How often to water watermelons in the open field: timing, how to fertilize with photos and videos

Watermelon is considered a common summer delicacy, which is grown by many people who own summer cottages or country houses. Before you start planting and growing gourds, you should familiarize yourself with how often you need to water watermelons in the open field.

Features of growing watermelons

To get a good harvest, you must first familiarize yourself with the features of growing gourds. Before proceeding with planting, it is necessary to determine the most suitable time for planting watermelon seeds. Gardeners advise sowing at the end of May, when the topsoil is well warmed up.Sowing material can be planted until June 20-25.

It is difficult to determine the exact dates for planting watermelons, as they depend on the climate. In the southern regions, they try to finish planting early, before the onset of the summer heat. In the northern regions, due to low temperatures, the cultivation of watermelon seedlings in the open field is not carried out until summer.

Seeds are planted at a depth of about 5-8 centimeters, so that in the future the crops will sprout faster. In each hole it is necessary to plant not one seed, but several seeds at once.

Planted plants need:

Fertilizers. Melons and gourds must be periodically fed with mineral and organic fertilizers, which can increase yield by 35-40%.
Staging. When grown in the garden, side lashes are regularly cut off on all bushes. This procedure is carried out to accelerate the ripening of watermelon berries and improve yields.
Irrigation. Some believe that this crop is not demanding on soil moisture, so it should be rarely watered. However, this opinion is erroneous, since without irrigation of the soil, the number of fruits decreases, and their taste quality deteriorates.

Dependence of watering frequency on soil type

Many gardeners are interested in whether there is a relationship between the frequency of irrigation of the soil and its variety.

To understand this, it is necessary to become more familiar with the characteristics of different types of soil:

Sandy and sandy. Often, gardeners prefer areas dominated by sandy and sandy loamy soils. Their distinguishing feature is that they have a high friability. Due to this, such land is quickly saturated with oxygen and absorbs moisture well. It is necessary to water areas with such soils much more often, since the water evaporates quickly and the earth dries up.
Clay. Soils of this type contain many capillaries responsible for transporting moisture. However, despite this, clay soil poorly absorbs water, which is why it remains in the upper layers for a long time. Therefore, in order for watermelons to grow well in such soil, you will not have to water very often. It is enough to moisturize the area 1-2 times a week.
Medium heavy. Such soils consist of almost 80% dust particles and 20% clay. Moisture in medium-heavy soils does not linger for a very long time, so you will have to moisten the soil more often.

Greenhouse and open field irrigation rules

It is recommended to familiarize yourself with the rules for watering gourds in advance so that there are no problems when irrigating the soil.

From planting to flowering

For the first time, the plant needs to be watered a week and a half after planting in the ground.For irrigation use water heated to 20-22 degrees. Cold liquid is contraindicated for watermelons, as it can damage the root system. Water is carefully poured under the root so that moisture particles do not fall on the surface of the leaves. Many are interested in how much liquid is used when watering young seedlings. For each bush spend at least five liters of water. If after such watering the soil dries up quickly, the volume of liquid used is increased to 7-8 liters.

In sunny weather, it is enough to irrigate twice a week. On cloudy days, the number of waterings is reduced to once every 15 days.

During maturation

Proper watering during flowering and fruit ripening has a positive effect on the quantity and quality of the crop. During the fruiting period, irrigation is carried out at least twice a week. At the same time, more than 10-11 liters of water are consumed for each seedling.This amount is enough to moisten the top layer of soil.

If the bushes are grown without tying, and the fruits lie on the ground, straw is placed under them.

It will protect watermelons from moisture and prevent them from rotting. When the crop is fully ripe, irrigation is completely stopped, as the plants no longer need moisture.

Benefits of drip irrigation

Many gardeners who grow watermelons use drip irrigation. In this case, moisture penetrates immediately to the root system of seedlings. The popularity of this method is due to the fact that it has many advantages over conventional irrigation.

To organize a drip system, hoses are laid out along the entire site, with the help of which each bush is provided with access to water. The advantages of this technique include the fact that it helps maintain soil moisture, since water will constantly flow to the root system of plants.

When using drip irrigation, the consumption of liquid is significantly reduced, since water does not evaporate from the stems or from the ground, but penetrates directly into the roots. Also, with this method of moistening the soil, water will not be able to get on the leaves of watermelons and wash off the protective solution that is on their surface.

How to feed watermelons, and how often to do it

Gourd top dressing must be carried out when growing watermelons, since without a sufficient amount of nutrients it is impossible to get a good harvest.

Among gardeners, adding manure and fertilizer made from wood ash or superphosphate to the soil is popular.

Chicken manure is also considered effective, which is able to increase yields at times. Mineral and organic fertilizers are added to the ground at least once a month. To prevent the development of diseases and the appearance of weeds, a special serum liquid is used.To create a solution, you need to mix 100 milliliters of whey in a liter of warm water and leave for 1-2 hours. The liquid is then stirred and used to spray watermelon leaves and stems. In its pure form, the serum cannot be used, as it can damage the leaves.

Determining the ripeness of watermelon

Before harvesting, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of determining the degree of ripening of watermelon berries. Ripe fruits differ from unripe ones in their elongated and rounded shape, which looks like an oblong ball. The weight of one watermelon should be at least 8-10 kilograms. If the fruit is too light, then it is not fully ripe. You can determine the maturity of watermelons by their peel, which is responsible for protecting the pulp. There should be no cracks or mechanical damage on its surface.

When watermelon berries are fully ripe, they no longer receive moisture, which leads to hardness of the skin. Therefore, all ripe fruits should be firm.

To check the hardness and density of the peel, you can try to pierce it with your fingernail. Ripe fruits cannot be pierced with nails. The color of the peel can also tell a lot about the degree of ripening of the berries. Ripe watermelons are covered with dark stripes. At the same time, such stripes are almost invisible on the surface of unripe fruits. The easiest way to check the ripeness of gourds is by their tail. It should be dry and yellowish. A green tail indicates the immaturity of the crop.

Harvesting

Watermelon ripening begins in August, so many start harvesting in late summer or early September. The exact timing of fruit harvesting depends on the characteristics of the cultivated variety. Some early ripening gourds ripen in mid-July and have to be harvested earlier. Harvesting of fruits is carried out gradually, as they ripen.

It takes 1-2 days to harvest watermelons from one bush. When harvesting watermelon berries, they use an ordinary knife or sharpened scissors, with which you can cut off the tail.It is impossible to pluck it manually, so as not to accidentally tear off the stalk. The harvested crop is transferred to a cool room with a temperature of about 10-12 degrees for further storage. In such conditions, watermelons are stored for 1-2 months.

Conclusion

Some people who have recently started growing watermelons in the country have difficulty watering them. Therefore, it is recommended to familiarize yourself in advance with all the features of soil irrigation when growing gourds.