Key points of high-yield cultivation techniques of snake melon

(agricultural Wealth net) Snake melon is also known as Snake Dou. In all parts of our country, there are a small amount of cultivation, tender fruit for consumption. Can be fried to make soup, delicious.

1. Feature characteristics

Snake melon is an annual climbing plant. The root system is more developed, more lateral roots, more resistant to barren, drought tolerance. The stem is trailing, five-rowed, green, hairy, the main stem energy-saving occurrence of most lateral vines, lateral vines and accessory vines, vines exuberant. The leaf is palmate, the leaf surface is green, the back is light green, hairy, the leaf vein is radiate; the petiole is 5-10 cm long, hairy. The flowers are unisexual. Male flower raceme, with 1216 buds per inflorescence, occasionally unisexual male flowers, white when flowering. Female flowers solitary, ovary inferior, green, 5 × 6 cm long, petals 5, white flowers, pistil clavate, stigma bifid. The first female flower usually occurs in 14-18 nodes, the fruit is long, generally more than 1 meter long, the transverse diameter is 3-5 cm, the base and end are pointed and thin, the end is curved, there are several green stripes from the stalk, the epidermis is gray-white, there are green fine stripes between, the fruit is smooth and glabrous, with wax. The shape is like a snake, so it is called snake melon.

2. Cultivation techniques.

The main results are as follows: (1) sowing snake melon is a temperature-loving crop with strong heat tolerance but poor cold tolerance. To the north of the Yangtze River, seedlings are usually sown from March to April, and the growing period can be extended to October to November. It can be cultivated in the off-season in autumn. If sowing and raising seedlings ahead of time, heat preservation facilities should be added to prevent cold and protect seedlings. Most of them are cultivated in scaffolding. Flat shed cultivation is common in the form of scaffolding.

(2) the whole vine fertilization of snake melon is more tolerant to barren ground, the result is less and the yield is low. Therefore, in the process of cultivation, it is necessary to properly apply some organic fertilizer or human feces and urine as topdressing to promote plant growth, vigorous stem vines, more lateral vines sprouting, increased results and high yield. Snake melon likes to be moist, but it is also resistant to drought. in general, when planting, if the groundwater level is not too low and the soil has a certain amount of moisture, there is no need to irrigate. However, in order to achieve high yield, it is still necessary to irrigate once or twice under high temperature and drought to keep the soil moist and air humidity, so as to ensure more fruit and full fruit. Snake melon stem vine growth is exuberant, the need to build a timely introduction of vines, in order to expand the root system. After the introduction of vines on the shelf, before putting on the shelf, it is necessary to trim the vines, remove the lateral vines, or leave 1 or 2 strong lateral vines at the base. When introducing the vine on the shelf, the vine should be evenly distributed so that each vine tip can see light and be exposed to dew.

(3) the harvest can be put on the market from May to June, and the tender fruit can be supplied to the market, which can be harvested about 10 days after flowering. Old ripe melons take more than 30 days, and the seeds can be harvested at this time. Old ripe melon with light reddish brown and loose flesh that is inedible. Seeds suboblong, with two parallel grooves, light brown, containing 10-50 seeds per fruit.