How to plant watermelon seeds after eating

Many people choose to save the watermelon seeds when eating them. As long as they are sown in early July, they can grow watermelons in a year. No matter how big the watermelon is, different varieties of watermelons can be grown. If you want to grow watermelons with the watermelon seeds, you must first prepare a piece of land. You must ensure that the soil is deep and you can grow watermelons by regular care.

sowing

Open field cultivation of watermelon means cultivation without protective equipment. Generally, the appropriate time for open-field sowing is when the last frost has passed and the ground temperature has stabilized at around 15°C. The best time for sowing should also be determined based on conditions such as variety, cultivation season, cultivation method and consumption season. Generally, seeds are sown and seedlings are raised in mid-to-late March, transplanted in mid-to-late April, and harvested and put on the market in late June. Autumn watermelons are sown in early to mid-July and harvested and put on the market in late September. Watermelon open field cultivation is

Land preparation and application of sufficient basal fertilizer

When growing watermelons, you should choose a plot with loose soil, deep soil layer, fertile soil, good drainage, sufficient sunlight, and west exposure. Watermelon fields are not suitable for continuous cropping, and generally rotation is required every 4 to 5 years. Otherwise, the wilt disease will be serious; the best previous crops are rice, corn and other grass crops, followed by potatoes, cabbage and other vegetable crops, but watermelon is severely diseased as a previous crop and is not suitable for selection.

Melon fields must be deeply plowed, and it is best to turn the soil in winter. In the plots that have been deeply plowed or have a foundation for deep plowing, dig drainage ditches around them, dig furrows according to the cultivation row spacing of 2.4-3.0 meters (ditch width 0.5 meters), dig ditches on one side of the bed surface and apply base fertilizer. Apply 2500-3000 kg of farmyard manure per mu, plus 15-20 kg of phosphate fertilizer, 20-25 kg of 45% compound fertilizer, 2 kg of borax, and 1 kg of zinc fertilizer.

To prevent underground pests, a small amount of crystalline trichlorfon can be mixed into the base fertilizer. Cover the base fertilizer ditch, make it into melon ridges and finally cover it with plastic film, waiting for sowing or transplanting. When digging the ridges, you should pay attention to making sure the ridges are perpendicular to the wind direction in spring and summer, and dig trenches and apply basal fertilizer on the ridge surface where the wind blows in first, so that the vines will be in line with the wind direction after planting.

Seed soaking and germination

1. Soak the seeds. Before soaking the seeds, dry them in the sun for one day. Soak the dried seeds in warm water (about 30°C) that is not hot to the touch for 6-8 hours. Then take out the seeds, wrap them in a towel or coarse cloth, and rub off the mucous membrane on the seed coat. To prevent wilt disease, soak them in 1000 times diluted thiophanate-methyl for another 4 hours. Generally, the soaking time is required to reach 12 hours. When the seed coat softens, take them out and rinse them with clean water for germination.

2. Germination. Place the soaked seeds flat on a wet towel, cover the seeds with another wet towel, and place them in an environment of 30-35 degrees for germination. They will basically germinate in 72 hours, and can be sown when 85-90% of the seeds turn white.

Transplanting

1. Live broadcast of germination. Dig a shallow furrow or hole 8 to 10 cm deep on the melon ridge near the place where base fertilizer is applied, with a plant spacing of 45-50 cm. Sow 1-2 seeds for germination in each hole (after watering thoroughly in case of drought), and cover with 2 to 3 cm of soil. Seedlings will emerge after 2 to 3 days for direct germination. Generally, 150 to 200 grams of seeds are used per mu.

2. Raise seedlings and transplant. When the seedlings are 30-35 days old and have 3 leaves and 1 heart, they are transplanted. The plant spacing is 45-50 cm, and about 450-500 trees are planted per mu. Water them after transplanting to help them take root.

Field management

1. Cultivation and drainage.

Intertillage begins after sowing or transplanting. It is usually a combination of thinning, loosening the soil and cultivating the soil. Watering should be less during the seedling stage, and attention should be paid to "squatting" to facilitate root growth. When the vine is 30 cm long, apply heavy fertilizer and then cultivate the soil. Watermelon has large fruit, high yield and large water requirement. When growing it in dry land, attention should be paid to irrigation, while when growing it in paddy fields, drainage is particularly important. It is emphasized that the drainage ditches around the ridges and fields should be connected to each other and there should be no water accumulation in the fields after rain. This is the basis for ensuring a bumper and stable yield of watermelons. Stop watering 6-8 days before the fruit matures to promote sugar conversion and increase sweetness.

2. Top dressing.

The basic principles of topdressing in melon fields are: apply seedling fertilizer lightly, promote first and then control, apply vine-stretching fertilizer skillfully, and apply melon-swelling fertilizer heavily after the young fruits are set.

(1) Promote seedling growth.

Seedling-promoting fertilizer is generally applied within one week after transplanting the melon seedlings or when the direct-seeded seedlings are in the 4-5 leaf stage. When the base fertilizer is insufficient or the fertilizer effect of the base fertilizer has not yet been exerted, a small amount of quick-acting fertilizer should be applied. Generally, 8 to 10 grams of urea (or 20 grams of ammonium sulfate) are applied per plant, and the soil is covered after trenching and fertilization.

(2) Fertilizer for accelerating vine growth.

It can be done before or after the vines extend. Generally, when the melon seedlings grow to 40-60 cm, apply 10-12 kg of urea, 8 kg of superphosphate, and 13 kg of potassium sulfate per mu. Or use 18-22 kg of 45% potassium sulfate type triple compound fertilizer per mu. Apply it in a trench 25-30 cm away from the root of the melon or between two plants. The trench should be 10-15 cm deep. Cover the soil and water after application to promote fertilizer absorption.

(3) Melon-enlarging fertilizer.

The melon-swelling period is the time when watermelons require the most fertilizer in their life. When the watermelons are as big as eggs, their roots cover the entire ridge. Many watermelon farmers will apply fertilizer in holes to make the watermelons grow larger at this time. However, as the fertilizer applied in holes is too concentrated, it will burn the roots around the application point, and it is not conducive to the rapid decomposition and conversion of the fertilizer. This is quite different from the requirement of watermelons for large amounts of fertilizer and water, as well as fast-acting and comprehensive fertilizers during the melon-swelling period. Therefore, it is best to use human and animal manure water plus dissolved chemical fertilizers as the melon-swelling fertilizer.

When the watermelon is as big as an egg, apply manure water, compound fertilizer and urea in a circle about 30-45 cm away from the base of the watermelon (focus on the side where the vines extend). For watermelon farmers who do not have manure water, use 8 kg of compound fertilizer, 4.5 kg of urea and 5 kg of potassium sulfate per mu, dissolve them and mix with water for application. The concentration of the melon-swelling fertilizer should be light, and it should be adjusted with water so that the fertilizer can take effect quickly in a short period of time. Especially when the soil is relatively dry, the melon-swelling effect can be achieved immediately. In the later stage, foliar fertilizer should be sprayed with 0.4% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution every 7-10 days, for a total of 2-3 times.

3. Pruning.

Watermelon vines and leaves are lush. If the vines are allowed to grow and overlap, it will not only affect dense planting but also delay the fruiting. There are generally single-vine, double-vine and triple-vine pruning methods for watermelon. Single vine pruning only leaves one vine on each plant. Remove all other side vines. This method is simple and will produce more fruits if more plants are grown per unit area. However, each plant has fewer leaves, so the fruits are not easy to grow, and the yield and quality are both low.

In double-vine or triple-vine pruning, in addition to leaving the main vine, when the main vine grows to more than 30 cm, double-vine pruning is to select a strong side vine at the base, and triple-vine pruning is to leave two strong side vines as secondary vines or preparatory vines, and all other side vines are removed. Double-vine pruning is mostly used in production. When pruning watermelon, you should pay attention to pruning at the right time.

Generally, pruning starts when the main vine is 40 to 50 cm long and the side vines are about 15 cm long, and then it is done every 3 to 5 days; secondly, no matter which pruning method is used, it must be done carefully before fruit setting, and pruning is generally not done after fruit setting, so that there are more branches and leaves to provide nutrients for fruit growth. When the fruit begins to swell rapidly, pinching can be done to prevent excessive vegetative growth.