Watermelon - an amazing berry with excellent, melting in your mouth cool sweet flesh, which everyone loves, from small to large. And therefore, they have long been learned to successfully grow in the most difficult climatic latitudes of the Urals and Siberia, often bearing the label of risky farming zones.
Watermelons in a polycarbonate greenhouse have ceased to be a curiosity and are successfully ripening. Experienced gardeners often emphasize the unpretentiousness of
gourds. We will talk about the intricacies of greenhouse cultivation of striped green berries in this article.
How to grow watermelons in a greenhouse
A particular imprint on the greenhouse cultivation of watermelon is imposed by the features of this culture. Watermelon is originally a southern, photophilous plant, whose homeland is the hot sands of deserts. Naturally, he may not have enough heat and light, so greenhouses for growing these melons should be installed in the most illuminated places where there are no bushes, trees or structures casting a shadow. In the northern regions with a noticeable lack of natural light affecting the development of plants, additional artificial lighting is used: four LB-40 lamps are enough for a medium-sized greenhouse of 6 * 3 * 2 m. Watermelons are planted on seedlings in April, otherwise the berry will not have time to ripen.
When hothouse cultivation, one should not forget that watermelons do not tolerate high (over 60%) humidity, since the arid climate is their native element. Therefore, periodic ventilation of greenhouses is a prerequisite for the comfortable growth of striped berries in temperate climatic zones. With proper care, watermelons in a greenhouse in Siberia grow well, ripening in early autumn and not inferior in sugar content to their cousins from melons.
Choose a variety
Not every watermelon is suitable for greenhouse cultivation. Only early varieties of watermelons can fully ripen in such conditions. The ideal option would be the selection of zoned, i.e., seed adapted to regional climatic conditions. When purchasing seeds, you need to focus on the date of their production. It is noticed that the most “fresh” seeds germinate faster and develop better. In addition, large-fruited varieties do not have time to mature in the greenhouse space. Small-sized watermelons are tied up and filled faster. In a polycarbonate greenhouse, one and a half to two kilogram fruits of the tested varieties of "light", "ultra-early", "Siberian", "Cinderella", "gift to the north" and others are successfully growing. Today, many hybrids with a short growing season have been bred. Growing watermelons begins with sowing seedlings.
How to plant watermelons correctly
The duration of the "seedling" period in gourds is 25-35 days. Based on this time, the date of planting seedlings for a permanent place in the greenhouse is calculated. It is important that the seedlings are ready at this point, not overgrown or not too weak. Therefore, all stages of the work need to be done competently. Sowing seeds is usually done in mid-April.
The composition of the soil for seedlings is as follows: garden soil, sand and humus in a proportion of 1/1/3 kg. Half a glass of wood ash and 10 g of potassium sulfate are added to this mixture. Planting watermelons on seedlings in a common container is not worth it, because the stem and roots of the seedlings are very fragile, and the plant can not always be painlessly removed from a common box. A separate container will protect the seedling from stress and facilitate rooting.
Given that watermelon is a fairly large crop, the pots for seedlings should be at least 10 cm high and in diameter.
Seed preparation
Before planting, seeds are discarded, removing unproductive (dried or spoiled). They are briefly placed in salted water (1 tsp / 0.3 l) and, which have surfaced, that is, unfit for planting, are removed. Seeds that have sunk to the bottom are a complete seed. After rejection, they are rinsed, etched for half an hour in a weak solution of manganese, and washed again. For better germination and protection against diseases, the seeds are treated with a biostimulant solution (for example, Epin, Zircon), observing the concentration according to the instructions attached to the drug.
Prepared seeds are planted in a substrate. The arrangement of seeds “lying on its side” will help to facilitate germination. They are buried by 2-2.5 cm, watered and covered with seedlings by plastic or food wrap to create a comfortable microclimate. The air temperature in the room with future seedlings should not be lower than 22-25 ° C. After germination, the film is removed from the containers and the boxes are installed as close to the window as possible. The lack of illumination is compensated by an additional artificial source.
Growing seedlings
Seedling illumination allows seedlings not to stretch and not to weaken. There are some rules that must be observed when growing seedlings:
• containers with young plants are installed at some distance from each other, since the leaves of plants should not be in contact with each other;
• 2 weeks after the germination of the seedlings, the seedlings are fed with complex fertilizer;
• a seedling with 3-5 real leaves is considered ready for planting.
Cooking a greenhouse
Watermelons in a polycarbonate greenhouse are excellently developed. This versatile material is equally well established for the cultivation of gourds and nightshade crops. Since watermelons have unlimited shoot growth and, mounted on a trellis, rise high enough, the main condition for the size of the greenhouse is a height that should not be less than 2 meters. As the lashes grow, they are fixed on the trellis. Fruits reaching the size of an apple are tied into separate nets, and they develop in limbo, without injuring the nourishing shoot. Thus, one watermelon in a greenhouse in the suburbs brings several ripe fruits from one plant.
A greenhouse is traditionally prepared: in spring, the soil and all frame elements are sprayed with a solution of copper sulfate or Bordeaux mixture, preventing the development of bacterial and fungal infections.
Soil preparation
Before you grow watermelons in a greenhouse, prepare the soil. Ideally, the necessary work should be carried out in the fall: close up rotted manure (20 kg / 1 m 2 ), vegetable tops and cut grass. For loosening the soil, it is necessary to treat with peat-humic preparations that improve its structure. On 1 m 2 make a bucket of large river sand and 10 g of nitrophosphate and double superphosphate.
Together with watermelons in the same greenhouse, you can grow other crops, for example, melons, nightshade, that is, they prefer to grow in low humidity.
The requirements made by a watermelon during greenhouse cultivation include quality care, protection against return frosts and the mandatory limitation of the number of fruits on one bush.
Planting seedlings
Prepared seedlings are planted in a greenhouse if the soil temperature is at least 14-15 ° C. In this case, the apical point of growth in plants is not pinched. Since watermelons are large plants, planting more than two crops per square meter is not recommended.
The planting algorithm is as follows: the planting holes are generously watered, then the plant is carefully removed from the container, placed in a hole and sealed above the soil level so that a kind of tubercle forms around the stem, which protects it from water. Plantings in unheated greenhouses at first cover with additional film material. So, watermelons in a greenhouse in the Urals or other temperate zones adapt faster and start growing.
Landing care
In order for sugar content of watermelon to be high, it needs moist soil and dry warm air to grow. The culture is rarely watered, but generously, being careful not to moisten the stem. Regular ventilation of the greenhouse is necessary to maintain optimal humidity. Comfortable air temperature during the day should be maintained in the region of + 24-30 ° , at night - + 18-20 ° . When there is a threat of cooling, a temporary framework is established over the plants and the plants are covered.
It is more convenient to grow watermelons in a polycarbonate greenhouse on a trellis, necessarily forming it. On the vertical twine let the central stem. Remove the 2 lower side shoots, as they are unproductive - female flowers appear on them too late to be able to ripen. The next 3-4 stems are mounted on the trellis on opposite sides of the main shoot and are closely monitored: when the female flowers grow, they are pinched 2-3 internodes higher. Shoots releasing male flowers up to 6-7 knots are removed.
Rationing the number of fruits on a plant
Since the fruits of the watermelon are large, it will be necessary to normalize the number of ovaries. This procedure will accelerate the formation of the first berries and improve their taste. The optimal load is the presence of 4-5 fruits weighing 1-1.2 kg each on one plant.
During the season, the soil is loosened 5-6 times. Mulching with humus and feeding from mullein infusion (1/10 l) give good results. 2-3 weeks before the end of the growing season, watering is stopped. At the same time, growth processes are slowed down and the sugar content of the fruits increases.
The article gives an idea of how to plant watermelons correctly, what agricultural techniques will help to grow a good harvest of this magnificent southern berry in the temperate latitudes of the country.