When to plant a melon for seedlings. Growing melon seedlings: sowing, care and possible problems Preparing the soil for seedlings

This fruit came to us from Asia Minor itself, was grown in Egypt, India and even China. In our Russian latitudes, he settled down closer to the sixteenth century and won universal love. We are talking about a sweet, amazing dessert - melon, which is an annual plant and can reach three meters in length.

Most people prefer to buy this berry on the market - it's easier this way, but how much more pleasant, and even more useful, to grow this fruit in their garden or in the country. Such a melon will have a special aroma and taste, because it is grown with your own hands and your work is invested in it. It is no secret that any culture grows better if it is sown in advance and seedlings are grown. Therefore, it is important to know when and how to do it correctly in the coming year 2017.

Total counts (countdown)

Do not think that the earlier you plant the seedlings, the better they will grow. The tops, of course, at first will turn out to be lush and beautiful, but this is far from a guarantee of the further fruitfulness of the fruit. The fact is that the leaves closer to planting will become thin, pale and lethargic. And the seeds, sown a couple of months later, will quite quickly catch up with the growth of already flowering plants, but they will be bright, juicy and strong.

You should start counting the date of sowing seeds, roughly estimating when it will be planted in the soil in the garden. The age of the melon at the sowing date must be subtracted from the sowing date itself and the ten days required for picking and germination must be added - this will be a suitable date. At the same time, take into account the region in which you live, when the frosts begin and when they end, where exactly the seedlings are planted: in a greenhouse or simply in open ground. In some places this needs to be done earlier, in others later.

When is it better?

An excellent assistant and "guide" in this serious matter is the lunar calendar, where every day is scheduled almost by the hour. From March 27 to March 31, extremely unfavorable days for any agricultural work. The best time to sow melon seeds to plant later in seedlings is early April.

It is noteworthy that it is not recommended to do this literally at the end of March, whereas in just a couple of days it will be the right decision. If the region in which you live is characterized by frosts, then it is better to plant this berry in the soil somewhere in early June, which indicates that the seeds need to be sown not at the beginning of April, but in the middle, or even at the end.

Since nature does not have bad weather, only if you sit at home under a blanket, then our seeds need to develop in them resistance to unexpected changes in temperature. It is important to prepare them for this and place them in fertile soil for them. Here are some tips:

Hardening of seeds. Put the seeds on ice or snow for ten hours.
Extreme temperatures. Place the seeds in warm water (30-35 ° C) for 10-12 hours, then leave them for 24 hours in a wet cloth at room temperature and again in the cold for a day, and it is advisable to repeat this process three times.
Well prepared soil. It is necessary to mix three components: peat, humus and sod. Add to them one teaspoon of carbamide and potassium, adding a tablespoon of ash there.

Melon culture is famous for its excellent taste and abundance of nutrients contained in its composition. As you know, the quality and quantity of the obtained crop is determined by the presence of many factors that directly affect the achievement of the result. Many of the hobby gardeners are guided by the lunar calendar to find out when to plant melons for seedlings in 2019.

What determines the timing

The choice of time for planting has many nuances, because this plant has many agrotechnical features, including:

love of warmth (the optimal temperature range is from fifteen to thirty degrees);
poor tolerance of a decrease in temperature (when it falls below ten degrees Celsius, maturation and growth noticeably slow down);
photophilousness (sunbeams, illuminated spaces with open areas);
unsatisfactory tolerance to drought (during the ripening and flowering of the melon culture, moisture should be increased);
the soil should contain nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, soil with the correct air-gas characteristics (loose, warm earth).

There is an opinion that the seedlings are prepared for planting in the ground or greenhouse after twenty five to thirty days. During this period, return frosts should end and a period of absolutely warm weather will begin. Exclusively such conditions give the seedlings normal conditions for development, which will bring a good harvest.

When is the best time to plant

Planting crops growing in abundant warmth takes place during the day, in late May and early June. That is, they sow the melon on the twentieth of April.

The lunar calendar will tell you when to plant a plant. He points to suitable methods for planting a melon culture, paying attention to the phases of the moon and its passage through all the zodiacal signs. We sow melons for seedlings in 2019 guided by favorable days for planting.

The days when sowing, replanting and planting the melon is most favorable:

In March - 3, 7, 9 12, 17;
April - 17-19;
In May - 13, 18, 25;
In June - 14, 28.

Days prohibited for transplanting and sowing a melon crop:

In March - 2, 15, 16;
In April - 30;
In May - 1, 4–8;
In June - 15, 16, 18, 27.

Gardeners who have been growing melons for several years recommend carrying out the seed planting procedure, exclusively guided by the growing moon. Also, you do not need to use the days of the new moon and full moon, so as not to lose the harvest. It has been noticed that the stem does not extend to its full length if the plants are planted during the approaching new moon. It is also important that young seedlings successfully root in the ground with an open area, if you briefly use plastic transparent film to create a greenhouse effect in the garden bed.

The seeds must develop resistance to unforeseen weather changes. This requires:

Temper the seeds. The seeds are laid out on ice or snow for a period of about ten hours. For this purpose, you can use your home refrigerator.
Develop exposure to extreme temperatures. The seeds are placed in water with a temperature of thirty to thirty-five degrees, and left for a day in a dampened cloth. After that, the process alternates with cold about three times.
Prepare the soil well. It is recommended to plant in a mixture of turf, peat and humus. One teaspoon of potassium and carbamide and the same amount of ash are added to them.

The plant must be protected from pests, so the adoption of preventive measures is inevitable. The greenhouse or area with open land must be clean. Bleach, formalin and table salt are the best reagents to moisten the sawdust mat when entering the greenhouse. The film taken to form the greenhouse effect is treated with a solution of potassium permanganate (five percent). It is necessary to eliminate the affected shoots and leaves, as they will entail infection of the entire plant. You need to collect and burn them.

Melon can be grown almost anywhere in the world, including in the North, the Urals and other cold regions. It will be enough to have a greenhouse that does not require special conditions for maintenance. You need to try and try, guided by all the above tips.

Melon Seedling Video

In this video, you will learn how to properly plant and care for melon seedlings.

The question of how and when to plant a melon in open ground in the middle lane is relevant for summer residents who are not afraid to experiment. In the Moscow region, it is advisable to grow melons and gourds by seedlings in stationary greenhouses with a height of at least 2 m or on warm beds in the open field.

In the Moscow region, it is advisable to grow melons and gourds by seedlings.

For sowing, 2-3-year-old seeds are best suited, since those obtained from the harvest of last year give powerful plants mainly with male inflorescences. The largest and densest seeds are chosen, dipped in a 3% sodium chloride solution for 2 minutes. Those that drown are suitable for sowing. They are washed, soaked and refrigerated for 2 days for hardening. In the middle lane, melon seedlings are planted from early April to mid-May. The timing depends on when it is supposed to be planted in open ground. It is not recommended to grow melon seedlings in cups for more than 40-45 days after germination.

For sowing, 2-3-year-old seeds are best suited, since those obtained from the harvest last year give powerful plants mainly with male inflorescences.

In order to injure the plant as little as possible during transplantation, the seeds must be planted (2-3 pcs. To a depth of 3-4 cm) in separate pots. The optimum temperature for germination of melon seeds is + 18 ... + 23 ° С, at night - not lower than + 15 ° С. The first shoots usually appear in a week, after 5-7 days the strongest of them are left in the pot. After the appearance of 3-4 true leaves, the seedlings are pinched - this gives an impetus for the development of lateral shoots, on which the melon bears fruit.

Plant care consists in fertilizing with mineral fertilizers, moderate watering (not on the leaf and stem). You can plant seedlings at the age of 25-40 days, as soon as the soil warms up to + 11 ... + 12 ° С.

Soaking seeds in two ways (video)

Soil for planting

Recessed. Suitable for dry places that are not flooded by rain. For their arrangement, they remove the sod, dig a trench.
Raised. For them, a fence is made of any material - a box. Need frequent watering.
In the form of an elongated hill without sides. The useful area is larger on it.

The principle of filling all warm beds is the same. Various organic wastes are laid in them in layers, which, when rotting, release the heat needed by the melon. The raw materials for the beds are branches, sawdust, manure, wood chips, hay, and freshly cut grass. The bottom layer can be made from the removed sod, laid with the grass down. The upper one consists of fertile soil. Each layer must be well tamped and watered. The height of a warm melon bed must be at least 50 cm.

Seedlings are planted after May 5 in holes at a distance of 70 cm, 2-3 cm deeper than they grew in pots. After planting and subsequently, the beds are watered only with warm water, which enhances the processes of photosynthesis and continuous root division. The first 2 days of the plant should be shaded. With a significant temperature difference during the day and in rainy weather, the melon must be provided with a film shelter, which is removed in sunny weather. A plastic water bottle is placed near each bush as a heat accumulator.

The second pinching of the melon is carried out when it takes root in a new place. 6-7 ovaries are left on each plant. The lashes are pinched over 3-4 leaves from the fruit, this is done so that the nutrients go not to the green mass, but to the fruit.

Melons in the open field in Siberia (video)

Lunar sowing calendar

Throughout the summer cottage season, gardeners and gardeners turn to the sowing calendar, which is drawn up taking into account the effect of the moon on the juices and vitality of plants. The sowing calendar for 2017 recommends carrying out activities for the cultivation of melons on the following days:

soaking and sowing melon seeds - 1-2, 4, 12-13-14, 17-19, April 28-30, May 1, 9-10, 24-29;
watering, fertilizing and loosening - April 4, 28-30, May 9-10, 24-27;
thinning and pinching of seedlings -14-16, 20-21, 24-25, 28-29 April, 11-13, 20-27 May;
pest control - April 17, 20-21, 28-29; May 12-18, 23-26;
disembarkation of seedlings - April 23, May 9-10, May 28-29.

If the seedlings were planted in May, then at the end of July the harvest will begin to ripen, the harvest of which will stretch for 1.5 months

If the seedlings were planted in May, then at the end of July the harvest will begin to ripen, the harvest of which will stretch for 1.5 months. For outdoor cultivation, choose early melon varieties with a short ripening period, short lashes. It is better to stop the choice on large-fruited, because with a lack of sun, the fruits become smaller. Following all the rules, in the middle lane, you can grow a melon, which will be truly juicy and aromatic.

Estimate

Cultivation of melons in the Moscow region, Siberia and the Urals has become commonplace today. Breeders have bred varieties of melons, which are distinguished by early maturity and are able to ripen in just three months. To get a good harvest, you need to know which melon varieties are suitable for your region, when and how to sow seeds correctly, and also care for melons. Also in our article you can find out auspicious days in 2020 according to the lunar calendar for sowing melons for seedlings.

For sowing melons, dates are chosen with the growing moon in certain fertile signs of the zodiac. In 2020, according to the lunar calendar, it is recommended to sow melons for seedlings:

January 1, 5, 6, 27, 28;
February 1, 2, 6, 7, 24 and 25;
1, 4, 5, 27 and 28 March;
April 1, 2, 7, 27, 28, 29;
May 5, 25, 26.

These are the most auspicious days.

Prohibited for sowing dates:

in January - 10 and 25;
in February - 9 and 23;
in March - 9 and 24;
in April - 8 and 23;
in May - 7 and 22.

The best melon varieties for different regions

Melon varieties for the Moscow region

The best melon varieties for central Russia and the Moscow region are:

Cinderella is a popular variety that has a fruit weight of 1 kg, a pleasant aroma, sweet taste and ripeness three months after the seedlings appear.
Yukar F1 is a fragrant and sweet fruit weighing about 1.5 kg, when grown in seedlings, it can ripen in the open field.
Caramel - the early ripening variety got its name due to its high sugar content. The fruit can reach a weight of up to 2 kg, and the plant itself tolerates stressful situations well.

Melon varieties for the Urals

For cultivation in the Urals, mid- and early-ripening melons are more suitable, which are grown in a greenhouse or by seedlings in the open field. The following varieties are most popular:

The dream of sybarite - a small melon weighing up to 400 grams can be removed for consumption within 2 months after the seedlings appear.
Nectarine - a popular variety is distinguished by a fruit weighing from one and a half to three kilograms of an elongated shape, the pulp of which is light beige in color.
Delano F1 - an early ripe hybrid weighing up to 4 kg, when properly grown, ripens within two months after germination.

Melons for Siberia - the best varieties

Since it is still quite cold in Siberia in spring, and the summer is short, melons and gourds are grown mainly in greenhouses. Special zoned varieties are suitable for this:

Early 133 - melon is distinguished by fruits weighing up to 2 kg, which ripen after germination in about 2 months.
Barnaulka and Lyubushka are high-yielding ultra-early ripening varieties with fruits weighing up to 2 kg. It takes only 1.5 months from germination to harvesting.

These are some of the most popular, but not all, varieties of melons that gardeners use to grow on their plots. Specialty shops offer a wide selection of melons and gourds, among which you can choose the one suitable for your region.

When to sow melon for seedlings?

To determine the timing of planting seeds, you need to know that at least 25 days must pass from the emergence of seedlings to planting seedlings in a greenhouse, greenhouse or open ground. Plants are planted in well-warmed soil and in warm weather, when the last frost has passed. Also, the sowing time for melon seeds depends on the variety.

Focusing on the weather conditions and the variety, it is possible to plant melons for seedlings in warm regions already in early April, and in the Urals and Siberia - around the 20th of April.

How to plant melons for seedlings step by step with video

Seed preparation

Attention! Melon seeds should be three or four years old. This is explained by the fact that fresh planting material will grow plants with only male flowers.

Choose healthy and full-bodied. To do this, the planting material is placed in a 3% saline solution, where the empty seeds will float, and those suitable for planting will settle to the bottom.
Disinfect selected seeds can be used with a pink solution of potassium permanganate, in which they are placed for half an hour. You can use a garlic solution (3 parts warm water - 1 part minced garlic). In such a solution, the seeds are kept for 1 hour, after which they are washed under running water.
Harden planting material is recommended by many summer residents, since such a procedure makes the seedlings resistant to various transplants and weather conditions. For hardening, the seeds are kept in a damp cloth or gauze for a day at a temperature within +20 degrees, after which they are placed in a refrigerator for 18 hours, where the temperature is from 0 to +2 degrees. After the refrigerator, the seeds are again kept for 6 hours at a temperature of +15 to +20 degrees. All this time, you must carefully monitor that the rag or gauze is wet. Such a change in the temperature of the regime can be carried out several times.

Preparing a container and soil for seedlings

Since the roots of the melon are tender, it is recommended to plant it in disposable cups, special containers or peat pots.

Soil for sowing seeds can be prepared independently from the following components:

peat - 9 parts;
sand - 1 part;
wood ash - 1 glass per 10 liters of potting soil.

Another option for growing melon seedlings:

humus or compost;
sod land;
peat.

All components are taken in equal parts, sand and wood ash are added.

Before use, the soil mixture is recommended to be disinfected with boiling water or potassium permanganate solution. But it is best to use a solution of special preparations Baikal-EM 1 or Fitosporin. It is very good if the substrate will be harvested in the fall. Then containers with soil can be kept outside until spring, where all fungi and pest larvae will die under the influence of frost.

Sowing seeds

Seedling cups are filled with moist soil, after which seeds are placed into it to a depth of one and a half to two centimeters and sprinkled with soil. Crops are sprayed from above with warm water and covered with foil or glass. Until the emergence of shoots, it is recommended to keep them warm at a temperature not lower than +20 degrees.

To ensure that shoots appear in each container, it is best to plant 2 or 3 seeds in one glass.

WATCH THE VIDEO: HOW TO SOW MELONS FOR SEEDLING, HOW TO CARE, WHEN AND HOW TO PLANT IN OPEN GROUND

Growing seedlings

Seedling care includes:

Timely watering after the topsoil has dried. There should be no stagnation of water in the ground.
Providing seedlings with good lighting for 10-12 hours a day. This may require additional illumination in the form of fluorescent lamps, which are turned on for 2 or 3 hours in the morning and evening.
When the seedlings grow up, you will need to choose the strongest, and remove the weak. However, you cannot pull out the seedlings, otherwise the roots of the remaining one may be damaged. Therefore, weak sprouts are pinched.
Since female flowers with fruits are formed on the lateral processes, the seedlings are pinched in the phase of three true leaves.
Melon seedlings are fed at the age of 14 days and 10 days before planting in the garden. For feeding, it is recommended to use complex mineral fertilizers.
10-14 days before planting in the garden, the plants begin to harden. This should be done gradually, taking the seedlings out into fresh air, first for an hour, and then for a longer time. It is necessary to ensure that the daytime temperature is not lower than +15 degrees, and the nighttime temperature is not lower than +12 degrees.

Growing melon in a greenhouse

If the melon will be grown in a greenhouse, then it is not recommended to plant zucchini and cucumbers with it. The best neighbors are tomatoes and peppers. Plants are recommended to be grown on trellises, then they will take up less space. The bushes are planted at a distance of about 20 cm from each other.

One and a half kilograms of compost or humus are added to the holes measuring 70x50 cm, which is covered with soil mixture on top with a layer of about 3 cm.

How to plant a melon correctly?

Seedlings should be planted so that they are 2-3 cm higher than the soil level. Otherwise, the hypocotal knee of the sprout may begin to rot. Before and after planting, the plants must be watered. They should be planted in moist soil, taking them out of a disposable cup along with a lump of earth. If the seedlings grew in peat pots, then they are planted in the ground with them.

Melons grown in the greenhouse are watered in a timely manner and must be ventilated if the temperature is above +30 degrees. If frosts are expected, then even in the greenhouse, it is recommended to cover the plants with additional film.

A week after planting in the greenhouse, the melons are fed with ammonium nitrate or other nitrogen fertilizer. Fertilize the plants every 2-3 weeks with organic fertilizing. To do this, you can alternate the infusion of humus, mullein, chicken droppings and herbs. With each top dressing, it is recommended to add a handful of wood ash to the holes.

When 5-6 leaves appear on the bushes, they must be pinched. The two strongest lashes formed are left, and the rest are cut off.

Since bees rarely enter greenhouses, the plants pollinate on their own. To do this, flowers that do not have ovaries need to be moved along the pistil of female flowers.

To make the fruits sweet, during their ripening, watering is gradually reduced, and 7-14 days before harvesting, they completely stop.

Growing melon outdoors

Melon planting in the ground is carried out after the warm weather recovers, the soil warms up, and the seedlings will have 5-6 true leaves. At this time, the seedlings should be about 5 weeks old.

Then plant the melon? For melons, a sunny area is chosen, on which legumes, garlic, onions, cucumbers, barley, corn, wheat, and cabbage previously grew. The soil must be rich in organic matter. Melons will grow best in light, medium loamy soil.

When digging, add 4 kg of manure or humus for each square meter.
If the soil on the site is clayey, then it is additionally diluted with sand (for 1 square meter - 1/2 bucket each).
In the spring, fertilizers are applied to the garden bed (superphosphate 35 grams and potassium salt 25 grams per 1 square meter).
Immediately before planting, the soil is mixed with nitrogen fertilizers and dug again. Nitrogen per sq. meter will need 20-25 grams.

Since in the open field the lashes will not be tied to the trellises, the distance between the plants is 60 cm, and between the rows - 70 cm. Otherwise, planting a melon on a garden bed is no different from planting in a greenhouse.

It is recommended to cover seedlings just planted in open ground with a damp newspaper. This is necessary in order to protect them from the scalding rays of the sun. After 2-3 days, the shelter can be removed.

How to care for

In the open field, the care of melons includes:

Watering melon... Water the plantings about once every 5-7 days, using settled warm water. It is impossible to overmoisten the soil, otherwise the plants will be affected by fungal diseases. After the appearance of fruits, the frequency of watering begins to be reduced.
Pinching. In order for the plant to spend its energy on the formation of fruits, and not on the growth of foliage, the main stem is pinched. This is done after the bush has taken root and begins to grow in the garden. All processes, except for the main one and the two strongest lateral ones, should be removed. Attention! On hybrid varieties, the main stem is not pinched, since fruits are formed on it. To make the plant not too thick, its lateral shoots need to be pinched after the third leaf. On each bush, you need to leave from 2 to 6 ovaries.
Loosening... The soil between the rows must be loosened. This is done after watering or rain to a depth of 10 cm, after freeing the bed from weeds.
Melon feeding. In the open field, melons are fertilized three times. 14 days after disembarking on the planting bed, watered with a solution of ammonium nitrate (for ½ bucket of water - 10 grams). Each plant will need 2 liters. During budding, mullein (1:10) or the same solution of ammonium nitrate is used as fertilizer. 20 days after the second feeding, use a solution of 10 liters of water, 20 grams of potassium salt, 50 grams of superphosphate and 30 grams of ammonium sulfate.

In order for the fruits to ripen evenly, they can be placed in a net that is tied to a support. If the trellis or support cannot be installed, then a piece of roofing material, foil or other rotting material must be placed under the fruits. When the fruit turns yellow or has a network of cracks, the melons can be harvested. The ripe fruit should be easy to separate from the lash. If you intend to store the melons in winter, then they should be harvested a little immature, when the net covers the fruit by half.

Melons, including melons, are most often sown directly into open ground. However, this method is not always able to give a good result. In the southern regions with warm and long summers, the fruits have enough time to ripen, even when planting in the garden. But closer to the north of the country, this thermophilic culture simply lacks the sun. In addition, late summer also shifts the dates of planting. Therefore, in this case, the most suitable option to speed up fruiting is to sow seeds for seedlings. To be successful, no matter where it goes, it is important to know when to plant your melon for seedlings.

The timing of sowing seeds is influenced by two factors:

growing region;
place of cultivation.

In both the first and second cases, the planting time should be calculated based on the features of the vegetative development of the plant. So, in order to avoid stretching the seedlings, it must be transplanted to the garden in a timely manner.

Melon needs 25 to 30 days to form a full-fledged and strong bush. Then the seedlings must be relocated to open ground. If you overexpose the plants indoors, they begin to stretch out and hurt.

Sowing seeds depending on the regional climate

As already mentioned, heat in different climatic zones comes at different times. In the middle lane, the land is ready to "accept" seedlings in its arms in late spring - early summer. It was at this time that the above zero temperature already has stable values, and the soil itself has warmed up enough. Accordingly, so that seedlings can be planted in the ground at the end of May, the seeds must be sown around the end of April.

When to plant melon for greenhouse seedlings?

In greenhouse conditions, you can start growing melon seedlings earlier. Transparent greenhouse walls will protect delicate plants from frost and provide good lighting. They will also maintain a constant temperature. With this comfort, seeds can be planted as early as late March - early April. After emergence, they are allowed to grow a little stronger. They are transplanted to the beds in early May.

Sometimes, for certain reasons, it becomes necessary to grow melons in a greenhouse in the southern regions. Then the seeds need to be sown not earlier than the beginning of May.