Melon is an annual plant. Its stem is a hairy plant. Its body is hairy, its arms are wrapping and its leaves are 5-lobed. The melon plant has two types of flowers. These are male flowers and female flowers or erselic flowers. Male flowers are on the main branches, and female or erselic flowers are on the side branches. Honey bees play an important role in transporting pollen of melon.
Melon farming is done intensively in our country.
KINDS
The melon variety to be produced must be highly productive, resistant to diseases and transportation. In our region, Arava, Polidor and Galia large fruited Yuva melon varieties can be grown.
CLIMATE AND SOIL REQUIREMENTS
Melon is a hot and warm climate plant. It requires sufficient soil moisture with a sunny, warm and dry weather during its long growing period. Moist areas are more likely to get fungal diseases. There should be no danger of frost during the growing season.
Seed sowing should be done in the spring when the danger of cold is completely gone and the soil temperature rises above 15°C.
Heavy clay and acidic soils are not suitable for melon cultivation. Soils with a pH of 6-8 with high water holding capacity, good drainage and disease-free are suitable.
BREEDING TECHNIQUE
In places where melon cultivation is intense, alternation should be applied to prevent diseases such as wilting. Melon should not be grown on the same land for more than two years in a row. Melon + cotton + grain + 2nd product or melon + cotton + lentil + 2nd product alternation can be applied in our region.
Soil preparation in melon cultivation should start after the first rains in autumn. Plowing can be done when the soil is tempered in the first rains. Doubling should be done with a cultivator, goble-disc or diskharrow to break up the clods from the back of the deep plowing.
The second tillage period is February-March, and the land is made ready for sowing and planting by cultivating the soil with a cultivator in the soil annealing. If grazing is observed in the field before sowing or planting, soil cultivation can be done with a cultivator again.
Before planting in the field where melon will be grown, furrows should be drawn with a furrow plow with a spacing of 2 m. Sowing is done on the edge of these furrows on one side and 75 cm above the row. 4-5 seeds should be left in each quarry.
The seeds should be covered with 5-6 cm of soil and lightly pressed. Sowing should be done between 20 April and 5 May in our region.
Seeds germinate in 5-15 days and rise to the soil surface. After emergence, two suitable plants are left in the hearth. Then one plant is left.
Direct sowing in the field should be done in the second half of April in the Black Sea Region.
Sowing is done in two ways:
1- January Method Sowing: The hearths are determined with 1.5-2m between rows and 1-1.5m on rows. The width of the hearths should be 40-50 cm in diameter and 15-20 cm in depth. Farm manure mixed with 5-10 cm of soil is placed at the bottom of the quarries. 3-4 seeds are planted in each quarry and covered with fertile soil so that the seeds remain at a depth of 3-4 cm. It is pressed lightly and life water is given with a filter bucket. It starts to appear on the soil surface within 10-12 days at the latest under suitable conditions. When it comes to the soil surface and has 2-3 leaves, it is diluted in the quarry. 1 or 2 plants are left in each hearth.
2- Line Planting: It is planted in the field prepared in this method with 1.5-3 m intervals according to the development and spreading strength of the varieties and the soil character. The depth of the lines is 5-6cm
should be. 2-4 seeds are left at 1m intervals. It is covered with a rake and lightly soiled.
is suppressed.
Planting by Growing Seedlings
In melon farming, seedling can be grown in terms of earliness. In our region, earliness of 15-20 days can be achieved between seedling, breeding, planting and breeding. In seedling cultivation, plastic bags with a size of 10×13 cm are used. These bags are filled with well-mixed mortar. To make mortar, 1 part of garden soil, 1 part of well-burned barn manure and 1 part of sand are mixed thoroughly.
Melon seeds are placed in bags filled with mortar at a depth of 4-5 cm. 1-2 seeds are left in each bag. These bags are placed in greenhouses and high tunnels and watered with filter buckets. Seed sowing in tubes in our region should be done between 5-15 March. From time to time, weeds are taken from seedlings grown in bags and watered. Under normal conditions, seedlings are ready for planting in 30-40 days.
The seedlings, which are ready for planting, should be planted in the field that has been plowed with a cultivator and the furrows have been opened with a furrow plow, with a spacing of 2 m between rows and 75 cm above the row. Care should be taken not to disperse the seedling soil while removing the seedlings from the plastic bags. After planting, life water must be given.
Fertilization
In order to grow a successful melon, farmyard manure should be applied because it likes soils with high organic matter. Farm manure should be mixed with a cultivator by adding 3-4 tons per decare after deep ploughing in autumn. 15-18 kg/da N and 10 kg/da P2O5 should be given as chemical fertilizers. All of the phosphorus fertilizer and half of the nitrogen fertilizer should be discarded and mixed with the cultivator before sowing or planting. The other half of the nitrogen fertilizer should be given in the form of a tape, 15-20 cm away from the seedlings when the plants start to branch out.
Irrigation
After the melon seedlings are transplanted into the field, when a good life water is given, the plants develop without the need for irrigation for a long time. In areas where melons are grown by sowing in suitable soil tempering, there is no need for more irrigation until fruit formation. However, if there is not enough moisture in the soil, irrigation should be done not excessively.
Irrigation should be increased after fruit formation period. From this period, irrigation should be done every 12-15 days. In irrigation, the soil depth of 0-90 cm should be brought to the field capacity. During the fruit ripening period, attention should be paid to irrigation. Plants and fruits should not come into contact with irrigation water as much as possible. Furrow, drip and sprinkler methods can be used for irrigation. Irrigation should be stopped when the plants begin to decline in yield.
Care
In melon cultivation, care should be taken as the seedlings emerge from the tubes. Seedlings in tubes should be watered from time to time and weeds removed. The first hoe is made when the plants have 4-5 leaves. Hoeing is continued with 2-3 week intervals. Thinning is done by leaving 2-4 fruits closest to the root on each root and cutting the others. When the plants develop and start to spread their arms around, tip removal can be done from 4-5 leaves on each branch. Thus, instead of helping the plant to grow continuously, the nutrients will be used in the enlargement of the existing fruits on the plant. Weed control should continue until the arms cover the field and do not allow the hoe.
After the seedlings are transplanted to the field, hoeing should be done and weeds should be cleaned after the first and second irrigations. Hoeing should not be done after the arms of the plants have developed.
DISEASES, DAMAGES AND THE FIGHTING
Wilt: This disease, which can be seen throughout the development period from the germination of the seed, is caused by various fungi. The germinating seed may not reach the soil surface, yellowing and death may be seen in the young seedlings. It causes death by causing wounds and rot in the root collar and capillary roots of the seedlings.
This disease can also be seen during the development phase, in the period of branching, flowering and fruit formation. The disease is accompanied by light and dark brown blight on the root collar of the plants, sometimes gumming is seen in these parts.
As a cultural control against the disease, diseased plants should be removed and alternation should be applied. In chemical control, 600 ml of a mixture of Benomly 50 at a dose of 0.1% or Thiram 80 at a dose of 0.2%, Maneb 80 at a 0.1% dose, as a bottom wash, is applied to each root 2 or 3 times after the plants begin to branch. Medicated water should be given.
Powdery Mildew: Particularly on the old leaves of the plants, round spots appear in pieces, these spots combine over time and cover the leaf, petiole and stem. These places, which are seen as white powder at first, become darker and stop plant development.
Chemical control should be started with one of the drugs containing powdered sulfur, wettable sulfur Benomly, Thiophanate, Carbendazim when signs of disease are observed. Applications should be repeated 2-5 times at 10-day intervals. Systematic drugs should be administered at 20-day intervals.
Anthracnose: Appears on leaves as brown or black, round spots. These spots coalesce and grow unevenly, and the leaves become fragmented and dry. When it affects the whole plant, it appears as brown and slightly pitted spots on petioles and fruits. These colors in the fruits then turn into orange color.
When the disease is seen, these plants should be removed as a cultural precaution. Medication control is done with drugs containing Zineb or Maneb when signs of disease are observed. Thiram or Mancozeb are used in seed spraying.
Watermelon Mosaic Virus: It is transmitted from watermelons by aphids. The symptom of the disease appears as bubble-shaped light and dark green spots on the leaves, curls and stunting on the shoots. It is seen in the form of curling and dysfunction in flowers, and spotted deformity in fruits. If the plants are caught early in the disease, the development stops and does not bear fruit.
To combat this disease, clean seeds should be used and carrier aphids should be combated.
Cucumber Mosaic Virus: It is a disease that causes great damage to melon. The leaves are light green with yellow spots. It is a disease that leaves the entire plant stunted. The fruit set of the plants is low and the quality of the fruits is deteriorated.
There is no medicine for the disease. Aphids, which are carriers, should be struggled with and certified seeds should be used.
Wireworms: The long, shiny, yellow-brown colored larvae of wireworms damage seeds and roots of young seedlings. It enters the roots, opens galleries and causes the death of the seedlings. Soil spraying is done before planting with one of the drugs Diazinon, Chlorpryhos or Endosulfan against the larvae of wireworms. In addition, seed spraying is done in drugs with Chlorpryhos or Endosulfan.
Aphids: These pests cause damage by sucking plant sap from under the leaves, shoot tips and growth cones. They cause the leaves to curl and twist. Drug control against aphids. Drugs containing Malathion, Fenitrothion, Endosulfan, Carbarly are used.
Red Spiders: These oval-shaped and hard-to-see pests cause damage by sucking the sap from the leaves. Adult, larval pimf and eggs are found together on the lower surface of the leaves. The leaves, sucked by the pests, turn yellow, curl and dry. Chemical control against red spiders One of the drugs containing Malathion, Eromophos, Dicofol, Tetradifon, Binapeoryl is used.
Melon Scarlet Beetle: This pest has a length of 6-7 mm, iron red color, very active and long structure. Larvae are thin and long, 10-15 mm long and yellowish lemon color when grown. The adults cause damage to the leaves of the plant, and the larvae to the roots.
Endosulfan-containing drugs are used against the larvae of the melon scarab beetle containing Carbaryl, Bromopos, Malathion, and Diazinon.
Melon, Watermelon Wire Beetle: It is an insect resembling a ladybug, with six black spots on each of its wings, which are seen as hemispherical from the adult. The adult is reddish in color and the larvae are orange, oval and wide. The larvae are covered with spiny hairs. The adults spend the winter among the plant residues where they live and lay their eggs in clusters under the plant leaves in June. Adults cause damage to flowers, fruit pulp and young shoots, and larvae to leaves. In chemical control, drugs containing Carlbarly, Bromophos, Malathion and Diazinon are used.
Melon Fly: It is a pest that causes damage during the larval stage. Larvae destroy the seed house of fruits. The rot in the holes that the larvae make when they come out with the residue and dirt in the fruit deteriorates the quality of the fruit.
The first spraying against melon fly is done with drugs containing Carbarly, Fenthion, Diazinon, Malathion and Endosulfan when the fruits are the size of hazelnuts. The second spraying should be done 15 days after the first.
HARVEST, THREES, AND STORAGE
Fruits should be harvested at full ripening stage. Melons that have reached maturity are harvested by picking the stems by hand or cutting them with a knife. Harvesting should be done in the morning and melons collected in small piles should not be left in the sun for long. Melons should be shipped immediately to the market or warehouse. If melons are to be stored for a long time in the warehouse, they should be turned over from time to time.