How to pinch melons?

Melon is a drought-resistant plant. Its roots go deep into the earth to a depth of about a meter, and from there it feeds on moisture. Leaves suffer from lack of moisture. And its excess leads to disease. Therefore, it needs proper pinching at all stages of its development. What pinch pattern is correct when to carry out this procedure, what mistakes can be made?

Melon pinching basics

1. On melons, female fertile flowers grow, forming only on third-order branches. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor their safety. Injury them categorically undesirable.
2. There should be only one shoot on the stem - only the most powerful ones should be left. Everyone else must be pinched. Otherwise, the bush will begin to grow, and young branches will take away all the juices from the fruitful.
3. Each plant should have no more than 5-7 fruits. The more they are, the less they should be. If you do not adhere to this rule, the fruits will become smaller, and will be tasteless.

The correct pinch pattern (procedure)

The sequence must be respected in any case, otherwise the yield will drop sharply. Sequence:

1. Fruits form on the side of the bush. You need to wait until 6-7 first sheets appear. After them, ovaries and flowers will begin to grow.
2. The growth point is always removed so that the juices flow only to the fruitful branches.
3. After germination of the 8th leaf, pinch should be about the 4th. Then several shoots will grow, you need to leave only a couple, the most powerful ones. They also pinch over the 6th and 7th sheets.
4. As soon as the branches are tied up, it will be necessary to leave only 6-7 - they will form the ovaries and bear fruit. It is important to leave only those that are closer to the trunk. This is necessary for their maximum saturation with energy. Pinch all other branches if very small melons grow on them.
5. After two to three weeks, all fruitful shoots are cut off at the apex, and the rest are nipped over the 5th or 6th leaf. Flowers also clean. To prevent melons from decaying, small pieces of plywood should be placed under them.

Pinch pattern

The basic pinch pattern is based on 3 stages of plant development:

1. At the stage of transplanting seedlings.
2. With the formation of 6-7 first leaves.
3. During the formation of the first ovaries.

Such a scheme involves harvesting all small and weak branches that cannot bear fruit. Then all the pinched places are treated with sulfur, coal or limestone - to prevent further growth of branches from these places, and to protect the plant from damage by various parasites, diseases.

How pinching can affect the crop

When the growth points on the bush are removed, this has a positive effect on the taste of the fruits and the overall yield, growth acceleration and the onset of ripening. Pinching allows you to ensure that lateral ovaries form on the bush. Beneficial substances come in the fruit, and not in the branch. Melon bears fruit a week or two earlier.

If you neglect the pinching of the branches, then on adult bushes, not a single melon can grow at all.And all because with this approach the lateral ovaries either will not form or they will be too few and they rarely bear fruit.

Seedling pinch

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When the melon sprouts are still quite small, you can already carry out the first stage of pinching. The main thing is that 5-6 full leaf plates appear on seedlings. After the procedure, the main stem will grow in the sinus of the main leaf, and the main stems will form in the sinuses of the rest.

Pinch when growing a plant vertically

In greenhouse conditions, plants form into one stem, the rest are harvested. This is the second pinch that takes place when the central lash of the bush grows to 2 meters. All lateral branches are removed on the 3-4th leaves, if there are no ovaries on them.

Pollination is also important when growing melons in greenhouse conditions, because the bees hardly penetrate the room, and the humidity in it is increased. It must be carried out by manual methods. If you neglect the process, the ovaries may not form.

Pinch for horizontal cultivation

Used for melons growing in the garden. It is not suitable for greenhouse plants, as irrational due to the small area of ​​the room and the risk of infection of the bushes, which arises due to too high humidity (it is simply inevitable, because the soil will constantly overgrow with melon branches) and poor lighting.

In the cultivation scheme, in the spread, as soon as 3 shoots are formed (after the first pinching), the smallest of them is removed. The procedure is necessary after the appearance of 5-7 sheets.

The last, third pinch is carried out at the stage of ovary formation:

• small thin, non-fruiting branches are removed;
• remove all the ovaries above the 5-6th leaf from the first melon;
• all treated areas are lubricated with sulfur, coal or limestone.

How to pinch early and late melon varieties

Early varieties are formed only by harvesting the main branch, and then control the number of ovaries, since fruits on such bushes will appear very quickly and nutrients, they need much less energy than late-ripening. The time of pinching depends not only on the method of germination, but also on the timing of fruiting.

Late-ripening varieties are processed more often, and less fruitful branches are left on them. This helps to reduce the ripening time, saves energy costs. Scheme pinching late ripe melons:

Possible mistakes

1. Pinch on the same principle as a watermelon. In a watermelon, the ovaries form on the central shoot, and in a melon on the side.
2. Pinching exclusively lateral shoots. Exactly the opposite error.
3. Not tracking plants, allowing them to grow.

findings

Pinching the melon should be carried out strictly according to a certain scheme, and only at a certain stage of plant development. It is always necessary to observe the fundamentals of pinching, do not neglect the data on pinching of different varieties. It is important to avoid common mistakes.