Shi Sencai, a farmer in Rende District, Tainan, has selected the right variety. The watermelons currently harvested are of good quality.

(Photo by reporter Wu Junfeng)

[Reporter Wu Junfeng/Tainan Report] Shi Sencai, a farmer in Rende District, Tainan, is a well-known "Watermelon King" in the local area. He is good at field observation. At the end of last year, he accurately grasped the climate variables that may affect crop growth. The "Miaofeng" and "Yinglun" varieties, which have a large temperature difference, have entered the harvest period. Because of their excellent quality and quantity, they are favored by distributors, and they rush to place orders and are sold out.

65-year-old Shi Sencai was a melon picker before. Encouraged by his friends, he changed his role, leased land for cultivation, and turned into a melon farmer. Due to the good quality of the harvest, he established a reputation in the market and gradually expanded the scale of the industry. More than 40 hectares.

Shi Sencai’s melon gardens are spread all over the vicinity of Taiwan’s 86th line. He found that after the flood season last year, the rainfall in the south was relatively low, so he chose to plant the red-fleshed Yinglun and yellow-meat Miaofeng at the Gangqian Farm in Rende District. There are groundwater wells for watering, so they are not afraid of drought.

According to his field management experience in the past 10 years, Shi Sencai believes that during the fruit setting and growing period, there may be too cold and large temperature differences, so he chooses Yinglun and Miaofeng, which are more tolerant to climate variability. .

Sure enough, as he expected, after the beginning of spring this year, the temperature difference between day and night continued to be too large in the south. Ishimori's Yinglun and Miaofeng watermelons were not affected.

Ishimori said that due to the lack of rainfall in the south, there is drought and water shortage. However, if there is a harvest of watermelons this season, regardless of the variety, the sweetness of the pulp will be better, which is worth recommending.

There is less rainfall in the south. Although it is relatively dry, the watermelon meat is more fragrant and sweet.

(Photo by reporter Wu Junfeng)