Season and Field preparation

Soil

Sandy loam rich in organic matter with good drainage and pH range for 6.5-7.5 is ideal for cultivation of watermelon. This crop requires a moderate warm temperature.

Season

Sow the seeds during November – December

Seed rate

About 3.5 kg of seeds are required for a hectare.

Seed treatment

Treat with Trichoderma viiridi 4 g or Pseudomonas fluorescens 10 g or Carbendizim 2g/kg of seeds

Preparation of field

Plough the field to a fine tilth and form long channel 2.5 m apart.

Sowing

Sow the seeds on one side of the channel with a spacing of 0.9 m between hills. Thin the seedlings 2/hill at 15 days after sowing. Sowing during January – February enables harvest during summer months and fetches higher price.

Irrigation

Irrigate the field before dibbling the seeds and thereafter once a week. Irrigation should be given at regular intervals of time. Irrigation after a long dry spell results in cracking of fruits.

Application of fertilizers

Apply FYM 20 t/ha, P 55 kg and K 55 kg as basal and N 55 kg/ha 30 days after sowing.Apply Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria @ 2 kg/ha and Pseudomonoas @ 2.5 kg/ha along with FYM 50 kg and neem cake 100 kg before last ploughing.

Nursery preparation

Nursery for watermelon can be prepared either with polythene bags of 200 gauge, 10 cm diameter and 15 cm height size or through protrays under protected nursery. In polybag nursery, fill the bags with 1:1:1 ratio of red soil, sand and farmyard manure mixture. Use protrays, each having 98 cells for raising seedlings. Transplant about 12 days old seedlings in the main field.

Drip irrigation

Install drip system with main and sub-main pipes and place the inline lateral tubes at an interval of 1.5 m. Place the drippers in lateral tubes at an interval of 60 cm and 50 cm spacing with 4 LPH and 3.5 LPH capacities respectively.

Field preparation

Raise beds of 1.2 m width and 30cm height for sowing.

Planting

Spread the lateral tubes in the centre of each bed. Irrigate the beds by operating the drip system continuously for 8-12 hrs. Spray pre-emergence weedicide (Pendimethalin @ 1 kg a.i/ha) just before planting. Plant the seedlings in the holes made at 60 cm distance.

Fertigation

Apply a dose of 200:100:100 kg NPK/ha throughout the cropping period through split application

After cultivation

Spray Ethrel 250 ppm (2.5 ml/10 lit of water) 4 times at weekly intervals commencing from 15 days after sowing. Weeding is done thrice.

Harvest

Fruits are harvested when it produces dull sound upon tapping or the fruits surface on the ground level produces light yellow colour are the harvest index for water melon.

Yield

Fruits are harvested when it produces dull sound upon tapping or the fruits surface on the ground level produces light yellow colour are the harvest index for water melon.