How can snake melon be cultivated with high yield

Snake melon takes tender fruit as a vegetable, but tender leaves and stems are also edible. Tender melons are rich in carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. The meat is soft and has a slight smell, but when cooked, it becomes fragrant and slightly sweet. Snake melon nature is cool, enter the lung, stomach, large intestine meridian, can clear heat and resolve phlegm, moistening lung smooth intestines, snake melon tender fruit and tender stems and leaves can be fried, soup, unique flavor.

Morphological characteristics of snake melon

Leaf blade membranous, orbicular or reniform, 8-16 cm long, 12-18 cm wide, 3-7-lobed to middle-lobed, sometimes deeply parted, lobes very variable, usually Obovate, bilaterally asymmetric, apex obtuse or broadly triangular, mucronate, margin sparsely denticulate, base curved, deeply cordate, ca. 3 cm deep, upper green, pubescent and scattered villous hirsute, abaxially light green, densely pubescent Main veins 5-7, straight to the tip of teeth, veinlets reticulate Petiole 3.5-8 cm long, longitudinally striate, densely pubescent and sparsely pilose hirsute. Tendrils 2-3 distinct, longitudinally striate, pubescent.

Flowers are monoecious. Male flowers form racemes, often with a solitary female flower, peduncle 10-18 cm long, sparsely pubescent and hirsute, tip with 8-10 flowers, pedicel slender, 5-12 mm long, densely pubescent; bracts subulate-lanceolate, 3 (- 5) mm long. Calyx tube subcylindric, 2.5-3 cm long, tip slightly enlarged, 4-5 mm in diameter, densely pubescent and sparsely villous hirsute, lobes narrowly triangular, ca. 2 mm long, base width ca. 1 mm, reflexed; Corolla white, lobes ovate-oblong, 7-8 mm long, ca. 3 mm wide, with 3 veins, tassels nearly as long as Corolla lobes Anther style ovoid, ca. 3 mm, filaments slender, ca. 2 mm; degenerate pistil with 3 slender separate styles. Female flowers solitary, pedicels less than 1 cm long, densely villous; calyx and Corolla androgynous; ovary clavate, 2.5-3 cm long, ca. 3 mm in diam., densely very pubescent and villous hirsute.

The fruit is long cylindrical, 1-2 m long, 3-4 cm in diameter, usually twisted, green when young, with pale stripes, orange when mature, with more than 10 seeds. Seeds oblong, hidden in bright red pulp, 11-17 mm long, 8-10 mm wide, grayish brown, navel end narrowed, other end rounded or slightly truncate, margin shallowly undulate crenate, wrinkled on both sides. Flowering and fruiting in late summer and autumn.

How can snake melon be cultivated for high yield?

1. Sowing and raising seedlings

Snake melon seed coat is thick and hard, slow to absorb water, difficult to germinate, soak seeds before sowing: scald seeds with hot water of 70 ℃ and 80 ℃ and stir constantly, stop stirring when the water temperature drops to 40 ℃, and soak at this temperature for 12 hours, then wrap it in a wet cloth and place it under 25 ℃ for 7 days. When 60% of the seeds germinate, they can be sowed.

In the process of seedling raising, the seedling was raised by cutting into pieces, and the row spacing was 8cm. When raising seedlings, the seed buds were inserted down into the soil, the depth was 0.5cm, and then the soil was covered with 1cm thick. After seedling emergence, the seedling bed temperature was maintained at 20: 25 ℃ during the day and 15: 20 ℃ at night. The seedling age was about 28-30 days, and it was planted when there were 3-4 true leaves.

two。 Land preparation and planting

1) soil preparation. Snake melon has strong growth potential and climbing nature. in order to ensure high yield, more base fertilizer should be applied before planting. 4000kg farm manure and diammonium phosphate 50kg should be applied every 667m2, and deep ploughing and harrowing should be carried out to make a wide and narrow border, with a wide border of 1.8 to 2.5m, a narrow border of 60~70cm and a border height of 10cm.

2) colonization. Plant distance 55cm, double plant cultivation, 1100,1300 plants per 667m2, planing, put the seedlings into the pot and pour the bottom water, seal the seedlings after the water seeps down.

3. Field management

1) pruning and scaffolding. Pruning: in the stem vine about 80cm from the base of the plant, it can climb the ground and press the vine in time, so as to increase the root system and ensure the need of water, fertilizer and other nutrients in the growth process of snake melon. All the side branches that are not on the scaffolding should be cut off, the side branches on the shelf should be retained regardless of size, and do not need to be topped, all branches should grow indefinitely in one direction, and the melon vines at the top of the shelf should be tied and fixed in time. Scaffolding: fighting began in late May, making the scaffolding 2cm and 2.5m high. Make sure the frame material is strong. The crossbar is enough, and make sure that a vertical pole for upward climbing is inserted next to each snake melon. Bind the vine in time with the growth of the plant, so that the stems and leaves are evenly distributed on the scaffolding.

2) Young fruit management of snake melon. High-quality snake melon young fruit is thin and long, but the free growth of snake melon is easy to become twisted, losing commodity or ornamental value, so in the process of young fruit growth, it is necessary to check frequently and squeeze the phenomenon of timely smooth fruit, so that the melon fruit is free to sag on the rack. If you can't change the shape of the melon fruit, you can tie a string in the lower part of the melon fruit 2cm, which is tied on the lower part of the rope about lOOg heavy object to help the melon fruit grow in good shape.

3) Fertilizer and water management. After slowing down the seedlings should be ploughed frequently and watered less appropriately to promote root development and make the plant grow healthily. When the plant begins to bear the first female flower and set fruit from the 14th to 18th node, the plant grows vigorously and must be watered frequently and fertilized every 10 days, topdressing urea 10~15kg every 667m2 to promote its growth.

4. Pest control

In general, snake melon does not have diseases, and insect pests are mild. Generally, 800-fold carbendazim solution can be sprayed twice at the seedling stage to control the blight at the seedling stage. If aphids are found, 1000 times dimethoate can be sprayed.

5, harvest

The harvest time of snake fruit is not strict, the harvest season is generally in the middle of July, about 10 days after flowering, when the individual length of the melon is about 1m, and the pericarp changes from white to green. When harvesting the color of melon strips, do not take the middle of the melon so as not to break it. It is best for two people to cooperate. One of them holds the top position of the melon in one hand, cuts the connection of the melon seedlings with scissors in the other, and then holds the lower part of the melon with the hand holding the scissors. Give it to another person with both hands, and the other person takes it with both hands. Each seedling can bear 1520 melons, the weight can reach more than 20~35kg, and the yield can reach about 4500kg per 667m2.

6. Leave a seed

The seeds used in the next crop are generally appropriate to buy seeds, if you can not buy, you can keep your own seeds: choose thick and long melon strips, correct shape, bright color, strong growth, disease-free plants as seeds, each flow 2 to 3 melons as seed melons. When the peel is fiery red, pick it when it is fully mature, cut it, remove the seeds from the meat, wash them, dry them, and collect them.