Watermelon is a fruit that is very popular with many people, with a sweet taste and fresh because it has a very high water content, especially if you consume them when hot weather conditions, of course, you will feel the pleasure and freshness are incredible. Watermelon is not only tasty and fresh when consumed, but the benefits of watermelon is also very much at all, one of the the benefits watermelon for health, with watermelon nutrition very much like vitamin A, B1, B6, vitamin C and many more nutrients that contained in a watermelon, it makes the watermelon is very beneficial to your health. Watermelon for health benefits you can get if consumed among others keep you from dehydration, can lower the risk of cancer, prevent muscle stiffness, and much more for health benefits watermelon. Here's a little information as you know about benefits watermelon, because on this occasion I will not discuss about watermelon's health benefits, but I'll give you a guidelines plant watermelons in a container or pot.
Knowing how to grow watermelons in a container or pot. if you plant watermelon in pots that have a larger size allows you to get the maximum results, because watermelon is a fruit crop instinctively require a larger plant nutrients than plants vegetables harvested leaves. If you are going to plant watermelon in the backyard or garden with a medium pot or container, then there are some things you need to prepare for growing watermelon in containers or in the pot, with good preparation, you can expect to get yields a maximum of melon plants you plant, the preparation you need to prepare them:
Planting watermelon in a container preparation
- Watermelon Seeds
- Gardening tools
- Growing media
- A place to grow watermelons
- Stake
- Fertilizer
- And pesticides
After you do the preparation is ready, the next step you can begin to grow watermelons, when you want to start planting watermelon with maximum results, there are some things you can know in advance include watermelon plant requires about 40-50 mm of rain / months, an altitude of 300 meters above sea level, in order to plant watermelon that you planted have quality watermelon fruit is good, then the watermelon plant requires an optimum temperature of about 25-30 degrees celsius and full sun all day, and the last technical planting watermelon like nursery watermelon, mixing of growing media for watermelon, selecting containers or pots, planting watermelon, watermelon treatment consisting of fertilization, pest and disease control, irrigation, pruning, and the last harvest watermelon. Okay we just discussed watermelon growing techniques.
How to grow watermelons in a container or pot for maximum results
Watermelon nurseries
The seeds that you have purchased you can simply make seeds for planting, before you plant you also have to prepare a place and media nursery, a place you can use is pot tray or pot with a small size, while the planting medium that you can use is a mixture of soil: organic fertilizer, and husk charcoal (biochar) with a ratio of 1: 1: ½. after the preparations are ready, then the steps that you can do in the nursery watermelon as below:
- Input media seedlings in the nursery (pot tray or pot with a small size), I suggest you immediately use a small pot and make a small hole the size of a watermelon seed in nursery media.
- Soak the seeds of watermelon at least 6 hours.
- After seeds are soaked, the seeds can be input at a nursery, and can cover with soil or tissue (not too much to shut it down, if it is too much, then the seeds will be difficult to germinate).
- Keep the humidity in media nurseries, after 5 days the seeds usually begin to germinate and grow.
- Once the seedlings have leaves at least 6 leaves, seeds already you can planting in a bigger place.
Selection of a container or pot to plant watermelons
Because you have a goal that watermelon plant to get maximum results, then planting a place which you should use must support the plants to grow up. Container or pot you can use a minimum of 50cm in diameter, and you can fill the growing media mix by comparison as follows:
- Soil: organic fertilizer: rice husk: sand in the ratio 1: 1: ½: ½
- Soil: organic fertilizer: rice husk with a ratio of 1: 1: 1
- Soil: organic fertilizer: rice husk: cocopeat in the ratio 1: 1: ½: ½
- Soil: organic fertilizer: cocopeat in the ratio 1: 1: 1
- Soil: organic fertilizer, sand in the ratio 1: 1 ½: ½
Please select a comparison which you'll use for your watermelon crop growing media, okay here hopefully until you've got it, and we will continue with the next step.
Planting watermelons
After the steps above you have been through, so now you can move on to the next steps to planting watermelon, watermelon plant already you can to move the planting of seedlings after the watermelon leaves have a minimum of 6 strands, after already ready for planting, then you can take steps as follows :
- Make the planting hole at the position in the middle of the container/pot growers to size adjusted to the size of the media watermelon seedlings.
- Take a watermelon seed along with the media cropping and then inserted into the planting medium greater with caution, this is done to avoid plant stress.
- Cover with soil and pressed with care so that the plant does not collapse.
- Just tips for you, if you have conditions a place the weather is hot, then you can plant it in the morning before 9 and in the afternoon after 4 hours, this is in anticipation of you so that your plants do not experience stress after planting.
Treatments watermelons plant
Treatments should you do if you want to get the most, because with good care the watermelon plants you can grow well. watermelon crop treatments that you can do include:
1. Giving stake
If you have a terrace house that has a trellis fence then you do not need to give stake, you can directly place the plant next to the fence your home, and you can begin to organize and facilitate new shoots to vines in the fence. And if you want a watermelon plants grow naturally, then you do not need to give stake in the plant watermelon, but I suggest that you give your plants stake in, as shown below.
2. Watermelon plant fertilization
watermelon plant fertilization effective is when you know the growth phase of plants, in plants watermelon outline has 2 growth phases, including vegetative phases and generative phase. Vegetative phase is where a plants will focus on the growth of roots, new shoots, and stems. In this phase watermelon plants will require more plants nutrients with a high content of N, P nutrients with moderation, nutrient S, Mg, K small portions, and of course also micro-nutrients needed by plants.
3. Pruning in watermelon plant
To get the watermelon plant with maximum results, then pruning in watermelon plant also should do, how to pruning watermelon was good you can do as follows:
- Prepare sterile scissors to cut and shape the plant watermelons.
- When the watermelons plant has 7-8 primary leaves, you can do the pruning and watermelons plant formation, pruning can be to do by cutting the growing point about 2 cm at the very tip with scissors.
- Remaining cuts you should cleared of plants area, because of potential as a medium of transmission of plant diseases.
- After 4-5 days after pruning, usually for new shoots will grow and new shoots will form the 4-5 segment.
- After new shoots form a 4-5 segments, then you must select 3-4 shoots with the criteria to have rapid growth of shoots and uniform, this is the shoots which will you keep to be treated until production, and the shoots are not retained can you prune and discarded.
- Shoots have you keep and then set up like a form letter W with a distance between branches about 15-20 cm.
- In order for plant nutrition and plant photosynthesis results are not used to form new buds then you can cut a secondary branch under the road or on the leaves to 14. And you can do the pruning on a regular basis.
4. Controling pests and watermelons plant diseases
One key to the success of planting watermelons is you can control pests and diseases that attack your watermelons plants. There are a lot of watermelon plant pests and diseases including:
Watermelons plants pests
- Caterpillar pests ground
- Armyworm pest
- Pest thrips
- Pest aphids
- Pest mites
- Fruit fly pest
- Rodent pest
Watermelons plant disease
- Fusarium wilt
- Seedling damping
- Rot disease caused by the fungus Phytopthora
- Gummy stem blight disease
- Powdery mildew disease
- Downy mildew disease
- Anthracnose
- Leaf spot disease
Pest and disease control strategies that you can do is to maintain the cleanliness of the area planting, cleaning the planting medium from nuisance weed growth, could prevent the routine spraying of pesticides minimum 1x / week, and should alternate the use of pesticides with different active ingredients.
4. Irrigation
Watering planting medium can do since before planting and after planting, keep the planting medium humidity after the seeds are planted, this step aims to plant seeds do not experience stress in a long time. when the plant watermelons began to enter the flowering to bloom, then you keep the planting medium should be humidity, because to reduce the loss of flowers. And when you plant watermelons already has the size of chicken eggs, then you also have to keep the moisture in the growing medium, this is done so that the process of enlargement of the fruit can be maximized. And lastly to do the sorting fruits that do not grow well.
Harvest watermelon
To get the fruit has a sweet taste, then you have to harvest watermelon on the condition of optimal maturity, the maturity characteristics of watermelon can you know them:
- Color and texture of watermelon skin looks clean, clear and shiny.
- When watermelons on percussion by using a finger, it will sound a bit heavy.
- To get harvest is sweeter and can last longer, then you can harvest in the morning or in the afternoon and not do when it rains or after rain.
- Watermelons fruit stalk is cut about 3-5 cm from the base of the fruit.
It turned out very long article I wrote about how to grow watermelons in a container or pot for maximum results possible for you there is some new information that known by you during the planting watermelons, and for those of you who want to plant watermelons at home, maybe this could be a reference to information more detail to understand. And please practice at home, if there are obstacles to please you ask me, please you can write the constraints you face when planting watermelons in the comments field, hopefully I can help you to respond and help you to the problems solve you face.
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