An unusual plant in your garden is the serpentine melon. Serpentine melon: planting and care in open ground Serpentine melon

Serpentine melon (lat. Cucumis melo var. flexuosus)- a type of melon; representative of the Cucumber genus of the Cucurbitaceae family. Other names are Armenian cucumber or Tarra. He is a native of Central Asia and Iran. Currently cultivated in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Afghanistan. In Russia it is grown on personal plots.

Characteristics of culture

Serpentine melon is a herbaceous plant with stems up to 3-4 m long. The leaves are light green, rough, pubescent with hard hairs, similar in appearance to the leaves of melon and cucumber. The flowers are dioecious, yellow, and pollinated by insects. The fruits are cylindrical, pale green, green or orange, straight or curved, up to 50 cm long, with a thin and delicate skin.

The average weight of one fruit is 1-2 kg, there are specimens weighing up to 6 kg. The pulp of the fruit is very juicy, dense, sweetish, without bitterness. Fruits are formed on the main shoot and second-order shoots. Serpentine melon boasts high yields and long shelf life. The growing season is 60-70 days.

Currently, several varieties have been developed that differ in the taste of the fruit, their size and color, as well as resistance to peronospora, powdery mildew and other diseases. Some varieties have other benefits, such as lowering temperatures during fruit set.

The fruits are used for culinary purposes, they are consumed fresh and stored for the winter in the form of various preserves. Only ripe fruits are suitable for cooking; overripe ones are unsuitable, they do not have a rich taste and aroma.

Subtleties of cultivation

The agricultural technology of serpentine melon is similar to the principles of cultivating the common cucumber. The culture, unlike other representatives of the genus Cucumber and Melon, is undemanding to soil conditions and is resistant even to light salinity. Good fruit yields can be obtained by cultivating Armenian cucumber on loose, well-dug, fertilized, moderately moist soils with a neutral pH reaction.

Plants have a negative attitude towards waterlogging and waterlogging. High air humidity can also have a detrimental effect on the development of serpentine melon. The most important condition for successful cultivation is the presence of nutrients in the soil. In central Russia, serpentine melon is cultivated in greenhouses. The optimal temperature for normal development and growth is 23-25C. The location is preferably sunny; in dense shade, plants rot and sometimes even die.

Armenian cucumber seeds are sown in June, when the soil warms up to 18C. Growing the crop in seedlings is not prohibited; it allows you to get fruits 3 weeks earlier than when sowing seeds in open ground. Before sowing, seeds are soaked in warm water for two days (changing the water periodically). The shoots appear together. When planting serpentine melon seedlings, maintain a distance of 1 m.

For the first few weeks, or rather before flowering, seedlings planted in the ground are covered at night with a frame over which a film is stretched. It will protect young plants from frosts, which are destructive for the Armenian cucumber. After planting, the seedlings are fed with chicken manure diluted in water and mineral fertilizers (if this was not done when preparing the soil for planting).

Care

Serpentine melon is unpretentious to care. Care consists of rare watering, fertilizing with mineral and organic fertilizers, weeding and preventive treatments against pests and diseases. To prevent the fruits from lying on bare ground, trellises are installed in the immediate vicinity, behind which the plants will curl, rising upward. The fruits are very tasty and attract birds with their aroma, so it is important to provide protection from uninvited guests.

The Armenian cucumber is known to many as snake melon, or tarra. The plant is a species of melon, a member of the genus Cucumber and the Cucurbitaceae family, or Cucurbitaceae. This melon crop, still little known to gardeners, called Cucumber Armenian in Latin, looks very exotic and has a very unusual taste.

Description of the plant

The plant belongs to the category of long-climbing plants, forming a large number of lateral shoots. The bright green leaves have a very characteristic round shape. The fruits are light green in color, with silvery pubescence. The length of the fruit varies from 45 to 50 cm. A peculiarity of the Armenian cucumber is the complete absence of an air cavity inside it.

The pulp of the fruit of this plant is juicy, crisp, white, with a pronounced melon aroma. Armenian cucumbers are eaten fresh with the peel, and can also be used for pickling and canning. As a result of overripening, the fruits of Cucumber Armenian turn yellow and almost completely lose their taste.

This unusual melon and cucumber flavored crop features huge, cylindrical, segmented fruits and a long growing season. Fruiting is continuous and continues until frost. Cucumber Armenian has high resistance to real and downy mildew, and also tolerates low temperatures very well.

Useful properties

Cucumber Armenian fruits contain about 13-14% sugars, approximately 15% dry matter and 7.5% starch. In addition, the pulp is rich in vitamins and mineral salts, which has a beneficial effect on metabolic processes in the human body.

The pulp and juice of the Armenian cucumber are useful for obesity, diabetes, general weakness, hypertension, atherosclerosis and colic, and the presence of a sufficient amount of folic acid has a positive effect on hematopoietic processes. Serpentine melon is widely used as a laxative, choleretic, diuretic and anti-sclerotic agent.

Armenian cucumber: growing (video)

Armenian cucumber “White Bogatyr”

“White Bogatyr”, due to its high yield and unpretentiousness, is gaining popularity among Russian gardeners.

Fruits are formed on the main shoot and on second-order shoots, in the area of ​​the first pair of leaves. The main vine reaches a length of 3 m. The flowering is dioecious. The period from the appearance of full-fledged shoots to the first harvest of fruits is approximately two months. The yield of each plant, subject to agricultural technology, is 8-10.5 kg of fruit.

Features of agricultural technology

The plant is very common in China, Japan, Uzbekistan and Italy, which characterizes the serpentine melon as a heat-loving crop, for which the presence of high soil and air temperatures, as well as good lighting, is very important.

Growing Armenian cucumber is not difficult. Seeds sold by agricultural firms and seed companies have already been processed and do not require additional pre-sowing activities. The soil should be fertile, loose and light. The seeds hatch at a temperature of 15-25°C, but in order to obtain friendly and early shoots, it is recommended to carry out preliminary soaking. If there are optimal indicators of soil humidity and temperature, the first shoots appear approximately a week after sowing.

The optimal time for sowing seedlings is the last ten days of April. The planting depth is the same as for cucumber seeds, that is, approximately 5 cm. Plants are planted in a permanent place if there are seven true leaves, no earlier than the end of May. The standard planting pattern for Cucumber Armenian seedlings is 0.5 x 1 m.

The plant is unpretentious. Caring for the Armenian cucumber consists of regularly loosening the soil and, if necessary, infrequent but sufficiently abundant watering. It is necessary to monitor the cleanliness of the plantings and regularly weed. It is recommended to use organic matter as fertilizers, It is best to add liquid mullein. Good results are obtained by alternating fertilizing with slurry and solutions of complex mineral fertilizers. To protect against diseases and pests, you can use garlic and onion infusions.

Fruits from the vines must be plucked with the stalk, since otherwise the period of preservation of the crop is sharply reduced. When stored in the refrigerator, Armenian cucumbers do not lose their quality characteristics and presentation for a month, and sometimes more.

Procurement of seeds

Cucumber Armenian does not have fruit shells, so the preparation of seeds of this crop is always accompanied by a fermentation process. After removing the seeds from a fully ripened fruit, place them in a strainer and then rinse thoroughly under running warm tap water. The washed seeds are dried on a cloth.

To store your own seeds until spring planting, it is advisable to use a regular paper envelope. Seed material must be kept in a cool and dry place. Germination indicators, when properly harvested and under storage conditions, are maintained for five years. The advantage of self-harvesting seeds is that the seed material obtained in this way does not need stratification.

Reviews from vegetable growers

According to the experience of gardeners, who have been growing Armenian cucumbers in their garden plots for several years now, the soil before planting should be very carefully dug up and fertilized with humus at the rate of 1 bucket for each square meter of planting. It is also recommended to add approximately 0.5 buckets of sand per square meter. In the last ten days of May, the seeds should be soaked for a day in a solution of a growth stimulant, and then planted in open ground at a distance of 0.7 m.

Externally, Armenian cucumbers resemble slightly wrinkled and pubescent zucchini. The fruits are collected without allowing them to become overripe, with a length of no more than 25-30 cm.

This amazing melon crop is known as the “Armenian cucumber”. But in fact it is a subspecies of melon. When ripe, the fruits smell like melon. But you can eat them without waiting for full ripeness - the greens are used for food, just like cucumbers.

The homeland of the snake melon is Iran and Central Asia. It is grown massively in Iran, Afghanistan and the CIS countries of Central Asia. It is very popular in Crete.

It is also ideal for the middle zone. The fruits ripen quickly, reaching 1 kg in just 2.5 months. They are green, divided into segments, 30–50 cm long, with crispy, juicy, sweet flesh and a delicate melon aroma.

The variety is resistant to temperature changes and the main scourge of melons and melons - powdery mildew. Suitable for greenhouses and open ground.

Ripens in 70–80 days.

Sowing. Seeds are sown immediately in open ground at the end of May to a depth of 4–5 cm. In cold regions, it is better to grow through seedlings - in this case, the seeds are sown at the end of April immediately in separate cups. Seedlings are planted in open ground at the end of May - beginning of June, when the threat of spring frosts has passed.

Sowing (planting) scheme: in a row - 50 cm, between rows - 70 cm.

Number of seeds in the package: 5 pcs.