FIELD ADAPTATION OF PEPINO (SOLANUM MURICATUM) AND MELON (CUCUMIS MELO) IN THE RHINELAND, GERMANY

Intensive growing techniques including fertigation, plastic mulch and cover sheets were used to grow melon (Cucumis melo) and pepino (Solanum muricatum) in fields of the Rhineland.
Yields as high as 90 t/ha of pepino and 32 t/ha of melon, respectively, were obtained in 1996. The mulch effect was significant, not only due to warmer soil conditions but also due to reduced incidence of Botrytis in melon and of late blight in pepino.
Early sheet covering of young plantlets in the field proved to be beneficial for melon but detrimental for pepino.
The following constraints should be addressed in pepino: (i) late fruit setting (early August) though early flowering and hence, immature fruits at picking; (ii) ripening enhancement with ethylene and bitter aftertaste in most fruits, and (iii) too bushy growth with excessive number of side shoots.
In melon it is contended that early setting, and hence, ripening conditions, could be improved by sowing earlier and pinching back the young plantlets twice under glass before transplanting.

II ISHS Conference on Fruit Production in the Tropics and Subtropics

M.J.J. Janssens, A. Mierowska, H. Hindorf, K. Chen

fertigation, plastic mulch, Botrytis

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2000.531.9