Soil solarization treatments of four weeks plus manure, four weeks without manure, two weeks without manure and two controls with and without weed elimination. Soil temperature was recorded at 5, 15 and 30 cm soil depth. Polyethylene was removed and the cantaloupe hybrid Laguna was sown on June 18.
The maximum soil temperature recorded was 60 °C at 5 cm soil depth in the four weeks plus manure treatment. The greatest maximum temperature difference was 15.4 °C and it was observed between the four weeks plus manure minus the control with weed elimination. Solarization treatments increased significatively the nitrogen and phosphorus content in the soil. All the solarization treatments increased significatively the number of true leanes and the main stem length. The highest yield was observed in the two weeks and four weeks solarization treatments with 12,884 and 12,478 ton/ha respectively, the control without weed elimination yielded 2,003 ton/ha.