How to fertilize melon

When you think of melon, you think of summer, and you imagine the pleasure of quenching your thirst with a vitamin-rich and healthy fruit, or the delicacy of a simple and quick lunch made from melon with ham. We know, however, that there are sweet and fragrant melons, but also watery and tasteless fruits.

So how to get tasty melons from our organic garden? Fertilization is undoubtedly one of the cultivation techniques that most influences the production and quality of these fruits, so it is important to know how to do it correctly.

Let’s see then how and when to fertilize this crop , in an effective but also ecological way, and therefore without accumulation of excess salts in the soil, in the water or in the plant itself. The fertilizing intervention is based on a first “basic” fertilization then on any additional inputs during the life of this cucurbitaceous plant, which is particularly voracious in nutritional elements.

Contents [Ocultar]

  • Fundus fertilization

  • Fertilization and rotations

  • The specific needs of the melon plant

    • Planting and transplanting

    • During summer

  • Fertilization and irrigation

Contents

Fundus fertilization

We will not stop repeating that in an organic crop, the starting point is a valid management of the soil, through proper tillage, which aerates it deeply but without destroying its structure, and with the constant reintegration of the organic substance that gets lost over time in such a natural way.

So the floor must be regularly soiled , long before transplanting melon seedlings, better if it is in the previous fall. To do this, proceed to the addition of mature compost or mature manure, substances that make the garden fertile in every way: chemical, physical and biological. The soil amendment should be incorporated into the upper layers of the soil and not buried deep, then distributed after any shoveling and before the hoe and rake, so that the hoe and rake mix well with the soil.

Background fertilization is a non-specific contribution, it is therefore not addressed to melon cultivation, its meaning is preserve fertility and the amount of organic matter present in the soil . We also choose compost or manure because they are complete substances, containing all the elements necessary for the life of the plant.

Recommended amounts of manure or fertilizer are 3 to 4, maximum 5 kg per square meter of cultivated area . If manure and compost are not available, enrichment with organic matter can be achieved excellently from fall planting green manure and the spring burial.

Feeding and rotations

In addition to the basic amendment we have seen for bottom fertilization, we also need to add some extra fertilizer, for example granulated manure, more concentrated than loose manure, or rock meal, algae, wood ashes, etc. borage

Natural fertilizers authorized in organic farming can be organic or natural minerals. The choice may depend on the nature of the soil, so if it is the first time that a specific soil is cultivated, it is worth having a sample analyzed to know if you have deficiencies or excesses, in particular of any mineral element.

If a soil has average values, without particular peaks, the amounts of fertilizers also depend than what had been grown before the melon on this surface, because you can understand how much this ground had been mined. Consideration must therefore be given to how the crop rotation has been carried out. For example, the situation may change if the last harvest was winter cabbage (high consumption), or fennel and lettuce (medium consumption). These considerations apply to all crops, but in particular they must be taken into account for the most nutritionally demanding species, to which the melon belongs.

The melon is the most heat-demanding cucurbit, and in the regular season it is planted in the north around the beginning of May , and at least two weeks before in the south. It is reasonable to think that this space was used until recently for a crop with a rapid cycle such as lettuce, spinach, radish or others which began to use the substances distributed with the fertilizer or manure before planting. , but that they certainly haven’t exhausted them.

The specific needs of the melon plant

The melon plant needs a lot of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, but also calcium and magnesium , in addition to small doses of microelements (iron, manganese, sulfur, etc.). All of these elements are present in compost, manure and manure pellets, but can be completed especially in the event of occasional deficiencies, with natural mineral fertilizers such as rock flour, potassium and magnesium sulphate, or calcareous seaweed flour in the event of calcium deficiency, which must be distributed in very small doses.

Potassium is an important element for the species, as it promotes the concentration of sugar in the fruit. Thus, according to our soil, some wood ashes that link this element to calcium, or the crude potassium salt or the mentioned magnesium potassium sulphate , as well as borage , another natural fertilizer rich in this element. This type of contribution is valuable if we want get sweet and tasty fruits .

Seeds and grafts

Melon sowing is best done in the nursery, in special tubs, and does not require fertilization, but only the use of good soil for sowing. When the seedlings are ready to be transplanted, we add a little manure to the soil , choosing from those we have listed and never overdoing it, just a few scattered handfuls. Let’s avoid putting the handles in the transplanting holes because the roots of the seedlings are meant to only occupy this small space at first, then they expand, better to spread them evenly in the soil.

During summer

Melon cultivation does not have a very long cycle , so the initial fertilization is usually sufficient to meet their needs, without the need for replacement. However, sometimes you can irrigate with diluted nettle macerates, which provide nitrogen and iron .

Fertilization and irrigation

Nutrients are transported by water , rain or irrigation water, and absorbed by plant roots. The melon, until fruit growth, is a plant that requires good water availability, while when the ripening phase of the fruit begins, the irrigation must be stopped, to guarantee a good sweet taste of the fruit and prevent it from splitting . At this point, however, the plant has now absorbed the nutrients it was supposed to absorb with the water.

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