MELCHOR CULTIVATION: ORIENTATIONS

During the last three years MELCHOR has become the most appreciated variety amongst the Almería growers, raising the cultivated area year by year.
Due to the importance of this variety, the team of Z.I. has grown conveniently in order to be able to provide some information –observations about the growing methods (fruit of these years’ work) that can help to improve, even more, its yield and, therefore the satisfaction of the growers.

PLANTING

The indicated dates for the planting of the variety MELCHOR goes from July 25th up to August 25th, being considered the optimal ones those from August 5th to 20th.
Before the planting we must irrigate the soil considerably, in order to get an optimal moisture point in the soil so that the plant does not suffer from any stress.
The greenhouse should be properly whitened, with doses oscillating from 2 to 4 sacks/1000 m2, depending on the type of product used and the current state of the plastic from the greenhouse.

FIRST GROWING STAGE

In this first stage (2 to 4 weeks after the planting) we need the plants to develop a good roots system, and for that we need to use fertilizers with a high content in phosphorous and not to abuse of fertilizers with high content in nitrogen, and also not abuse of excessive irrigations, always considering the kind of soil that we are using and the weather conditions
The aim of these actions is to avoid that the mixture of these two aspects “vigorous plant with a whitened greenhouse” lead the plants to an excessive vegetative development and poor roots development.

PLANT TRELLISING/PRUNNING

The plant of MELCHOR although it is vigorous, has quite an opened structure, needing only to be pruned in order to leave 3-4 stems in the beginning of the cultivation.

FLOWERING

Between the 2nd and 4th week (depending on the planting date and the weather conditions), we should start to remove some of the whitening of the greenhouse in order to:

stop the vegetative development
induce the flowering stage

That way we would help to:

stop the plant development, lowering the temperature through the rising of the ventilation
The flowers development and to rise the quantity and quality of the pollen, by applications of Molybdenum and Boron.

And in case it is necessary we will:

Stop the plant, by reducing the quantity of water and rising the conductivity.
Improve the flowering, by cleaning the greenhouse plastic again, and lowering the temperature by ventilating the greenhouse.

SETTING STAGE

The setting stage is the most important one, and in that stage, depending on the weather conditions inside the greenhouse:

We will ventilate as much as possible frontally and laterally.
We will rise the relative humidity (nebulization, irrigation of corridors and walls,…)
And, if it is necessary we will keep on the whitening, until we completely clean it all.

It is also important to reduce the level of irrigation and to rise the conductivity with fertilizers with low level of nitrogen and higher levels of phosphorous and potassium.
In order to help and improve the pollination and setting, and therefore, to assure that we will get fruits with the proper size and shape, we must introduce in the greenhouse bumblebees and/or “give air to the flowers”.

IN MELCHOR IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THE MANAGEMENT UNTIL GETTING THE SETTING, IS DONE “LITTLE BY LITTLE” IN ORDER NOT TO PRODUCE ANY STRESS TO THE PLANT THAT COULD PROVOQUE THE ABORTION OF FLOWERS AND FRUITS OR SEEDLESS FRUITS.

Therefore, it is strongly recommended NOT remove the whitening in just one step (better to do it in 2 or 3), NOT to submit the plants to a very prolonged drought state, and the NOT to rise excessively the conductivity.

Si por forzar la planta en exceso para el cuaje, se produjeran frutos sin semillas, restableceremos las condiciones iniciales para provocar nuevos cuajes sin llegar a condiciones estresantes.

In case that because of forcing the plant too much in order to get a good setting, we would get seedless fruits, then we should restore the initial conditions to get new settings without reaching such stressing conditions.

ALL THE PREVIOUS CARES SHOULD BE SPECIALLY TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT IN THE EARLIEST PLANTATIONS, BECAUSE IN THE LATER ONES THE LOWER TEMPERATURES AND HIGHER HUMIDITIES ARE MORE POSITIVE FOR THE SETTING.

FATTENING AND RIPENING STAGE

In the fattening stage of the fruits, the plant still goes on “developing and setting”, and the fertilization is the most important issue, keeping high levels of nitrogen until the moment of the ripening, when the levels of nitrogen should be reduced again and the levels of potassium should be raised again.
Due to the walls’ thickness of this variety, in order to improve the changing of color from green to red, it is important that in the ripening stage some leaves are removed so that the fruits receive as much light as possible.

Note: These orientations do not involve any responsibility for Zeraim Ibérica S.A because the results of the cultivation from a particular crop are variable according to the conditions and diverse parameters. They are only “a general guide”, so that the GROWER stays aware of the principal growing stages and he/she collaborates with his/her TECHNICAL ASESOR.