Instructions on how to grow bitter melon fruit at home
Instructions on how to grow bitter melon fruit at home
Growing bitter melon (bitter melon) is not… painful at all, on the contrary, growing this plant is quite easy from sowing, caring for, to harvesting.
Although it is the bitterest of all fruits, bitter melon (bitter melon) has won the love of many people and is quite a popular fruit because of its bitter-sweet yet refreshing taste and is very beneficial for health. . Not only the fruit, but every part of the bitter melon plant is also a valuable medicine. If you are a “big fan” of bitter melon, grow these fruits yourself right in your garden.
Bitter melon is a plant that is very easy to grow, easy to grow and relatively easy to care for. In particular, July and August are the most suitable times to plant this plant because the hot sun and lots of rain are favorable conditions to help the plant grow well and produce high yields. So is there any reason why “street farmers” don’t own a bitter melon trellis right at home? Here is a super simple way to grow bitter melon that anyone can do right away.
Step 1: Prepare seeds
To have quality bitter melon seeds, you should choose bitter melons that are big, fat and firm in your hand. In addition, you can buy bitter melon seeds at reputable seed stores. Use a knife to cut the melon lengthwise, use a spoon to scrape, filter and remove the seeds from the fruit, then wash and dry the seeds to preserve and wait for the right time to plant.
Step 2: Sow the seeds
Treat the seeds by soaking them in warm water according to the formula 2 boiling, 3 cold, soaking for 5-6 hours, then taking them out and incubating them in a damp cloth. After 24 hours, wash off all the oily layer on the seed coat, then incubate until the seeds crack and then sow. When sowing, place the seeds with the cracked tip facing down and cover with a thin layer of soil. Then water. In about 5 days the seeds will begin to germinate and grow high After about 3 weeks, the plant reaches a height of about 10 to 15cm and has 2 or 3 true leaves.
Step 3: Make a trellis for the bitter melon plant
When the plants are 25 to 30cm tall, start to produce 5 to 6 true leaves and tendrils begin to appear, we plant them in larger pots or plant them in garden soil and then build a trellis for them. Once the bitter melon plant has tendrils, it grows very quickly. You can use the net to let the bitter melon climb the trellis. Move the seedlings to the predetermined planting area and build a trellis for them to climb. You need to water regularly about 2 times a day to ensure moisture for the plant to grow and develop.
Step 4: Care and harvest
Flowers usually begin to appear on the trellis within a few weeks after planting. Male flowers will bloom first and female flowers with a small bulb in the flower stem will bloom about a week later.
You can let bees and butterflies pollinate the flowers or you can do it yourself. Note that male flowers only live for about a day, bloom in the morning and fall to the base of the tree in the evening.
After the flowers bloom about 5 days, the tree begins to bear fruit. Young fruits sprout from the stem after the flowers fade, and gradually over time will grow to standard size.
At this stage, you should remove too thick leaves growing near young fruits to create conditions for young fruits to receive enough light to grow. Bitter melon is an easy-to-grow, easy-to-live plant, but to achieve the best results, plant it on sandy soil rich in loose organic matter. Plants need to be watered a lot, especially during the flowering and fruiting stages. You can also fertilize the plants when they are first planted and fertilize them at each important time. Growing bitter melon has two seasons, summer-autumn and winter-spring, of which the summer-autumn crop has much higher yields. From planting to fruit maturity, it only takes about 2 months. When the tree bears fruit, you can have fruit to use every 2 to 3 days.
In addition to being a nutritious food, bitter melon fruit is also a valuable medicine, has cooling properties, helps clear heat and is diuretic. Fresh bitter melon juice has good blood sugar-lowering effects, is an ideal food for diabetics and especially helps prevent the dangerous disease of cancer.
