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Only very good melon seeds will allow you to get a rich harvest, grow delicious sweet fruits. And their quality depends not only on the variety, but also on the growing conditions, collection time, storage and preparation conditions. It is advisable to buy seed material in specialized stores, then on the package you can read all the necessary information and instructions for use. But experienced gardeners prefer to prepare their melon seeds obtained from fruits that not only grew well on their own plot, but also pleased with their taste.
Determination of seed germination
To plan the amount of planting material, you need to know its quality – that is why melon seeds are checked for germination. They take a certain number of seeds, be sure to count their total number, so that later you can calculate the number of germinated seeds and determine the percentage of germination.
Before sowing, it is advised to select the material by soaking in salt water. To do this, take water at room temperature, dissolve table salt in it (30 g of salt per 100 ml of water), lower the seeds, mix. After 10 minutes, some of them sink to the bottom, and some remain floating on the surface. Poor-quality seeds did not drown, they are immediately thrown away, and those that remain are laid out on a napkin and dried at a temperature of about +25 degrees.
Seed germination is checked in wet sawdust. To do this, sawdust is poured with boiling water 3 or 4 times in half an hour, then most of the wet sawdust is laid out in prepared dishes (trays, trays, drawers – not necessarily deep), planting material is placed on them, the remains of sawdust are placed on top and well tamped. Seeds are arranged in rows every two to three centimeters, one and a half centimeters are left between future sprouts. The temperature should be kept within + 24-27 degrees, and after three days you need to count the number of sprouts.
Knowing the exact number of seeds taken for the experiment and the exact number of sprouts, it is easy to calculate the percentage of germination and determine how many pieces will be needed for sowing. The lower the percentage of germination, the more planting material will need to be taken. It is better to know this in advance in order to be able to buy the missing seeds.
Features of harvesting melon seeds
As a rule, planting material is taken from all garden crops after full maturation. You can also collect melon seeds after you have cut and eaten a ripe tasty fruit. Unripe seed gives weak sprouts, and its germination is low.
What about late melons, which we pluck without waiting for full ripeness? The so-called winter varieties continue to ripen even after they have been removed from the melon. And the process of maturation and growth in the grain continues all the time at a favorable temperature and humidity, because it is not in vain that they are stored at a lower temperature than they grew. Lowering the air temperature to +15 degrees slows down the ripening process, and a temperature of +10 brings most plants into a dormant state.
So, if late melon varieties are stored at a temperature of +12 to +15 degrees, then you can collect bones from them when you cut the fruit for food. It shouldn’t be specially damaged. If this happens a month after harvesting from the garden, then this will only benefit the seeds.
The pulp with stones is selected from the cut melon, the seeds themselves are separated and washed, laid out in a thin layer in a warm, ventilated room for drying. Dry them well at a temperature of +35 to +40 degrees, higher is not desirable.
Some gardeners leave unwashed seeds with pulp to “ferment” in water for 3 or 4 days. It is said to increase germination. However, there is not enough data to come to a definite conclusion on this matter, so everyone chooses the way to prepare for storage for himself, based on his own experience or preferences.
Packaging and storage of seeds
For the future harvest, it is important not only to collect the seeds correctly, but also to prepare them for storage, create the appropriate conditions, and make sure not to exceed a reasonable period of storage and use. Violation of optimal conditions can lead to a deterioration in germination, weak sprouts, and a slowdown in vegetation.
How long can you store
The best growing result will be obtained if 2 or 3-year-old seeds are used for sowing. Melon will sprout well if you use older seed. In general, melon seeds can be stored without losing their qualities for up to 8 years, so it is not necessary to use last year’s stocks if you have a choice.
When buying seeds in a store, be sure to pay attention to the year of packaging, if possible, then choose not the freshest, but not the oldest either.
Storage conditions
Dried grains are laid out in paper bags or linen bags if they are stored for no more than a year. It is better not to use plastic bags at all because of the high likelihood of mold on insufficiently well-dried seeds. For a longer period, they are stored in glass jars or bottles with ground-in lids. On the packaging or dishes, be sure to make notes with the name of the crop and the year when the seeds were collected.
It depends on heat and humidity how quickly metabolic processes will proceed in the grain, because the grain remains alive and breathes, it’s just that all life processes slow down from the lack of these main components – heat and moisture. So, the humidity in a sealed container with seeds should be no more than 6%, so that a full-fledged plant can then develop and grow from them. The room in which the seed is stored must be ventilated, the air temperature must be maintained at + 14–16 degrees, and the humidity should not exceed 60% (even if it is 50% better). If the humidity rises to 75%, then this will certainly adversely affect the quality of the planting material, it may well rot at such humidity.
Proper organization of seed storage conditions is a very important condition for obtaining a good harvest not only of melons, but in general of all garden crops.
Video “Soaking melon seeds”
In this video, you will learn about two ways to soak melon seeds to prepare them for sowing seedlings.
