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In the summer, many beautiful and healthy fruits and vegetables ripen for our body. It is difficult for melon lovers to make their choice regarding the cultivation of one of the hundreds of varieties of this oriental guest. We bring to your attention one of them – Ethiopian melon. Today we will talk about the features of this variety, growing seedlings, fertilizing and pest control.
Variety description
Ethiopian melon is popular among gardeners and gardeners of our country due to its wonderful aroma, high taste and good transportability. Externally, the plant of this variety is quite powerful and at the same time compact. The variety has characteristic heart-shaped leaves.
As for the description of the fruit, the variety has wonderful melons of medium and large size, which have an oval-round shape. The fruit surface of this variety is segmented. If you run your hand over it, you can feel a clear roughness. The fruit is protected from the possible negative impact of external factors by a rather dense peel. This variety also has a beautiful golden yellow color with a characteristic orange tint. The mass of fruits of such a popular variety in our country often varies between 3 and 7 kg. Fruits belonging to this variety are naturally endowed with juicy, tender and sweet pulp of a pleasant light yellow color. This variety is best consumed fresh.
Video “Growing”
From the video you will learn how to grow a melon.
Growing seedlings
The best way to grow if you choose this variety is seedlings. To do this, you need to prepare high-quality seeds. Why is the seedling method best suited for this heat-loving crop? Because a long growing season makes it possible to get a richer harvest from seeds and seedlings in the future. When planting and germinating seeds, your favorite crop will be reliably protected from frost and possible dangerous diseases.
Seedling preparation usually begins in mid-April. In order to stimulate early germination, the seeds are advised to be placed in water shortly before sowing. Soaking seeds is best done in water with a temperature of about + 24 degrees. It doesn’t take long to do this. Even for sowing seeds, pots with a nutrient mixture are required. The diameter of such containers should be about 10 cm. When this variety is sown with seeds, the pots must be covered with foil. Then they must be placed in a warm place. After the first fragile seedlings appear from the seeds, the film should be removed from the containers and placed where there is a lot of natural light. A variety can get good lighting, for example, on a windowsill.
It is permissible to transplant seedlings to a permanent place when 5-6 full leaves appear in it. Before this, somewhere in the day, you need to water the seedlings abundantly using warm water. At the bottom of each hole made, which should be located at a distance of about 50 cm from each other, put 1 spoon of wood ash.
Immediately before planting, it is recommended to irrigate with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Plants are best planted after the holes are filled with warm water and it is absorbed. Proper planting assumes that the root collar will not be buried. The care of plants of this beautiful variety includes the mandatory removal of side shoots. It is important to form one stem here.
Additional fertilizing
At the stage of the appearance of cotyledon leaves, you should begin to feed the culture. It is advised to use the drug “Uniflor-buton”. Its consumption is 1 teaspoon of the product per 5 liters of pre-settled water. It is important to ensure that the earth is not waterlogged. Watering should be carried out after waiting for a noticeable drying of the soil.
As for the frequency, a lot depends on the lighting. Since on sunny days more frequent watering is required, and on cloudy days – more rare watering. This variety requires a large amount of potassium in the soil. Starting from the time of flowering of the crop, the application of phosphorus-potassium fertilizer is required. Its role is perfectly played by a mixture of 1 tablespoon of superphosphate and 2 tablespoons of potassium sulfate. Infusion of weeds has shown itself well in practice as an aid in case of insufficient plant development.
Disease control
Unfortunately, it is not always possible to grow your favorite fruit, avoiding its infection with some diseases. Among the most common are powdery mildew. It can be recognized by the white spots that appear on the surface of the stem and the upper side of the leaves. Over time, they can be seen on the underside. The disease does not spare the fruits either. There is also olive blotch. It is characterized by the presence of brown spots on the stems and foliage. Sometimes on the surface of the fruit there are light brown ulcers that are filled with spores of olive-colored fungi.
A gelatinous fluid can usually be seen at the junction between healthy and diseased tissue. Such a disease is fraught for the culture with the loss of the presentation and quality of already ripened fruits, and first of all, the death of the ovaries. Gardeners often have to fight anthracnose. It is often caused by excessive moisture. The yellow-brown ulcers with a pinkish bloom that appeared on the surface of the stems and petioles after a while spread to the root part of the culture. Prevention of these ailments is spraying plants with Fitosporin, Hom, Bordeaux liquid. Such processing tools as “Zircon”, “Cytovit” and “Epin-extra” have proven themselves to be excellent. Proper use involves the use of 2 drops of any drug dissolved in 1 liter of water.
Video “Shaping and care”
From the video you will learn how to properly shape and care for a melon.
