On this occasion, we are going to talk about melons and onions... it is the first time we publish information about these interesting crops. Our friend and follower Antonio Miguel Galán Molina-Prados sent us a few pictures and explained us about how they carry out these tasks in their farm called Life House. This farm is about 20 km from his village called Herencia (Ciudad Real). The name of his farm was given because this farm was the only place with water around there, and water is synonym of life.
As he commented, his village has always been a place with lots of people who had worked in the orchard because they have exceptional soil with plenty of water to irrigation, so the more predominant crops have always been lettuce, tomatoes, melons, watermelons, onions,... these crops require a great experience and dedication.
As you can see in his pictures the first step to plant melons is fixing the drip pipes together with some plastics to cover soil in order to avoid weeds. These plastics are seated at 2m from one to the following one and the droppers are seated at 75cm each. After that, the melon plant is fixed manually at 1.5m each. Finally, these plants are covered with other plastic called blanket what will do a small greenhouse effect to protect them from the cold. He told us in future plantations they won't use it.
When the planting job is finished, irritation tasks begin. At the beginning, they water them 1.5 hours every three days and it will be rise as the plant grows to reach watering them during 3 hours every day... finally, the aim is to get 4 or 5 melons of 3 of 5 kg each, per plant. We can ensure we will publish some pictures when the melons will be ready to be harvested.
Regarding onions, they use a small machinery what buries stones and it has a spiked roller sets where plants will be put (this year, they have installed the Trimble EZ-Pilot assisted steering system and it allows us to carry out perfectly). The workers use a special tool to plant onion what allows them to do these tasks without generate any damages in the stem and leaves of onion plants.
Thank you very much for your pictures... it has been very interesting!
As he commented, his village has always been a place with lots of people who had worked in the orchard because they have exceptional soil with plenty of water to irrigation, so the more predominant crops have always been lettuce, tomatoes, melons, watermelons, onions,... these crops require a great experience and dedication.
As you can see in his pictures the first step to plant melons is fixing the drip pipes together with some plastics to cover soil in order to avoid weeds. These plastics are seated at 2m from one to the following one and the droppers are seated at 75cm each. After that, the melon plant is fixed manually at 1.5m each. Finally, these plants are covered with other plastic called blanket what will do a small greenhouse effect to protect them from the cold. He told us in future plantations they won't use it.
When the planting job is finished, irritation tasks begin. At the beginning, they water them 1.5 hours every three days and it will be rise as the plant grows to reach watering them during 3 hours every day... finally, the aim is to get 4 or 5 melons of 3 of 5 kg each, per plant. We can ensure we will publish some pictures when the melons will be ready to be harvested.
Regarding onions, they use a small machinery what buries stones and it has a spiked roller sets where plants will be put (this year, they have installed the Trimble EZ-Pilot assisted steering system and it allows us to carry out perfectly). The workers use a special tool to plant onion what allows them to do these tasks without generate any damages in the stem and leaves of onion plants.
Thank you very much for your pictures... it has been very interesting!