How often do you need to water the watermelons in the open field and in the greenhouse, the timing of how to fertilize
Watermelon is considered a common summer delicacy, cultivated by many people who own summer cottages or country houses. Before you start planting and growing melons and gourds, you should familiarize yourself with how often watermelons should be watered in the open field.
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Features of growing watermelons
To get a good harvest, you need to familiarize yourself in advance with the peculiarities of growing melons and gourds. Before you start planting, you need to determine the most appropriate time for planting watermelon seeds. Gardeners advise sowing at the end of May, when the topsoil is well warmed up. You can plant seed until June 20-25.
It is difficult to determine the exact dates for planting watermelons, since they depend on the characteristics of the climate. In the southern regions, they try to finish planting early, before the onset of the summer heat. In the northern regions, due to the low temperature, growing watermelon seedlings in the open field do not study until summer.
The seeds are planted to a depth of about 5-8 centimeters, so that in the future crops will sprout faster. In each hole, it is necessary to plant not one seed, but several seeds at once.
Planted plants need:
- Fertilizers. Melons must be periodically fed with mineral and organic fertilizers, which can increase yields by 35-40%.
- Stepping into sonship. When grown in a garden, side lashes are regularly cut off on all bushes. This procedure is carried out to accelerate the ripening of watermelon berries and improve productivity.
- Irrigation. Some people believe that this crop is not demanding on soil moisture, so it should be rarely watered. However, this opinion is erroneous, since without irrigation of the soil, the number of fruits decreases and their taste deteriorates.
The dependence of the frequency of watering on the type of soil
Many gardeners are interested in whether there is a relationship between the frequency of soil irrigation and its variety.
To understand this, you need to familiarize yourself in more detail with the features of different types of soil:
- Sandy loam and sandy. Often, gardeners give preference to areas where sandy and sandy loam soils prevail. Their distinguishing feature is that they have a high friability. Due to this, such soil is quickly saturated with oxygen and absorbs moisture well. It is necessary to water areas with such soils much more often, since the water evaporates quickly and the earth dries up.
- Clay.Soils of this type contain many capillaries responsible for the transport of moisture. However, despite this, clay soil weakly absorbs water, which is why it persists for a long time in the upper layers. Therefore, in order for watermelons to grow well in such soil, watering will not have to be done very often. It is enough to moisturize the area 1-2 times a week.
- Moderately heavy. Such soils consist of almost 80% dust particles and 20% clay. Moisture in medium-heavy soils does not linger for very long, so you will have to moisten the soil more often.
Watering rules in the greenhouse and open field
It is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the rules for watering melons in advance so that no problems arise when irrigating the soil.
From planting seedlings to flowering
For the first time, the plant needs to be watered one and a half weeks after planting in the ground. Irrigation uses water heated to 20-22 degrees. Cold liquid is contraindicated for watermelons, as it can damage the root system. Water is carefully poured under the root so that moisture particles do not fall on the surface of the leaves. Many are interested in how much liquid is used when watering young seedlings. For each bush, at least five liters of water are consumed. If after such watering the soil dries out quickly, the volume of the used liquid is increased to 7-8 liters.
In sunny weather, it is enough to irrigate twice a week. On cloudy days, the number of waterings is reduced to once every 15 days.
During ripening
Proper watering during flowering and ripening of fruits has a positive effect on the quantity and quality of the crop. During the fruiting period, irrigation is carried out at least twice a week. At the same time, more than 10-11 liters of water are consumed for each seedling. This amount is sufficient to wet the topsoil.
If the bushes are grown without tying, and the fruits are on the ground, straw is placed under them.
It will protect the watermelons from moisture and prevent them from rotting. When the crop is fully ripe, irrigation is completely stopped, since the plants no longer need moisture.
The benefits of drip irrigation
Many gardeners who grow watermelons use the drip irrigation technique. In this case, moisture penetrates directly to the root system of the seedlings. The popularity of this method is due to the fact that it has many advantages over conventional irrigation.
To organize a drip system, hoses are laid along the entire site, with the help of which each bush is provided with access to water. The advantages of this technique include the fact that it helps maintain soil moisture, since water will constantly flow to the root system of plants.
When using drip irrigation, the fluid consumption is significantly reduced, since water does not evaporate from the stems or from the ground, but penetrates directly into the roots. Also, with this method of soil moistening, water will not be able to get on the leaves of watermelons and wash off the protective solution on their surface.
How to feed watermelons, and how often to do it
Melon dressing must necessarily be carried out when growing watermelons, since a good harvest cannot be obtained without a sufficient amount of nutrients.
Among gardeners, it is popular to add manure and fertilizer made from wood ash or superphosphate to the soil.
Chicken manure is also considered effective, which is able to increase yields significantly. Mineral and organic fertilizers are added to the ground at least once a month. To prevent the development of diseases and the appearance of weeds, use a special serum liquid. To create a solution, you need to mix 100 milliliters of serum in a liter of warm water and leave for 1-2 hours. Then the liquid is stirred and used to spray watermelon leaves and stems. You cannot use serum in its pure form, as it can damage the leaves.
Determination of ripeness of watermelon
Before harvesting, you should familiarize yourself with the specifics of determining the degree of ripening of watermelon berries. Ripe fruits differ from unripe ones in their elongated and rounded shape, which looks like an oblong ball. The weight of one watermelon must be at least 8-10 kilograms. If the fruit is too light, then it is not fully ripe. Determine the maturity of watermelons you can on their peel, which is responsible for protecting the pulp. There should be no cracking or mechanical damage on its surface.
When the watermelon berries are fully ripe, moisture ceases to flow to them, which leads to a hard skin. Therefore, all ripe fruits must be firm.
You can try piercing it with your fingernail to check the hardness and firmness of the peel. It is impossible to pierce ripe fruits with nails. The color of the peel can also tell a lot about the ripeness of the berries. Ripe watermelons are covered with dark-colored stripes. Moreover, on the surface of unripe fruits, such stripes are almost invisible. The easiest way to check the ripeness of melons and gourds on their tail. It should be dry and yellowish. A green tail indicates the immaturity of the crop.
Harvesting
Ripening of watermelons begins in August, so many people start harvesting in late summer or early September. The exact timing of harvesting fruits depends on the characteristics of the cultivated variety. Some early ripening melons and gourds ripen in mid-July and have to be harvested earlier. Harvesting of fruits is carried out gradually, as they ripen.
To harvest watermelons from one bush, 1-2 days are enough. When harvesting watermelon berries, they use an ordinary knife or sharpened scissors, with which you can cut off the tail. It is impossible to pluck it manually, so as not to accidentally tear off the stalk. The harvested crop is transferred to a cool room with a temperature of about 10-12 degrees for further storage. In such conditions, watermelons are stored for 1-2 months.
Conclusion
Some people who have recently started growing watermelons at their dachas have difficulty watering them. Therefore, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with all the features of soil irrigation when growing melons in advance.
