Growing watermelons from seeds to berries 20 kg

Watermelon Is a thermophilic berry. He is very fond of sandy fertile soil and does not tolerate sudden changes in temperature. Therefore, it was quite difficult to grow it, until the breeders bred varieties that were adapted to almost any climatic conditions. Now you can grow watermelons anywhere in the world, the main thing is to choose the right variety.

Seedling preparation

Watermelon seeds have a very dense shell, if you plant them in the soil immediately, then some of the seeds may not hatch. To grow seedlings, watermelon seeds must be soaked in water. When they open, you can plant them in the ground. Immediately after planting, the seeds must be watered and placed on the windowsill so that the seedlings get as much sunlight as possible.

The seedling should have a developed root system, so you need to plant seeds in a high container.

The soil should be sandy and fertile. A mixture of sand and humus in equal quantities is ideal for growing watermelons.

Outdoor transplant

The plant will need to be planted in the ground as soon as the first leaf is formed. It is necessary to dig a hole to the size of the container with seedlings and transplant a watermelon into it.

When transplanting, be very careful not to damage the main root of the seedling. If you accidentally tear off part of the main root, then the seedling will not be able to form a large berry and will dry out at a certain stage of growth.

After transplanting, you need to form a small "near-stem" circle with a diameter of 1 m around the seedling, so that all the water instantly flows to the roots. After that, it must be mulched.

When growing a watermelon from a seed, the root of the plant reaches 2 m, and when growing a watermelon from seedlings, the root is only 50 cm, so the seedling must be watered abundantly twice a day with warm water so that the leaves do not curl.

Top dressing and pollination

After a week of abundant watering watermelon will begin to grow rapidly and will need nutrients. At this time, you need to start making top dressing. The ideal top dressing is herbal infusion or yeast solution. Top dressing should be done every 10-15 days.

If you want to harvest as early as possible, you will have to manually pollinate the flowers. To ensure that the ovary is obtained, one female flower must be pollinated with three male ones.

Berry formation

With the formation of berries and their intensive growth, you will need to water the melon abundantly. As soon as the watermelon stops growing, watering must be stopped, otherwise the berry will be savory. At this stage, you need to add wood ash to the top dressing, which will help the berry pick up sweets. The berry has an "ear" and "tendril", they are under the whip. As soon as they dry up, it means that the watermelon is ripe.