Cultivating Watermelons

It’s generally known, India is heavily affected by droughts. For this reason, short-term crops are becoming much more interesting for farmers. As melon crops will be ready within 70 to 80 days, they are preferred over medium to long duration crops like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant & other fruit crops. In this blog article we would like to introduce you to the advantages of growing watermelons and give you some best-practice hints along the way.

Cultivating Watermelon as a Business is a Really Profitable Option

Watermelon plants grow best at daytime temperatures around 80 degrees Fahrenheit and can thrive in humid as well as semi-arid environments. They need relatively abundant water in the early crop stages, but are very drought tolerant due to their deep root system. Until the fruit has reached the size of a tennis ball, the soil must be kept moist evenly from the beginning of the planting. After that, it is then sufficient to water the plant as soon as the soil feels dry. If you don't use drip irrigation, it is best to water your melon crops in the morning to avoid the development of fungal foliage. Furthermore, here are a few additional tips for pre-planning melon crops for higher yields at very low cultivation costs.

Reduce Viral Diseases with Border Cropping

The sole application of insecticides is unfortunately not effective to successfully reduce viral diseases, as vectors transmit the virus before the insecticides kill them. A dense sowing of 3 to 4 rows of border crops should be made one month before the sowing of watermelons.

In this way, the border crops form a protective screen around the watermelon cultures and protect them against a number of non-persistent viral diseases.

The combination of poly mulches and drip irrigation gives many advantages, e.g: Soil moisture management, delayed sucking pest infestation in the initial phase, weed control, fertilizer leaching reduction, improved crop quality, soil compaction reduction and root damage reduction.

Effective Fertilization with Neem Cake

Neem cake is widely used in India as bio-fertilizer for cash crops such as sugarcane and vegetables, when it is mixed into soil during the bed preparation it protects plant roots from nematodes and white ants. Due to blockage of soil bacteria from converting nitrogenous compounds into nitrogen gas, neem cake makes the soil more fertile than any other fertilizers.

Early Indication of Disease Symptoms by Mix Cropping

Mix cropping of watermelon with e.g. marigold or mustard is a successful method to control root node nematodes and an effective alternative to chemical nematicides. Both also act as indicator plants, as the symptoms of pests and diseases are seen much earlier and are similar to those of watermelons. A further advantage of mixed cropping is that pollinators such as honey bees are usually attracted to mustard plants during the flowering period and thus lead to better pollination, crop rotation and ultimately higher yields.

Furthermore, we recommend that you integrate pheromones and sticky traps into your IPM. Read more about it here. For more information on cultural practices such as mixed and border cropping as well as preventing crop losses using fertigation, have a look at our past blog articles or post your specific question in the Plantix Community and get detailed information from the Plantix experts or other farmers from your surrounding area.