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Preparing the soil for planting watermelons. When to plant watermelon seedlings. Chemical methods of protection

Watermelon is a favorite melon crop of many gardeners, which gives the taste of summer. Even a novice gardener can easily grow it. However, for this it is not enough to prepare the site and provide appropriate care for the plants after planting: it is also necessary to correctly select and prepare the seeds for sowing.

Selection and preparation of site and soil for planting watermelon

For growing watermelon in open ground and obtaining good harvest care must be taken to select a location that must meet the following requirements:

• be well lit;
• protect from winds;
• provide plants with the necessary nutrition.

Based on the listed factors, you need to take into account that the area for the watermelon should receive a sufficient amount of light during the day, be well warmed up and ventilated. It is best if you start preparing the soil in advance: sow the future bed with green manure and add the necessary fertilizers.

The area for the future watermelon bed should be well lit, ventilated, and well fertilized.

Green manures are plants that are grown for the purpose of their subsequent incorporation into the soil, which improves its structure, enriches it with nitrogen and prevents the growth of weeds.

An important point is the previous crops, i.e. those that were grown on the site before the watermelon. The most preferred are onions, garlic, carrots and early cabbage, as well as potatoes and tomatoes. Melon crops (watermelon, zucchini, pumpkin, melon) should not be constantly planted in the same place, since pathogens accumulate in the soil.

It should be noted that watermelons and other melons require light, loose and fertile soil. Most suitable option, if the plot of land consists of sandy or sandy loam soil, and the necessary organic fertilizers (humus, compost) will be added for digging in the fall. Organic matter is added at the rate of 2.5 buckets per 1 m² of land. In addition, attention should be paid to the acidity of the soil: for watermelons it should be within the pH range of 6–7.

Humus is excellent organic fertilizer to prepare a site for planting watermelon

In the spring, the watermelon bed should also be fertilized with mineral fertilizers before digging. For 1 m² you will need:

• 24–35 g ammonium sulfate;
• 40–45 g superphosphate;
• 15–25 g of potash fertilizers.

Combining mineral and organic substances can increase the productivity of watermelon.

Preparing watermelon seeds for sowing

It is no secret for experienced gardeners that quality training seeds for sowing. This process is quite important and consists of several stages that must be performed in a certain sequence.

Variety selection

Watermelon variety for growing on your own garden plot you need to choose very carefully. If you do not have sufficient experience in cultivating this type of melon, then it is best to give preference hybrid varieties. This is due to the fact that they are characterized by better quality characteristics compared to varietal watermelons. Hybrids are characterized by faster maturation, resistance to a number of diseases and unfavorable environmental conditions.

When planning to grow watermelon on your plot, you need to carefully choose the variety.

Seed calibration

At first glance, seed calibration may not seem like such a significant procedure. If we look at it in more detail, the germination of seeds and the subsequent development of young plants will directly depend on it. Everything is actually simple: stronger and healthier seedlings develop better, thereby suppressing weaker seedlings. When separating (calibrating) seeds by size, seedlings will be more friendly and abundant.

Seed calibration involves separating them by size, which allows for more uniform and abundant seedlings

Warming up the seeds

A procedure such as warming the seeds before planting allows you to activate biochemical processes in planting material. To do this, the seeds are placed in a container of suitable size and filled with water at a temperature of about +50˚C. After half an hour, the water can be drained.

Pre-sowing treatment

Preparing watermelon seeds involves their disinfection, i.e. disinfection. In most cases, gardeners and gardeners use manganese for these purposes, from which they prepare potassium permanganate (a solution of low concentration). In order to prepare the substance, a very small amount of manganese is added to a small container filled with water. After stirring the solution, the seeds are soaked for 15–20 minutes and then washed with water.

Disinfection allows you to minimize the likelihood of young plants becoming infected with diseases or damaged by pests.

Treating watermelon seeds in potassium permanganate allows disinfection, thereby protecting planting material from the adverse effects of microorganisms

After all the previous procedures have been completed, you can begin to germinate the seed material. To begin with, it is recommended to soak watermelon seeds for 12 hours in nutrient solution: this is done to saturate the seeds with microelements, which will ensure active growth and accelerate germination.

Today, many drugs of this kind are offered, for example, Kornevin, Zircon, Heteroauxin.

After the seeds are soaked in a growth stimulator, you should not wash them with water under any circumstances: just dry them in the sun.

Germinating watermelon seeds accelerates the process of germination, and treatment with growth stimulants saturates the seed with microelements Before soaking watermelon seeds to soften the thick rind, pour them hot water

for 10 minutes. Then you need to make a gauze bag, folding the material in several layers, and place the seeds in it at some distance from each other. The bag with planting material is placed in a saucer or shallow plate, after moistening the gauze; however, there is no need to fill the seeds with water - they must “breathe”. After this, the container is placed in a warm place (about +25˚C) and the humidity of the gauze is periodically monitored: it is moistened as necessary. To create more comfortable conditions for the seeds, the container can be covered with trimmed plastic bottle , film or glass, thus retaining moisture for a longer time. Please note that watermelon seeds do not germinate very quickly. Therefore, the first sprouts can be seen in at least a week (depending on the seeds of a particular variety, their quality and the conditions created). By ensuring an optimal microclimate, it will be possible to accelerate the germination of seed material and bring the moment of planting it into the soil closer. If the seeds are not soaked before planting, then you can’t count on rapid emergence of seedlings.

For the Middle Zone and northern regions, the soaking and germination procedure is necessary.

Video: germinating watermelon seeds

Timing for sowing watermelon seeds in open ground Planting watermelon is quite common by seed method

. The timing of sowing crops depends on the weather and the time when the harvest is planned to be obtained. If spring has come early and the weather is warm, you can start sowing seeds from the end of April to mid-June. If the approach of warmth is delayed, then the sowing dates are shifted to the end of May. When landing in You can start working from mid-April, taking into account weather conditions. For middle latitudes, watermelon seeds are sown in open ground only after stable warm weather has established. To determine the time of planting seeds, attention should be paid to the air temperature. Minimum temperature indicator+15˚С is considered for germination. In regions with an unpredictable climate, gardeners prefer growing watermelons seedling method. In this case, the seeds are sown in the second half of April, and the mature seedlings are planted in open ground in May-early June.

Seed germination - timing and testing

High-quality planting material is the key to a good harvest. An indicator of the quality of watermelon seeds is their germination rate. In most cases, when preparing for the next season, gardeners carry out an audit seed various cultures, while discovering that some of them are already more than one year old. What to do in this case, throw it away and buy new ones, or can it still be used for planting? It is enough to know that the germination of watermelon seeds lasts for 6–8 years.

In addition, there is a way to test watermelon seeds for germination, which is also suitable for other melons. To do this, you will need sawdust, which is first doused with boiling water several times (every half an hour). You will need to prepare a container, such as a tray or box. small sizes, which is filled with raw sawdust. The seeds are laid out in rows with a distance of 2–3 cm. A gap of 1–1.5 cm is made between the seeds. Then the seed is sprinkled with sawdust and compacted, and the container is placed in a warm place with a temperature of +23–27˚С and wait for the sprouts to appear. To determine the percentage of germination, a simple calculation is performed: if 6 out of 10 seeds germinate, it means the germination rate is 60%.

Proper planting of watermelon seeds

When the weather is favorable and the watermelon seeds have undergone preparatory procedures, you can begin sowing them in open ground.

At what distance to plant

Since watermelon is a very spreading plant, it requires sufficient space to grow it. Thus, the bush will feel comfortable and develop normally. Watermelons are planted in open ground in a certain way, namely according to the scheme. IN standard scheme, which is called row row, the row spacing is 2 m, and 5–10 seeds per hole are sown in a 1 m row.

After emergence, only the strongest shoots are left, 1 seedling per meter.

The row scheme for planting watermelon involves planting seeds at a distance of 1 m in a row and 2 m between rows

In addition to the ordinary scheme, there is also a square-nested one. In this case, the distance between the holes with planted seeds should be 70–280 cm. The difference in distance depends on the variety of watermelon being grown. When planting compact varieties, the gap between the holes is made smaller.

When planting a watermelon in a square nest, a distance of 70–280 cm is made between the holes, depending on the variety. Large distances between watermelon plantings are necessary to obtain sufficient quantities. sunlight . If placed closely, the crop will not receive required amount

nutritional elements.

Seed placement depth When planting watermelon seeds in open ground, it is important to observe the planting depth. The optimal planting depth for small-seeded varieties is considered to be 4–6 cm, for large-seeded varieties - 6–8 cm. If the planting material is buried deeper, it will be more difficult for it to hatch, which will affect the timing of germination. In addition to the variety, the soil also influences the planting depth. On sandy soils, seeds are buried 7–8 cm, on sandy soils - 5–7 cm, on loams - 4–5 cm. IN northern regions

with heavy soils, seed should not be planted deeper than 4 cm.

The depth of planting watermelon seeds depends on the type of soil and the specific variety.

Fitting under film

It is also possible to grow watermelons under film. This method allows you to sow in March and thereby get the harvest earlier. Film cover makes it possible to maintain high humidity, which eliminates the lack of moisture and promotes the rapid development of plants. When using film, a greenhouse effect is created, which ensures rapid seed germination. In the area prepared in the fall, ridges are cut at a distance of 70 cm from each other, for which a hiller is used. The covering film should cover 2 ridges at once, i.e. standard width

1.5 m should be enough. There is a 2.5 m space between the rows, which is necessary for the normal development of plants. In the formed ridges, holes are prepared at a distance of 1 m from each other and seeds are sown.

Growing watermelons with film allows you to plant seeds in March and get an earlier harvest.

The number of seeds sown in one hole may vary and depend on the varieties used. Seeds of inexpensive varieties can be placed 2-3 grains per hole. When shoots appear, weaker plants are pinched, leaving one most developed seedling. If expensive varieties are used, then one seed is placed in each hole.

After sowing, the soil is moistened and covered with film. To do this, the material is unrolled along the length of the beds, pressing it with earth so that it does not blow away by the wind. If the weather is cloudy, then seedlings should appear a week after planting. Since the seedlings will soon begin to rest against the film, it will be necessary to make cross-shaped slits for the plants to grow freely.

A week after germination, the watermelon will adapt to environment. During this period, the holes in the film are covered with earth to prevent the appearance of weeds. To avoid damage to young seedlings, the sprout is carefully pulled out of the film and a piece of plastic pipe(you can use a jar), sprinkle it with earth, compacting it slightly, and then remove the protection. After this procedure, watermelons are considered ready for further development.

Video: growing watermelons under film

What to do if watermelon seeds have not sprouted

Sometimes gardeners are faced with such an unpleasant situation when the watermelon seeds do not germinate. What could be the reason and how to correct the situation? One of the main problems can be low quality seeds. If seed material is purchased in a store, be sure to check the expiration date on the packaging. In addition, you can focus on price, but it is not always an indicator of quality: good germination can be both cheap and expensive seeds.

When purchasing watermelon seeds, you should pay attention to the date of manufacture, and when storing your planting material for a long time, check it for germination

If you still have watermelon seeds from previous years without packaging or you collected planting material yourself, you need to identify the seeds that are unsuitable for sowing.

To do this, pour grains into a container with water and those that end up on the surface do not make sense to plant.

• Many factors influence seed germination:
• degree of maturation;
• collection and drying conditions;
• storage conditions;

The listed factors usually depend on the seed manufacturer. However, the success of the entire event directly depends on the conditions that will be created for their germination. This suggests that if the seeds are knowingly good quality, and the humidity or temperature does not meet the required parameters, then the material may simply not germinate. In addition, when planting sprouted seeds in open ground with cold soil, they may slow down in growth or even die.

Further care for watermelon shoots

When growing watermelon in open ground important conditions are periodic loosening of the soil and watering. It is recommended to mark the holes when planting seeds, for example, with pegs, so that the rows are visible when loosening. During the period of growth of leaf mass and vines, fertilizing is carried out. To do this, you can use urea (150 g) and the same amount of superphosphate, as well as potassium salt (50 g) per 10 m². Fertilizer application should be accompanied by watering or precipitation.

For the normal development of young watermelon seedlings, timely watering and loosening of the soil is necessary.

Particular attention should be paid to irrigation during the growth of leaves and stems, flowering and the appearance of ovaries. During fruit ripening, on the contrary, watering is extremely undesirable, since excessive moisture leads to cracks in the fruit and deterioration taste qualities. Watermelon beds are irrigated with warm water once a week, but generously. Caring for watermelons also involves the formation of a bush, as a result of which it is possible to obtain larger and sweeter berries. In this case, no more than four fruits are left on one plant. In addition, the shoots are pinched and the mustache is removed.

Video: forming a watermelon in open ground

Prevention and control of watermelon diseases and pests is also important. Common pests include sprout fly, melon aphid, and wireworm. If an insect is detected before it damages the plant, treatment is carried out biological drugs, for example, Fitoverm. When pests invade, they resort to the use of chemicals such as Decis, Aktara, Fufanon. The most common melon and melon diseases include anthracnose, powdery mildew, and downy mildew. Colloidal sulfur, Ordan, Hom are used as prophylaxis.

One of the common pests of watermelons is the sprout fly, the larvae of which damage the roots, seeds and stem of the plant.

High-quality planting material combined with proper preparation to sowing is the key to a good harvest. It is in this case that it will be possible to avoid wasting time, increase seed germination and ensure active growth and development of plants.

A cucumber the size of a donkey. This is how the Persian word xarbuza is translated. It was this that became the basis for the Russian name for watermelon. The Russians borrowed not only the word, but also the wisdom of growing berries.

The first domestic samples were obtained in the 17th century. The Astrakhan region became the springboard for selection. They developed their own variety. The criteria for selecting berries for it are their size, sweetness and resistance to drought.

Astrakhan watermelons are famous to this day. But others also appeared. Now in middle lane Dozens of varieties are grown in Russia. Among them: Ogonyok, Leader, Chill, Yarilo, Sweet Krinson. So, there is a reason to find out...

How to plant watermelons correctly

Planting watermelons begins with seeds. Taking into account the Russian climate, it is better to use seedlings. In a short season, the plant must not only grow, but also bear fruit.

So that they have time to ripen, with the onset of warm weather, not seeds, but already grown bushes are placed in the ground. They are creeping, like those of cucumbers and pumpkins. By the way, the family to which the watermelon belongs is called Pumpkin.

To a question, how to plant watermelon seedlings, it’s worth approaching with gauze and cotton wool. They are needed for seed germination. First, they are placed in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Its color should be more yellowish than pink.

Manganese will act as a disinfectant in case of contamination of the seed. 20-30 minutes and you can lay the seeds on a “cushion” of damp cotton wool covered with a bandage.

The same “blanket” is located on top. After abundant watering of the workpiece, it is left for 3-4 days. During this time, the gauze should not dry out. The result will be the appearance of roots. The seeds are ready to be planted in the ground.

Small containers are filled with soil. Convenient to use plastic glasses. It is important to make holes in their bottom for water drainage. As for the substrate, it is made up of 50% purchased land, 50% garden land. Both need to be disinfected. A couple of minutes in the microwave is enough. Wood ash is added to the mixture as a top dressing.

The soil substrate is laid almost to the edges of the cups. The soil will be compacted after abundant watering. Excess will flow out through the drainage holes.

One common tray for all cups is enough. A 2-centimeter depression is made in the middle of each. The seed is lowered into the hole with the root down, sprinkled with substrate, and watered. All that remains is to put the cups in a warm, sunny place and wait for germination.

Seedlings with 4-6 leaves are considered suitable for planting in the ground. The greenery of neighboring plants should not touch. As the watermelons grow, the cups are moved apart.

When the sheets come into contact, the development of seedlings slows down. Watering with cool water also has a negative effect. Use only warm. If the conditions are met, the seedlings will have 4-6 leaves a month after planting.

When to plant watermelons

Starting from monthly cycle development of watermelon seedlings, you can calculate the time of planting and moving the plants into open ground. Focus on the climate of the region.

If frost is possible, low temperatures, is excluded only by June, the seeds are planted in early May. If positive indicators are stable already in April, the process begins in March.

When to plant watermelon seedlings prompts and moon calendar. It is compiled taking into account the dependence of plants, their development, on the phases of the night star. In 2016, it is recommended to sow melons from the Pumpkin family from May 16 to May 20. Conditionally favorable days named 5th, 6th. 8th, 9th and 10th. In March, the “segment” from the 24th to the 29th is suitable.

Question, when to plant watermelons in the ground, abandoning seedlings, depends only on weather conditions. Suitable, for example, are the same days from the 16th to the 20th of May. In the southern regions there is no longer a risk of low temperatures by this time.

Taking into account warm autumn, melons have time to grow and produce crops even under open air. Sometimes even in Siberia they refuse seedlings. But there the seeds are grown in greenhouses, selecting early ripening varieties of watermelons.

How to choose a watermelon variety for planting

In the question, like the greenhouse, there is an important nuance - you should use only one variety of berries. This eliminates cross-pollination of plants. If this happens, the harvest will be of poor quality.

In cold regions, early ripening varieties with small fruits are chosen. Large berries do not have time to ripen. “Suga baby” is considered the fastest ripening. From the name it is clear that the plant produces small fruits. Their weight is no more than 4.5 kilograms. The skin of the berries is dark green and the stripes are almost black.

The varieties “Ogonyok”, “Skorik” and “Leader” also belong to the early ripening varieties. From the first shoots to harvest, 70-80 days pass. “Gift of the Sun” matures even faster. But this watermelon has a yellow rind. The flesh remains red. It is soft-grained and sweet. The size of the berries is 3-4 kilograms.

How long does it take for watermelons to ripen? mid-season group? From 90 to 110 days. Late-ripening varieties are not suitable for any of the regions of Russia. Mid-season includes, for example, “Sugar Baby”. The harvest is harvested 13 weeks after planting.

Berries are good for pickling. This is another nuance of choosing a variety. Some watermelons are intended to be eaten fresh, others are used for marinades. By the way, historically Russians prefer the latter option. Watermelons were brought into the country in salted form.

In the 17th century, transportation took many months. Fresh berries were not ready for the royal table and spoiled. So the merchants brought pickles. Having learned to grow watermelons themselves, our ancestors did not perceive them in fresh form for a long time.

How to care for watermelon plantings

Deciding how to plant watermelons in open ground, or a greenhouse, it is important to consider the area of ​​the site. Plants are creeping. The berries should lie on the ground, so no garter is done. For free development, one bush needs a large area.

Leave at least half a meter between the rows of watermelons. 70 centimeters is ideal. Between the bushes you need a meter-long reserve. But, there are varieties with compact, not too long stems. When planting them, 50 centimeters is enough.

At what distance should watermelons be planted from each other? found out. Now, let's study the issue of bush formation. Seedlings have several creeping shoots.

You only need to leave one, the most powerful one, with side branches. Stopping the remaining shoots will allow the plant not to waste energy on them. All the energy will be spent on the development of the main trunk and the berries on it.

Watermelons are demanding on soil. We need fertile lands. Fertilizers will help make them so. Melons need both mineral mixtures and organic matter. The latter is suitable for mullein and chicken droppings.

From mineral mixtures First take superphosphate. It is applied immediately after transplanting the sprouts into open ground. By the time the ovaries form, watermelons are already given phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.

They work with melons carefully. It is not recommended, for example, to walk between the rows too much. Watermelons have a vulnerable root system. Its weak point is its branching. The roots are underfoot, damaged, and the plantings suffer.

They also suffer from lack of moisture. In hot weather, abundant watering is required 3-4 times a week. Berries are 95% water. Even the bodies of jellyfish are only 92% aquatic. If there is not enough moisture, there will be no tasty, sweet fruits.

In order to grow sweet ones, juicy watermelons, it is necessary to provide them with a warm climate, low humidity and good lighting. How to grow watermelon at home? Read the tips experienced gardeners!

It is perhaps difficult to find a person who does not like watermelons. Tasty, sweet and juicy watermelons are loved by both adults and children.

Almost every gardener dreams of growing this exotic, striped berry. True, not everyone decides to do this, because the harsh climate leaves its mark. But in fact, watermelons, although they are a heat-loving melon crop, can be grown not only in the south, but also in the middle zone. To do this, you just need to create favorable conditions for them.

In order to grow sweet, juicy watermelons, it is necessary to provide them with a warm climate, low humidity and good light. In the middle zone they are grown in greenhouses or under film, and in the south of Russia watermelons can easily grow without greenhouses. Optimal temperature for normal growth - 25-30 degrees during the day and 18 at night. The garden bed or greenhouse should be located in a sunny place, away from bushes and trees.

Main secret successful cultivation watermelons are a choice the right variety. For central Russia, you should choose early-ripening varieties whose ovaries grow and ripen quickly. You should not try to grow unusual large varieties of watermelons, since they can realize themselves only in warm countries.

The best varieties of watermelons to grow

The most suitable seeds: Sugar Baby, Pink Champagne, Gift to the North, Moscow Charleston, Ogonyok, Creamstar.

In the middle zone, you can grow watermelon only with the help of seedlings, which need to be sown around April 20. Then, after 30-35 days, the seedlings can be transplanted into the ground.

To grow seedlings you will need small pots with a diameter of 10 cm. Each of them is filled with a mixture of peat, humus and wood soil in a ratio of 1:2:1 with a small addition of ash and 2 seeds are planted in one pot.

To speed up the emergence of seedlings, you can pre-soak and germinate the seeds. Until the shoots appear, the pots are covered with film and the temperature is maintained at +20-25 degrees. After this, you need to reduce the temperature to +18-20 degrees so that the seedlings do not stretch too much. For seedlings, you need to select the sunniest window and feed it 2 times with complex mineral fertilizer.

Growing watermelons in a greenhouse

The greenhouse or bed must be prepared in advance. In early April, it is cleared of snow and the soil is dug up. Watermelons love sandy loam and sandy soil, rich in organic matter.

Heavy clay soils- will be unsuitable. A few days before planting the seedlings, you need to dig a trench 30 cm wide and deep, at the bottom of which manure is placed and completely covered with soil. The ground can be covered with film so that it warms up as much as possible. Then arcs are installed on the bed and a transparent film is stretched.

How to Grow Watermelons - Step by Step

How to grow a square watermelon?

If you are growing watermelons on your property, why not grow a square-shaped berry for special occasions to surprise your loved ones and guests? This miracle was invented by the Japanese in the late 80s of the 20th century.

Features of cultivation

Suitable for growing cubic watermelon different varieties berries, and the main tool that gives shape is a cube measuring 20x20x20. It must be made from transparent material, for example, plastic. A hole with a diameter of about 3 cm must be made on the top side of the container, and one of the adjacent sides must be removable. You also need to make holes with a diameter of 5-8 mm in the corners of the cube.

When the watermelon is the size of a small ball, it must be placed in the cube by passing the stem through the hole on the top wall. As the berry increases in size, it will fill the cube and take its shape.

Sometimes it happens that a watermelon ripens earlier before it takes on a clear cube shape, but in any case, it will be unusual. And experience comes with time, and you will learn how to grow square watermelons no worse than Japanese craftsmen.

His beneficial features, the amazing taste is why both adults and children love it so much!

Don’t be upset if you didn’t succeed in growing a sweet watermelon, take into account your mistakes, then next year, your watermelons will be much more delicious!

Plant watermelon (lat. Citrullus lanatus) – herbaceous annual, a species of the Watermelon genus of the Cucurbitaceae family. Watermelon is a melon crop. The homeland of watermelon is southern Africa - Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa. The colocynth species, related to the watermelon, is still found here and is considered the ancestor of the cultivated watermelon. This crop was cultivated in Ancient Egypt, in the 20th century BC: watermelon seeds were discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Evidence that watermelon was known to the ancient Romans, who ate it fresh and salted and also made honey from it, can be found in the poems of Virgil.

The watermelon fruit was also grown in China, where it was called the “melon of the West,” and by the Arabs, who consumed it before meals to cleanse the body. The crusaders brought watermelon to Europe, and on the territory of modern Russia it appeared in the 13th-14th centuries AD. Today, the champion in growing watermelons is China, followed closely by Turkey, Iran, Egypt, the American states, as well as Uzbekistan and Russia. Watermelons grow best in climates with long, hot, dry summers and short, cool winters.

Planting and caring for watermelon

• Landing: Watermelon seeds are sown in open ground when the soil at a depth of 10 cm warms up to 15-16 ˚C. Sowing seeds for seedlings - at the end of April or early May, planting seedlings in the ground - at the end of May or early June.
• Lighting: bright sunlight.
• The soil: sand or sandy loam with a pH of 6.5-7.0.
• Watering: once a week, using 3 buckets of water per 1 m² of area. In hot weather, water twice as often, and the row spacing is also moistened. After fruit formation, watering is gradually reduced, and 2 weeks before harvest it is stopped completely.
• Feeding: 2 weeks after planting in the ground, seedlings are fertilized with a solution ammonium nitrate(20 g per 10 l), spending 2 l for each bush. You can replace saltpeter with a solution of mullein (1:10) or chicken manure (1:20), adding 30 g of superphosphate and 15 g of potassium chloride to a bucket. Another feeding is done during the budding period: per plant there should be 6 g of superphosphate, 4 g of ammonium nitrate and the same amount of calcium chloride.
• Reproduction: seed, seedling and non-seedling.
• Pests: melon aphids, wireworms, gnawing cutworms.
• Diseases: root, white and black rot, powdery mildew, downy mildew, anthracnose, olive and angular spot, viral mosaic.

Read more about growing watermelons below.

Watermelon berry - description

Watermelon has thin branched stems, climbing or creeping, most often smoothed-pentagonal, reaching a length of 4 m. At a young age, the stems are covered with dense pubescence. The leaves of watermelon are petiolate, alternate, pubescent, harsh, rough on both sides, triangular-ovate, heart-shaped at the base, from 8 to 22 cm long, from 5 to 18 cm wide. Watermelon flowers that bloom in summer are female, male and hermaphroditic, with boat-shaped bracts. The fruit is a watermelon berry, a multi-seeded juicy pumpkin with smooth surface and juicy, sweet pink or red flesh, although there are varieties with yellowish flesh and a rough rind.

Sowing watermelon seeds

Cultivation of watermelons in open ground is carried out by seed method, seedlings and non-seedlings. In warm areas, seeds can be sown directly into soil that has been prepared in advance and warmed up to 12-14 ºC. Before sowing, the seeds are kept in a thermos with water at a temperature of 50 ºC until the sprouts hatch. In holes about 8 cm deep, located at a distance of 1 meter from each other, place a tablespoon of ash, a teaspoon of ammophoska, a kilogram of humus and thoroughly mix the additives with the soil. Then they pour 2 liters of water into the hole, wait for it to be absorbed, place two or three seeds flat in the hole at a distance from each other, cover them with soil and trample it down. After sowing, the bed is not watered.

The first shoots may appear in a little over a week. If you sow seeds in cold ground, the emergence of seedlings will have to wait longer, they may even die. To prevent this from happening, sow the seeds in the ground no earlier than the third ten days of May. The emerging shoots in the development phase of 3-4 true leaves are thinned out, that is, weak shoots are removed by cutting them off just above the surface of the bed.

Growing watermelon seedlings

In areas with short summers, it is better to grow watermelons using seedlings. Growing watermelon seedlings begins in May by sowing seeds in separate containers of at least 0.3 liters in order to avoid intermediate transplanting or picking, which pumpkin plants do not tolerate so well. Planting watermelons for seedlings is carried out in soil, which should consist of peat, turf soil and sand in equal parts. For five liters of this soil mixture you need to add 50 g of potassium sulfate, ammonium nitrate and dolomite flour, as well as 100 g of double superphosphate.

A few days before planting a watermelon, the seeds are heated for half an hour in water at a temperature of 55 ºC, and then germinated in wet sand at a temperature of 25 ºC. Only after the seeds have tiny shoots, they are sown 2-3 pieces in separate pots on the surface of the soil mixture described earlier, sprinkled with sand on top, covered with film or glass and transferred to a warm place where the temperature is not lower than 30 ºC. When shoots appear after a week, the film is removed and the temperature is lowered to 16-18 ºC for nine days.

Caring for watermelon seedlings involves feeding, watering and, if necessary, organizing additional artificial lighting, since watermelon needs a twelve-hour day of light. Water the seedlings in several stages, allowing the water to be absorbed, but make sure that the water does not get on the leaves of the seedlings. In the development phase of 3 true leaves, seedlings are fed with a solution of complex mineral fertilizers or liquid mullein.

About 10 days before planting the seedlings in the garden, the seedlings begin to harden off: they are taken out to the balcony or terrace for an hour or two, daily increasing the time spent in the fresh air until it reaches 24 hours.

Watermelon pick

How to pick watermelons? As already mentioned, pumpkin seedlings do not dive for fear of damaging them root system. They don't even pinch them.

Planting watermelon in open ground

When to plant watermelon in the ground

When to plant watermelon seedlings in the garden? Watermelons are planted in the ground four weeks after sowing the seeds in the development phase of the fifth or sixth true leaf - at the end of May or the first ten days of June. For watermelons, choose a site protected from the wind, well-warmed and illuminated on the south or south-east side, on which perennial grasses (alfalfa, sweet clover, sainfoin) were grown before watermelons. winter wheat, cabbage, onions or annual legumes.

It is not recommended to grow watermelons after plants such as nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers) and pumpkin plants (melon, zucchini, squash, and watermelon). After you harvest the watermelons, it will be possible to grow pumpkins in this area only after 6-8 years.

Soil for watermelon

The soil for watermelon is preferably sandy or sandy loam with a pH value of 6.5-7 units. Site preparation is carried out in the fall: 4-5 kg ​​of rotted manure per m² is added for digging, as well as 40-45 g of superphosphate, 15-25 g of potassium salt and 24-35 g of ammonium sulfate per the same unit of area. In heavy soils add one or two buckets of sand per m². Fresh manure is not used to fertilize the soil.

How to plant watermelons in open ground

Make holes in the bed at a distance of 1-1.5 m from each other in a checkerboard pattern, leaving row spacing 2 meters wide, and pour 1.5-2 liters of water into each hole. The seedlings are buried in the holes up to the cotyledon leaves, the soil is compacted after planting, and then the surface of the area around the seedlings is sprinkled with sand within a radius of 10 cm in order to prevent root rot. Water the seedlings with warm water and protect them from sunlight until the seedling leaves restore turgor.

Growing watermelon in a greenhouse

In areas with cold and short summers, watermelons are grown in greenhouses, since the vegetative period of the crop sometimes lasts about 150 days, and there are much fewer truly warm days in northern areas. To speed up the process, first, watermelon seedlings are grown at home, and then they are planted in a bed in a greenhouse under a double film covering. You already know how to grow watermelon seedlings.

You need to start growing it in the third ten days of April, and planting watermelons in a greenhouse is carried out when the soil in it warms up to 12-14 ºC. The soil in the beds is prepared in advance: a week before planting the seedlings, a layer of soil as deep as a spade is removed from the beds, hay with humus is placed in the resulting trench, which is sprinkled with nitrogen fertilizer on top and watered with hot water. The removed layer of soil is placed on the hay bed and the bed is covered with black covering material, which can be removed just before planting.

Seedlings are planted to a depth of 10 cm in holes located in one row at a distance of 70 cm from one another. As the lashes develop, they are tied to a trellis installed in advance. For normal fruiting, you need to let several bees into the greenhouse. But since male flowers only live for a few hours, don’t risk the future harvest; do the pollination yourself: pick a few male flowers, carefully remove the petals from them and apply their anthers to the stigmas of the female flowers. It is desirable that each female flower be pollinated by several male flowers.

Artificial pollination should be done in the morning, when the air temperature in the greenhouse is 18-20 ºC. It is very important that the night temperature on the eve of this important event is not lower than 12 ºC.

In order to speed up the growth of the vines, pinch them so that there are no more than 3-5 leaves above the fruit, and remove weak shoots altogether. Leave no more than 5 ovaries on each bush, remove the rest. The first time watermelon fertilizer is applied to grooves dug at a distance of 20 cm from the bush, when the lashes reach a length of 25-50 cm, and it would be best at this time to feed the plant with a mullein solution (1:10) or liquid fermented chicken droppings (1:20 ). The second feeding is applied before the start of the budding process, and the third after the formation of the ovaries, but both times the grooves are made at a distance of 40 cm from the bush. Just like the first time, watermelons are fed with mullein or liquid chicken droppings, since organic matter is best fertilizer for watermelon.

As the fruits begin to increase in size, turn them over from time to time to ensure they ripen evenly. Don't forget to ventilate the greenhouse.

Watermelon care

How to grow watermelon

Watermelons in open ground do not require intrusive care, however, there are agrotechnical measures that should not be neglected. These include thinning seedlings, watering, weeding, loosening the soil, and pinching out the vines. In the development phase of 3-4 true leaves, thin out the seedlings, leave one or two in the hole, and cut the rest just above the surface of the soil. Although some gardeners successfully plant extra seedlings, they take root well and bear fruit.

When the ovaries appear, leave no more than 6 fruits on the bush, and under those that lie on the ground, place some kind of non-rotting material - roofing felt, a piece of plastic or foil.

Watering a watermelon

Watermelons are watered once a week, but generously, at the rate of 3 buckets per m² of land. When the heat comes or the time of flowering, it is necessary to carry out 2 such abundant waterings per week, moistening not only the soil around the bushes, but also the aisles - the entire area of ​​the site. When fruits form, watering is gradually reduced until it stops completely two weeks before harvesting. In total, watermelons are watered 3-4 times during the summer: when 5-7 leaves develop, during the flowering period and at the beginning of fruit formation.

A day or two after watering at the beginning of the growing season, loosen the soil in the area to a depth of 6 cm and at the same time remove weeds from it. When the watermelons close in rows, the weeds will no longer harm them, so loosening and weeding can be stopped, especially since the plant’s root system, which extends in different directions, is very easy to damage with a hoe.

Feeding watermelon

Two weeks after planting the seedlings, they need to be fed. How to fertilize watermelons in open ground? The first time it is best to apply ammonium nitrate by dissolving 20 g of fertilizer in a bucket of water, using 2 liters of solution for each bush. You can replace saltpeter with a solution of mullein (1:10) or chicken manure (1:20), adding 30 g of superphosphate and 15 g of calcium chloride to a bucket of solution. The next feeding is applied during the budding period, and it consists of 4 g of calcium chloride, 4 g of ammonium nitrate and 6 g of superphosphate per plant. If you apply fertilizers dry, water the area before and after applying them.

Pests and diseases of watermelon

What are the diseases of watermelons? Most often they are affected by white, gray, black and root rot, powdery mildew - real and downy, anthracnose, angular and olive spots and mosaic. With careful preparation of seed and soil for planting and proper care of melons, watermelons, as a rule, are not affected by diseases or pests. But it doesn’t change from year to year, and anything can happen, so The best way protecting your melon means being able to quickly identify the disease and knowing how to treat watermelons against a particular disease.

Powdery mildew caused by a fungus. The leaves of the plants are covered with a grayish-white coating, under which the leaves die, and the fruits become tasteless, unsweetened, deformed and rot.

Downy mildew, or peronosporosis, is also excited by the fungus, but only the old leaves are affected first and only then the young ones. Angular light-colored yellow spots, and a grayish-purple coating forms on the underside. The fruits take on an ugly shape and stop developing.

Olive spot looks like irregularly shaped spots covering all above-ground parts of the plant, why leaves become corrugated, and olive-colored cankers appear on the stems and petioles of leaves. The ovaries dry out and fall off.

Angular spotting, or bacteriosis, It is carried by insects and looks like whitish oily spots on the above-ground parts of the plant, as a result of which holes appear on the leaves and they fall off, the stems wither, the fruits become soft, transparent and stop growing.

Anthracnose, or copperhead- also a fungal disease that causes brown or yellow spots with yellowish-pink pads to appear on watermelon leaves, and in humid weather the spots become covered with a pink coating. If the damage is severe, the watermelon dries out and dies.

White, gray, black And root rot Same fungal diseases, each of which can destroy both an individual bush and the crop as a whole. White, black and gray rot destroy the leaves, stems and fruits of watermelon, and root rot destroys the roots of the plant.

Cucumber mosaic, unlike all the diseases described above, it is viral disease which is impossible to cope with. It manifests itself by the appearance of a mosaic pattern in green and light green tones on the leaves. The plant is stunted, swellings, bumps and dots appear on the fruits.

Of the pests, the most harmful to watermelons are melon aphids, gnawing cutworms and wireworms.

Wireworms- These are the larvae of click beetles that resemble hard pieces of wire and feed on the seeds and shoots of watermelon.

melon aphid is dangerous in itself, since it feeds on the cell sap of the ground parts of the watermelon, and as a carrier of such dangerous disease, like a mosaic, because there is no cure for it.

Gnawing And winter cutworms lay eggs on the plant, and the caterpillars that emerge from them feed on the watermelon, gnawing its roots, causing the watermelon to turn yellow and die.

Watermelon processing

The fight against watermelon diseases is carried out using fungicides - Fundazol, Bordeaux mixture, Skor, Decis and others. It is better to find out what kind of fungicide you need in a specialized store where you can purchase chemicals to destroy any fungus and find out how to treat watermelons with this drug. However, it will be better for both your melon plant and your health, instead of using fungicides, observe crop rotation, follow the agrotechnical conditions for growing the crop and implement proper care behind the ripening watermelons.

If you follow all the rules, the plants will not get fungal disease.

As for harmful insects, aphids are destroyed by dusting plants sprinkled with water with a mixture of ash and tobacco dust in equal proportions, and 20 minutes after treatment, the soil in the area is loosened, thereby destroying fallen insects. Cutworm caterpillars are lured onto pieces of cake or plant remains with a sweetish taste and collected, in the same way as wireworms. To do this, make depressions of 50 cm in the soil, throw in cake and pieces of sweet root vegetables and cover these traps with shields, which are removed after a day or two, and the insects gathered there are destroyed. We remind you that usually, like diseases, pests attack weakened and unkempt plants.

Collection and storage of watermelons

Before harvesting watermelons, you need to make sure that they have reached the first stage of removable ripeness - this usually occurs 5 days before full ripeness. If you skip this point and remove the watermelon later, it will not be stored for long, and if you store an unripe watermelon, it is unlikely to ripen in storage. The state of first ripeness can be determined by the color of the pulp and seeds, characteristic of each variety of watermelon. If you remove the watermelons in time, when the flesh in them is pink, then during storage it will gradually turn red - the watermelon will ripen in storage without losing its sweetness.

Watermelons of late varieties, which have a denser and thicker peel, and the pulp has a rougher structure, last the longest. Early and mid-ripening watermelons are removed as they ripen and eaten or processed - jam is made from them, salted or pickled, and the fruits of late-ripening varieties intended for storage are cut with pruning shears or sharp knife together with a peduncle 5 cm long just before frost. Do not tear the berry from the stem, as rotting often begins at the point of separation.

For storage, choose medium-sized watermelons with a thick rind, shiny and intact - there should be no dents, cracks, soft areas or scratches on it. When transporting, do not throw or place watermelons on a hard surface; do all work with gloves. When laying watermelons, make sure that they do not touch each other - this measure will help avoid infection of the fruits with rot.

Optimal conditions for storing watermelons: temperature 1-4 ºC with air humidity 75-85%, as well as good ventilation. We offer you the following storage methods:

• Collect dry moss in the forest in sunny weather, spread it in a thick layer on the bottom wooden box, place a watermelon on top and cover it on all sides with moss, then place other watermelons, covering each of them with moss;
• Wood ash can be used instead of moss. Watermelons sprinkled with ashes in a box or barrel are lowered into the cellar and stored there under a tightly closed lid;
• dip each watermelon into a clay or alabaster mash with the consistency of thick sour cream, let the coating dry and lower the fruits into the cellar;
• instead of clay or alabaster, you can use wax or paraffin: melt them in a water bath, cover each fruit with a layer about five millimeters thick and lower the treated watermelons into the cellar;
• wrap each watermelon tightly natural fabric, put it in a net and hang it in the cellar from the ceiling;
• make shelving in the cellar and place it on the shelves thick layer straw and place the watermelons on top so that they are shrouded in straw;
• Find a dark, cool place in your apartment where no light can penetrate, place the watermelons there and turn them over daily.

How and wherever you store watermelons, make it a rule to check what condition they are in at least once a week in order to notice a spoiled fruit in time and not allow it to infect other watermelons with rot. With the right variety, place and storage method, you can enjoy watermelons until spring.

Types and varieties of watermelons

Actually, the common watermelon, which we grow and buy in markets and stores, is a species of the Watermelon genus, in which there are two varieties:

African tsamma melon (Citrullus lanatus var. citroides) , growing in Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa, and familiar to all of us woolly watermelon (Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus) , which is found only in cultivated form. Moreover, Asian, European and American breeders had a hand in creating many varieties of this variety that exist today. We will introduce you to the varieties of this watermelon.

Varieties of watermelons for open ground are divided into early, mid-season and late, suitable only for areas with long, warm summers. When choosing a variety, it is necessary to take into account its resistance not only to cold, but also to drought, diseases and pests, as well as the need for fertilizers and the ability to grow. So, early varieties watermelons:

• American hybrid Victoria, ripening in 62 days or a little more, with a round fruit weighing up to 10 kg;
• variety Skorik with small light green fruits weighing up to 4 kg with scalloped stripes blurred along the edges with delicate, sweet red pulp of high taste and thick peel;
• Jenny- an ultra-early American hybrid, ripening from 54 days and forming 4-6 on each bush standard size white-green fruits weighing up to one and a half kilograms, with thin dark stripes, very thin skin, seeds no larger than grape seeds and bright, very tasty pulp;
• Stabolite– the best of the seedless hybrids, ripening from 62 days, with powerful and large elongated fruits with very tasty pulp. Pollinated with the help of Lady and Trophy varieties from the Nunems variety series;
• Ogonyok– a variety of Russian selection with small fruits weighing up to 2 kg with thin peel and tasty pulp;
• Dolby– American large-fruited, productive and stress-resistant hybrid, ripening after 60 days.

Mid-season varieties:

• Couch potato– the ripening period of this variety is from 75 to 90 days. It is drought-resistant and rarely affected by diseases and pests. Medium-sized, light green fruits with prickly stripes, weighing up to 5 kg, with thin skin and red-pink, pleasant-tasting pulp. medium density;
• Top Gun- one of the most popular productive American varieties, ripening in 70-75 days with large round fruits weighing up to 10 kg and crispy dark red pulp with small seeds. Watermelons of this variety are perfectly stored and resistant to anthracnose;
• Dumara– a productive hybrid, ripening from day 75, with oval-cuboidal fruits with sweet, tender pulp and very tender seeds;
• Antey- a hybrid with delicate and record-breakingly sweet pulp of oval-cuboid fruits. Prefers organic fertilizers;
• Ataman– disease-resistant variety domestic selection, ripening in 66-86 days, with round, prickly fruits weighing up to 10 kg with red tasty pulp of medium density.

Late varieties of watermelons for open ground:

• Spring– this variety can be grown not only in melon fields, but also in a greenhouse. Elongated, spherical, smooth fruits weighing up to 3 kg with a thick, barely noticeable green mesh against an olive-colored background contain granular, tender and sweet dark red pulp. This variety ripens in 105 days;
• Icarus– a productive, drought-resistant variety that ripens in 88-110 days. The fruits, weighing from 3 to 16 kg, are dark green in color with faint stripes and very strong bark. The pulp is red-raspberry, very sweet. The variety is perfectly stored and can be stored until March;
• Chill- the most common late-ripening variety, ripening in 100 days, with large, elliptical, weakly segmented fruits weighing from 15 to 25 kg with strong green bark with an almost black stripe, hiding a very sweet, bright red color pink tint pulp. Fruit shelf life is 3 months;
• Melania– a hybrid of the Early variety, ripening after 80 days, with oval fruits weighing up to 12 kg. The bark is green with wide dark green stripes, the flesh is crisp, dark red, with small seeds.

We invite lovers of unusual plants to try their luck in growing something rare in our area. Japanese variety watermelon from the island of Hokkaido Densuke with almost black bark or the gigantic American hybrid California Cross. The smallest watermelons are the Pepkinos variety, which can be thrown whole into your mouth. And for those who are irritated by the seeds in watermelon berries, we offer the seedless variety Red King. Seekers of new gastronomic sensations will certainly enjoy the muscat-flavored watermelon of the Vector variety, bred by a breeder from Astrakhan, who also boasts of creating the Lunny variety - a watermelon with pulp yellow color and a hint of lemon.

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After this article they usually read

Plant watermelon (lat. Citrullus lanatus)– a herbaceous annual, a species of the Watermelon genus of the Cucurbitaceae family. Watermelon is a melon crop native to southern Africa - Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa. The colocynth species, related to the watermelon, is still found here and is considered the ancestor of the cultivated watermelon. This crop was cultivated in Ancient Egypt, in the 20th century BC: watermelon seeds were discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Evidence that watermelon was known to the ancient Romans, who ate it fresh and salted and also made honey from it, can be found in the poems of Virgil. The watermelon fruit was also grown in China, where it was called the “melon of the West,” and by the Arabs, who consumed it before meals to cleanse the body. The crusaders brought watermelon to Europe, and on the territory of modern Russia it appeared in the 13th-14th centuries AD. Today, the champion in growing watermelons is China, followed closely by Turkey, Iran, Egypt, the American states, as well as Uzbekistan and Russia. Watermelons grow best in climates with long, hot, dry summers and short, cool winters.

Watermelon berry - description

Watermelon has thin branched stems, climbing or creeping, most often smoothed-pentagonal, reaching a length of 4 m. At a young age, the stems are covered with dense pubescence. The leaves of watermelon are petiolate, alternate, pubescent, harsh, rough on both sides, triangular-ovate, heart-shaped at the base, from 8 to 22 cm long, from 5 to 18 cm wide. Watermelon flowers that bloom in summer are female, male and hermaphroditic, with boat-shaped bracts. The fruit is a watermelon berry, a multi-seeded juicy pumpkin with a smooth surface and juicy, sweet pink or red flesh, although there are varieties with yellowish pulp and a rough rind.

Sowing watermelon seeds.

Cultivation of watermelons in open ground is carried out by seed method, seedlings and non-seedlings. In warm areas, seeds can be sown directly into soil that has been prepared in advance and warmed up to 12-14 ºC. Before sowing, the seeds are kept in a thermos with water at a temperature of 50 ºC until the sprouts hatch. In holes about 8 cm deep, located at a distance of 1 meter from each other, place a tablespoon of ash, a teaspoon of ammophoska, a kilogram of humus and thoroughly mix the additives with the soil. Then they pour 2 liters of water into the hole, wait for it to be absorbed, place two or three seeds flat in the hole at a distance from each other, cover them with soil and trample it down. After sowing, the bed is not watered.

The first shoots may appear in a little over a week. If you sow seeds in cold soil, you will have to wait longer for the seedlings to appear, and they may even die. To prevent this from happening, sow the seeds in the ground no earlier than the third ten days of May. The emerging shoots in the development phase of 3-4 true leaves are thinned out, that is, weak shoots are removed by cutting them off just above the surface of the bed.

Growing watermelon seedlings.

In areas with short summers, it is better to grow watermelons using seedlings. Growing watermelon seedlings begins in May by sowing seeds in separate containers of at least 0.3 liters in order to avoid intermediate transplanting or picking, which pumpkin plants do not tolerate so well. Planting watermelons for seedlings is carried out in soil, which should consist of peat, turf soil and sand in equal parts. For five liters of this soil mixture, you need to add 50 g of potassium sulfate, ammonium nitrate and dolomite flour, as well as 100 g of double superphosphate. A few days before planting a watermelon, the seeds are heated for half an hour in water at a temperature of 55 ºC, and then germinated in wet sand at a temperature of 25 ºC. Only after the seeds have tiny shoots, they are sown 2-3 pieces in separate pots on the surface of the soil mixture described earlier, sprinkled with sand on top, covered with film or glass and transferred to a warm place where the temperature is not lower than 30 ºC. When shoots appear after a week, the film is removed and the temperature is lowered to 16-18 ºC for nine days.

Caring for watermelon seedlings involves fertilizing, watering and, if necessary, organizing additional artificial lighting, since watermelon needs a twelve-hour day of light. Water the seedlings in several stages, allowing the water to be absorbed, but make sure that the water does not get on the leaves of the seedlings. In the development phase of 3 true leaves, seedlings are fed with a solution of complex mineral fertilizers or liquid mullein. About 10 days before planting the seedlings in the garden, the seedlings begin to harden off: they are taken out to the balcony or terrace for an hour or two, daily increasing the time spent in the fresh air until it reaches 24 hours.

Watermelon pick.

How to pick watermelons? As already mentioned, pumpkin seedlings are not planted for fear of damaging their root system. They don't even pinch them.

Planting watermelon in open ground

When to plant watermelon in the ground.

When to plant watermelon seedlings in the garden? Watermelons are planted in the ground four weeks after sowing the seeds in the development phase of the fifth or sixth true leaf - at the end of May or the first ten days of June. For watermelons, choose a site protected from the wind, well-warmed and illuminated on the south or south-east side, on which perennial grasses (alfalfa, sweet clover, sainfoin), winter wheat, cabbage, onions or annual legumes were grown before the watermelons. It is not recommended to grow watermelons after plants such as nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers) and pumpkin plants (melon, zucchini, squash, and watermelon). After you harvest the watermelons, it will be possible to grow pumpkins in this area only after 6-8 years.

Soil for watermelon.

The soil for watermelon is preferably sandy or sandy loam with a pH value of 6.5-7 units. Site preparation is carried out in the fall: 4-5 kg ​​of rotted manure per m² is added for digging, as well as 40-45 g of superphosphate, 15-25 g of potassium salt and 24-35 g of ammonium sulfate per the same unit of area. In heavy soils add one or two buckets of sand per m². Fresh manure is not used to fertilize the soil.

How to plant watermelons in open ground.

Make holes in the bed at a distance of 1-1.5 m from each other in a checkerboard pattern, leaving row spacing 2 meters wide, and pour 1.5-2 liters of water into each hole. The seedlings are buried in the holes up to the cotyledon leaves, the soil is compacted after planting, and then the surface of the area around the seedlings is sprinkled with sand within a radius of 10 cm in order to prevent root rot. Water the seedlings with warm water and protect them from sunlight until the seedling leaves restore turgor.

Growing watermelon in a greenhouse.

In areas with cold and short summers, watermelons are grown in greenhouses, since the vegetative period of the crop sometimes lasts about 150 days, and there are much fewer truly warm days in northern areas. To speed up the process, first, watermelon seedlings are grown at home, and then they are planted in a bed in a greenhouse under a double film covering. You already know how to grow watermelon seedlings. You need to start growing it in the third ten days of April, and planting watermelons in a greenhouse is carried out when the soil in it warms up to 12-14 ºC. The soil in the beds is prepared in advance: a week before planting the seedlings, a layer of soil as deep as a spade is removed from the beds, hay with humus is placed in the resulting trench, which is sprinkled with nitrogen fertilizer on top and watered with hot water. The removed layer of soil is placed on the hay bed and the bed is covered with black covering material, which can be removed just before planting.

Seedlings are planted to a depth of 10 cm in holes located in one row at a distance of 70 cm from one another. As the lashes develop, they are tied to a trellis installed in advance. For normal fruiting, you need to let several bees into the greenhouse. But since male flowers only live for a few hours, don’t risk the future harvest; do the pollination yourself: pick a few male flowers, carefully remove the petals from them and apply their anthers to the stigmas of the female flowers. It is desirable that each female flower be pollinated by several male flowers. Artificial pollination should be done in the morning, when the air temperature in the greenhouse is 18-20 ºC. It is very important that the night temperature on the eve of this important event is not lower than 12 ºC.

In order to speed up the growth of the vines, pinch them so that there are no more than 3-5 leaves above the fruit, and remove weak shoots altogether. Leave no more than 5 ovaries on each bush, remove the rest. The first time watermelon fertilizer is applied to grooves dug at a distance of 20 cm from the bush, when the lashes reach a length of 25-50 cm, and it would be best at this time to feed the plant with a mullein solution (1:10) or liquid fermented chicken droppings (1:20 ). The second feeding is applied before the start of the budding process, and the third after the formation of the ovaries, but both times the grooves are made at a distance of 40 cm from the bush. Just like the first time, watermelons are fed with mullein or liquid chicken droppings, since organic matter is the best fertilizer for watermelon.

As the fruits begin to increase in size, turn them over from time to time to ensure they ripen evenly. Don't forget to ventilate the greenhouse.

Watermelon care

How to grow a watermelon.

Watermelons in open ground do not require intrusive care, however, there are agrotechnical measures that should not be neglected. These include thinning seedlings, watering, weeding, loosening the soil, and pinching out the vines. In the development phase of 3-4 true leaves, thin out the seedlings, leave one or two in the hole, and cut the rest just above the surface of the soil. Although some gardeners successfully plant extra seedlings, they take root well and bear fruit.

When the ovaries appear, leave no more than 6 fruits on the bush, and under those that lie on the ground, place some kind of non-rotting material - roofing felt, a piece of plastic or foil.

Watering a watermelon.

Watermelons are watered once a week, but generously, at the rate of 3 buckets per m² of land. When the heat comes or the time of flowering, it is necessary to carry out 2 such abundant waterings per week, moistening not only the soil around the bushes, but also the aisles - the entire area of ​​the site. When fruits form, watering is gradually reduced until it stops completely two weeks before harvesting. In total, watermelons are watered 3-4 times during the summer: when 5-7 leaves develop, during the flowering period and at the beginning of fruit formation.

A day or two after watering at the beginning of the growing season, loosen the soil in the area to a depth of 6 cm and at the same time remove weeds from it. When the watermelons close in rows, the weeds will no longer harm them, so loosening and weeding can be stopped, especially since the plant’s root system, which extends in different directions, is very easy to damage with a hoe.

Feeding watermelon.

Two weeks after planting the seedlings, they need to be fed. How to fertilize watermelons in open ground? The first time it is best to apply ammonium nitrate by dissolving 20 g of fertilizer in a bucket of water, using 2 liters of solution for each bush. You can replace saltpeter with a solution of mullein (1:10) or chicken manure (1:20), adding 30 g of superphosphate and 15 g of calcium chloride to a bucket of solution. The next feeding is applied during the budding period, and it consists of 4 g of calcium chloride, 4 g of ammonium nitrate and 6 g of superphosphate per plant. If you apply fertilizers dry, water the area before and after applying them.

Pests and diseases of watermelon

What are the diseases of watermelons? Most often they are affected by white, gray, black and root rot, powdery mildew - real and downy, anthracnose, angular and olive spots and mosaic. With careful preparation of seed and soil for planting and proper care of melons, watermelons, as a rule, are not affected by diseases or pests. But it doesn’t change from year to year, and anything can happen, so the best way to protect your melon is to be able to quickly identify the disease and know how to treat watermelons against a particular disease.

Powdery mildew is caused by a fungus. The leaves of the plants are covered with a grayish-white coating, under which the leaves die, and the fruits become tasteless, unsweetened, deformed and rot.

Downy mildew, or downy mildew, is also caused by the fungus, but only old leaves are affected first and only then young ones. Angular light yellow spots appear on them, and a grayish-purple coating forms on the underside. The fruits take on an ugly shape and stop developing.

Olive spot looks like irregularly shaped spots covering all above-ground parts of the plant, causing the leaves to become corrugated, and olive-colored ulcers appear on the stems and petioles of the leaves. The ovaries dry out and fall off.

Angular spot, or bacteriosis, is carried by insects and appears as whitish oily spots on the above-ground parts of the plant, causing holes to appear in the leaves and they fall off, the stems wither, the fruits become soft, transparent and stop growing.

Anthracnose, or copperhead, is also a fungal disease that causes brown or yellow spots with yellowish-pink pads to appear on watermelon leaves, and in humid weather the spots become covered with a pink coating. If the damage is severe, the watermelon dries out and dies.

White, gray, black and root rot are also fungal diseases, each of which can destroy both an individual bush and the crop as a whole. White, black and gray rot destroy the leaves, stems and fruits of watermelon, and root rot destroys the roots of the plant.

Cucumber mosaic, unlike all the diseases described above, is a viral disease that is impossible to cope with. It manifests itself by the appearance of a mosaic pattern in green and light green tones on the leaves. The plant is stunted, swellings, bumps and dots appear on the fruits.

Of the pests, the ones that most harm watermelons are melon aphids, cutworms and wireworms.

Wireworms are the larvae of click beetles that resemble tough pieces of wire and feed on watermelon seeds and shoots.

The melon aphid is dangerous in itself, since it feeds on the cell sap of the ground parts of the watermelon, and as a carrier of such a dangerous disease as mosaic, because there is no cure for it.

Gnawing and winter cutworms lay eggs on the plant, and the caterpillars that emerge from them feed on the watermelon, gnawing its roots, causing the watermelon to turn yellow and die.

Processing watermelon.

The fight against watermelon diseases is carried out using fungicides - Fundazol, Bordeaux mixture, Skor, Decis and others. It is better to find out what kind of fungicide you will need in a specialized store, where you can purchase chemicals to destroy any fungus and find out how to treat watermelons with this drug. However, it will be better for both your melon plant and your health, instead of using fungicides, to observe crop rotation, follow the agrotechnical conditions for growing the crop and provide proper care for ripening watermelons. If you follow all the rules, the plants will not get fungal disease.

As for harmful insects, aphids are destroyed by dusting plants sprinkled with water with a mixture of ash and tobacco dust in equal proportions, and 20 minutes after treatment, the soil in the area is loosened, thereby destroying fallen insects. Cutworm caterpillars are lured onto pieces of cake or plant remains with a sweetish taste and collected, in the same way as wireworms. To do this, make depressions of 50 cm in the soil, throw in cake and pieces of sweet root vegetables and cover these traps with shields, which are removed after a day or two, and the insects gathered there are destroyed. We remind you that usually, like diseases, pests attack weakened and unkempt plants.

Collection and storage of watermelons

Before harvesting watermelons, you need to make sure that they have reached the first stage of removable ripeness - this usually occurs 5 days before full ripeness. If you skip this point and remove the watermelon later, it will not be stored for long, and if you store an unripe watermelon, it is unlikely to ripen in storage. The state of first ripeness can be determined by the color of the pulp and seeds, characteristic of each variety of watermelon. If you remove the watermelons in time, when the flesh in them is pink, then during storage it will gradually turn red - the watermelon will ripen in storage without losing its sweetness.

Watermelons of late varieties, which have a denser and thicker peel, and the pulp has a rougher structure, last the longest. Early and mid-ripening watermelons are removed as they ripen and eaten or processed - jam is made from them, salted or pickled, and the fruits of late-ripening varieties intended for storage are cut with pruners or a sharp knife along with a peduncle 5 cm long just before frost. Do not tear the berry from the stem, as rotting often begins at the point of separation.

For storage, choose medium-sized watermelons with a thick rind, shiny and intact - there should be no dents, cracks, soft areas or scratches on it. When transporting, do not throw or place watermelons on a hard surface; do all work with gloves. When laying watermelons, make sure that they do not touch each other - this measure will help avoid infection of the fruits with rot.

Optimal conditions for storing watermelons: temperature 1-4 ºC with air humidity 75-85%, as well as good ventilation. We offer you the following storage methods:

• – collect dry moss in the forest in sunny weather, lay it in a thick layer on the bottom of a wooden box, put a watermelon on top and cover it on all sides with moss, then put other watermelons, covering each of them with moss;
• – instead of moss, you can use wood ash. Watermelons sprinkled with ashes in a box or barrel are lowered into the cellar and stored there under a tightly closed lid;
• – dip each watermelon into a clay or alabaster mash with the consistency of thick sour cream, let the coating dry and lower the fruits into the cellar;
• – instead of clay or alabaster, you can use wax or paraffin: melt them in a water bath, cover each fruit with a layer about five millimeters thick and lower the treated watermelons into the cellar;
• – wrap each watermelon in thick natural fabric, place it in a net and hang it in the cellar from the ceiling;
• – make racks in the cellar, put a thick layer of straw on their shelves and place watermelons on top so that they are shrouded in straw;
• – find a dark, cool place in the apartment where no light penetrates, place watermelons there and turn them over daily.

How and wherever you store watermelons, make it a rule to check what condition they are in at least once a week in order to notice a spoiled fruit in time and not allow it to infect other watermelons with rot. With the right variety, place and storage method, you can enjoy watermelons until spring.

Types and varieties of watermelons

Actually, the common watermelon, which we grow and buy in markets and stores, is a species of the Watermelon genus, in which there are two varieties:

– African tsamma melon (Citrullus lanatus var. citroides) , growing in Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa, and familiar to all of us woolly watermelon (Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus) , which is found only in cultivated form. Moreover, Asian, European and American breeders had a hand in creating many varieties of this variety that exist today. We will introduce you to the varieties of this watermelon.

Varieties of watermelons for open ground are divided into early, mid-season and late, suitable only for areas with long, warm summers. When choosing a variety, it is necessary to take into account its resistance not only to cold, but also to drought, diseases and pests, as well as the need for fertilizers and the ability to grow. So, early varieties of watermelons:

• – American hybrid Victoria, ripening in 62 days or a little more, with a round fruit weighing up to 10 kg;
• – Skorik variety with small light green fruits weighing up to 4 kg with scalloped stripes blurred along the edges with delicate, sweet red pulp of high taste and thick peel;
• – Jenny is an ultra-early American hybrid, ripening from 54 days and forming on each bush 4-6 standard-sized white-green fruits weighing up to one and a half kilograms, with thin dark stripes, very thin peel, seeds no larger than grape seeds and bright, very tasty pulp;
• – Stabolite is the best of the seedless hybrids, ripening from 62 days, with powerful and large elongated fruits with very tasty pulp. Pollinated with the help of Lady and Trophy varieties from the Nunems variety series;
• – Ogonyok is a variety of Russian selection with small fruits weighing up to 2 kg with thin skin and tasty pulp;
• – Dalby is an American large-fruited, productive and stress-resistant hybrid that ripens after 60 days.

Mid-season varieties:

• – Lazyboka – the ripening period of this variety is from 75 to 90 days. It is drought-resistant and rarely affected by diseases and pests. Medium-sized, light green fruits with prickly stripes weighing up to 5 kg with a thin skin and a medium-density, red-pink, pleasant-tasting pulp;
• – Top Gun is one of the most popular productive American varieties, ripening in 70-75 days with large round fruits weighing up to 10 kg and crispy dark red pulp with small seeds. Watermelons of this variety are perfectly stored and resistant to anthracnose;
• – Dumara is a productive hybrid, ripening from day 75, with oval-cuboidal fruits with sweet, tender pulp and very tender seeds;
• – Antaeus is a hybrid with delicate and record-breakingly sweet pulp of oval-cuboid fruits. Prefers organic fertilizers;
• – Ataman is a disease-resistant variety of domestic selection, ripening in 66-86 days, with round, prickly fruits weighing up to 10 kg with red tasty pulp of medium density.

Late varieties of watermelons for open ground:

• – Spring – this variety can be grown not only in melon fields, but also in a greenhouse. Elongated, spherical, smooth fruits weighing up to 3 kg with a thick, barely noticeable green mesh against an olive-colored background contain granular, tender and sweet dark red pulp. This variety ripens in 105 days;
• – Icarus is a productive, drought-resistant variety that ripens in 88-110 days. The fruits, weighing from 3 to 16 kg, are dark green in color with faint stripes and very strong bark. The pulp is red-raspberry, very sweet. The variety is perfectly stored and can be stored until March;
• – Kholodok is the most common late-ripening variety, ripening in 100 days, with large, 15 to 25 kg, elliptical, weakly segmented fruits with strong green bark with an almost black stripe, hiding very sweet, bright red with a pink tinge. Fruit shelf life is 3 months;
• – Melania is a hybrid of the Early variety, ripening after 80 days, with oval fruits weighing up to 12 kg. The bark is green with wide dark green stripes, the flesh is crisp, dark red, with small seeds.

We invite lovers of unusual plants to try their luck in growing a rare Japanese variety of watermelon from the island of Hokkaido, Densuke, with almost black bark, or the gigantic American hybrid California Cross. The smallest watermelons are the Pepkinos variety, which can be thrown whole into your mouth. And for those who are irritated by the seeds in watermelon berries, we offer the seedless variety Red King. Seekers of new gastronomic sensations will certainly enjoy the nutmeg-flavored watermelon of the Vector variety, bred by a breeder from Astrakhan, who also boasts of creating the Lunny variety - a watermelon with yellow flesh and a lemon flavor.