Melon Ethiopia: the characteristics of cultivation and care

Melon Ethiopia is a medium-early variety that has an amazing aroma, special taste and good transportability.

Variety description

This is a fairly powerful, but compact plant with heart-shaped leaves. Fruits of melon - medium and large size, have an oval-circular shape. Their surface is segmented, slightly rough to the touch. The crust is rather dense, golden-yellow in color, with an orange tinge. The weight of the fruit can be from 3 to 7 kg. Light yellow flesh is juicy, tender and very sweet in taste. Variety of melon Ethiopia is intended for fresh consumption.

Growing seedlings

It is recommended to grow this heat-loving culture through seedlings. A long period of vegetation allows one to obtain a higher yield. In addition, the plant does not suffer from frosts, which means it will be much more resistant to various diseases. Cooking seedlings should be in mid-April. To accelerate the emergence of seedlings, the seeds before sowing are briefly soaked in water, the temperature of which is +24 ° C. Prepare in advance small pots, whose diameter - at least 10 cm, filling them with a nutritious mixture. Seed the melon seeds of Ethiopia cover with a film and put in a warm place. When the first shoots appear, the container is placed on a well-lit place, removing the film.

Features of care

The seedlings are planted on a permanent place when 5-6 leaflets appear on it. The day before the transplant, the plants are watered abundantly with warm water. In the soil at a distance of about 50 cm from each other small holes are made, to the bottom of which is added a spoonful of wood ash. Before planting, they watered with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. This helps to avoid the appearance of mold. Then pour the wells with warm water, and after it is completely absorbed, plant the plants without burrowing the root neck.

In the process of growing a melon, Ethiopia requires the removal of the lateral shoots in such a way that one stem is formed.

Top dressing

To introduce fertilizers into the soil begin already at the stage of the appearance of cotyledonous leaves. During this period, using water "Uniflor-bud" using water, adding it to 1 teaspoon per 5 liters of standing water. It should be avoided while waterlogging the soil. Watering is performed only when the soil surface dries noticeably. The periodicity of irrigation depends on the lighting: on sunny days it is produced more often, less often - in overcast.

Melon Ethiopia, like the pumpkin, is very fond of potassium, so from the moment of flowering it is recommended to water it with phosphoric-potassium top dressing, consisting of two spoons of potassium sulfate and one spoon of superphosphate. With insufficiently good development of the plant should be used for watering the infusion of weeds.

Fight against diseases

In the process of growth melon can suffer from various diseases. This culture is most often affected by powdery mildew. In the beginning, white spots appear on the stem and on the upper (a little later and on the lower) side of the leaves. Then the leaves gradually turn yellow and dry up. The disease can affect the fruits of the plant.

Olive spotting is manifested in the fact that stems and leaves produce brown spots. Sometimes, and on fruits can appear light brown sores, filled with olive-colored fungus spores. The border of the damaged and healthy tissue is covered with a gelatinous liquid. This disease leads to the death of the ovaries and the loss of the marketable appearance of the ripened fruit.

If the melon's moisture content is too high, Ethiopia can be affected by anthracnose. The yellowish-brown sores that form on the petioles and stems with pink coating inflict after some time the basal part of the plant, which leads to its death.

Prevent these diseases by timely spraying with special products intended for use in personal household plots. It can be "Hom", "Phytosporin", Bordeaux liquid. Good results are obtained by spraying with a mixture that includes "Citovit", "Epin-extra" and "Zircon". For proper use, you need to dissolve 2 drops of each drug in one liter of water.