Growth Period

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In these hot summer days, melons are one of the favorite fruits of the Turkish people, who produce 1.8 million tonnes of melons every year. This places Turkey at the second in the world melon production, right after China, who produces 6.6 million tonnes. All this information is leading to this: We know how to grow quality melons, and now we’ll share our secrets with you.

First thing you have to do is to decide which kind of melon to grow. There are many varieties with different flavors grown around the world and your choice should suit your purposes and climate.

Overall, melons like hot or warm climates. The long growth period requires hot and sunny weather, too much moisture might cause fungal diseases. Clayed or acidic soil isn’t good for melons and it should be able to hold water well.

Melon – Cotton – Grain Rotation

A nice melon picture

To prevent diseases, you shouldn’t produce melons repeatedly on the same field. In Turkey, usually melon – cotton – grain rotation is used.

Before planting melons, you should plow lines with 2 meters of distance between them. On one side of the plowed lines, plant 4-5 seeds in groups with 75 centimeters of distance to each other. Then cover them in 5-6 centimeters of soil. In Turkey, this is done between 20th of April and 5th of May. The seeds will take root and slowly grow and you should see them sprout in 5 to 15 days. You should pull out the weak plants in every group and leave the two strongest sprouts. Later on, you should pull one of those, leaving only one.

Melons like organic materials, so it’s best to use fertilizer made from animal manure. You should apply this fertilizer in autumn, while preparing the field.

Drip Irrigation is Preferred When Producing Melons

While growing, the melon plants won’t require too much water. Actually, very little amounts of water will suffice until the fruits appear. When the fruits start growing, watering every 12 – 15 days will be good but make sure the fruits or the plant itself doesn’t get wet. Because of this, drip irrigation is preferred when producing melons.

Melons don’t require much attention, other than pulling out the foreign plants. Harvesting melons should be done in the morning, and you should immediately take the harvested melons to the bazaar or the depot.

These are some of the tips I’ve learned from my grandfather, whose melons are growing nicely. I hope you find some use among these.

Gobble pruning, also known as Calyx-shaped pruning, is the most commonly used technique for orchard-raised peach trees. Peaches grown in this manner must be topped, meaning that the top branch must be removed and the crown built on 3-4 main branches. Continuous pruning is necessary requirement for all peach trees, so gobble pruning must be executed 19 inches above the trunk so that it ultimately simplifies the work of pruning, thinning and pest combat.

Although calyx-shaped pruning is used for peach trees, a modified leader system also affords successful results and is generally preferred for many peach species. In this scenario, the tree tops must be cut by 39 inches.

Seedlings with a scale of 0.5 – 0.6 inches are used. 3-4 weeks after plantation, 4-5 lateral roof branches (that are not overlapping each other) must be selected while the others are removed. The first branch should be situated 1 – 1.5 inches above soil level and the distance between the branches should be 6 inches. If the seedling has an ample amount of strong lateral branches, 1-2 of them can be shortened with a little cut on the top.

At the end of the second growth period, peach tree need to be pruned slightly. Each lateral branch endangering the development of each leader branch should be shortened by the outer buds.

In the third growth period, a slight degree of pruning should be executed. 2-3 proper branches from the roof branches should remain untouched while the others are removed. The top parts can be cut slightly toward the outside, bearing in mind that a severe cutting is not preferred. Tangled and steep growing branches need to be removed. If the roof is well-established, the tree will be bent toward the side which ultimately prevents the development of the leader branch.

In the fourth growth period, once again, a slight degree of pruning should be executed. In order to prevent the formation of flowers and fruit, aggressive pruning should be avoided in this period. Crowded buds on the trunk can be rarefied. The leader can be weakened at this time, particularly if it has not grown in the previous year.

Because peach trees generate flowers on horizontal buds, the trees should be pruned in a way that enables the formation of sound and long buds. It is important to prune peach trees within the yield period each and every year, otherwise the tree rapidly develops in an upward and sideward direction.