What do you pay attention to sowing and raising seedlings of small watermelons in early spring?

Small watermelon is a new type of watermelon. Compared with ordinary watermelon, the growth characteristic of small watermelon has its particularity, and it also has its own characteristics in cultivation.

First, select excellent varieties

At present, there are not many varieties of small watermelons in the world, mainly Huami elf (flower skin yellow flesh) and Huami palm Zhongbao (flower skin red flesh) produced by Anhui Tianhe West Melon seed Co., Ltd.

There are also early spring ruby made in Japan and Texiaofeng made in Taiwan. Judging from the economic characteristics of the varieties, the domestic varieties are no worse than the imported ones, but the price of imported seeds is several times higher than that of domestic seeds.

2. Determine the time of sowing and cultivation

Small watermelon can be cultivated in many seasons a year because of its short growth period. In view of the low yield of small watermelon, early maturing cultivation and autumn delayed cultivation are generally adopted to obtain higher economic benefits.

The specific cultivation season can be determined according to the local temperature, light and heat resources and protection facilities. For example, the cultivation methods of multi-layer mulching in solar greenhouses in Huaibei and Shandong can be sowed in late December, planted in early February and harvested in mid-late April, while plastic greenhouses are sown from late January to early February, planted from late February to early March, and listed in the first and middle of May.

Greenhouse cultivation in the south of Huaihe River can be sown in the first and middle of February, set in the first and middle of March, and harvested in the middle of May. Autumn delayed cultivation can be sown in mid-late July, planted in early August, and listed around the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival.

3. Methods of sowing and raising seedlings

Using nutrition bowl to raise seedlings, the diameter of nutrition bowl should not be less than 8 cm. Nutritious soil can only be used after composting and ripening, which is rich in organic matter and can conserve water and fertilizer. The seeds should be dried in the sun before sowing. Small watermelon seeds are small, 1000-grain weight is generally 30 to 40 grams, seed coat thin soaking time should not be too long, generally 2 hours.

Before sowing, pour the bowled nutritious soil through the bottom water and choose sunny days to sow seeds. Early-maturing cultivation should be covered with plastic film immediately to increase temperature. When most seeds are unearthed, the film should be opened to cool down, keeping it at about 25 ℃ during the day and 18 ℃ at night, in order to prevent the emergence of tall seedlings. After the first true leaf unfolds, it should be warmed appropriately to promote growth. The seedlings were released and prepared for transplanting 5-7 days before transplanting, and the general age of seedlings was 30-35 days. Autumn delayed cultivation, the seedling stage is the high temperature period, to shade the sun to cool down and keep warm. In this period, the seeds sprout quickly, the seedlings grow fast, and the seedling age should not be reached, generally about 10 days.

Warm reminder: the land planted by small watermelon should be a field with low groundwater level, convenient irrigation and drainage, soft soil and no melon crops for more than 3 years. It is necessary to apply sufficient basic fertilizer before setting the value, but the amount of fertilizer application is only 70% of that of ordinary watermelons. Generally, it is frozen deeply before winter, about 2000 kg of rotten organic fertilizer is applied per mu before planting, 25 kg of superphosphate is applied to the soil, and 30kg / mu of compound fertilizer is applied to each mu of ditch after bedding. When planting in early spring, the soil temperature should be more than 15 ℃ and the temperature should be more than 12 ℃. Summer planting should be carried out in the evening, and the root injury should be avoided as far as possible.