How to grow melon at home?

Typical balcony plants are flowers, rarely vegetables, strawberries or strawberries and herbs. Few of amateur flower growers are wondering how to grow melons or raspberries at home. And this is connected not so much with the impossibility of growing such plants in the cramped conditions of a balcony (loggia), but with the laboriousness of the process itself, the unpredictability of the result, but most of all - with the negligible results of one's labor.

Even with the most favorable combination of circumstances, a warm summer, a successful variety and intensive care, given the size of the plant (melon), you can plant 3-5 plants, covering the entire balcony with whips and leaves, collect 3-4 melons from each of the plants, the size of a handball ball. The taste of the fruits obtained will be very dubious, like any other vegetable or fruit grown indoors in artificially created home conditions.

You will never fully enjoy the honey aroma and sweetness inherent in this melon culture grown under the hot Sun of Central Asia or the Southern Volga region. But you can try, just like growing a raspberry tree or a juniper bush, roses on the balcony or mint bushes. Modern advances in breeding make it possible to grow even mushrooms.

Melon on the balcony

Before growing melons on the balcony, you should decide on the variety. If you are a resident of the southern regions of Russia, then you will be able to grow a large-fruited melon on the balcony (the question is why, when in places of natural growth melons and watermelons cost a penny, it is usually not worth it). After all, we are talking about an experiment, and the fruits obtained are the tenth thing.

No one specifically set out to create melon varieties for growing in indoor or balcony conditions. Therefore, you can use those that are suitable for growing in the middle lane and zones of Southern Siberia and the Urals - small-fruited varieties that have a shortened growing season and ripening time - 30-40 days (on glazed balconies - 50-60 days).

The most successful varieties will be: Siberian early ripening, Gribovskaya soil, Cinderella, Northern papaya, Dream of sybarite or Golden suite.

It is best to choose hybrids, as they are more resistant to diseases that can affect the melon in a cool, humid climate, the seeds of the hybrids have the best germination, and the fruits ripen more amicably.

You can plant the melon either with dry seeds directly in the prepared moist soil (the purchased soil "For cucumbers" is used to completely exclude the possibility of infection with any diseases). It is planted 1 seed in a peat (plastic) cup. Seedlings will appear on the 4th-5th day.You can pre-soak the seeds in a solution of potassium permanganate or a seed germination stimulator (Energen Aqua, Bio Master, etc.). In this case, the seedlings will hatch 1-2 days earlier.

After 5-7 true leaves appear on the shoots, pinch the top of the central shoot to activate the growth of lateral lashes.

Initially, the plants are grown on the windowsill of the house, at a temperature of 23-25 ​​° C. Before planting directly on the balcony (when the air temperature during the day is not lower than + 25 ° C, and at night + 16-18 ° C, the plants should be transplanted from pots into containers larger (for example, cut off 5 liter plastic water bottles or in a container of a similar size).

Further care of the plants on the balcony will consist in periodic watering (once every 3-4 days with warm water + 30 ° C), tying the plants (lashes) to the twines stretched upwards, since the melons cannot curl independently.

After the beginning of flowering - first, male flowers will appear - on the central stem. After 5-7 days - female flowers on the lateral stalks. It is easy to distinguish them by the presence of a small fruit at the base of the female flower. It is necessary to pollinate melon grown in a balcony by hand - “flower to flower”.

After the formation of ovaries and the wilting of the flowers, 2-3 fruits are left on each lash, tied closer to the base of the lash. The rest of the ovaries are removed, and the lashes are pinched, leaving 5-6 leaves for each fruit set.

During this period, the melon is no longer fed with fertilizers containing nitrogen, and mainly phosphorus-containing fertilizers are given.

Each fruit is placed in a separate net and tied to a string or trellis, otherwise it may break off. The ripeness of the fruit is determined by the persistent "honey" aroma exuded by ripe melons.

Melon grown at home cannot be stored for a long time, more than a week, and they also do not ripen (do not ripen) being harvested unripe.

Growing raspberries

Growing raspberries on the balcony is a very risky undertaking - both due to the rather large size of the plant itself, and due to the fact that most raspberry varieties are plants that give berries on the shoots of the second year of growth. And this means that the plant grown on the balcony must necessarily overwinter. At the same time, neither the roots nor the shoots themselves should be damaged by frost. The yield that can be obtained from one bush is not great.

Therefore, for growing on the balcony, you can use remontant varieties of raspberries, which yield already on the shoots of the first year of growth and continue fruiting until the first frost.

One of the promising varieties, the so-called "early ripening" raspberries, suitable for growing on the balcony is the variety of the Moscow Region selection "Oksana".

With a plant height of about 1.5 meters, and when I pinch the tops of the plant, up to 2-2.4 kg of berries are formed on one bush during the summer season. When cold weather sets in, shoots with unripe berries can be cut off and placed in a container with water. Raspberries on such shoots ripen already in room conditions.

Another promising plant that can be planted on the balcony is the "raspberry tree" - a type of raspberry, the formation of a bush of which is like a tree - side shoots are formed on the central "trunk". The variety "Gold" can have both raspberry-red fruits and yellow ones.

The bush is quite tall - up to 2 meters, abundantly branched. The berries are large - up to 16 grams each. The yield of berries from such a "tree" can reach 12 kg per season.

The difficulty of growing on the balcony lies in the difficulty of ensuring the wintering of such a large plant.

Juniper on the balcony

Of all the unusual plants that can be grown on the balcony, the juniper is perhaps the most unpretentious and frost-resistant.This is the only plant that, even in winter, can delight its owners with elegant green needles, playing the role of a living Christmas tree for the New Year.

There are about 60 species of juniper on Earth, which is distributed in the Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic zone to the subtropics.

The most popular as a home (balcony) plant, and as a plant that decorates lawns and lawns, are thermophilic forms of juniper (requiring shelter for the winter or moving to warm rooms during the cold season.

But if you plant a juniper growing in Siberia and the Far East - without any damage, it suffers the complete freezing of the clod of earth in which it grows and it can be left on the balcony (not even glazed) for the whole winter.

In addition to the high decorativeness of juniper bushes, they have a very strong and persistent aroma of needles, and "berries" - small cones covered with bluish-black pulp - can be used as a seasoning and flavoring agent for dishes and drinks. The most famous drink infused with juniper berries is gin. Earlier in Russia, juniper vodka was very popular - a kind of gin. In dried form, powdered juniper berries are an indispensable component of seasonings used to prepare game dishes. They give it a characteristic resinous, slightly bitter aftertaste.

Growing mint

Growing spicy and aromatic herbs on the balcony is the most rational use of a small balcony area. For example, mint is cost-effective, does not require careful maintenance and provides significant product returns. You can get products that are sufficient for consumption, both fresh and dry, for the whole family.

Peppermint has over 10 varieties in food. Most of the species are wild plants that have certain growing areas. Peppermint, a hybrid of wild garden and water mint, lemon mint, apple mint and others are widely known as cultural ones.

Mint is a perennial herb, therefore, it should be grown on the balcony in sufficiently spacious containers with soil, allowing the rhizome to fully develop, and at the same time, compact and light enough to be able to bring the plant into an apartment for the winter period or place it on wintering in a barn, garage, greenhouse to protect the roots from freezing.

Plant care is minimal. The only condition for growing mint in winter on a windowsill is maintaining a high level of air humidity.

Mint does not tolerate dry air well. Mint can be fed with any complex fertilizers for indoor flowers. But, in no case, do not get carried away.

It should be remembered that mint will be eaten, so you do not need an excess of nitrogen at all.

An indigenous inhabitant of Central and Central Asia, the melon is gradually assimilating more northern territories. Thanks to the success of breeders, honey fruits can be grown not only in the southern regions of the country, but also in the middle lane. Moreover, fruits with excellent taste do not ripen even in greenhouses, but in the open ground and on the balcony.

Of course, the melon is more capricious and more demanding in terms of keeping conditions than the closest relatives - cucumbers and pumpkins, but with proper care, this species also obeys the diligent gardener. What are the features of growing melons outdoors? What difficulties can you face, and how to achieve fruiting plants at home?

Preparing melon seeds for planting

For sowing, strong, well-formed seeds are used, while experts advise taking the seed obtained from the harvest two or three years ago. Watching how, in the photo, the melon grows, you can notice:

• powerful plants from fresh seeds in abundance give flowers of the male type, and there are very few ovaries on them;
• melon whips from older seeds are more productive.

To increase the germination of seeds, they are immersed in a solution of boric acid and zinc sulfate or another growth stimulator for 12 hours.

If you have to grow melons outdoors in the middle lane, it is better to worry about hardening the seeds in advance, for which they:

• first immersed in warm water with a temperature of the order of 30–35 ° C;
• then left for a day at room temperature;
• for stratification, they are transferred to a refrigerator for 18 hours, where the temperature is close to zero.

The swollen seeds are ready to be sown outdoors or for seedlings.

How to grow melon seedlings at home?

Since all members of the pumpkin family, due to the risk of root damage, do not like transplanting, and the culture is very thermophilic, it should be borne in mind that:

• the soil on the plot intended for melon for sowing should warm up to 12-13 ° C;
• sowing in peat tablets or small cups is carried out no earlier than two weeks before planting in the ground;
• in containers of a larger volume, seedlings can be up to 30 days.

For example, for the middle strip for seedlings, it is acceptable to sow seeds in the last days of April, then by June, young plants should move to a permanent place.

Using peat pots allows you to avoid the pain of replanting and save up to three weeks when growing melons outdoors.

For growing seedlings, make a soil mixture of equal parts:

• humus;
• peat cleared of impurities;
• sand;
• garden soil.

Before sowing, the soil is moistened and enriched with a complex fertilizer containing trace elements for melon growth. Two seeds are planted in each pot, 10–11 cm in diameter, so that, looking at how the melon grows, in the photo, you can choose a stronger sprout, and cut off the weak one without damaging the root system.

To prevent rotting of young stems, the surface of the soil in seedling pots is sprinkled with a layer of clean sand.

For melon cultivation at home, the daytime temperature is kept around 20 ° C, while the air can be cooled down to 15 ° C at night. Watering for melons, including melons, needs moderate watering as the topsoil dries up.

Choosing and preparing a site

For a southern culture that loves warmth and sunlight in the open field, the most illuminated areas, but closed from drafts and cold winds, are chosen.

It is important that moisture does not stagnate in the area for melons, otherwise rot and fungal diseases of plants cannot be avoided.

At the same time, for growing melons in the open field, the soil is prepared in advance. In the fall, the future melon:

• dug over at least a shovel bayonet;
• fertilized with organic matter, introducing 4–6 kg of humus or rotted manure per square meter.

Melon loves loose soils, therefore, on loamy soils, it is recommended to add river sand to the beds. In the spring, potash and phosphate fertilizers are introduced into the melon for digging.

We plant a melon in the ground

The basic rules for growing melons outdoors are very simple:

• Young plants need protection from rain and cold.
• The quantity and quality of the harvest depends on the correct formation of plants, removal of the tops of the whips and excessive ovary.
• A well-established watering schedule will help you get sweet, full-bodied fruits without cracks.
• Melon requires regular, competent feeding.

Planting seedlings and seeds is carried out at a distance of at least 60 cm from each other.

The seeds are buried 5 cm, and, as in the seedling method, 2-3 seeds are placed in the hole. An additional teaspoon of nitrophoska or other nitrogen-containing fertilizer is added to the hole both under the seeds and under the seedlings.

If plants are planted on melons in peat pots, the earthen lump cannot be buried. After sprinkling with earth, it should rise slightly above the general level, only after that the plants are watered and the already wet soil is mulched with dry soil.

In the future, it is better to shelter melon seedlings for the first time, while acclimatization is in progress, from the sun, rain and possible cold snap. As you get used to it, the greenhouse is removed for the daytime, and at night the plants are again hidden under the covering material.

Melon care features

When growing melons in the open field, the melon grower should pay attention to watering, loosening the soil, feeding and weeding the beds. In addition, you cannot wait for a good harvest if you do not pinch the whips on time, which already have an ovary, and do not remove empty shoots that take away strength from the bush.

Loosening is carried out very carefully, to a depth of 10–12 cm, without damaging the roots. When the lashes grow back, they spud the melon. Weeding is carried out as needed.

Watering melons plays a special role in the success of melon cultivation in the open field. If the plants receive less moisture, they develop worse, bloom and give an ovary. Excessive watering leads to decay of the whips and fruits, and the melons themselves lose their sugar content and become watery. Observing how the melon grows will help to understand the needs of plants, and the photo shows a drip irrigation system that allows you to use moisture as efficiently as possible:

• Usually, while there are no ovaries on the melon, the plants are limited in watering, preventing the formation of many lateral shoots.
• When the ovaries are already formed and should develop, watering becomes more intensive.
• A month before the approximate ripening time, the melons are gradually stopped to water, so that the fruits gain sweetness and aroma.

Often, beginner melon growers have a question: “Why does the melon crack and start to rot in the garden? Obviously, the error lies in the irrigation schedule and its intensity.

Most often, the fruits crack when, after a dry period, the already formed ovaries receive an excessive amount of moisture at one time.

Fruit damage is also observed if the ripening melon is lying on moist soil. Therefore, melon growers are advised to substitute a crock or a small plate under each ovary. Damage can be avoided by using trellises when growing melons in the open field and fixing heavy fruits with a net or cloth.

The first time, the melon plant is pinched after the third or fourth leaf to induce branching and get lateral lashes. When 5-6 ovaries are formed on the plant, the free tops of the lashes are cut off, leaving 2-3 leaves until the last fruit. Further, as it grows, unnecessary flowers and empty shoots are cut off from the plant so that all the forces of the melon go to the filling and ripening of the already formed fruits.

Plants should be helped in this by regular feeding, the first of which is carried out even when the first true leaf appears. This time, fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus are applied under the melons, and then fertilizing with minerals and organic matter is alternated. The feeding schedule can be adjusted. Most often, the frequency of watering with fertilizer solutions is 10-14 days.

During mass flowering, it is better to give plants a potassium-phosphorus mixture. And the feeding is completed at the first signs of the beginning of ripening of melons.

Do not forget that melons easily accumulate excess chemicals and, especially with a lack of light, can become a source of dangerous nitrates. Therefore, the melon grower should be careful with nitrogen fertilizers.

How to grow a melon at home

With a little effort and patience, the sweet melon can be cut from a plant that has grown on its own windowsill or balcony. First of all, for the melon, you will need to choose a pot or container of sufficient capacity, with a diameter of at least 20 cm. Drainage is required at the bottom of the pot, and the soil can be used the same as used for planting seedlings.

If on spacious beds the growing lashes can lie quietly on the soil, then you can grow a melon at home only using a trellis.As it grows, lashes are attached to it, but since the plant is in a limited amount of soil, it will be reasonable to grow a melon in one stem.

We must not forget that melons are extremely demanding on lighting, so the main reason for failing to grow this crop on balconies, window sills or terraces is a lack of light. It can be compensated for by arranging additional LED lighting that meets the needs of plants for 14-16 hours a day.

To preserve moisture, prevent weeds from germinating and provide the melon with a soil temperature of about 20-25 ° C, the surface of the soil is lined with a special film or material. The moisture supply can be entrusted to a drip irrigation system by adding or decreasing the amount of water supplied depending on how the melon grows.

When home-grown melons become fist-sized, they pinch off excess shoots, flowers, and the top of the main string. At home, it is better to leave no more than three ovaries per plant, which are tied to the trellis using a net or soft cloth.

Video about the formation of melons in the open field

Melon is a popular culture that is successfully cultivated all over the world. Therefore, having your own plot and the desire to create with your own hands, you need to pay attention to the cultivation and planting rules in the open field of this favorite summer-autumn delicacy so that it can look healthy and with a wonderful taste.

In different regions, you can sow the melon directly with seeds, or plant it first for seedlings. Cultivation and care must be carried out regardless of the terrain, it may also be necessary to form and, feed or tie to a trellis.

Is it possible to grow melons in the open field in the country

Melon is a thermophilic plant that need a lot of light... She does well in hot weather and even drought. The maximum moisture content for this culture is 60-70%.

The culture has a massive root system that is capable of extracting moisture up to one meter deep. This plant requires a lot of free space for intensive development and comfortable growth.

Although the melon is southern, it can be grown almost anywhere, the main thing is to know how to do it. Now a sufficient number of varieties have been bred that take root and bear fruit in moderately warm and cold climates.

The most popular varieties of melon to plant in the Middle lane and Ukraine

There are many varieties of melons with different characteristics for outdoor use. It is important, when choosing a variety for planting, to take into account the peculiarities of the local climate.

According to the reviews of experienced gardeners, the best varieties to plant in a country house in central Russia or Ukraine, in the climatic conditions of the Moscow region are Altai and Kolkhoznitsa.

Altai

Altai

Early maturity, allows you to harvest after 70 days growth of culture from the period of seedling formation. A medium-sized plant forms a moderate length of a whip.

The fruits are golden in color and are oval-shaped. The ability to achieve 1.5KG... The delicate pulp is colored in a light orange color, characterized by sleepiness, sweetness and graininess.

Of the positive characteristics: adaptability to adverse weather conditions, excellent transportability and keeping quality.

Collective farmer

Melon belongs to the early maturing variety. The first crop can be harvested after 75 days after disembarkation.

The plant forms small orange-yellow round fruits with a convex stalk attachment. On average, the weight of one fruit is 1.5 kg. The dense pulp and strong crust makes it easy to transport the crop, which can be stored after harvest for a week.

Collective farmer

Growing a heat-loving vegetable is difficult in areas with a harsh climate, such as Siberia.

In such conditions, only certain varieties can grow, which include Rannyaya 133 and Yantarnaya.

Early 133

Early ripe variety, growing season - 60-70 days... The fruit is oval-shaped and has a yellow skin. Has a white, dense, tender, sweet pulp of excellent taste and aroma. The weight of one fruit is approximately 1.5KG.

It is appreciated for its excellent commercial qualities, good transportability and high immunity to major crop diseases.

Early 133

Amber

Variety of mid-early ripening period. The growing season from germination to ripening of melons 70-85 days... A plant with long strands of medium vigor. Juicy spherical fruits with juicy, fairly thick pulp and weight up to 2.5 kg.

Amber

What varieties are suitable for sowing in Bashkiria and the Urals

Vegetable growers of the Urals and Bashkiria wishing to grow melon on their plots should choose a more suitable variety for the Ural region. The optimal seed for melons is the Dream of Sybarite and Cinderella.

Sybarite's dream

An early variety that reaches technical ripeness in 50-55 days... The fruits have an original elongated shape and a green striped peel. The mass of one fruit is 400 g.

Juicy crispy flesh of a whitish shade with a specific honey aroma and taste. The main advantages are increased productivity, continuous fruiting until frost, good disease resistance.

Sybarite's dream

Cinderella

The variety belongs to early ripening crops, since the growing season is 60 days, for which the fruits are gaining up to 1.5 kg weight.

Melons are yellow with a raised mesh pattern. The pulp is white in color and is characterized by juiciness and sweetness. Due to its rich aroma, it is appreciated in the culinary business.

The advantages include high resistance to temperature extremes, various diseases and pest attacks. The disadvantages are short storage and poor transportability from the rather thin crust of the melons.

Cinderella

Planting rules

There are several ways to plant a crop:

• sowing seeds;
• seedling method;
• with the help of grafted seedlings.

The simplest available method for any gardener is seed planting in open ground. Other options are considered more difficult and not everyone can do.

Preparation for planting with seeds

To obtain a high-quality harvest, competent preparation of seeds for sowing is important. You can buy planting material in special stores or collect it yourself from the fruit grown in your own garden and germinate it at home.

When collecting seeds at home, you must follow the basic rule: harvest only from large sweet melons.

Seeds should only be harvested from large sweet melons.

One more nuance is important: only in the third year after collection you can use seeds as planting material. Since fresh specimens develop a plant with the absence of female inflorescences, as a result of which they do not have the ability to bear fruit.

In order for the seedlings to be friendly, and the plants to develop strong, seed material is needed pickle in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for an hour. Then soak at 20-25̊ degrees in a thick layer of gauze cloth, which is immersed in a container so that the water only slightly covers the seeds.

Every 4-6 hours, the seeds must be ventilated and immersed in water again. The total soaking time is 12 hours. Then sprinkle the seeds in a thin layer on a damp cloth and keep until the first shoots appear.

Site selection and soil preparation for planting seedlings

Melon is a light-loving plant that hates shading... Therefore, for this culture, areas well-lit by the sun, as much as possible protected from cold winds, are suitable.

Melon does not tolerate shading when grown

When planning the planting of a melon beauty in the garden, you need to take into account what crops grew in the garden last year and the neighboring influence of different plants on the melon.The predecessors can be garlic, onion, cabbage, peas, beans, winter cereals.

Good neighbors that will repel pests, improve taste and promote growth are considered turnip, basil, radish.

It does not get along well with potatoes, which can cause them to wilt and cucumbers, since the plants can be mutually dusty and become bitter in taste.

The plant is not recommended to be planted in one place. more than two years... It will be possible to return it to its previous place of growth without sacrificing yield for 5 years.

Melon is very demanding on the soil, so a light, organic medium loamy soil with neutral acidity is suitable for it.

The plant cultivation area must be properly prepared:

• autumn land dig a shovel on a bayonet and add humus, in the presence of heavy soil, saturate it with river sand;
• with the onset of spring, sprinkle the bed, using peat or ash to accelerate the melting of snow, then cover it with a film to ensure maximum heating of the soil;
• when the surface layer of the soil warms up to a temperature of +13 degrees, conduct deep loosening with the addition of potash and phosphate minerals, strictly observing the amount of fertilizers applied, which the manufacturers indicate on the packages;
• before starting the planting process, re-dig the site, refueling with fertilizers that contain nitrogen.

Conditions for proper cultivation and care

Gardeners are recommended to plant a melon in the ground only in the southern regions. In the northern latitudes and in the middle lane, it is better to grow only using mature seedlings, because the melon can have time to emerge from the seeds, but will not bear fruit before the cold weather. Favorable time for disembarkation - last days of April.

To do this, you need to perform the following procedure, care and love the plant properly:

1. Make holes, 5-6 cm deep. Planting scheme - 1 m between rows, 0.7 m distance in a row.
2. Equip each hole with humus and irrigate with warm water.
3. Place 3-4 seeds in each hole.
4. Water the planted seed material and cover it with dry soil.

It is better to carry out the planting process after rain in moist soil, then the seedlings will form earlier. If a cold snap is expected, cover the beds with foil before sprouting at night.

Planting melon seedlings in the ground

The fruits are ripening late July - early August... When ripe, the vegetable acquires its characteristic color, the pattern is clearly revealed and the characteristic aroma inherent in melon appears. Full maturity is signaled by easy separation from the peduncle.

According to the gardener's lunar calendar in 2018, the melon planting process can be started on March 27,28, from April 20 to April 24 and in May any day from the 19th to the 23rd.

The key to the successful cultivation of melons and gourds is sunny warm weather, when pollination and the development of sugary juicy fruits are actively taking place. It is important to choose a suitable variety and follow simple agricultural techniques, dive and pinch seedlings if necessary, and then a rich increase in the yield of melons is ensured.

Melon, whose Latin name is spelled Cucumis melo, is an annual crop belonging to the Gourd family, a species of the genus Cucumber. This melon plant, which experts call a false berry, came to our country in the 17th century from the territory of South and Central Asia, as well as North America. And today it is possible to grow sweet melon not only in the open field. We will tell you how to properly cultivate melons on the balcony, what conditions need to be created, and also about all stages of competent care.

Which variety is right

Gardeners have long been interested in whether it is possible to grow a sweet and juicy melon on a windowsill or balcony, how to care for a culture that has taken its rightful place among other indoor plants? To be able to feast on the miracle of melon, you should start by choosing the right variety. We present to your attention 10 of the best varieties for growing on the balcony. This is the Rime melon, which is early ripening and ripens after 85-90 days from the moment the shoots appear. Altai is an early maturing climbing variety.

The fruits ripen in 65-70 days. Gh-Gerimus is a mid-season hybrid. The crop can be harvested in 80 - 100 days.The early ripening varieties, repeatedly and successfully grown on the balcony, include lemon yellow melon. It is possible to enjoy the fruits in 75-80 days. The collective farmer 749-753 belongs to the mid-season varieties. Musk has the smallest berries.

The Augen hybrid is a cross between net and cantaloupe. The Charente variety is native to France. Honey melon, which came to us from Morocco and the Mediterranean countries, is very sweet and aromatic. The Nash variety was brought to the territory of Russia from Southeast Asia.

We select capacity and soil

So that growing exotic melons at home does not give you much trouble, you need to choose the right pot and soil for the crop. First, the seeds, that is, seeds, are placed in a small container. Usually plastic cups play its role. Further, for a grown seedling, that is, seedlings, it is required to pick up a separate permanent pot with a volume of 4-5 liters. For planting, you will need a loose neutral or slightly alkaline soil. To eliminate the risk of infection, you can purchase ready-made soil mixture in a special store. It is recommended to take the land "For cucumbers".

Landing

Before planting, holes should be formed into which 1 tablespoon of ash is added. Next, the soil must be watered with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. This will be an excellent prevention of mold growth. It is also advised to fill the landing holes with warm water. After it is absorbed, you can plant seedlings from the previous container.

Remember that the day before the planned transplant, the seedlings must be watered with warm water. When planting, an important requirement must be observed: the plant should not be buried in the ground. The planting scheme assumes compliance with a distance between crops of 40-50 cm.

The necessary conditions

An exotic melon in the comfort of your own home requires some attention. For a plant, you will need to create a specific lighting system and monitor the maintenance of a specific temperature regime.

Temperature

As for the temperature indicators, even at night they cannot be lower than 15-17 degrees Celsius. This is due to the high thermophilicity of culture in natural conditions.

Lighting

To grow a melon on a balcony, it must be not only warm, but also normally lit. It is necessary to keep the pot with the plant on the lightest windowsill or balcony in the apartment. If the culture does not have enough light, it can start to hurt.

Care features

When wondering how to grow a melon at home, you need to know about the stages of caring for such a room culture. When carrying out full-fledged care for the melon, you should carry out regular watering, make high-quality fertilizing, form bushes and, if necessary, fight against diseases and pests.

Watering

Watering must necessarily be moderate, since the plant reacts poorly to excessive soil moisture. Its frequency is normally 1 every 3 days. Do not water your pet with cold water. You can use only settled water, the temperature of which is about 30-32 degrees. If it is hot days, it is advised to increase the number of watering. In cloudy weather, on the contrary, decrease.

Fertilizer

It is recommended to make top dressing with a high mineral content. The culture especially needs nitrogen. But after the ovaries are formed, the nitrogen-containing fertilizer must be replaced with a preparation that contains a lot of potassium and phosphorus.

Bush formation

Pre-soaked seeds are planted for germination in small containers. When 5-6 full-fledged leaves are visible on them, pinching is required. After transplanting seedlings into pots or larger containers, the formation of bushes is mandatory. The lashes are tied to special twines. It is necessary to manually carry out pollination "flower in flower".

Remember that male flowers always appear in the center of the stem and female flowers on the side. When the process of forming the ovaries is over, you need to leave a couple of fruits at the base of the stem, while the rest must be removed. For the correct pinching of the lashes, about 5 leaves should be left for each individual ovary.

Disease and pest control

Of the diseases that can deliver many unpleasant moments to the gardener and his crops, they call anthracnose, fusarium, powdery mildew. It is often possible to carry out their prevention by treating the soil mixture, in which the planting will be carried out, with a special biological composition. During flowering, routine spraying with a modern liquid agent, such as Fitosporin, or others, helps well.

Of the known pests, your melons can be chosen by the melon aphid, whitefly or spider mite, gnawing scoops. The most effective and safe drug to combat them is Fitoverm. But you can use other means as well.

Growing difficulties

When sprouts sprout after sowing the seeds, it is important not to forget to move the containers closer to the light. Otherwise, you will get weak or unsuccessful seedlings with ugly cotyledons, which you will have to get rid of. If the sowing is carried out in early winter, before February, then the seedlings will have little light and they will have to be illuminated daily, extending the daylight hours to 12 hours.

Until the ovaries form, the seedlings need to be dried and watering limited. Otherwise, excess moisture will stimulate the growth of side shoots, thereby reducing yield. To achieve a temperature regime of 20-25 degrees Celsius, it is better to cover the plantings with a black film. There should not be too much nitrogenous fertilizing. Together with insufficient lighting, this can lead to the accumulation of nitrates in the fruit.

Video "Growing and shaping melons"

In this video, you will learn how to grow and shape melons.