Bitter melon cultivation technology

The cultivation of bitter melon also requires attention to certain issues, so today I will tell you about the cultivation technology of bitter melon:

1. Seed selection and germination

For field management, choose varieties such as white bitter melon and green bitter melon 915, which have good quality, high yield and strong disease resistance. Use 55℃ hot water to scald the seeds and stir them. When the temperature drops to 30℃, soak the seeds for 12 hours. If you gently crack the seeds, it will be beneficial for the seeds to absorb water. Soak the seeds for 8 hours. Then wash the seeds, take them out, wrap them with clean gauze, and put them in a warm box at about 30℃ for germination. Wash them with warm water every day, and they will start to sprout in 4-5 days.

2. Planting seeds

For open-field cultivation, you can first raise seedlings in a greenhouse. Take field soil that has never been planted with melons, peat, vermiculite and dry human feces in a ratio of 1:1:1:0.5, add 1000 grams of diammonium phosphate per cubic meter, sieve and mix well to make nutrient soil. The day before sowing, put the nutrient soil into a 10 cm × 10 cm nutrient pot (or seedling bed) and water it thoroughly. The next day, spray the nutrient soil with water again, sprinkle a thin layer of sieved fine soil and sow. Cover the seeds with a small mound of about 1.5 cm thick. Then sprinkle a layer of fine soil. In Beijing, sowing is generally done in late March and early April, and the seedlings are 30-35 days old. Plant in the open field after the last frost in early May.

3. Seedling management

Seal the greenhouse after sowing. Insert a small arch shed in the ridge and cover it with film to keep the temperature at 30-35℃ during the day and above 15℃ at night. After 50% of the seedlings have emerged, remove the small arch shed film in time and cover it with 0.5 cm sieved fine soil to fill the cracks and maintain the humidity in the soil. Let the air out to cool down at noon, and cover the shed film again at night. After the seedlings have emerged, keep the daytime temperature at 20-25℃ and the night temperature at around 10℃. Water when the soil is dry, control the temperature but not the water, to keep the seedlings growing healthily. Gradually lower the temperature in the shed, and open all the shed films a few days before planting to harden the seedlings.

4. Colonization

Bitter melon is a crop that likes warmth and tolerates fertilizer, so sufficient base fertilizer is required. Apply 5,000 kg of high-quality organic fertilizer and 30 kg of diammonium phosphate per mu. First, make a flat bed and water it. After the soil is slightly dry and loose, make a small high bed with a width of 80-90 cm and a height of 10-15 cm. Cover it with mulch 5-7 days before planting. Two rows per bed, 60 cm spacing between plants, and plant with lines. Don't dig the pit too deep, so that it can be slightly blocked after planting. Because bitter melon grows very strongly, the herringbone frame should be inserted in time after planting. Plant 1,300-1,600 plants per mu, and use 250-300 grams of seeds.

5. Field management

After the seedlings have grown, water them with a small fire in time, and deep tillage them a few days later. Since the plant has strong branching ability, select 2-3 thick vines from the bottom, tie them up and put them on the rack, and remove all the others. Generally, no watering is done during this period. When the first melon is fully planted and begins to swell, water it and apply 10-15 kg of urea or 20-25 kg of ammonium carbonate with the water.