Many gardeners (especially beginners) have difficulties growing melons. They often face underripe fruits, low yields, crop diseases and other problems. Of course, we are talking about more severe climatic conditions, since growing melons in the southern regions does not cause any particular difficulties.
The most common way of cultivation, which guarantees the ripening of fruits, is planting a plant through seedlings. To do this, you should choose the most early-ripening varieties.
Then, not earlier than 30-40 days before the transfer of sprouts to open ground, it is necessary to place the seeds in prepared glasses with earth. Before planting, they should be germinated by wrapping them in a damp cloth for a day. It is useful to soak using special EM preparations.
After planting melon seedlings in glasses, cultivation is carried out by regular watering (every twodays). The containers themselves must be covered with a film, which will speed up seed germination by several days. Lighting would be ideal. You can judge the readiness of seedlings for transfer to the ground when 3-4 leaves appear on the melon.
Strongly delay the process of transplantation should not be, because the plant needs to adapt to new conditions.
To produce the cultivation of melons under the film, it is best to take the varieties "Kharkovskaya early" or "Krinichanka". Usually seedlings are ready for further cultivation after 25-30 days. Overgrown seedlings take root very poorly, so you should not hesitate. During planting, the temperature of the soil should not be below 16C degrees at a depth of ten centimeters.
It is very good to grow melons on fallow beds equipped with a small-sized film cover. Two plants are placed on an ordinary square meter, which are tied to a trellis after three days. Watering should be carried out with water that warms up to a temperature of at least 27C degrees. It should be noted that only the soil is moistened, the plant itself should not be watered. After each moistening, loosen the soil between rows.
Before the melon begins to bear fruit, the air temperature in the greenhouse should not fall below 30C on sunny days, and less than 25C on cloudy days. Fruits are formed on loops from 1 to 3 orders. Side loops must be pinched over 5 or 6 leaves, while leaving no more than 5 fruits on the plant. When the ovary begins to form, the air temperature under the film should be increased to 50 degrees, in cloudy weather - up to 30 C.
Melons are grown with the addition of mineral fertilizers, which are applied every two weeks. At the beginning of the flowering of the plant, the film should be removed so that the melon is ventilated and opened for pollination of flowers by bees. Melon cultivation can also be done by means of seeds placed directly into the ground. This is also done under film cover, a week before the transfer of seedlings. When the first leaf appears, thinning is performed, leaving no more than two sprouts in the hole. Further care is similar to the first option.
