The question of how to grow watermelons in the south is usually not raised, many people think that in warm regions this culture does not require care. This is not so; growing watermelons in the south has its own specifics.
Watermelon is a close relative of pumpkin, its name is translated from Turkic as "donkey cucumber." It is interesting that in Ukraine the word "watermelon" refers to an ordinary pumpkin, and a real watermelon is called "kavun".
Watermelons in the wild grow in South Africa. They began to cultivate as a cultivated plant in ancient times, in Egypt, from there watermelons came to Europe. And in the XIII-XIV centuries, the Tatars brought them to Russia.
How to grow watermelons in the south? The most favorable climate for this is on the Lower Volga, in the south of Ukraine, in the Crimea and on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. In these areas, you can grow watermelons and melons by sowing in open ground. In other regions, you will have to grow them through seedlings or sow seeds first in the greenhouse.
Seeds or seedlings are planted in open ground when the soil warms up to +15 degrees (in coastal and steppe regions this is the end of April - beginning of May).
But before you grow watermelons, you need to prepare the seeds. The seeds are heated in water at a temperature of +60 ° C for 3 hours, then they are disinfected in a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate and soaked until they swell in a soda solution (2 g of soda per glass of water). Further, the seeds can be sown or held in a small amount of clean water before nibbling (seeds that have grown after sowing must be watered).
How to grow watermelons through seedlings? To do this, you need to prepare the seeds and sow one at a time in a peat briquette or a glass with fertile soil. First you need a temperature of 20-25 degrees, and when the seedlings appear, it is reduced to +18 ° C. Watermelons do not tolerate a transplant, so they need to be transplanted with a lump of land without damaging the roots.
Watermelon loves fertile, organic-rich soil and sunny, warm places. At home, watermelon has a dry and hot climate; it does not tolerate acidified, marshy soils. In the autumn, before growing watermelons, fertilizers and manure or compost are applied to the soil (you can not overcooked, pumpkin plants like this). Watermelons are planted at a distance of 140 by 140 cm, late varieties are planted with a large distance. After sowing or transplanting seedlings, the soil is mulched.
Before growing watermelons, we will figure out how to care for them. The watermelon has a deep core root, which allows you to get moisture from the deep layers of the soil, so it needs infrequent but plentiful watering. In the south, watermelon is enough to water abundantly during the intensive growth of shoots and during fruit setting. It must be taken into account that watermelons cannot be watered during ripening and harvesting, moistening will adversely affect the quality and taste of fruits, they will not be stored. In principle, in wet summers, watermelons can be omitted altogether, but the yield will be less.
Watering watermelons is desirable under the root, without wetting the leaves (watering the leaves can inhibit flowering and fruiting, provoke fungal diseases, and in sunny weather - burn leaves). Do not use cold water.
It is best to pour watermelons into holes or grooves, furrows. Large plastic bottles (1.5-2 liters) can be adapted for this purpose. The bottom of the bottles is cut off and they are buried with their neck down (of course, having removed the cap). Bottles are buried in the ground by about two-thirds, they are filled to the brim, and when the water leaves, they add more. For each plant, 2-3 such bottles are installed. This method of irrigation will allow you to economically consume water, and it is also very convenient to fertilize with fertilizer solutions.
Watermelons are also fed twice, immediately after watering. For feeding use a solution of complex mineral fertilizers or a solution of organics. You should not overfeed watermelons with nitrogen.
Now China has learned how to grow square watermelons, they look original and unusual. How to grow square watermelons and melons? To do this, the fruit ovary (the size of a tennis ball) must be placed in a square shape (pumpkin is also grown in a bottle) and grown until ripe.