How to grow watermelons in the south

The question of how to grow watermelons in the south, usually not put, many think that in warm regions, this culture does not require care. This is not true, growing watermelons in the south has its own specifics.

Watermelon is a close relative of a pumpkin, its name is translated from Turkic as "donkey cucumber". It is interesting that in Ukraine the word "garbuz" is called an ordinary pumpkin, and a real watermelon is called "kavun".

Watermelons grow wild in South Africa. Cultivate them as a cultural plant began in ancient times, in Egypt, from there watermelons came to Europe. And the Tatars brought them to Russia in the 13th-14th centuries.

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 the open ground. In other regions, they will have to grow them through seedlings or sow seeds first in a greenhouse.

In the open ground, seeds or seedlings are planted when the soil warms up to +15 degrees (in the coastal and steppe regions this is the end of April - early May).

But before growing watermelons, you need to prepare the seeds. Seeds are heated in water at a temperature of +60 ° C for 3 hours, then disinfected in a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate and soaked until swollen in a soda solution (2 g of soda to a glass of water). Next, the seeds can be sown or kept in a small amount of clean water before pecking (the seeds that have been planted after sowing must be watered).

How to grow watermelons through seedlings? To do this, you need to prepare the seeds and sow one by one in a peat briquette or a glass with fertile soil. First, the temperature is 20-25 degrees, and when the shoots appear, it is reduced to +18 ° С. Watermelons do not tolerate the transplant, so transplant them with a lump of earth, without damaging the roots.

Watermelon loves fertile, organic soil and sunny, warm places. At home, watermelon is a dry and hot climate, it does not tolerate sour, marshy soils. In the autumn, before growing watermelons, mineral fertilizers and manure or compost are introduced into the soil (it is possible not perepredevshy, pumpkin plants like it). Plant watermelons at a distance of 140 to 140 cm, late varieties are planted with a large distance. After sowing or transplanting the seedlings, the soil is mulched.

Before growing watermelons, we'll figure out how to take care of them. The watermelon has a deep root root, which makes it possible to get moisture from deep layers of soil, so it needs infrequent but abundant watering. In the south, watermelon is abundantly watered during intensive growth of shoots and during the setting of fruits. It should be taken into account that watermelons can not be watered during ripening and harvesting, moisture will have a bad effect on the quality and taste of the fruit, they will not be stored. In principle, in a wet summer watermelons can not be watered at all, but the harvest will be less.

Watering watermelons preferably at the root, not wetting the leaves (watering on the leaves can oppress bloom and fruiting, provoke mushroom diseases, and in sunny weather - to burn leaves). Do not use cold water.

It is best to water the watermelons in the holes or grooves, furrows. You can adapt for this purpose large plastic bottles (volume of 1.5-2 liters). At the bottles cut the bottom and instill them with the neck down (of course, removing the lid). The bottles are buried in the ground by about two-thirds, fill them to the brim, and when the water leaves, they pour more. For each plant, 2-3 such bottles are installed. This way of watering will allow you to economize on water, and it is also very convenient to fertilize with fertilizer solutions.

Feed watermelons too, twice, immediately after watering. For top dressing use a solution of complex mineral fertilizer or organic solution. Do not overfeed watermelon with nitrogen.

Now in China they have learned to grow square watermelons, they look original and unusual. How to grow watermelons and melons of a square shape? To do this, a fruit ovary (the size of a tennis ball) should be placed in a square shape (also grow a pumpkin in a bottle) and grow until maturation.