What kind of soil is suitable for planting watermelon
A brief knowledge of experience, introducing the suitable soil for planting watermelon and understanding the soil requirements of green plants, please see the detailed introduction below.
【Common Soil Types for Watermelon Planting】Watermelon roots are developed, drought-resistant and thin-soil tolerant, but not flood-tolerant, and have strong adaptability to soil. The most suitable soil for planting watermelon is sandy loam, because this type of soil is loose in texture, has good ventilation, and has the ability to retain water and fertilizer, which is beneficial to the accumulation of photosynthetic products and the increase of sugar content.
I. Sandy Land
Sandy land soil has a water content of over 89% and fine soil less than 15%; sandy land soil warms up quickly and has good permeability, but poor fertilizer retention, prone to drought, and in the later growth stage of watermelon, it will appear that the fertilizer and water supply cannot meet the growth needs of watermelon, resulting in early senescence of watermelon; for sandy land soil, it can be mixed with pond mud to improve, fertilized more and supplemented with trace elements to improve the soil and avoid early senescence of watermelon; sandy land soil is suitable for planting early-maturing, crack-resistant watermelon varieties, and easy to set fruit.
II. Clayey Land
Fine soil content has more advantages, and the soil with less sand content has poor permeability and slow low temperature recovery, and the seedlings grow slowly, sometimes there is no seedling development, but this type of soil has strong water and fertilizer retention, and the soil has a follow-up momentum, which is beneficial to the robust growth of watermelon plants; clayey land is suitable for planting mid-late maturing, high-yield watermelon varieties or seedless watermelon varieties.
III. Newly Reclaimed Land
For newly reclaimed land, it is necessary to carry out deep turning multiple times, increase the depth of cultivated soil, and apply more organic fertilizer, and appropriate nitrogen fertilizer needs to be top-dressed in the early stage; newly reclaimed land should have water conservancy facilities to meet the water and fertilizer needs of watermelon growth.
IV. Saline and Alkaline Land
When planting watermelon on saline and alkaline land, good soil can be used around the planting holes to form a locally low-salt soil, which is conducive to the normal growth of seedlings; after transplanting watermelon seedlings, it is necessary to water for the first time in time to reduce salt damage; and frequently carry out hoeing and loosening of the soil to reduce the phenomenon of alkali return caused by water evaporation.
V. Hill and Mountain Land
After digging ditches and deeply turning the land on hills and mountains, organic fertilizers should be applied to the planting ditches to increase the depth of the cultivated layer, which is beneficial to improve the soil's water and fertilizer retention capacity; when planting watermelon, use plastic film cultivation to effectively keep warm and moisturize; when planting watermelon, lightly prune to expand the nutrient area of the plant.
VI. Continuous Cropping Land
Watermelon planting cannot adopt the method of continuous cropping, as this can easily lead to wilt disease, resulting in reduced or no harvest of watermelon; watermelon planting can choose resistant varieties or graft watermelon with pumpkin or gourd rootstocks.
The above is a detailed explanation of what kind of soil is suitable for planting watermelon and understanding the soil requirements of watermelon, for your reference only!