

Thank you for the interesting article)) I live in the Southern Urals (Magnitogorsk), I am a gardener for the second year. I immediately planted seeds from a greenhouse (polycarbonate), variety Serezhkina Lyubov (SibSad). Available information on caring for melons; due to the heat of this summer, I have to water them almost 2 times a week (I look at the condition of the soil; if it’s wet, I don’t overwater).

As soon as I sowed. covered with a thin covering material (during cold nights in May and when it suddenly warmed up (so that the young leaves would not burn)). She left it to trail with the whips and did not tie it up. I used the same fertilizer as for cucumbers (health, it says for cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins).

Olga, Rybnitsa

if anyone needs Uzbek or Turkmen melon seeds - write [email protected]

I want to invite you to make an announcement in our new section I will give and exchange. You can read about how to correctly compose an ad and what must be included in it here

Melon is a heat-loving plant, the sweet, aromatic fruits of which came to Europe from Central and Asia Minor. In a temperate climate it is difficult to grow large melons weighing up to 10 kg, as in Asian countries, but interesting hybrid varieties open up new opportunities for gardeners. Favorite heat-loving varieties of melon can successfully bear fruit in a greenhouse.

There is an opinion that the best varieties of melons are grown in the south. But even in a temperate climate you can get tasty, aromatic fruits. Breeders have developed many varieties that differ in ripening time and taste.

The best hybrid varieties of melons for central Russia:

• Amal - is resistant against fungal diseases - fusarium, dry rot and downy mildew, the fruits are large, oblong, weighing 2.5-3 kg;
• Mae is a mid-early hybrid, resistant to fungal diseases, melons are formed uniformly and abundantly, their weight is 3.5–4 kg, the plant is powerful;
• Caramel is an early hybrid of the Pineapple variety, the ripening time from planting seedlings into the ground is 50–55 days, it produces a large harvest, the fruit weight is about 2 kg, and has an excellent taste and aroma.

When buying the seeds of the melon you like, you need to ask in what climatic conditions it grows. For growing in cool climates, it is better to choose ultra-early and early-ripening varieties.

A popular variety, known since the 40s of the last century, which is suitable for areas with risky agriculture (Ural, Volga region, etc.) is the “Kolkhoznitsa” melon. Its fruits are small, no more than one and a half kilograms, but sweet and aromatic, with thin skin and white pulp. This variety is mid-season, so it is recommended to grow it only through seedlings.

Planting melon seedlings

Before planting, the seeds are germinated by placing them between two wet wipes. After 3 or 4 days, fresh seeds sprout. You can sow dry seeds. They are carefully placed in moist, loose soil, and sprinkled with a layer of soil of about 3 cm on top.

When the first leaves appear from the ground, the plant is placed in additional light. If the seedlings do not have enough light, they will stretch out. For normal development, seedlings need 10 hours of daylight. The air temperature for germination is about +25–30 °C.

It is important not to overfeed the melons and water them moderately so that they do not stretch too much. It is not necessary to use a large container for them; seedlings grow well in pots with a diameter of 10 cm (1 seed in each container). The soil for seedlings is prepared from 1 part humus, 2 parts garden soil and 1 part sand.

When to plant melon seedlings

Since melon has a long growing season, it is advisable to grow it through seedlings. From the moment the seeds germinate until they are planted in open ground, about 25 days should pass.

Taking into account the climate of the region, you can accurately calculate when to plant melon seedlings. In central Russia, where seedlings can only be transplanted into open ground at the end of May, the seeds should be sown in mid-April.

Nuances of caring for seedlings

In addition to long daylight hours, seedlings need additional feeding. You can use store-bought complex fertilizers or prepare nutrient mixtures yourself.

The first feeding is done in the phase of appearance of the first leaf. You can feed melon seedlings with yeast (add 10 g of pressed yeast and 4 or 5 tablespoons of sugar per 1 liter of water). After 4 or 5 hours, the feeding is ready.

The second feeding is needed 2 weeks after the first. It is prepared from a solution of ash. For 3 liters of water add 1 tbsp. wood ash (water should be hot). Let it sit for a day, dilute it 1 to 10, and water the seedlings. The last fertilizing is done 5 days before planting in the ground.

Selecting a site and preparing the soil for planting seedlings

Melon should not be planted next to cucumbers; if they are pollinated, the fruits will turn out bitter. The proximity to pumpkin is not harmful for the melon, and does not affect the taste in any way.

The bed for planting is prepared in the fall. They clear the weeds, dig them up, and add rotted manure or compost to the soil. If the soil is heavy, add coarse sand. In the spring, before planting seedlings in the garden bed, it is leveled and the holes are prepared.

Planting seedlings in open ground

Melon seedlings are planted in open ground in May, when the weather is consistently warm. The holes are filled with fertile soil, the same in which the seedlings were grown. You can use a mixture of garden soil, vermicompost and ash.

The planted plants are watered abundantly with warm water and mulched with peat on top. Planted at a distance of 50–60 cm from each other.

Between the seedling bushes it is advisable to dig 5-liter plastic containers without bottom. It will be convenient to water the plants through them when the vines grow, so that a dry crust does not form on the surface.

It is advisable to cover newly planted seedlings with spunbond, stretching it over special round frames. Covered plants grow faster and are not damaged by insect pests. In summer, spunbond will protect plants from sunburn.

How to properly care for melon

Growing melon in open ground begins with the correct formation of seedlings. It is necessary to pinch the seedlings in time so that they can grow stronger and grow in a short period. On the melon, the central stem is pinched, since male flowers are formed on it, which do not set an ovary. Female flowers grow on the side shoots and form ovaries.

The stem is pinched over 3 or 4 leaves, leaving 2 or 3 side shoots. 2 or 3 fruits are left on each shoot; the more ovaries there are, the smaller the melons will be. The ends of the shoots are then also pinched so that the plant spends energy only on ripening the crop.

During the growing season, it is advisable to feed the melons to get a larger harvest. For fertilizer, you can use preparations intended for melons. It is advisable to do foliar feeding 2 or 3 times per season. When the plant begins to grow, then, when buds and flowers appear, and during the filling of fruits.

Melon needs moderate humidity; water it constantly, but not excessively. If the soil is too wet, the roots may suffocate.

Growing melon in a greenhouse

At the beginning of May, melon seedlings are planted in a greenhouse at a distance of 60 cm from each other. Add 2 tbsp to the well. compost, 1 tbsp. ash, 1 tsp. superphosphate, water with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or Fitosporin. The seedlings are not deeply buried. Pinch off the central stem, and then the side ones, leaving the required number of ovaries on each.

By growing melons in a greenhouse where there are no pollinating insects, the flowers pollinate on their own. To form ovaries on the side shoots, you need to pick a male flower from the central shoot on one of the plants and pollinate the female flowers with it. Without this procedure, the harvest will not be possible.

Ripening fruits in the greenhouse are tied up, placed in nylon nets so that they do not lie on the ground. Fertilize 3 times during the growing season, and water as the soil dries. Melon does not like high air and soil humidity.

Sweet, juicy and fragrant melon everyone loves it. Therefore, gardeners in almost all regions of the country are mastering the methods of growing southerners. Even if you don’t have a piece of land, it doesn’t matter. A melon can decorate your balcony, and the taste of its fruits will not be inferior to those grown in open ground.

History of melon cultivation

Central and Asia Minor are considered to be the homeland of melon. It is assumed that the domestication of wild plants occurred in Northern India and the surrounding areas of Iran and Central Asia. This happened many centuries before our era. In Russia, this fruit appeared in the 15th-16th centuries.

Melon - a native of sultry Asia

Currently, melon is cultivated in almost all warm countries of the world. But it is believed that the most delicious fruits are grown in Central Asia.

Turkmenistan has celebrated the annual holiday “Turkmen Melon Day” since 1994. In Ukraine, where this culture is also loved, they hold a “Melon Fair”.

“Turkmen Melon Day” is celebrated annually in Turmenistan

Description of the plant

Melon is an annual herbaceous plant. The round-faceted and slightly pubescent creeping stem, equipped with tendrils, grows from 1.5 to 2 m, and sometimes more. The leaves are very large, alternately arranged, and have a rounded-ovate or palmate-lobed shape. Attached to the stem with long petioles. The leaf blade also has pubescence, so it seems a little rough to the touch. Flowers and tendrils are located in the axils of the leaves.

Melon is a climbing plant, reaching a length of 2 m

The root system is powerful, because the plant comes from arid places where water is in great short supply. The branching of the root system can cover a diameter of 1 to 2 m, and the taproot penetrates up to 1.5 m in depth.

The melon fruit is called pumpkin and has a spherical or cylindrical shape. The outer shell of the fruit (exocarp) is leathery and elastic. Its color can be different - white, yellow, green or brownish, with or without stripes. The surface is also different - from absolutely smooth to rough. One plant can form from 2 to 8 fruits, the weight of which ranges from 1.5 to 10 kg.

The pulp is very juicy, aromatic, sweet. Some varieties have sugar levels as high as 20%. Medium density consistency. The color can have various shades from white to greenish (depending on the variety).

The color of melon pulp depends on the variety.

Inside the fruit is a cavity filled with seeds. There are quite a lot of them. Flat, narrow or broadly oval seeds have a white or yellowish tint. The surface of the outer cover can be glossy or matte.

Numerous seeds are hidden inside the melon.

How to distinguish male flowers from female ones

Melon is a monoecious plant. Male and female flowers can develop on it simultaneously. Melon pollen is heavy and sticky, so pollination requires helpers - bees or ants. But sometimes manual dexterity also comes in handy - in greenhouses or in bad weather, insects will not be able to help.

The first flowers to appear on a melon are male. Their number depends on the ripening period of the variety. In early ripening melons, flowers are formed in the axils of the 2nd or 3rd leaf, in late varieties - on the 4th or 5th. Before the first female flower appears, the melon manages to lay from 6 to 30 male flowers.

Melon flowers are divided into male and female

The difference between male and female flowers is in their structure. The male has 5 stamens on which pollen is formed. The female flower has a well-developed pistil, which forms an ovary after pollination.

Video: manual pollination of melons

Application

Melon is often used as a dessert. But the juicy pulp is good not only in its raw form, it is an excellent product for making jam, jam, melon honey, and candied amber fruits. Melon is also dried and canned.

In the Middle Ages, melon was the most popular food in Asia, especially during the long fasting period before Ramadan.

Melon is a wonderful and healthy dessert

Benefit

The healing properties of melon have been well known and widely used in medicine since the time of Avicenna.

Table: content of proteins, water, carbohydrates, fats

Melon - low calorie product. 100 g of pulp contains an average of 35 kcal, so the fruit is not contraindicated even for those suffering from obesity.

Melon can be called a real “first aid kit” due to the high content of various useful substances in its pulp. The peel and seeds are also actively used to prepare medicinal drinks and decoctions.

Melon can be safely called a real storehouse of nutrients.

For a long time, melon has been used as a remedy to help recover from a serious illness. The pulp stimulates the intestines and improves its microflora. Melon is useful for:

• anemia;
• atherosclerosis;
• tuberculosis;
• gout;
• scurvy;
• cardiovascular diseases;
• kidney and bladder diseases.

Used as:

• sedative;
• anti-inflammatory;
• laxative;
• diuretic.

Cosmetologists actively use the properties of melon to prepare tonic and nourishing masks. The pulp of the fruit, ground into a paste and applied to the face, will make the skin elastic, eliminate oily shine and give a delicate color. This mask should be applied regularly for a month.

But melon also has contraindications:

• should not be used by nursing mothers. In a baby, this can cause disturbances in the functioning of the stomach and painful digestion;
• It is not recommended to eat melon on an empty stomach;
• after taking melon pulp, you should not consume fermented milk products or drink cold water. This leads to indigestion;
• cannot be combined with alcohol;
• People who suffer from ulcers, diabetes or liver disease should use melon with caution.

Melon varieties

The most popular varieties of melon include:

Torpedo. The elongated pumpkin is covered with a grayish bark, dotted with a pattern in the form of a medium-density grid. Fruit weight is from 2.5 to 6 kg. The greenish-white juicy pulp has an excellent taste and delicate texture. The seeds are creamy-yellow in color, not too wide and slightly elongated. The plant is climbing, with medium-sized dissected green leaves. Refers to mid-season varieties. Productivity - 1.8 kg/m2. Picked pumpkin does not lose its marketable quality within 15–20 days;

The most famous Central Asian variety is Torpedo melon

Honey cake. Elliptical-shaped pumpkin, from 2.5 to 4.2 kg. The crust is colored light yellow, has a slightly wrinkled surface. There is no mesh pattern. The pulp is medium thick and has a pleasant light cream color. The taste is excellent, the juiciness is at an average level. The consistency is soft and melting. The aroma is weak. The narrow oval and sharply pointed seeds are medium in size and ivory-colored. The plant has strong lashes. The leaf is dissected, medium size, green. Productivity - 1.2–2 kg/m2. Retains commercial quality for 10–12 days after collection. Mid-season variety;

Harmful ripening of fruits and excellent taste - that’s why Medovka melon is valued

Oksana. The pumpkin is elliptical in shape and colored yellow. Fruit weight is from 2 to 2.6 kg (some specimens grow up to 4.5 kg). The surface is smooth, covered with a dense mesh pattern. The pulp is light cream color. Crispy, tender and juicy texture combined with excellent taste. The seeds are large, blunt-pointed, yellow-cream. The plant is climbing, leaves are dissected, medium size. Medium early variety. Productivity 141–202 c/ha. For 8–10 days after picking, it perfectly retains its taste;

Melon Oksana - a wonderful mid-season variety

Caramel. Pumpkin is oval in shape, its weight is from 1.2 to 1.9 kg. The crust is dark yellow in color with a smooth surface on which a continuous mesh pattern appears. The thick pulp has a tender and melting consistency. Tastes great, juicy. The aroma is pronounced. The seeds are medium-sized, blunt-pointed, oval-shaped, creamy-yellow in color. Belongs to mid-early varieties. The plant is different good growth lashes, leaves not too carved, medium size. Fruiting is good, with an average of 94–156 c/ha. Valued for resistance to fusarium and high transportability;

Resistance to fusarium is a valuable quality of Caramel melon

Bizan. The elliptical pumpkin weighing from 2 to 2.8 kg is covered with yellow smooth bark. The mesh pattern is dense and of medium thickness. The pulp is light cream, good taste, tender and juicy. Crispy consistency. Taste qualities are assessed as good. Has a pronounced melon aroma. The seeds are medium-sized, blunt-pointed, creamy-yellow in color. The plant is long-climbing, with small dissected leaves. Mid-early variety. Average yield is 126–256 c/ha. Commercial qualities are perfectly preserved for 8–10 days;

Bizan melon has crispy and juicy flesh

Ethiopian. The pumpkin is wide-rounded, with yellow-orange skin, the surface is slightly segmented, smooth. The mesh pattern is medium in density and thickness. The pulp is juicy, melting, and has a delicate consistency and is orange in color. The taste is good and excellent, the aroma is very pronounced. The fruits are quite large - 2.3–2.8 kg. Refers to mid-season varieties with a yield of 89–145 c/ha. The creeping plant has a medium-sized, slightly dissected green leaf. Pumpkin is capable of maintaining commercial quality for 2 weeks. Valued for heat resistance;

Ethiopian melon tolerates heat well

Collective farmer. The variety is proven and very popular, despite the small weight of the fruit - 0.7–1.3 kg. The pumpkin is spherical in shape, the skin is yellow-orange, and the surface is smooth. Sometimes the surface is decorated with a coarse mesh pattern. The pulp is juicy and sweet. The consistency is dense, slightly crispy and fibrous. The taste is rated as good to excellent. Refers to mid-season varieties. The plant is climbing, medium in size and thin stems. The leaf blade is round, with a blunt notch at the base, and is of medium size. The yield is 14.6–22.7 t/ha. Valued for its excellent transportability. Has resistance to bacteriosis.

Melon variety Kolkhoznitsa is time-tested and very popular

Growing melon in seedlings

By growing melon in seedlings, you can get fragrant pumpkins a little earlier than usual. In addition, it will help gardeners in cooler regions cultivate tender crops.

How to collect seeds

The quality of seeds from unripe melons is very low; in this case, there is no hope for a good harvest. Seeds are collected only from ripe fruits:

1. The melon is cut in half and the seeds are removed.
2. Rinse under running water to get rid of pieces of pulp.
3. Let it drain excess moisture and lay out thin layer onto a clean cloth or paper to dry in natural conditions. To prevent the seeds from becoming moldy, leave them in a well-ventilated place.

Do not dry melon seeds in the oven.

Collecting melon seeds is not difficult at all.

Planting seeds for seedlings

Planting seeds for seedlings is carried out in mid or late April, depending on the climatic conditions of the region. Small pots, preferably peat ones, are used as containers. Sow 3 seeds in moistened soil. Cover with a bag and place in a bright and warm place. Germination occurs at a temperature of 20–25 o C during the day, at night - not lower than 18 o C.

In order for melon seeds to germinate, you need to place the pots in a bright and warm place

Seedling care

The seeds germinate quickly, and shoots appear within a week. Examine them carefully and choose the strongest one. Cut the rest at soil level. You cannot pull it out so as not to damage the root system of the remaining sprout.

Procedure:

Picking

For melon seedlings, as for all pumpkin seedlings, the picking procedure is not carried out. Seedlings do not tolerate the transplantation process very well, which is why they are grown immediately in separate containers.

Caring for melons in open ground

Planting melons in open ground is done with seeds or seedlings. The first method is usually practiced in the southern regions. Seeds are planted at the beginning or end of May, provided that the prepared bed has been covered with covering material. When planting, it is not removed; the seeds are buried by making cross-shaped cuts in the fabric.

Melon can be planted in open ground with seeds and seedlings

Hardened seedlings are planted under film cover when they are at least 25 days old. In terms of timing, this should coincide with the end of May or the beginning of June. Further care for planted melon seeds or seedlings is practically the same.

Watering

Melon is a demanding crop; it loves watering. But they need to be carried out by following certain rules:

• Watering is carried out on average once a week;
• the water temperature must be at least 22 o C;
• The procedure should be carried out early in the morning or in the evening. Strictly ensure that droplets do not fall on leaves, flowers or fruits. The root collar of the plant should also not suffer from waterlogging. Usually, melons are watered in grooves dug around the plant, but the best method is drip moistening;
• The next watering is carried out only after the top layer of soil has completely dried.

When the fruits form on the melon, watering gradually begins to be reduced and is completely stopped during the period of ripeness. This helps to reach the maximum level of sugar content. If you continue to moisten during this period, the fruits will turn out watery and tasteless.

A drip system is most suitable for watering melons.

Top dressing

The nutrient requirements of melons must be maintained by regular application of fertilizers. The plant especially needs nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizing.

Table: timing and rates of fertilizer application

To prevent fertilizers from harming the root system, they are combined with watering.

Proper feeding increases the chances of a good harvest

Pinching a melon

Pinching must be carried out to limit the development of green mass and obtain a full harvest. In open ground, melon is grown horizontally, spread out. With this method, the following procedure is carried out.

1. After the first pinching above the 4th–5th leaf, a plant of 3 shoots is formed, from which the 2 most powerful ones are selected. They are pinched above the 4th–6th leaf.
2. The third pinching is carried out at the stage of ovary formation. Remove weak and non-fruiting shoots. The lashes with ovaries are pinched at the 3rd or 4th leaf.
3. The pinched areas must be powdered with a dry mixture of crushed coal, sulfur and lime, taken in equal proportions.
4. The lashes are directed so that they do not intertwine and cover the row spacing.

Different types of melons are pinched differently.

Crop rotation

In order for the crop to grow healthy and productive, experienced gardeners always take into account their predecessors. For melon, the most successful will be:

• winter wheat;
• corn;
• spices;
• onion and garlic;
• tomatoes;
• eggplant;
• Bell pepper;
• cabbage;
• peas and beans.

After pumpkin and carrots, planting a melon will not be the best option. It is also not worth growing a crop in the same place for several years in a row.

Rootstock for melon and step-by-step grafting instructions

This operation is rarely resorted to only because few people know about it. Meanwhile, this procedure helps to increase the yield by almost 2 times.

But for melon you need to choose the perfect rootstock. This determines how well the plant will bear fruit in the future. Pumpkins and lagenaria are considered the most suitable for this.

How the procedure goes:

1. Grafting begins when 1–2 true leaves appear on the melon.
2. The stems of the rootstock and scion are cut at an angle of 30 degrees. This should be done as close as possible to the cotyledons. The operation is performed with a sharp thin blade in a mirror image.

   Plant stems are cut in a mirror order

3. Then the tongues are inserted into each other and the junction is wrapped with a thin piece of foil. Ideally, the procedure requires special clips.

   The stems are inserted into each other

4. Two stems are planted in one container, preferably plastic.

   After grafting, place the plant in a dark place until the morning.

5. It is recommended to carry out grafting in the evening and place the plant in a dark place. In the morning, expose to light.
6. Around the eighth day, you can cut the melon stem. Starting from the 3rd day after grafting, the growth point of the rootstock must be removed, and this must be done until growth stops.
7. The grafted plant is planted in a permanent place on the 25th–35th day.

Growing melon at home

For those who like to experiment, there are no obstacles, and growing a melon on a balcony or windowsill will not be difficult. After all, everything that melons love - warmth and light - can be provided to plants at home. Varieties with small pumpkins are quite suitable for growing on a balcony or loggia:

• Ozhen (from 0.8 to 1 kg),
• Altai (from 0.8 to 1 kg),
• Lyubushka (from 0.7 to 0.8 kg),
• Tender (from 0.9 to 1.1 kg).

You can start sowing melon at home starting in March, but no later than the first days of June. To do this you need:

1. Prepare containers with a volume of at least 5–6 liters. Fill them with universal soil with neutral acidity. If possible, purchase soil “For cucumbers” in the store.
2. Sowing is done with seeds. To do this, bury the seed 3 cm into moist soil, after mixing the soil in the hole with a spoonful of ash. Before sowing, the seeds can be soaked, then they will sprout a little earlier.
3. You can first grow seedlings (sow seeds in April), and then transplant them by transferring them into containers on the balcony.
4. Light- and heat-loving melon should grow in the most illuminated place.

   For home-grown melon, choose the brightest and warmest corners

5. Water the plant only with warm water, being careful not to get it on the leaves and stem. It is best to pour water along the edge of the pot. Water only after the top layer of soil has completely dried. Adjust the frequency depending on weather conditions.
6. Monitor the humidity level. If this indicator is high, the melon may be sick.
7. Try to give nitrogen-containing fertilizers before flowers form. During this period they feed azophoska - 1 tbsp. l. for 3 liters of water. 1 liter of solution is enough for one plant. During the flowering period, balcony melon prefers phosphorus-potassium fertilizing - 1 tbsp. l. superphosphate and 2 tbsp. l. potassium sulfate per 10 liters of water. If the plant is slow in growth, pamper it with organic matter (mullein or chicken droppings), adding the prepared solution after watering.
8. Balcony culture needs a garter. But making a trellis is half the battle. A melon, unlike a cucumber, does not have tendrils and will not curl itself. Therefore, the whip needs to be wrapped around the twine and tied with cotton fabric or rope. This must be done as it grows.
9. Melon at home also requires shaping. The first pinching is done above the 5th–6th leaf. Tie the side shoot that replaces the main stem to the trellis. On hybrids, on the contrary, the main stem is not pinched, but is done on the side shoots, above the 2-3rd leaf, to avoid unnecessary thickening.
10. If you have an open balcony, then insects can handle the role of pollinators. But it’s still better to play it safe and pollinate the flowers by hand.
11. You should leave 2 to 3 fruits on the plant. They should be located at some distance from each other. To prevent the fruit from breaking the lash or breaking off, it needs to be tied up. When the fruit reaches the size of a tennis ball, it is wrapped in a net and tied to a trellis.

    Pack the ripening fruit in a net and tie it up

12. For diseases and pests, use the same preparations as when growing in open ground.

Growing methods

There are many ways to grow a juicy dessert. From traditional ones - spread out or on a trellis, to unusual ones - in a bag or barrel.

Melon in a barrel without a bottom

This method is perfect for central Russia, where summer is not very warm. For melon, a simple barrel is not entirely convenient. There is too little space, because it is advisable not to let the lashes outside, since the temperature difference can negatively affect the harvest. And in case of bad weather, the sissy can easily be covered with film or other covering material. Therefore, sheets of iron connected together or a large container are just right.

Install such a bed in advance:

1. All remnants of vegetation are placed at the bottom of the container: branches, dry parts of plants. They will not only serve as drainage, but heat will be generated during decomposition.
2. Then fresh grass, hay, humus and fertile soil are laid on top.
3. Everything is watered with water or Baikal fertilizer, which will help the plants to rot better.
4. The structure is covered with cellophane on top and left until the beginning of May.
5. You can plant soaked seeds in the second half of April or seedlings in mid-May, but always under cover.

Video: garden melon

In the bag

This method is useful for those who grow melon on the balcony. But, if you take a larger bag, then it is quite possible to get a harvest in a small area. Of course, thin cellophane bags are not suitable as a material. You need large ones, made of durable polyethylene. Fertile universal soil is suitable for balcony culture. Don't forget to install a trellis. In a garden structure, you can fill the volume in the same way as when growing in a barrel.

Video: growing melons in bags

On a warm bed

This design is an exact copy of the barrel growing method described above. The only difference is that the box is constructed not from metal, but from boards.

Raised beds are an excellent opportunity to grow heat-loving crops

On the trellis

The method is used when growing crops on a balcony or in a greenhouse. It allows you to significantly save space and provides plants with quality care, which will definitely turn out beneficial high yield and low morbidity rates.

1. The method involves the construction of a U-shaped frame - the columns are buried in the ground so that they rise 2 m above ground level, their tops are connected with planks for greater stability.
2. The distance between columns in a row is at least 2 m.
3. Then a soft wire is tied to the crossbar.
4. One end is attached to the crossbar, the lower end is lowered to the growing melon and secured to the plant.
5. Subsequently, the growing lash is carefully wrapped around the wire and tied.

When growing melons using a trellis method, you can stretch a coarse, strong mesh between the supports.

Melon grown on a trellis is easy to care for.

Spread method

This method is considered the most natural and simplest. It is used when growing sweet fruits in open ground. Planting scheme for this method: the distance between plants in a row is at least 60 cm, row spacing is 1 m. The stems of the plant should not be intertwined. To prevent the shoots from being blown away by the wind, pin them to the soil using wire staples.

Growing melons spread out - the easiest and most natural way

Features of growing melons in different regions

Loving solar heat Gardeners not only from warm regions want to grow southerners. Therefore, melon is moving even to the north - to the Urals and Siberia. But each climatic region has its own characteristics that must be taken into account when growing melons.

• Ukraine can be safely called the most suitable conditions for cultivating a heat-loving crop, southern regions Russia (Lower Volga, North Caucasus, Krasnodar) and Crimea. Here you can safely plant seeds in open ground or seedlings. A sufficient amount of sunlight, and it needs at least 12 hours, allows you to grow different varieties, from early ripening to late:
  • Augustine,
  • Aikido,
  • Alice,
  • Babor,
  • Victoria,
  • Golden,
  • Idyll,
  • Miron,
  • Autumn,
  • Prima,
  • Raymond,
  • Tamanskaya,
  • Southerner;
• similar climatic conditions regions located in central Russia have it, but still the weather there is more capricious. Varieties suitable for growing under these conditions include:
  • Collective farmer,
  • Turkish Delight,
  • Roksolana,
  • Solar;
• In the conditions of the Central region, Moscow and Leningrad regions, Belarus, melon is most often cultivated as a greenhouse or greenhouse crop. But it is also possible to grow fruits in open ground under such conditions. The key to success is a correctly selected variety, with a growing season of up to 90 days, with good resistance to cold weather, shade tolerance and resistance to fungal diseases. You need to plant already grown and hardened seedlings in the ground. The ideal variety for this climate is Princess Svetlana;
• In the Urals and Siberia, it is best to grow melon in greenhouses using the seedling method. But you can take a risk and try growing it outdoors. To do this you will have to build warm bed in the sunniest area. To prevent the delicate plant from freezing, use a covering material, water the plant only with warm water and monitor the humidity level, preventing it from increasing. Early ripening varieties are recommended:
  • Altai,
  • Collective farmer,
  • Lolita,
  • Tender,
  • Dewdrop.

When growing melons in cool areas, try to place planks under the fruit to prevent the melon from rotting from moisture. Also, the fruits need to be turned to the other side from time to time.

Video: growing melon

Melon in a greenhouse

The greenhouse will help out gardeners living in cold climates. This option is also suitable for those who want to get an earlier harvest of fragrant fruits. The main task is to provide the melon with a sufficient food area, take care of a stable temperature, normal humidification and air exchange.

Small secrets of successful fruiting:

• successful cultivation will be ensured by varieties resistant to fungal diseases;
• plant the best prepared seedlings;
• do not forget that pollination is your concern, because bees do not fly in a greenhouse;
• Grow melon indoors only on a trellis.

A greenhouse is the key to a successful melon harvest in cold climates

Diseases and pests

Regardless of whether a melon is grown outdoors or indoors, it can be susceptible to various diseases if it does not receive proper care. Southern culture is not immune to the invasion of harmful insects.

Table: diseases and pests, treatment and prevention

Photo gallery: how to recognize diseases and pests

Problems encountered when growing melons

Sometimes inexperienced gardeners fail when growing melons. But there is nothing irreparable.

Table: problems and their solutions

When the melon begins to ripen, stop watering and fertilizing, otherwise the fruit may crack.

Harvest and storage

Before you start picking melon fruits, make sure they are ripe. This is easy to do based on the following criteria:

• the fruit has acquired a mesh pattern characteristic of the variety;
• a subtle aroma spreads around the melon;
• ripe fruit is easily separated from the vine.

A picked unripe fruit will not reach the required ripeness and will not be stored for long. Overripe also will not last long, it is better to eat it right away. The best preserved fruit is the one picked in the first stage of ripeness.

Melons are removed from the stem. They should be stored on racks in one layer. You can hang fruits in cotton nets. The storage location must have ventilation, optimal temperature at 1–3 o C, humidity from 70 to 80%. Mid-season and late varieties show the best keeping quality. They are able to retain their taste and commercial quality until the end of winter.

Melons should not be stored in the same room with other vegetables. Fruits easily absorb foreign odors, which can cause the taste to deteriorate.

Melons are best stored in a suspended state.

At first glance, it seems that melon is a very capricious crop. But, if you follow all the rules of growing, then the prize for you will be fragrant, sweet and healthy fruits. And it doesn’t matter whether you live in the south or the north, everyone can grow a tender fruit. Moreover, breeders have developed many varieties that can easily tolerate difficult climates and are resistant to diseases.

The melon crop requires increased attention, but there is no need to fertilize it excessively. Last year I grew melon and got a good harvest because I first studied the characteristics of the plant. Melon loves warmth.

I advise you to plant it in a spacious garden bed separately from other crops, including fruits. If the soil on the site is poor, be sure to enrich its composition!

Melon is a melon crop, a representative of the Pumpkin family. Some of its species are practically not found in the wild. Melon is an annual plant.

Its stem is tall, creeping, up to 2.8 m long, the leaves are shaped like a heart and include several lobules. The flowers of melons are yellow, the berries (fruits) are round or elongated. Their pulp is:

• white;
• yellow;
• orange;
• salad

Melon is grown by seedlings, the soil and seeds are first prepared. To obtain fragrant fruits, seed material that is already 3 years old is used.

Fruit-bearing plants do not grow from fresh seeds: in this case, the melon crop produces male flowers without ovaries.

Melon has large seeds. Before use, you need to keep them in a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate for about 20 minutes. To speed up the germination of seeds, you can place them in a weakly concentrated solution of boric acid, leave for 10 hours, and then rinse with water.

Experienced summer residents advise hardening the seeds. First, the planting material is placed in water at a temperature of + 25 degrees, kept for an hour and a half, then covered with a damp cloth, kept for 24 hours at a temperature of + 16 degrees. Then the seeds are placed on a refrigerator shelf and kept for 15 hours.

Growing seedlings

Hardening is carried out the day before sowing the seeds in pots. Seedlings begin to be grown on the 15th of April. I recommend sowing seeds in peat pots (10 cm containers are ideal).

One piece should contain 2 seeds. which must be buried 1.5 cm when planting. Seedlings feel good in a soil mixture of peat and sand in a ratio of 9:1.

The permissible air temperature at night is + 17 degrees. If you keep your crops in suitable conditions, you will see seedlings in a week! You will need to leave the strongest sprout in the pot, carefully trim the rest.

It is highly undesirable to pull out weakened sprouts: the root system may be damaged. After the seedlings form 6 leaves, you will need to pinch them. Thanks to this procedure, the seedlings will quickly form side branches. Keep the seedlings in the southern part of the house. They must receive enough light.

If the days are cloudy, illuminate the plants with fluorescent lamps and turn them on for 10 hours. Seedlings require timely watering. Use soft warm water and apply it to the root. The seedlings are fed for the first time at the stage of formation of the first leaf. It is worth noting that melon seedlings are vulnerable and susceptible to blackleg.

To ensure disease prevention, you need to sprinkle the substrate with a thin layer of sand. I recommend feeding the seedlings with complex products. Seedlings should be hardened off 5-7 days before planting in the garden. During the day, the air temperature should be lowered to + 16 degrees. It is necessary to ventilate melon seedlings, but avoid drafts.

Other nuances

Beginning gardeners are interested in: how to pick a melon. Melon seedlings cannot be replanted, so the seeds should be sown in separate pots. I used peat ones. Seedlings with five strong leaves are suitable for planting in open ground.

I don’t recommend rushing to plant; wait until the weather is warm.

If you plant a crop at the wrong time, it will most likely suffer from frost. When these occur, I recommend covering the seedlings with film. Melon is thermophilic. It takes root in a lighted area: choose the one further south. Melons grow well:

• after the onion;
• after garlic;
• after cucumbers;
• after cabbage.

Undesirable predecessors: carrots and tomatoes. Seedlings and adult plants prefer neutral soil. If it is poor, I advise you to enrich it with organic matter.

The fruit crop grows normally in dry and salty soil, but it does not tolerate acidic and too wet soil. Clay content in the soil is acceptable. It is not advisable to plant melon in soil with a lot of sand or clay.

Preparing the bed and planting seedlings

Before planting seedlings, be sure to prepare the bed.

1. In the fall, enrich the soil with humus: add 4 kg per 1 sq. m. m.
2. Dilute clay soil with sand: add 2 kg per 1 sq. m.
3. In the spring, you can fertilize the soil using a mixture of mineral fertilizers: 20 g of potassium salt and 30 g of superphosphate per 1 square meter. m.

Immediately before planting, dig up the area and apply a nitrogen composition: 20 g per 1 square meter. m. The seedlings are planted in holes located at a distance of 50 - 65 cm. The soil mixture of the seedlings is moistened, thus making them easier to remove. When planting, maintain a distance between rows of 70 cm.

You need to ensure that the root collar is 1.5 cm above the level of the bed. Failure to comply with this rule leads to melon diseases! At correct landing the bush should grow on a small hillock. To protect the melon from fungus, sprinkle the seedlings with sand after planting. I recommend shading them using paper moistened with a spray bottle.

Growing fruit crops in a greenhouse

Let's talk about how to grow melon in a greenhouse. In a greenhouse, the plant must be tied up. Holes 60 cm in size are formed for the seedlings, and a distance of 20 cm between specimens is maintained. Growing in a greenhouse is carried out according to the same principle. But I do not recommend planting melons next to cucumbers and zucchini.

Before planting seedlings, add 1 kg of humus to each hole and sprinkle fertile soil, then add water. The melon seedling is positioned so that it returns 3 cm; if necessary, a plastic frame is constructed. 7 days after planting in the greenhouse, the seedlings are ventilated.

After 10-12 days, add nitrogenous substances to the water: use a solution of ammonium nitrate: 15 hectares per bucket of water. The plant is watered every 7 days. When it begins to form fruits, reduce watering. You can fertilize the seedlings with chicken droppings or an infusion made from weeds.

Organic matter should be added once every 20 days. In order for the plant to form female flowers faster, you need to pinch the 6th leaf 8 days after planting. In the future, after discovering female flowers, you will need to leave the 2 strongest ones and remove the rest.

After some time, the plant will form fruits - balls. You will need to tie them up by placing them horizontally on the trellis. In this case, you can use a net, that is, store the melons in it. In a greenhouse, melons can be attacked by:

• scoops;
• mites;

In the fight against insects, I advise you to use Fitoverm. After you see that the fruits have acquired their characteristic color, remove them.

Outdoor care

In order for a melon to please you with a rich harvest, you need to water it on time, loosen the soil between the rows, and perform such a procedure as pinching. It is very important to feed the culture. During the period of active growth, the melon stem is pinched again; as a result, it does not spend much effort on the foliage, but forms fruits.

The shoots of the bush should be removed: two side shoots and one main shoot should remain. The shrub produces from two to six fruits; if there are more, they must be removed. Fruits that have reached the size of a tennis ball are tied in a net. They are turned periodically to ensure they ripen evenly.

Melons should not come into contact with the ground, otherwise they may rot! To increase the “keeping quality”, polyethylene is placed under the fruits.

If the plant produces only one fruit, it means it is lagging behind in development: it requires loosening and fertilizing. The soil is loosened 2 times: to a depth of 10 cm and 15. During the formation of lateral lashes, the bush is hilled.

Let's return to the trellis. Its height should be within 2 m. Install the trellis in advance, tie not only fruits to it, but also branches. I advise you to water the melon at the root once every 7 days. Remember that watering in hot weather can cause burns! Apply water after making sure the soil is dry.

Overmoistening is harmful because it can lead to diseases, including rot. The fruits should be juicy and sugary: when they begin to form, reduce watering, then stop completely. Melon responds positively to feeding.

15 days after planting the seedlings, apply a universal remedy with ammonium nitrate to the garden bed. Dilute twenty grams of saltpeter in 10 liters of water, apply 1.8 liters per bush.

When the plant begins to form buds, feed it with a ten percent mullein solution. As you can see, caring for a melon is not difficult, the main thing is to follow basic agrotechnical rules!