Grafting and thin-planting cultivation techniques of seedless watermelon

Technical essentials: the grafting cultivation technique of seedless watermelon is a cultivation method that uses gourd, bottle gourd, pumpkin, wax gourd and other plants of the same family with resistance to soil infectious diseases as rootstocks and seedless watermelon seedlings or branches as scions for grafting and transplanting to the field after survival. The main grafting methods of seedless watermelon are split grafting, leaning grafting and splicing.

1. Splicing is also called splicing. The specific operation is to first remove the growing point of the rootstock, split it downward with a single blade from the middle side of the cotyledons, accounting for about 2 × 3 of the Hypocotyl and about 1.5cm in length, then cut each side of the hypocotyls of the scion cotyledons with about 1.5cm and insert them into the incision of the rootstock, so that the scion and the rootstock are combined smoothly, and then wrap the cotton thread around the wound for 4 times, and the thread head is placed on the rootstock leaves so that the pliers can untie the thread after survival. Special grafted plastic clips can also be used. The survival rate of this method is high, generally a skilled worker can receive about 60 plants per hour.

2. Plug-in is also called top connection. Cut off the growing point when the first true leaf of the rootstock is just exposed, then use a special bamboo stick to insert a small hole from top to bottom from the top of the cotyledon, about 1.5cm, and then cut the Hypocotyl of the cotyledon that has not yet been unfolded into a double-section wedge, and immediately insert it into the hole of the rootstock to make it meet closely. This method has the advantages of no bandaging, simple operation and high efficiency. A skilled worker can pick up about 100 plants per hour.

3. The leaning connection is also called tongue connection. First, remove the growth point of the rootstock, on the Hypocotyl of the rootstock near the cotyledon 0.5-1cm, cut downward with a knife blade at an angle of 45 degrees, and then cut it upward at a 45-degree oblique cut at the corresponding part of the scion, which is the same as the length of the rootstock, and then gently insert the cut of the scion into the cut of the rootstock seedling, and then wrap or clamp it with a special cotton thread or plastic clip. The root of the scion is cut off after the interface is healed. The survival rate of this method is high, but the operation is difficult, the work efficiency is not high, and it is less used in production.

Main technical and economic indicators: the cultivation of seedless watermelon by grafting and sparse planting can prevent the occurrence of Fusarium wilt and solve the problem of continuous cropping of watermelon; at the same time, because the rootstock has strong fertilizer absorption capacity, it can save 20% and 40% of fertilizer; and the selection of gourd and pumpkin as rootstocks can effectively increase the cold tolerance of watermelon, which is beneficial to the cultivation of watermelon in protected areas in early spring, early cultivation and early listing. In addition, through grafting and sparse planting, the growth of watermelon can be accelerated and the yield of watermelon can be greatly increased. Compared with self-rooted seedlings, the yield can be increased by about 60%.