The science behind growing Japanese Melons | Farm To Table
Aired (April 21, 2024): Using technology and various scientific farming methods, the people at Bukid Amara are able to grow the rare Japanese Melon in the Philippines!
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00:00 [Music]
00:07 Do you know that there is a variety of melon that is rare to be found in the Philippines?
00:12 This is the Japanese melon.
00:14 [Music]
00:19 You see it's green, right? So green melon.
00:22 Oh, it smells sweet already.
00:23 Sweet already?
00:24 Yes.
00:25 So here, wow, it's really, really juicy.
00:28 There, it's like that.
00:31 I got a tooth.
00:32 Mmm, it smells good.
00:34 There, so they can see.
00:36 [Music]
00:40 Dios mario, sir.
00:41 And Buki Damara studied the secret of how it can be grown in our country
00:46 using some scientific farming methods and automated greenhouse.
00:51 We will do the first stage of production of Japanese melon.
00:56 This is what we call pre-germ.
00:59 There, we just spread the tissue.
01:02 [Music]
01:11 After that, we just wet the tissue.
01:13 [Music]
01:25 We just wet the seeds.
01:28 After we wet the seeds, we will cover it with tissue.
01:34 So that it won't be exposed to sunlight because we also need seeds that are dark.
01:44 We call it dark treatment.
01:46 So we need to put a label, the variety, and the date we planted it.
01:53 So we know when it needs to be transplanted.
01:56 This is what we will use when our seeds have already sprouted.
02:01 One to three days of pre-germ.
02:04 Then when the seeds have grown, that's what we will put here in our seedling tray.
02:12 We do pre-germination to make sure that our seedlings are evenly distributed.
02:20 So if we pre-germ, all of the seeds we put in the seedling tray will have a seedling.
02:26 So we will have an equal seedling.
02:28 So this is the 34 days after sowing.
02:31 The activities we do here are pruning.
02:36 We will just remove the side shoots.
02:39 We remove the side shoots so that the nutrients can focus on the growing point.
02:45 After we remove the side shoots, we will see here that it has openings.
02:50 So we will just put this fungicide so that the diseases won't get in.
02:55 We are just protecting the plant.
03:00 Fruiting vines grow in a soilless drip irrigation mechanism
03:05 that helps to avoid cross-contamination if a plant gets sick or has rot.
03:12 So this is our timer for our flood and drain.
03:15 I will just open it.
03:17 When the fruiting vine is big enough, it can be hand pollinated.
03:27 I will show you the 41 days after sowing.
03:32 It is almost pollinated.
03:34 You can see that it has flowers.
03:37 We measure the size of the leaves.
03:40 It needs to be 25 to 30 cm from here to here
03:45 so that we can decide if we will continue pollinating.
03:49 In the Japanese melon, we pollinate with 14 nodes.
03:54 What are the nodes?
03:55 This is how you count the nodes.
03:57 The number of leaves.
04:00 So this is the number.
04:01 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
04:07 We have cleaned the 12 nodes below
04:10 so that we can decide if we will continue with the 14 nodes.
04:14 We will know if the flower is a male or female.
04:20 Here.
04:21 If there is a female, you can see the bud.
04:24 This is what we call ovary.
04:25 That is the female.
04:29 This is the male.
04:32 You can see that it has no ovary.
04:34 If this is already open,
04:37 we will just remove the petals.
04:41 We will just take the male flower.
04:44 We will just remove the petals.
04:48 Here.
04:49 We can see the yellow powder.
04:53 That is what we call pollen.
04:54 That is what we attach to the female flower.
04:59 After pollinating, we will pollinate three fruits.
05:04 Once it is egg-sized,
05:07 we will choose who we will continue with.
05:10 We will cut the two pollinated ones.
05:13 We will just leave one.
05:15 We will clean the top one
05:18 so that it has no more algae.
05:20 So that the nutrients will focus on the fruits.
05:24 We will just maintain that there is no algae.
05:28 We will just maintain 25 to 27 leaves on top.
05:32 Once it is 25, we will pinch the top.
05:35 So that the nutrients will focus on the growing point of our fruits.
05:39 Because Japanese Melon is a seller,
05:41 Bukidamara has automatic switches
05:44 that control the circulating fan and water source inside the greenhouse.
05:49 It also has side sleeves that provide protection
05:52 from extreme weather conditions.
05:55 For the Kapu-displorers, I will show you our control panel
05:58 and the system that we use here in the greenhouse.
06:01 We lower this when it rains.
06:03 When it is hot, we open the shade net and the fan
06:08 so that the temperature is maintained.
06:11 This is the pump.
06:13 It needs to be turned on to connect to the timer.
06:18 The timer is also placed on the app.
06:22 We can control it using our phone.
06:25 The timer shows the time it will irrigate
06:29 and how many minutes it will irrigate.
06:33 This is our auto-dosing.
06:36 This is what we call Nido Pro.
06:38 It is also on the app.
06:40 For example, we will put it on the app "Too Easy"
06:43 which means the fertilizer.
06:45 When it reads 1.9, it will inject fertilizer
06:48 to make it too easy.
06:50 These are our fertilizers.
06:52 We made our own fertilizers.
06:55 We are now in stage 3, the fruiting stage.
07:00 We have different stages in fruiting.
07:02 This is what we call fruit expansion,
07:05 fruit netting, and sugar buildup.
07:07 We are now in the sugar buildup.
07:10 We can harvest it in 11 days.
07:13 You will see that there are different colors of the strings.
07:17 This indicates the date it was pollinated.
07:21 Based on the date of pollination,
07:23 we will know when to harvest it.
07:25 There are different varieties that have 45 to 50 days
07:30 after pollination, it can be harvested.
07:32 You will see here,
07:34 one fruit per plant.
07:38 We maintain the quality.
07:41 We are after quality.
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