Kern 133 Ice Box Watermelon

Kern 133 is an F1 hybrid ice-box type watermelon for the summer season. For sowing dates and spacing suited to your area, call our agronomy helpline.

Sowing window

• Main sowing: mid-January to March — February is the main month in Haryana, Punjab and West UP; the sandy belts of Rajasthan and south Haryana start from mid-January
• Early crop: November to December under low plastic tunnels or other cover, removed when the weather warms in February
• Early crop from seedlings: sow in polythene bags (15 × 10 cm) in the last week of January, protect from cold wind, and transplant at 25–30 days with two true leaves — the crop matures 15–20 days earlier than direct sowing
• Land: well-drained loam, pH 6.0–7.0. Light soils that warm quickly give the earliest fruit; heavy soils give more vine and later fruit. Avoid fields that crack in summer or hold water

How to sow

• Seed rate: about 300–400 g per acre with F1 seed — one or two seeds per hill at the spacing below. The PoP figure of 1.5–2 kg per acre is for open-pollinated seed
• Spacing: beds 2.5–3 m wide, seed sown on both sides of the bed with 60 cm between hills
• Depth: about 2 cm, into moist soil; germination needs 18–25°C, so do not sow in the open while nights are still cold
• Seed treatment: if the seed is not already treated, dress it with Trichoderma (4 g/kg) or Carbendazim (2 g/kg) against damping-off and collar rot
• Pack size: 10 g and 50 g — a 50 g pack covers roughly one kanal (500 m²); an acre needs 6–8 packs of 50 g

Manure and fertiliser (per acre)

• FYM / compost: 8–10 tonnes of well-rotted manure, added 10–15 days before sowing
• Nitrogen (N): 25 kg (55 kg urea) — one-third at sowing, the rest near the base of the vines during early growth
• Phosphorus (P₂O₅): 16 kg (100 kg single superphosphate), all at sowing
• Potash (K₂O): 15 kg (25 kg muriate of potash), all at sowing
• Placement: put the sowing dose in two parallel bands 45 cm apart and make the sowing channel between the bands, so the roots reach the fertiliser without touching it

Water, weeds and pests

• Irrigation: weekly during early growth, then every 9–13 days, and at longer intervals as fruits mature — 7–9 irrigations in all. Do not give a heavy irrigation after a long dry spell: the fruits crack. Less water near ripening gives sweeter fruit
• Weeds: hoe between the beds in the first 3–4 weeks; mulching the bed keeps weeds down and fruit clean
• Pests: red pumpkin beetle on seedlings (dust dung ash on young plants weekly; early sowing under cover escapes it), aphids and whitefly (they spread mosaic), red spider mite in hot weather and fruit fly. Scout regularly and spray only as per label and your state advisory
• Diseases: Alternaria leaf blight — which the PoP notes is most severe on watermelon — plus powdery and downy mildew, collar rot in wet soil and mosaic virus. Avoid flood irrigation and pull out virus-affected plants early

Where it will not do well

Watermelon is a hot-weather crop. It will not germinate in cold soil or survive frost, and vines in waterlogged or cracking soil give poor, cracked fruit. Without cover, do not sow before mid-January; without assured irrigation in the sandy belts, do not sow at all.

Harvest

• Duration: the PoP gives 95–120 days from sowing depending on cultivar and season; early sowings and early ice-box types come at the early end
• Signs of maturity: the tendril nearest the fruit dries up, the ground spot turns from white to yellow, and a ripe fruit gives a dull sound when thumped
• Stage: harvest only fully developed, mature fruit — watermelon does not ripen further after picking

Please quote product code KERN-133 when ordering.

Crop practices follow state agricultural university recommendations for North India; confirm doses for your district with your Kern dealer or KVK.

Agronomy helpline: 9107062062

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