Pumpkin (lat. Cucurbita) is a vitamin-rich vegetable that has a pleasant mild taste and is used in many dietary dishes. Growing a crop requires compliance with certain conditions and rules, which we will consider in more detail.
Preparation and planting of pumpkins in open ground
Growing pumpkins is possible in two ways:
- Planting non-dive seedlings;
- Sowing prepared seeds.
Pre-sowing seed treatment
Growing pumpkins in the open field begins with the preparation of seeds, which are soaked in water, preferably in sodium humate or potassium humate, for a day. Having taken the seeds out of the water, they are covered with a damp cloth or gauze for two days, leaving in a shaded place at a temperature of up to plus 23 gr. Celsius. The fabric is constantly moistened. It is not recommended to take seeds from the crop of the year before last - there may be poor germination.
For dressing against diseases, the seeds are immersed in a 30% solution of table salt (2 tablespoons of salt per 100 ml of water). Healthy and strong specimens will sink to the bottom, while weak specimens will float up and be discarded.
After germination, the sprouts are placed in plastic cups or pots up to 10 cm in diameter, with prepared soil: peat mixture mixed with sand and garden soil (1: 1: 1).
Transplantation and cultivation of pumpkins in open ground in the Moscow region occurs after the appearance of three full-fledged leaves. On average, the age of seedlings should be about a month.
Site selection and soil preparation
The site allocated for growing pumpkins is chosen away from upright crops, with a flat surface and good access to sunlight. The land is pre-fertilized: per 1 sq.m. take 2 buckets of humus, 0.5 buckets of wood shavings, 1 liter of wood ash and 200 g of nitrophoska. The soil is dug up to a depth of 50 cm and beds up to 70 cm wide are formed.
Pumpkin seeds or seedlings are planted in warm soil from mid-May, while the air temperature should exceed the average daily plus 10 gr. Celsius. If the seeds are planted earlier, they will not be able to develop properly and will rot.
Growing pumpkins in open ground on a site where potatoes, melons, sunflowers or watermelons have previously grown is not recommended. In one place, a pumpkin is planted with a break of five years. Sandy, light and medium loamy soils with a neutral Ph 4.5-5 are most suitable for growing pumpkins.
pumpkin planting technology
Holes for seeds or seedlings are made along the entire garden at a distance of 0.9-1 m from each other and to a depth of 5-7 cm. At least 2 liters of water are poured into each well, the temperature of which should not be lower than plus 50 gr. Celsius, after which they proceed to sowing.
Top mulch with sawdust, straw or peat. Growing pumpkins in open ground in Siberia is a little different: it is recommended to sow 2 seeds per hole. After they germinate, choose a weaker plant and remove it.
Agrotechnics for growing pumpkins in the open field includes additional cover of the planted seeds with a film, which is carefully fixed along the perimeter of the garden. Covering material creates greenhouse conditions and helps protect seedlings from possible frosts.
After the sprouts have reached 50 cm in height, the film is lifted, stretching it over a wire frame. In mid-June, the material is removed.
The unframed film left in the garden can be used instead of mulch, which will help ease the care of the pumpkin during growth. In covering material with this use, cross-shaped incisions are made for sprouts.
Planting and growing pumpkins in the open field video
Pumpkin Care Rules
Caring for a pumpkin in the open field does not cause difficulties, as it consists in timely watering and top dressing.
Fertilization
Top dressing should be applied no more than once every 2 weeks. Top dressing of pumpkins in the open ground with minerals is performed twice: when five sheets appear (10 g of nitrophoska per 1 plant in dry form); when lashes appear (15 g of nitrophoska per 10 liters of water under each bush).
Feeding pumpkins with wood ash (1 cup per 1 plant) and mullein (1 liter of mullein per 10 liters of water) is also effective. Mullein is introduced at the beginning of the growing season (1 bucket for 6 plants) and during fruiting (1 bucket for 3 bushes).
All top dressings are brought into a ring-shaped ditch, increasing the depth from 8 to 15 cm as the pumpkin grows. At the seedling stage, a recess is dug at a distance of 15 cm, after 2 weeks it is increased to 40 cm.
watering pumpkin
Before watering, the soil is loosened 10 cm deep, trying not to hook the root, and cleared of weeds. Watering pumpkins in open ground is carried out only with warm water, 50 gr. Celsius, do not use cold artesian or well water.
Timely abundant irrigation during flowering is especially important: moisture is necessary for the formation of female inflorescences. Water consumption during this period is about 30 liters per 1 plant.
During fruit ripening, the amount of water during irrigation is reduced, since excess moisture reduces the shelf life and reduces the sugar content of the fruit.
Growing pumpkin video
Formation of pumpkin lashes
The formation of a pumpkin during cultivation allows you not to waste energy on extra ovaries and shoots, due to which larger fruits with better taste characteristics grow. While the main stem has reached a length of 1.5 m, pinch it. They leave only 2 lateral shoots up to 70 cm long. On each of them, a fruit ripens.
To speed up the filling of fruits, the shoots are pressed to the ground, sprinkled with a small layer of soil at a distance of up to half a meter from the main shoot for rooting. A piece of plywood or glass is placed under each emerging pumpkin to protect against fungal diseases that begin to develop on fruits from soil dampness.
Pinching and caring for a pumpkin in the open field video
Protection of pumpkin from diseases and pests
The most common squash diseases are fruit rot, powdery mildew and mosaic. Most often they appear due to increased dampness - a favorable environment for the development of bacteria and fungi. Of the pests, the spider mite most often affects the pumpkin, as well as the melon aphid.
powdery mildew
When the first symptoms of a fungal disease on pumpkin leaves are detected, they are treated with spraying with a solution of 3 g of potassium permanganate or 2 g of copper sulfate dissolved in 10 liters of water. They are treated with 1% Bordeaux liquid during the formation of ovaries and leaves. For prevention - carry out regular watering, observe crop rotation and destroy the remains of diseased plants.
Mosaic pumpkin
fruit rot
The rotten areas are carefully removed with a knife and the wound is wiped with freshly squeezed aloe juice. The rubbing area dries up, and the pumpkin continues to develop.
Ways to protect against insects
They fight against aphids by removing weeds, spraying with a soapy solution (200 g of grated soap per 10 liters of water) or 10% karbofos in a proportion of 60 g per 10 liters of water.
From spider mites, spraying with onion infusion of 200 g of husk per 10 l of water or a 20% solution of chloroethanol (20 g per 10 l of water) helps.
Harvesting and storage conditions of pumpkin
So that the pumpkin does not start to deteriorate in the garden, you need to harvest it on time. The moment of ripening can be recognized by the following features:
- The stalk becomes rough and rough;
- Foliage and lashes turn yellow and dry;
- The skin coarsens and acquires a pattern typical of the variety.
It is necessary to harvest the crop before stable frosts. Pumpkin pruning occurs with a stalk up to 6 cm. Cut fruits are folded into a dry, warm room. In a week, the pumpkins ripen, and the stalk dries up.
When frost occurs, unripe, unplucked pumpkins are mulched with straw or agrofibre.
Outcome
Compliance with all the conditions and rules for caring for a pumpkin will allow you to grow a rich harvest. Tasty and healthy vegetables are well stored until the New Year without any processing. Pumpkin can be used to prepare main dishes, desserts, soups, canned, or made from it.
In central Russia and in other territories with a similar climate, pumpkin varieties grow: large-fruited and hard-skinned. Muscat pumpkin grows in the southern regions. Sometimes there is a gourd. Growing pumpkins outdoors is not as difficult as inexperienced gardeners make it out to be.
Pumpkin is a well-known annual plant with a powerful root system, wide leaves, long strong stems. The tap root can penetrate up to three meters deep into the soil, and the lateral roots spread over an area up to four meters in search of moisture and nutrition.
The stem of the plant "creeps away" from the base by more than seven meters. Pumpkin has large yellow or yellow-orange flowers, which are arranged singly (the plant is dioecious). On the main stem, from the tenth leaf onwards, fruits are formed.
Varieties of pumpkin and their features
| Variety | Peculiarities |
|---|---|
| This pumpkin is fast-growing and has a high yield. It has coarser fibers than the pulp of the large-fruited variety, and it does not keep very long (up to four months) without changing taste and nutritional characteristics. |
| This pumpkin is a real giantess, record-breaking fruits reach 60 kg. The yield is also high. And the shelf life of the fetus is up to nine months. |
| This pumpkin can lie absolutely unchanged in a cellar or other cool and dry room for up to two years. Late ripe variety. |
What does pumpkin love?
Pumpkin loves warmth, does not tolerate cold combined with dampness.
Important! The temperature that pumpkin seeds need for germination is up to + 30 ° C. At lower temperatures, they will germinate very slowly and for a long time. And at less than + 10 ° C they will not sprout at all.
The entire growing season for a pumpkin passes at an optimum temperature of +25 ° C. In this case, it grows orange saturated flesh, fragrant, dense but juicy, and a wide leaf apparatus (up to 40 m² per plant).
Pumpkin loves moisture, without a sufficient amount of which the largest fruits are not formed. If at the beginning of flowering the pumpkin suffered a drought, the flowers may fall off, and the ovary does not form.
Pumpkin is a light-loving culture. It must be grown in sunny and calm areas (ideally - melon).
How to grow a pumpkin from seeds
For growing pumpkins, the easiest way is to use the traditional seed method of sowing. Only the seeds for sowing must be prepared.
It all starts with the selection of seeds. It is necessary to take for sowing only the largest seeds of perfect quality. Thin, feeble, dryish, not full must be discarded. Calibrated seeds begin to prepare for sowing.
Seed preparation
The best way to prepare pumpkin seeds for sowing is to germinate them. This process is continued until the seeds hatch. For germination, pumpkin seeds are dipped in water with a stable temperature of + 40 ° C (permissible up to + 50 ° C, below forty is impossible). In this state, the seeds should spend at least three hours.
Advice! How to achieve such a temperature? put a bowl with germinating seeds on a battery or other heating device, place in a yogurt maker or a slow cooker in the “Yogurt” mode.
Then the swollen seeds are wrapped in a well-moistened cotton cloth and left at the temperature of the living room until pecking. The fabric needs to be checked all the time and moistened again so that the seeds do not dry out.
Since pumpkin is a heat-loving plant, it is recommended, especially in the middle climatic zone, to increase the cold resistance of seeds before sowing. To do this, after pecking, they must continue to be kept in a damp cloth, but already in the lower drawer of the refrigerator, from three to five days.
Due to the thermophilicity, it is not worth sowing seeds in open ground; first, it is better to grow pumpkin seedlings.
Growing pumpkin seedlings
Seedlings are needed in order to get a plentiful and early harvest. And also, so that the hatched seeds do not die from the cold, if the sowing is carried out at a time when cooling is still possible. Seedlings do not have to be grown at home - you can do this in a special nursery or mini-greenhouse. But it is best, "under supervision", to grow pumpkin seedlings on the southern windowsill of the apartment. At room temperature, which is still closer to +30 ° C expected by a pumpkin than the temperature in a spring greenhouse, the process will go faster and better.
Important! Despite their powerful and strong appearance, pumpkin seedlings do not tolerate transplanting well. Therefore, seedlings are best grown in peat pots.
To grow seedlings, you will need peat or ordinary pots no less than 10x10 cm in size in an amount half as much as the number of seeds. No need to try to grow a "pumpkin forest", remember the 40 m² feeding area that a pumpkin can cover. Two plants, with a sufficiently spacious placement, a large amount of heat of light and moisture, with regular top dressing, will yield a larger yield of fruits in number and size than ten located in the same space.
Important! Pumpkin seedlings should spend at least three weeks at home or in a greenhouse before planting in the ground. Therefore, seeds are sown based on this calendar indicator.
Soil for seedlings
Pumpkin seeds are sown in the usual fertile seedling soil, consisting of peat and sand. No special additives are required. There is also no need to add fertilizer to the soil. If you are growing seeds in peat pots, simply fill them with soil. When growing in a plastic container, sprinkle 3 cm of sawdust on the bottom.
Sowing seeds
Germinated in the above way and hardened seeds are sown in pots in pairs. Later, a weak seedling can be removed by simply pinching off the stem. Sowing depth - 2 cm. Seeds are covered with peat. Irrigate before and after sowing.
During the first three days after sowing, the temperature should be + 25 ° С ... + 30 ° С.
Seedling Care
Shoots should appear on the fourth day. After that, the temperature must be reduced and maintained within + 18 ° C ... + 25 ° C for a week, then again reduced to + 15 ° C ... + 18 ° C. This is necessary so that the pumpkin seedlings do not stretch out, grow strong and squat .
Watering seedlings is carried out regularly, but it should not be excessive. Water stagnation is prohibited. Ideal soil moisture and air humidity will contribute to the formation of hardy and abundantly fruiting pumpkin plants in the future.
Feeding is carried out two weeks after germination. To do this, the mullein must be diluted in a ratio of 1:10 with water and poured into each pot, or under each plant in the greenhouse, 100 ml of nutrient solution after watering. If there is no mullein, top dressing is carried out with nitrophoska according to the instructions.
Video - Growth of pumpkin seedlings
Readiness and disembarkation
Properly grown seedlings look like this:
- low stem, thick and strong;
- short internodes;
- three well-developed true leaves with a rich green color.
In this state, pumpkin seedlings can be planted on the 22nd day after sowing with germinated seeds in pots in open ground under a temporary film cover.
Before planting, the wells are watered with hot water. If the seedlings are in a peat container, it does not need to be removed, just slightly destroy the walls and bottom of the pot.
After planting, the plants are watered with warm water and protected with a film shelter until consistently warm weather sets in.
Soils suitable for growing pumpkins
This plant is most suitable fertile soil, which has a fairly loose structure, well warmed up. It is on such land that pumpkin fruits will reach record sizes.
Important! Worst of all, the pumpkin will grow on damp and clay soil. Acidic soils are not categorically suitable for the plant - they must be treated with lime (liming under the predecessor) or wood ash should be added.
When growing pumpkins in a summer cottage, try to comply with the following requirements.
- Landing from the south side of the house along the wall or fence. The building and the fence will protect from the wind during the day and give the plants the heat accumulated during the day at night.
- Pumpkin whips may well be directed to the wall of the house, the fence, the roof of the barn. Closer to the sun, the fruits ripen better.
- If there is a compost heap on the site on the south side, it is ideal to plant a pumpkin near it, directing the whips there.
Soil preparation
In order to successfully grow a pumpkin, in the fall, after removing the predecessors, it is necessary to start preparing the soil.
- Apply organic matter and mineral fertilizer (5 kg of humus, 15 g of potassium chloride and twice as much superphosphate per m²) to a clean, free from plants and weeds area. If there is no humus, manure can be applied from autumn - 7 kg per m².
- Dig the area 20 cm deep.
- To lighten the structure of the soil, if necessary, add river sand (coarse grain) and peat.
- Deacidify the soil with wood ash.
- Loosen, if possible, mix, pour hot water.
In the spring, it is not necessary to dig up the upper soil layer, it is enough to remove the weeds that have appeared and level the area with a rake. In this state, the soil should be from March to May - the time of planting pumpkin seedlings.
Two days before planting the grown seedlings, the soil in the garden bed must be dug up by 12 cm (half a shovel bayonet), ammonium nitrate - 20 g per m² should be added and holes should be made.
On light-textured soil, the holes can be shallow - up to 25 cm. If the soil is heavy, the depth of the hole should reach 40 cm. A little compost and a layer of dry leaves are placed on the bottom.
The distance between plants in a regular garden is about a meter. If possible, it can be doubled.
Pumpkin predecessors
This issue is relevant, since culture is demanding of predecessors.
pumpkin care
Pumpkin does not need reverent and specialized care, but there are some activities that should not be neglected if you want to get a big crop of large fruits.
Watering
The main care measure is the adjustment of watering. Pumpkin, like a pump, pumps out all the moisture from the ground, and then evaporates it through the leaves. Thus, the roots and stems get a little. Therefore, the level of moisture in the soil must be constantly replenished.
Advice! It is especially plentiful to water the pumpkin when it has mass flowering and fruit formation. The water temperature should not be lower than +20°C (warmed up in the sun). In no case should you water the pumpkin with cold water in the heat - the plants may die.
After watering, every other time you need to loosen the soil near the base of the stem. Weed the weeds as they grow.
top dressing
You need to feed the pumpkin often, otherwise you will not be able to get large fruits. The first dressing in open ground - after the formation of the fifth leaf. The second is when lashes begin to form. Then every two weeks.
You can feed with nitrophoska, starting with 10 g per plant and increasing the dose by 5 g with each top dressing. You can apply dry granules or prepare a solution.
During the fruiting period, a glass of ash is added to each top dressing.
You can feed the pumpkin throughout the growing season with a solution of mullein.
The plant is formed in one stem, in extreme cases, in two - this contributes to high yields. To do this, after the appearance of extra shoots from the sides, they are all removed, and extra ovaries are also plucked, leaving no more than three on each lash.
By the way! On shoots of the second order, a pumpkin can bear fruit after the second leaf, but they will grow small and tasteless, so it’s worth doing pinching the shoots of the plant.
Video - Pumpkin: growing and pinching
Powder
Another agricultural technique that contributes to productivity is the powdering of lashes. As soon as the lashes have reached a meter length, they must be carefully untangled, laid in a given direction and sprinkled with earth in two to three places. This is done so that the wind does not break the lashes and leaves, breaking off the ovary. But the main thing is that in the internodes pressed to the ground, additional roots are formed that will nourish the plants and help increase the fruit.
A few more tricks
- Scourge climbing a fence or roof must be controlled. When pumpkins begin to ripen on them, secure them by placing them in ordinary string bags and securing them with additional fasteners. Otherwise, heavy fruits will roll down, breaking off the stems.
- It is undesirable, especially in wet weather, for the fruits to lie on bare ground. When they reach medium size, place planks or other breathable material under them.
Video - How to grow and care for pumpkin
Among the inhabitants of garden beds, pumpkins do not occupy the last place in terms of popularity, but in terms of ease of care and ability to be stored for a long time, they have no equal at all. Maybe that's why gardeners often do not pay due attention to culture, letting the growth and development of powerful plants take their course.
As a result, due to poor pollination or care errors, the harvest is not as plentiful as desired. The fruits are not pleasing in taste, rot at the ovary stage and are poorly stored.
How to grow a pumpkin that would be truly delicious? What activities does cultural care include? And what signs should you pay the most attention to when watching a pumpkin grow?
Pre-sowing activities
How sweet and juicy the pumpkin grown on its site will be, among other things, depends on the seeds chosen for sowing and the preparation that they will undergo before sowing.
Obtained from fruits grown in their own garden, they must be pickled before planting, disinfecting from diseases and pests with a solution of potassium permanganate. The seeds are in the liquid for up to 30 minutes. After that, a viable seed is selected by immersing a 25% saline solution:
- Empty, insufficiently ripened seeds will give themselves away by floating to the surface.
- Submerged - ready to give healthy large sprouts.
Selected healthy seeds are washed in clean water for about 3 hours, dried at a temperature of 55-60 ° C and bubbling for 18-24 hours.
How pumpkin grows: necessary conditions and features
In order to grow a sweet juicy pumpkin on your site, you must adhere to the rules and requirements of the culture for the conditions in the beds. As a rule, plants from the gourd family can return to their previous growing time only after 4–5 years. And the best harvest can be obtained by planting seeds after legumes or cruciferous.
How to grow a pumpkin in a summer cottage, what conditions does this culture need? Pumpkins of all varieties, whether they are zucchini, plucked in the green phase, or late-ripening nutmeg varieties, are very demanding on lighting conditions.
With a lack of sun, the number of ovaries decreases, the plants stretch, the risk of fungal diseases, rot and pest attacks increases.
At the stage of active growth, that is, from the moment the first shoots appear to a few true leaves, the plants should be in the light from 9 to 10 hours. This mode will bring the formation of female flowers closer. The optimal length of daylight hours for an already fruiting pumpkin is 10–12 hours.
A video about growing pumpkins in the open field tells in detail about agricultural technology and the tricks of cultivating this valuable vegetable crop. In household plots, where pumpkins are often assumed in open ground, the culture is cultivated in wide, up to 3 meters, beds.
The arrangement of high ridges will help, even in adverse weather conditions, to get an early harvest and protect the fruits from rotting in a rainy cold summer.
Climbing pumpkin varieties require fairly large gaps between plants from 150 to 300 cm.
Bush forms are more compact and do not require large areas for fruit nutrition, so the distance between pumpkins in this case is reduced to 70–100 cm.
One of the most effective ways to grow sweet, juicy pumpkins on your site can be considered the use of seedlings, not seeds, for planting in open ground. If the seeds are sown in peat pots or large tablets, when they get into the ground, the root system is not injured, which means that you can wait for the harvest 3-4 weeks earlier:
- Landing in open ground is carried out when the soil is warm enough. Zucchini and most common varieties of hard-barked squash are accepted for growth at a soil temperature of 12–14 °C.
- And for the most heat-loving nutmeg pumpkin, the soil should be warmed up to 15–16 ° C.
Outdoor pumpkin care
For seedlings, even short-term frosts are detrimental, when the temperature on the soil drops to minus levels. For normal growth and formation of fruits, pumpkins need a temperature in the range of 22-28 ° C. If the air is cooler, the development of the plant slows down, the rate of appearance of flowers and ovaries decreases.
A film or covering material will help protect young shoots from the manifestations of changeable weather at the beginning of summer.
Sowing seeds or planting seedlings is carried out on a cover spread on the ground, in which cross-shaped incisions are made. They expand as they grow. As a result, due to less evaporation of moisture and more soil heating by 4-5 ° C, the pumpkin develops faster and bears fruit more readily. The labor costs for caring for the pumpkin are also reduced.
While the plants are small, it is extremely important to keep the soil loose and prevent crusting that interferes with the penetration of moisture and oxygen. As a measure of pumpkin care, it is useful to mulch the space between plants on the ridges with sawdust, sand, if the soil is clayey, or straw. During the second loosening, carried out 30 days after germination, weeds are removed and the growing lashes are laid out.
It is convenient to loosen and weed at the same time as watering, while cultivating the soil should not be deeper than 5-7 cm, so as not to damage the surface roots.
How often to water pumpkins outdoors?
The pumpkin root system is designed in such a way that even in dry periods it is able to provide the plant with the required amount of moisture. A well-marked hard pile covering young stems, cuttings, leaf blades and even partly corollas of flowers helps to avoid drying out of the green part.
And yet, the culture needs a lot of moisture, and the schedule of rare but plentiful watering should be consistent with the development of the plant and the ongoing care of pumpkin plantings. Before the first loosening and hilling, depending on the weather, pumpkins are watered abundantly once or twice. And then they take a break for 2-3 weeks to stimulate active formation and growth of roots.
As soon as female flowers appear on the plants, and the formation of fruits begins, the pumpkin should be watered more often, for example, after 7–10 days.
This mode is maintained while the pumpkins are poured and added in size. In August, pumpkin watering becomes less frequent. Such a measure is designed to force the fruits to accumulate sugar and form a strong bark, which will have to withstand winter storage. Watching how the pumpkin grows, 20–25 days before harvesting, watering is stopped altogether.
As a result, pumpkins are watered 5 to 10 times during the growing season. Top dressing, combined with watering, is carried out at the time of the first hilling, during the flowering of plants and at the beginning of the mass formation of the ovary.
Mineral fertilizers are used to a limited extent, alternating with organic matter. A good reaction, especially in areas with poor soils, plants show top dressing with ash, herbal infusions and regular care for pumpkins.
Why does the pumpkin rot in the garden?
Pumpkin flowering begins 50–55 days after germination. Male flowers are the first to open on plants, which in climbing varieties make up to 90% of the total number, and in bush pumpkins about 50-60%. If you watch how pumpkins grow, female flowers, after pollination of which an ovary is formed, can be seen only 7–10 days later than male ones.
Since pumpkins are pollinated by different groups of insects, in adverse conditions, for example, in cold, rainy or windy weather, the probability of transferring pollen from a flower that lives only one day to another flower drops sharply. As a result, pollination does not occur at all, or the weakened ovary dies off along with the flower corolla.
In some cases, this is the reason why pumpkins rot in the garden and the yield drops. You can correct the situation by carrying out artificial pollination. To do this, the petals are carefully removed from the plucked male flower and the pollen is gently transferred to the female flower with gentle movements. It is better to carry out such a procedure in the early morning, protecting the pollen from moisture.
Experienced gardeners note that the timely removal of wilted flowers and unformed ovaries helps protect plants from attack by pests and the development of putrefactive bacteria that can infect already ripening fruits.
Pumpkins do not tolerate waterlogging of the soil. Therefore, the health of plants and fruits also depends on how often to water the pumpkin in the open field. It is especially dangerous if fruits that have already gained weight lie on cold, moisture-saturated soil on rainy days. Under such pumpkins, strong, moisture-resistant stands should be placed in advance that do not injure the bark.
Pinching pumpkins in the open field
The reason why pumpkins rot in the beds may be excessive planting density, and on bush varieties - an abundance of ovaries that prevent each other from developing.
In order to thin the pumpkins, to ensure better penetration of air and light to all parts of the plants, and also to stimulate the ripening of already formed fruits, the culture must be shaped. Bush varieties do not need to be formed. In this case, they only remove the excess ovary, leaving 3-4 fruits per plant, and make sure that the wilted flowers do not cause rotting of the cuttings, stem and fruits.
In open ground, pinching pumpkins of climbing varieties is carried out in July, when there are 1–2 ovaries of 10 cm in diameter on the lashes. The whip is shortened after 4–6 leaves behind the last of the fruits. The maximum load per bush is calculated based on the characteristics of the variety and the weight of mature pumpkins. Usually, the larger the fruits, the less they should remain after the plant is pinched in the open field.
All single, empty shoots are cut out, and only a pair of the strongest ones are left from the side shoots, shortening them to 50 cm.
In order for the growing pumpkins to receive additional support, along with pinching, several internodes of the spread out lashes are sprinkled with soil and moistened. Already after 8–10 days, strong roots form under the soil, feeding the whip. This measure in an open place will protect the plant from the wind, and the whips and fruits from damage.
Growing and pinching pumpkins - video
Pumpkin is a herbaceous plant belonging to the large gourd family. This culture is decorative and edible. A distinctive feature of the edible fruit is its large mass, which at high temperatures reaches 20 kg, and in a temperate climate grows up to 50 kg. Subject to certain rules, the care and cultivation of giants does not cause problems for gardeners.
This vegetable is grown in two ways: by sowing in the ground or using seedlings. The second method is suitable for areas with a cold climate and will allow you to get a crop faster. Some species can be grown using pre-grown bushes, such as gymnosperms.
Seed preparation
The first step before starting sowing is collecting planting material. This can be done in two ways: purchase seeds in a store or take them out of existing fruits and then prepare them for planting. You need to do it like this:
- Hold in water for 1-2 hours at a temperature of +40 ... +45 ° C.
- Wrap in a damp cloth and store for 2-3 days in a warm place until germination.
- After germination, hardening can also be carried out, this is especially suitable for residents of the northern regions. Move the fabric with seeds to the bottom shelf in the refrigerator for 1-3 days.
- Create extreme temperature fluctuations: withstand 8-10 hours at +18…+20 °C, and then reduce the performance to +1…+3 °C for half a day.
- Fertilize by sprinkling with wood ash, 1 tsp is enough for 25-30 pieces.
Such preparation will strengthen seedlings and future plants, as well as protect against pests, and for rapid growth, seed should be watered with Epin.
Soil for seedlings
Soil for growing seedlings can be bought at the store, making a choice based on the description of the composition on the package. The most suitable - for cucumbers. However, the best option would be to prepare the soil mixture yourself. The optimal combination: peat, sawdust and humus at the rate of 2:1:1. Nitroammofoska can be added to the resulting substrate, for 5 kg of earth 1 tsp.
As containers for growing seedlings, boxes, plastic containers, pre-treated with a solution of potassium permanganate for disinfection, are suitable. In the bottom of the selected pots, holes are required to remove excess liquid, which are easy to make on your own, for example, with a sharp awl. A drainage layer of expanded clay or sawdust 1-3 cm high is also required.
Another option is disposable plastic cups, they also need holes in the bottoms. In order not to injure tender roots when transplanting into open ground, peat containers can be used, which, after moving the plants to a permanent place, will rot in the soil, enriching it with useful substances. Diameter not less than 7-10 cm.
Ready ground, filled in containers, must be well watered with rain or settled water at room temperature.
Sowing seeds
The average sowing time is 18-22 days before the transfer of seedlings to the garden. In the northern regions, it is optimal to do this in mid-May, on the 10th-15th, which will allow the pumpkins to be transplanted into warm soil. With a milder climate - in April.
In disposable and peat cups, 2 pieces should be planted. When picking, a weaker plant can be removed or moved to another pot. It is necessary to deepen the seeds by 3-4 cm into the ground.
When growing at home, containers or glasses with seedlings should be installed on the southern windowsills, if there is a greenhouse, they can be moved there. For plants standing on windows, it is better to make a greenhouse out of a plastic bag or cling film. Once every 7 days, the shelter must be briefly removed for ventilation. You can moisten the substrate with a spray gun, the earth should not dry out. The optimum daytime temperature is +19…+24°С, the average night temperature should be slightly lower than +14…+16°С.
Seedling Care
When sprouts appear, it is necessary to remove the film and rotate the pots every 3 days so that the seedlings grow evenly and do not lean towards the light. If the shoots are too stretched up, you can lower the temperature for 7 days:
- +16…+18 °C during the day;
- +11…+14 °С at night.
Watering should be regular, but you should not overmoisten the earthen ball, it is better to do it in small portions. It is optimal to use a spray gun, trying to wet not only the top layer, but also moisten the soil 3-4 cm deep. It should be noted that in rooms with high humidity, the substrate dries more slowly.
Top dressing also has a positive effect, they must be applied to slightly loosened soil, this can be done carefully with a pointed match or a toothpick. Nitrophoska is suitable, which needs to be fed 7 days after the appearance of sprouts. A bucket of water requires 7-8 g of fertilizer. If seedlings grow in separate pots, then 1 tsp is enough. under each bush. From organics, you can use manure diluted with warm water 1:10, leave for 12 hours. After diluting at the rate of 1:5 and watering 1 tbsp. l. for each plant or 1 liter per 1 m2.
The optimal location is the south side with good lighting, however, at noon it is necessary to cover the seedlings from active sunlight with paper. If everything is done correctly, the stems grow dense, the internodes on them are short. Upon reaching a height of 18-22 cm, pumpkins can be placed in open ground.
Transplanting
First you need to choose a suitable bed and prepare it in the autumn. For this you need:
- dig deep into the soil;
- remove weeds and plant debris;
- fertilize, per 1 m2: 200 g of lime, 3-5 kg of humus and 30-40 g of mineral supplements.
It is necessary to plant seedlings in the ground when the air temperature ceases to fall below + 10 ... + 13 ° С. At lower rates, plants will not be able to grow, and sometimes even begin to rot in the soil. Seedlings should be placed on the site at a distance of 1 m from each other, and between rows more up to 1.5 m, this will provide, if necessary, an approach to each bush.
It is better to do transshipment with a part of the earthy coma, this will help not to damage the roots and the pumpkins will take root faster in a new place. In order for the sprouts to receive moisture, pour 0.5-1 liter of warm water into each hole. When the liquid is absorbed, you can place the seedlings in the holes, sprinkling soil on top. It is better to plant in the evening hours or cloudy weather, this will protect young seedlings from bright rays. At first, seedlings can also be covered from the sun.
Requirements for growing conditions
Pumpkin is considered an undemanding plant, however, for its proper development and obtaining high yields, a number of conditions must be met. Recommendations can be seen in the table:
It is dangerous to plant after zucchini, squash, cucumbers, watermelons or in the same place for the second season in a row due to the risk of contamination by bacteria remaining in the soil. The optimal time for planting vegetables of this family is 3-4 years.
Growing pumpkins without seedlings
Usually gardeners are encouraged to grow in this way, because the pumpkin does not like transplants and adapts worse.
Seed preparation
Selected seeds should be checked for germination before deepening into the ground. To do this, the planting material must be spread out on a damp cloth for 2-3 days and, after germination, unsuitable specimens should be discarded. The process of emergence of shoots can be accelerated by soaking the planting material in a solution of sodium or potassium humate for a day. The temperature suitable for the emergence of sprouts is +20 °C.
Landing
The selected well-lit area needs to be fertilized, for 1 m2 of soil 2 buckets of humus, 0.5 sawdust, 1 kg of ash and 1 tbsp. l. nitrophoska. After that, the soil must be dug deep and poured with hot water.
The main condition for landing is the temperature of the earth, which must be at least +12 ° С. The depth of planting seeds in the ground depends on the type of soil: in loose and light 8-10 cm, in loamy 5-6 cm, in lean soil, depressions of 25-30 cm are made. In the latter case, fertilization is indispensable: 3 buckets of compost or mullein , 1-2 tbsp. l. wood ash and 50 g of superphosphate. The distance between the pits is large, at least 1 m, if there is a threat of partial freezing of the ground, it is better to place the seeds at different heights from each other with a difference of 3-4 cm.
A common problem when sowing in the garden is a small amount of liquid in the soil, which makes it necessary to wait a long time for the emergence of sprouts, as well as their slow development. To increase soil moisture, pour 2 liters of water into each hole during planting and lay the seed material after complete absorption. Mulching the substrate with peat or humus will also help. Another way to keep liquid on the site is to create a small greenhouse made of a frame with a film stretched over it.
If all conditions are met, and the air temperature is high + 25 ... + 28 ° С, seedlings will appear in a week. After a couple of leaves grow, you can pick. In varieties with large fruits, one plant is left, and in nutmeg and hard-bark varieties, two each, and only with the appearance of 5 leaf plates, a weaker bush is pinched.
Another option without growing seedlings is to use a greenhouse and sow pumpkins in it in place of cucumbers, it is better to do this from the south wall. It is necessary to fertilize the substrate and dig several holes where to place the germinated seed material. When the plant grows and its shoots reach a sufficient length, holes should be made in the film and, after pulling out the lashes, place them on the garden bed. Thanks to this, the roots will be warm, without being afraid of a sharp cold snap. The method allows you to sow a pumpkin ahead of time by 8-10 days.
There are several ways to grow a pumpkin in open ground, each of them is easy to apply in your backyard:
- The classic version - spreading. It requires large beds with convenient approaches to each plant.
- Trellis. A very original and compact method that allows you to save space on the site, because the distance between the bushes is only 30-40 cm, this will require a solid wooden structure 2 m, it must withstand heavy fruits that can be attached to supports with hooks.
- Compost heap. Bush and semi-bush varieties are suitable, it is better to plant plants in pots at a distance of 70-80 cm from each other, you can also immediately sow germinated seeds. Fertilizers for pumpkins growing in this way are not required at all.
- Wooden or metal barrels. The advantage of the technology is compactly hanging lashes. At the beginning of the season, containers are filled with organic matter: weeds, stems, paper. The next layer is small grass, food waste, you can still add drugs that accelerate decomposition. After 1-1.5 months, the substrate is ready for planting. Instead of barrels, synthetic bags are suitable, which are best placed next to the fence, on which it is easy to attach whips.
- Warm beds. In trenches in the ground with a depth of 2 bayonets, shovels lay out rotting herbs and plants and sprinkle soil on top. The difference from planting in the garden is that after the appearance of sprouts, the ground is covered with a film with holes for each bush.
Outdoor pumpkin care
Pumpkin is an unpretentious plant, however, and it needs the right care to get a bountiful harvest. It is necessary to monitor watering, pollination, fertilize and form bushes.
Watering, loosening and mulching
Drought is an undesirable phenomenon for pumpkin, because of the large surface of the leaf, the plant quickly evaporates moisture. At first, seedlings need to be watered every day, while adaptation is in progress in a new place. When this happens, the amount of liquid is reduced. If the summer turned out to be rainy, it is better not to moisten the earth at all. The applied level should be increased with an increase in the number of ovaries and fruit growth. The norm of the liquid is a bucket under one bush.
It is more convenient to loosen and weed weeds when the soil is wet: after watering or rain. When shoots appear, dig to a depth of 9-12 cm, and after a month, reduce to 5-8 cm, this should be done every 14 days. Between the rows of plants, on the contrary, carry out the procedure in dry soil so that the liquid flows faster to the roots. For better stability of young pumpkins when loosening, they can be lightly hilled.
Mulching the substrate is most often used to conserve moisture, especially in hot climates.
Pollination
Rainy weather can cause improper pollination, and ovary rotting will be a sure sign of this phenomenon. To obtain uniformly round fruits, the gardener needs to do this artificially. For this procedure, it is necessary to pick several male flowers in the morning and, having removed the petals from them, touch their anthers to the stigmas of the flowers on the plants. These two species can be distinguished from each other by the time of their life and discovery. Males: early opening and withering, while females have a pistil and remain open for about a day.
In sunny weather, you can additionally attract insects by treating the bushes with sweet water: 10 liters 1 tsp. honey.
Formation
Correcting the plant is the basis of pumpkin care, as it helps to achieve a good harvest and large fruits. A properly formed culture looks like this: on the main stem, when it reaches a height of 1.3-1.5 m, it is necessary to leave a pair of shoots 60-70 cm long, and the rest must be cut off, the removal of the axillary is called stepping.
Thus, 3 fruits are formed on each bush. In order for them to ripen faster, it is necessary to lay the remaining lashes on the ground and sprinkle with a layer of soil 6-7 cm high. Another option: saving 2 stems, two pumpkins will form on the main one, and one on the additional one. After the fruits, 3 leaf plates are left, and the tops are pinched. If everything is done correctly, large and ripe fruits can be obtained as a crop.
top dressing
Fertilization is an important aspect of care. In order for everything to be correct and the plant to receive a sufficient amount of useful substances, it is necessary to perform this operation according to the following scheme:
- With the appearance of 3-4 true leaves or 7 days after planting in open ground, with a seedless method after 3 weeks. Nitrophoska 10 g per bush, ash 1 tbsp per 10 liters of water, manure or chicken droppings diluted in a ratio of 1: 4 are also suitable.
- Organic application can be done every week.
- With the growth of long lashes: nitrophoska at the rate of 15 g for one plant.
In order to feed the pumpkin for the first time, next to it it is necessary to make a furrow in the ground with a depth of 6-8 cm and pour fertilizer into it, the distance from the bush should be 10-12 cm. All subsequent ones are brought further from the plant 40 cm, the depth of the grooves is 10-12 .
Whip powder
This procedure is usually performed when the length of the shoots exceeds 1 m. To do this, the lashes are unraveled, leveled and laid out in the garden. After that, in some places they sprinkle with soil. This must be done so that they do not curl. Soon, on the parts deepened into the soil, a system of roots is formed, which become additional sources of nutrition for the fruits. They must not be forgotten to be watered periodically.
Pests and possible diseases
Pumpkin is most often susceptible to diseases and is attacked by the same pests as other gourds. The table will help you quickly find a solution to the problem and keep the crop intact:
| Problem | Manifestation, features | Remedy |
| powdery mildew | Thick whitish coating. | Watering only with warm liquid. Chemicals: Topaz, Strobe. |
| Peronosporosis | Light purple fluff, fungal spores. | Preparations: Kartocid, Kuproksat. |
| bacteriosis | Ulcers on different parts of the bush. | Compliance with crop rotation. Disinfection of planting material. For 9 liters of water, 10 drops of iodine and 1 liter of low-fat milk. |
| Cladosporiosis | Defeat and rotting of stored fruits. | Good ventilation, temperature control, selection of healthy specimens. |
| Gray and white rot | Brown spots without clear contours. | Removal of leaf plates, application of foliar fertilizers: per 10 l 10 g of urea, 2 g of copper sulfate and 1 g of zinc sulfate. |
| Flaky mold. | Sprinkling the affected areas with coal dust or ash. | |
| Mosaic | Contrasting coloration. | Potassium permanganate - weak solution, Farmiod -3: 300 g per 1 ha. |
| Anthracnose | Yellow-brown circles, the appearance of mycelium. | Destruction of diseased specimens. Bordeaux mixture, Abigalic. |
| spider mite | Light yellow dots. | Spraying with water or infusion of onion husks: per 10 liters 200 g. |
| Aphid | Shoots and ovaries twist. | Regular weeding. Spraying with a solution of soap 300 g per 10 liters. Karbafos 10 l 60 g |
| Slugs | Eaten leaves. | Collection by hand, setting traps. |
| wireworm | Gnawed stems and spoiled seeds. | Loosening the soil, placing baits. |
Mr. Dachnik informs: how to harvest and save a pumpkin crop
Harvesting is best done in dry weather until the first frost, when the leaves droop. Frozen pumpkins do not store well and are more likely to rot. You need to make sure that the pumpkins are ripe: you can draw conclusions from a dense dry stalk, it becomes like a cork or a clear pattern appears on the bark. Next, it is necessary to distribute the crop in size and quality, shifting it very carefully so as not to damage it. Damaged and defective ones must be processed first, they cannot lie for a long time, the whole ones must be prepared for further storage.
It is better to cut pumpkins with a stalk 5-6 cm high and put them in a warm, dry room for 2 weeks. After the bark has finally become hard, you can harvest the fruits for the winter. Before frost, a loggia, balcony or barn is suitable, when the thermometer is +5 ° С and lower, the crop is brought into the house in a warm room with indicators of at least + 14 ... + 16 ° С. After 14 days, it is necessary to choose a place with other values of humidity 60-70% and a temperature of + 3 ... + 8 ° С, sheds, basements or attics are suitable for this.
Under these conditions, pumpkins can be stored all winter and even longer. At high rates, the fruits lose weight and may begin to rot.
If the crop is large, then it can be placed on shelves or racks on straw. The main condition is that the vegetables should not touch each other. Another storage option is in boxes with moss. Another way is a trench in the garden, lined with a 25 cm layer of straw, and sprinkled with earth on top. For ventilation, holes are made in the ground, which close when the temperature drops. If there are not enough pumpkins, whole ones can be folded in a house or apartment in a dark place, and cut ones can only be stored in the refrigerator.
Fruits selected for seeds must be ripe, with a uniform color. In the soil for the intended specimens, do not make a lot of top dressing. Due to this, the planting material will have enough time for maturation. To obtain a certain variety, it is better to place the plant on the beds separately from the rest and pollinate artificially.
Further, the cut pumpkin must be kept for about a month in a non-cold room, however, it should not be left for a long time, the seeds will begin to grow inside. Late, well-preserved species may lie down longer. Cut the fruit should not be in half, it is better to do it from the side. Extract the pulp and choose the most suitable specimens for sowing: without damage, large, dense, be sure to check for rotting. After rinsing, lay out on the surface and let the moisture dry. The shelf life of planting material is 7-8 years.
The main conditions for storage until spring sowing: dryness and lack of moisture, the optimum temperature is +16 °C. It is better to put it not in plastic bags, on which condensation can form, but in paper ones. It is not recommended to keep the seeds in kitchens and bathrooms, as well as areas with high humidity.
It is important to remember that only varietal pumpkin can be grown in this way. Features of the Hybrid: it is easy to recognize when buying by the F1 mark on the package, it will not be possible to reproduce it at home.
Pumpkin is a vegetable crop, the fruits of which are rich in nutrients, their taste is liked by both children and adults. Growing and caring for this plant will not cause trouble even for novice gardeners, careful and careful observance of the rules will allow you to get a rich harvest and save it until the next season.
In central Russia and in other territories with a similar climate, pumpkin varieties grow: large-fruited and hard-skinned. Muscat pumpkin grows in the southern regions. Sometimes there is a gourd. - not as difficult a process as it is presented by inexperienced gardeners.
Growing pumpkins outdoors
Meet pumpkin!
Pumpkin is a well-known annual plant with a powerful root system, wide leaves, long strong stems. The tap root can penetrate up to three meters deep into the soil, and the lateral roots spread over an area up to four meters in search of moisture and nutrition.
The stem of the plant "creeps away" from the base by more than seven meters. Pumpkin has large yellow or yellow-orange flowers, which are arranged singly (the plant is dioecious). On the main stem, from the tenth leaf onwards, fruits are formed.
Pumpkin Rossiyanka
pumpkin candy cane
pumpkin hokkaido
almond gourd
Varieties of pumpkin and their features
What does pumpkin love?
Pumpkin loves warmth, does not tolerate cold combined with dampness.
The place for growing pumpkins should be sunny.
Important! The temperature that pumpkin seeds need for germination is up to + 30 ° C. At lower temperatures, they will germinate very slowly and for a long time. And at less than + 10 ° C they will not sprout at all.
The entire growing season for a pumpkin passes at an optimum temperature of +25 ° C. In this case, it grows orange saturated flesh, fragrant, dense but juicy, and a wide leaf apparatus (up to 40 m² per plant).
Pumpkin in the garden
Pumpkin loves moisture, without a sufficient amount of which the largest fruits are not formed. If at the beginning of flowering the pumpkin suffered a drought, the flowers may fall off, and the ovary does not form.
Pumpkin is a light-loving culture. It must be grown in sunny and calm areas (ideally - melon).
How to grow a pumpkin from seeds
For growing pumpkins, the easiest way is to use the traditional seed method of sowing. Only the seeds for sowing must be prepared.
Choosing pumpkin seeds
It all starts with the selection of seeds. It is necessary to take for sowing only the largest seeds of perfect quality. Thin, feeble, dryish, not full must be discarded. Calibrated seeds begin to prepare for sowing.
We take only the best seeds
Seed preparation
The best way to prepare pumpkin seeds for sowing is to germinate them. This process is continued until the seeds hatch. For germination, pumpkin seeds are dipped in water with a stable temperature of + 40 ° C (permissible up to + 50 ° C, below forty is impossible). In this state, the seeds should spend at least three hours.
How to germinate pumpkin seeds
Advice! How to achieve such a temperature? put a bowl with germinating seeds on a battery or other heating device, place in a yogurt maker or a slow cooker in the “Yogurt” mode.
Then the swollen seeds are wrapped in a well-moistened cotton cloth and left at the temperature of the living room until pecking. The fabric needs to be checked all the time and moistened again so that the seeds do not dry out.
Since pumpkin is a heat-loving plant, it is recommended, especially in the middle climatic zone, to increase the cold resistance of seeds before sowing. To do this, after pecking, they must continue to be kept in a damp cloth, but already in the lower drawer of the refrigerator, from three to five days.
Due to the thermophilicity, it is not worth sowing seeds in open ground; first, it is better to grow pumpkin seedlings.
Growing pumpkin seedlings
Seedlings are needed in order to get a plentiful and early harvest. And also, so that the hatched seeds do not die from the cold, if the sowing is carried out at a time when cooling is still possible. Seedlings do not have to be grown at home - you can do this in a special nursery or mini-greenhouse. But it is best, "under supervision", to grow pumpkin seedlings on the southern windowsill of the apartment. At room temperature, which is still closer to +30 ° C expected by a pumpkin than the temperature in a spring greenhouse, the process will go faster and better.
Important! Despite their powerful and strong appearance, pumpkin seedlings do not tolerate transplanting well. Therefore, seedlings are best grown in peat pots.
To grow seedlings, you will need peat or ordinary pots no less than 10x10 cm in size in an amount half as much as the number of seeds. No need to try to grow a "pumpkin forest", remember the 40 m² feeding area that a pumpkin can cover. Two plants, with a sufficiently spacious placement, a large amount of heat of light and moisture, with regular top dressing, will yield a larger yield of fruits in number and size than ten located in the same space.
Planting pumpkin seedlings
Important! Pumpkin seedlings should spend at least three weeks at home or in a greenhouse before planting in the ground. Therefore, seeds are sown based on this calendar indicator.
Soil for seedlings
Pumpkin seeds are sown in the usual fertile seedling soil, consisting of peat and sand. No special additives are required. There is also no need to add fertilizer to the soil. If you are growing seeds in peat pots, simply fill them with soil. When growing in a plastic container, sprinkle 3 cm of sawdust on the bottom.
Sowing seeds
Germinated in the above way and hardened seeds are sown in pots in pairs. Later, a weak seedling can be removed by simply pinching off the stem. Sowing depth - 2 cm. Seeds are covered with peat. Irrigate before and after sowing.
During the first three days after sowing, the temperature should be + 25 ° С ... + 30 ° С.
Seedling Care
Seedlings of pumpkin seedlings
Shoots should appear on the fourth day. After that, the temperature must be reduced and maintained within + 18 ° C ... + 25 ° C for a week, then again reduced to + 15 ° C ... + 18 ° C. This is necessary so that the pumpkin seedlings do not stretch out, grow strong and squat .
pumpkin sprouts
Watering seedlings is carried out regularly, but it should not be excessive. Water stagnation is prohibited. Ideal soil moisture and air humidity will contribute to the formation of hardy and abundantly fruiting pumpkin plants in the future.
Water your pumpkin sprouts regularly
Feeding is carried out two weeks after germination. To do this, the mullein must be diluted in a ratio of 1:10 with water and poured into each pot, or under each plant in the greenhouse, 100 ml of nutrient solution after watering. If there is no mullein, top dressing is carried out with nitrophoska according to the instructions.
Video - Growth of pumpkin seedlings
Readiness and disembarkation
Properly grown seedlings look like this:
- low stem, thick and strong;
- short internodes;
- three well-developed true leaves with a rich green color.
In this state, pumpkin seedlings can be planted on the 22nd day after sowing with germinated seeds in pots in open ground under a temporary film cover.
planting seedlings
Before planting, the wells are watered with hot water. If the seedlings are in a peat container, it does not need to be removed, just slightly destroy the walls and bottom of the pot.
After planting, the plants are watered with warm water and protected with a film shelter until consistently warm weather sets in.
Growing pumpkins in a greenhouse
Soils suitable for growing pumpkins
This plant is most suitable fertile soil, which has a fairly loose structure, well warmed up. It is on such land that pumpkin fruits will reach record sizes.
Important! Worst of all, the pumpkin will grow on damp and clay soil. Acidic soils are not categorically suitable for the plant - they must be treated with lime (liming under the predecessor) or wood ash should be added.
When growing pumpkins in a summer cottage, try to comply with the following requirements.
- Landing from the south side of the house along the wall or fence. The building and the fence will protect from the wind during the day and give the plants the heat accumulated during the day at night.
- Pumpkin whips may well be directed to the wall of the house, the fence, the roof of the barn. Closer to the sun, the fruits ripen better.
- If there is a compost heap on the site on the south side, it is ideal to plant a pumpkin near it, directing the whips there.
Growing pumpkins on a compost heap
Soil preparation
In order to successfully grow a pumpkin, in the fall, after removing the predecessors, it is necessary to start preparing the soil.
- Apply organic matter and mineral fertilizer (5 kg of humus, 15 g of potassium chloride and twice as much superphosphate per m²) to a clean, free from plants and weeds area. If there is no humus, manure can be applied from autumn - 7 kg per m².
- Dig the area 20 cm deep.
- To lighten the structure of the soil, if necessary, add river sand (coarse grain) and peat.
- Deacidify the soil with wood ash.
- Loosen, if possible, mix, pour hot water.
In the spring, it is not necessary to dig up the upper soil layer, it is enough to remove the weeds that have appeared and level the area with a rake. In this state, the soil should be from March to May - the time of planting pumpkin seedlings.
Prepare the soil for planting pumpkins
Two days before planting the grown seedlings, the soil in the garden bed must be dug up by 12 cm (half a shovel bayonet), ammonium nitrate - 20 g per m² should be added and holes should be made.
On light-textured soil, the holes can be shallow - up to 25 cm. If the soil is heavy, the depth of the hole should reach 40 cm. A little compost and a layer of dry leaves are placed on the bottom.
The scheme of the formation of beds for planting pumpkins
The distance between plants in a regular garden is about a meter. If possible, it can be doubled.
Pumpkin predecessors
This issue is relevant, since culture is demanding of predecessors.
pumpkin care
Pumpkin does not need reverent and specialized care, but there are some activities that should not be neglected if you want to get a big crop of large fruits.
pumpkin, flower
Watering
The main care measure is the adjustment of watering. Pumpkin, like a pump, pumps out all the moisture from the ground, and then evaporates it through the leaves. Thus, the roots and stems get a little. Therefore, the level of moisture in the soil must be constantly replenished.
Advice! It is especially plentiful to water the pumpkin when it has mass flowering and fruit formation. The water temperature should not be lower than +20°C (warmed up in the sun). In no case should you water the pumpkin with cold water in the heat - the plants may die.
After watering, every other time you need to loosen the soil near the base of the stem. Weed the weeds as they grow.
If the summer turned out to be dry, then before flowering, the pumpkin can be watered more often.
top dressing
You need to feed the pumpkin often, otherwise you will not be able to get large fruits. The first dressing in open ground - after the formation of the fifth leaf. The second is when lashes begin to form. Then every two weeks.
You can feed with nitrophoska, starting with 10 g per plant and increasing the dose by 5 g with each top dressing. You can apply dry granules or prepare a solution.
During the fruiting period, a glass of ash is added to each top dressing.
You can feed the pumpkin throughout the growing season with a solution of mullein.
How to shape a pumpkin
How to shape a pumpkin
The plant is formed in one stem, in extreme cases, in two - this contributes to high yields. To do this, after the appearance of extra shoots from the sides, they are all removed, and extra ovaries are also plucked, leaving no more than three on each lash.
By the way! On shoots of the second order, a pumpkin can bear fruit after the second leaf, but they will grow small and tasteless, so it’s worth doing pinching the shoots of the plant.
Video - Pumpkin: growing and pinching
Powder
Another agricultural technique that contributes to productivity is the powdering of lashes. As soon as the lashes have reached a meter length, they must be carefully untangled, laid in a given direction and sprinkled with earth in two to three places. This is done so that the wind does not break the lashes and leaves, breaking off the ovary. But the main thing is that in the internodes pressed to the ground, additional roots are formed that will nourish the plants and help increase the fruit.
Garden care
A few more tricks
- Scourge climbing a fence or roof must be controlled. When pumpkins begin to ripen on them, secure them by placing them in ordinary string bags and securing them with additional fasteners. Otherwise, heavy fruits will roll down, breaking off the stems.
- It is undesirable, especially in wet weather, for the fruits to lie on bare ground. When they reach medium size, place planks or other breathable material under them.
Pumpkin Pest Control
Video - How to grow and care for pumpkin
Harvesting pumpkins
Pumpkin is one of the most "non-capricious" vegetables in our gardens. It does not require greenhouse conditions or any special tricks when leaving. Growing pumpkins in the open field is not only exciting, but also profitable: pumpkin seeds are always valuable. But in order for pumpkins to grow the size of a cartwheel, you need to know a few secrets of its cultivation.
Biological features of pumpkin
Pumpkin is an annual plant with a powerful root system and a long, flexible stem that grows up to 7 m or more in length. The central root, in search of moisture and nutrients, “drills” the ground to a depth of up to 7 m, and its lateral branches grow up to 4 m.
Wide five-fingered leaves and large yellow or yellow-orange pumpkin flowers in the garden are visible from afar. After 10-12 leaves, fruits are tied on the main stem.
The size, taste and keeping quality of pumpkin depends on the variety. For most varieties, the shelf life does not exceed 3-4 months, but there are also champions. For example, pumpkin fruits of the Krupnoplodnaya variety can be stored for up to 9 months, and Muskatnaya varieties - up to 2 years, without losing their taste and useful qualities.
Pumpkin loves heat and does not tolerate cold. At a temperature of 30 ° and sufficient moisture reserves in the soil, pumpkin seeds germinate in 2-3 days. At soil temperatures below 20°, they germinate for a very long time, and at soil temperatures of 10° and below, they "strike" and do not germinate at all.
The optimum temperature for the growth and development of pumpkins is 25°C. Under such conditions, it quickly increases the leaf mass (and the total leaf surface area of one pumpkin can reach up to 40 m²), and the fruits form large and juicy.
Pumpkin - a plant not only thermophilic, but also moisture-loving. It is especially important that the pumpkin has a sufficient amount of moisture during the period when it begins to bloom. During this period, the root system of plants is still not sufficiently developed, and a lack of moisture can lead to the fall of the ovary.
In addition to warmth and moisture, pumpkins need plenty of sunlight to grow. Therefore, it is better to grow it in areas open to the sun and protected from cold winds.
Site preparation for cultivation
Loose fertile soils are best suited for pumpkins. On heavy clay soils, and even with a high level of underground water, you will not wait for a good pumpkin harvest. Does not tolerate the plant and acidic soils.
It is better to plant a pumpkin, if possible, in such a way that on the north side the site is protected by a wall of a house, an outbuilding, or at least a fence. In this case, it will be at least partially protected from the cold northern winds, and the stems of plants can be directed to weave on a wall or fence - the higher to the sun, the better the fruits will grow and ripen.
A plot for growing pumpkins should begin to be prepared in the fall. Under plowing on a chill, organic fertilizers must be applied at the rate of: 5 kg of humus or 7 kg of manure per 1 m². Also, you need to enrich the soil on the site with mineral fertilizers: 30 g of superphosphate and 15 g of potassium chloride per m².
Some enthusiasts, in order to keep the soil looser, prefer not to plow the pumpkin area, but to dig it up by hand. There is no particular point in such hard work: it is better to add peat or coarse sand together with fertilizers for plowing to ensure the looseness of the soil on the site.
Wood ash introduced simultaneously with them will not interfere, especially if a slightly acidic soil reaction is observed on the site.
How and when is the best time to grow pumpkin?
Pumpkin can be grown both by planting seeds in open ground, and through seedlings. It is preferable, if the climatic conditions of your area allow, to sow the seeds immediately in open ground, since the pumpkin does not tolerate transplanting.
If climatic conditions allow you to grow it only through seedlings, then it is better to do this in special peat pots - in this case, you simply plant the plant along with the pot in the garden without damaging its root system during transplantation.
The timing of sowing seeds depends on climatic conditions. In most regions where it is possible to grow pumpkins in open ground directly from seeds, they are sown after May 15, when the soil warms up to 12-15 cm at a planting depth. In the southern regions, where at this time there is practically no threat of night frosts, no additional tricks are not required for this.
In more northern latitudes, where night frosts are possible even after May 20, it is better to build an impromptu greenhouse at the landing site. For this, I use 3 or 5 liter plastic bottles: I cut off their bottom and set them above the planted seeds, deepening their walls into the ground by 1.5-2 cm.
Over a decade and a half of the use of such shelters, pumpkin seedlings have never died, although there were years when at night the air temperature dropped to 7-8 ° below zero for a day or two.
When growing pumpkins through seedlings, you need to make simple calculations. Seedlings are planted at the age of 22-23 days. Therefore, when planting it in open ground, for example, on May 25, it is necessary to plant seeds for seedlings on May 2-3. With a planting date of June 5, seeds for seedlings are planted on May 14-15, etc.
Selection and preparation of seeds
Regardless of the method of cultivation, the selection and preparation for planting of pumpkin seeds is carried out in the same way. Only large full seeds are selected for planting.
Pumpkin seeds are large, so their selection does not take much time and effort. If you don’t like pumpkin seeds (too thin, not filled enough, have mechanical damage), you need to discard it.
To make shoots appear faster, pumpkin seeds are germinated. To do this, they are dipped in warm water and kept there for 3-4 hours. All this time, the water temperature must be maintained in the range of 40-50 ° - it cannot be lowered or raised higher.
Then the swollen seeds are wrapped in a damp cloth, placed in a shallow container and left in it at room temperature until pecking, periodically moistening the cloth to prevent it from drying out.
After pecking, it is better not to plant the seeds immediately, but to keep them in the same moistened cloth for 3-5 days, but already in the refrigerator at a temperature of + 3-4 °. Such pre-planting hardening greatly increases the cold resistance of pumpkins.
Growing seedlings
Seedling photo:
Growing pumpkin through seedlings makes it possible to grow it even in the northern regions, where planting pumpkin seeds in open ground is not possible.
For growing seedlings, it is better to use peat cups, but if necessary, this can also be done in plastic ones. The only condition is that the cups must be large enough, at least 10X10 cm. It should also be taken into account that there are few pumpkin seedlings - for a landing area of 2 acres, only 5-6 pieces will be needed. seedlings.
Therefore, the ideal option is to plant it on the windowsill of your own house or apartment. You can do this in a greenhouse or greenhouse, but this is not entirely justified economically: for the sake of a small amount of seedlings, it is unprofitable to build a greenhouse or a greenhouse, and it is quite difficult to select garden crops that are similar in terms of temperature requirements.
The ground substrate for a pumpkin needs light, with good water and air permeability. The best substrate for its cultivation is mixed in equal proportions of high-moor peat and sand.
Peat pots are filled with prepared soil and planted seeds are planted in it. Since the seeds are already turned on, they are planted as follows: initially, the land substrate is poured 2-3 cm below the upper edge of the pot.
Then the covered substrate is moistened, the germinated seeds are carefully placed on it, the substrate is poured on top, slightly moistened again and left to germinate in a place where the temperature is maintained at 25-30 ° for the first 3 days.
If the seeds are well connected, then you can plant one seed per pot, but it’s better to plant it in pairs for safety: one of the two will probably germinate. If both germinate, then the second one will definitely need to be removed by pinching off the sprout at the very surface of the soil.
Usually, under such conditions, the seeds germinate in 3-4 days. In the first week after germination, the temperature is maintained at 18-25°, and then lowered to 15-18°. If this temperature regime is not observed, then the seedlings will quickly stretch and most likely disappear.
To grow well-developed, strong pumpkin seedlings, plants need to be watered regularly. But here, too, it is important to observe the measure: for fragile roots of seedlings, both the lack of moisture and its excess are detrimental.
The only top dressing of pumpkin seedlings is carried out 2 weeks after germination. It is better to do this with mullein diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10, or with nitrophoska dissolved in water.
3 weeks after planting the seeds, with proper care, seedlings can already be planted in open ground. The readiness of seedlings for transplantation is evidenced by 3 well-developed true leaves of saturated green color.
Planting seeds and planting seedlings in open ground
Outwardly, both planting seeds and planting pumpkin seedlings in open ground look almost the same. However, there are certain differences between them. Both seeds and seedlings are best planted on a high bed 70 cm wide. The length of the bed is determined by the size of the plot.
But high beds are not a prerequisite for growing pumpkins - they just make plant care much easier. If pumpkin cultivation is carried out in the usual way, then they are usually planted in rows. The distance between adjacent rows is left at 2-2.5 m.
Plant the pumpkin in the holes. To do this, a series of holes 40 wide and 30 cm deep are dug on the square. A tablespoon of superphosphate and potassium sulfate are poured onto the bottom of these holes.
Then the holes are filled with a third of humus or rotted compost, then another third with a soil substrate: peat and soddy soil mixed in equal proportions with the addition of half a glass of wood ash. The remaining third of the hole is filled with ordinary earth and watered with 2 liters of water at room temperature.
This algorithm is the same for sowing seeds and planting seedlings. The differences are that 2-3 seeds are placed in each such hole, sprinkling them on top of the ground by 2-5 cm, and for seedlings, a shallow hole is made in the ground so that the seedling container completely enters it.
How to care for a planted pumpkin?
Pumpkin is good because it does not need reverent care. The main agrotechnical measure is regular watering. Due to the extensive leaf mass, the pumpkin quickly “pumps out” almost all the moisture from the ground, therefore, without its replenishment, it will not give a good harvest.
It is especially important to have a sufficient amount of moisture during flowering and fruit set. At this time, you need to water the plants only with warm - not lower than 20 ° - water, otherwise the pumpkin may “drop” the ovary.
After watering and heavy rains, gently loosen the soil at the base of the roots. Also, until the pumpkin grows and covers the entire area with its foliage, you need to regularly remove weeds.
It is also important to properly organize the feeding system. The first is carried out when forming 5 of this sheet, the second - at the beginning of weaving, the next - every 2 weeks. They feed with nitroammophos, starting with 10 grams of fertilizer per bucket of water, and then with each new top dressing increase this dose by 5 grams. During the formation and further with the development of the fruit, in addition to the nitroammophoska, another glass of wood ash is added to 10 liters of water.
A feature of the pumpkin is that as it grows, it forms many side shoots. They should be pinched at the beginning of development: the fruits are tied on them small and tasteless, and they take a lot of moisture and nutrients.
Growing pumpkins in your garden will not take you much time and effort. And the benefits of such cultivation are enormous: having done everything right, you will not only receive large tasty and healthy pumpkin fruits as a reward, but also clear your site of unwanted "neighborhood".
The thick, wide foliage of the pumpkin destroys weeds better than any herbicides, preventing them from accessing heat and sunlight, so most of them simply die.
Among the inhabitants of garden beds, pumpkins do not occupy the last place in terms of popularity, but in terms of ease of care and ability to be stored for a long time, they have no equal at all. Maybe that's why gardeners often do not pay due attention to culture, letting the growth and development of powerful plants take their course.
As a result, due to poor pollination or care errors, the harvest is not as plentiful as desired. The fruits are not pleasing in taste, rot at the ovary stage and are poorly stored.
How to grow a pumpkin that would be truly delicious? What activities does cultural care include? And what signs should you pay the most attention to when watching a pumpkin grow?
Pre-sowing activities
How sweet and juicy the pumpkin grown on its site will be, among other things, depends on the seeds chosen for sowing and the preparation that they will undergo before sowing.
Seeds obtained from fruits grown in their garden must be pickled before planting, disinfecting from diseases and pests with a solution of potassium permanganate. The seeds are in the liquid for up to 30 minutes. After that, a viable seed is selected by immersing a 25% saline solution:
- Empty, insufficiently ripened seeds will give themselves away by floating to the surface.
- Submerged - ready to give healthy large sprouts.
Selected healthy seeds are washed in clean water for about 3 hours, dried at a temperature of 55-60 ° C and bubbling for 18-24 hours.
How pumpkin grows: necessary conditions and features
In order to grow a sweet juicy pumpkin on your site, be sure to adhere to the rules of crop rotation and culture requirements for conditions in the beds. As a rule, plants from the gourd family can return to their previous growing time only after 4–5 years. And the best harvest can be obtained by planting seeds after legumes or cruciferous.
How to grow a pumpkin in a summer cottage, what conditions does this culture need? Pumpkins of all varieties, whether they are zucchini, plucked in the green phase, or late-ripening nutmeg varieties, are very demanding on lighting conditions.
With a lack of sun, the number of ovaries decreases, the plants stretch, the risk of fungal diseases, rot and pest attacks increases.
At the stage of active growth, that is, from the moment the first shoots appear to a few true leaves, the plants should be in the light from 9 to 10 hours. This mode will bring the formation of female flowers closer. The optimal length of daylight hours for an already fruiting pumpkin is 10–12 hours.
A video about growing pumpkins in the open field tells in detail about agricultural technology and the tricks of cultivating this valuable vegetable crop. In household plots, where it is often supposed to water pumpkins in open ground, the crop is cultivated in wide, up to 3 meters, beds.
The arrangement of high ridges will help, even in adverse weather conditions, to get an early harvest and protect the fruits from rotting in a rainy cold summer.
Climbing pumpkin varieties require fairly large gaps between plants from 150 to 300 cm.
Bush forms are more compact and do not require large areas for fruit nutrition, so the distance between pumpkins in this case is reduced to 70–100 cm.
One of the most effective ways to grow sweet, juicy pumpkins on your site can be considered the use of seedlings, not seeds, for planting in open ground. If the seeds are sown in peat pots or large tablets, when they get into the ground, the root system is not injured, which means that you can wait for the harvest 3-4 weeks earlier:
- Landing in open ground is carried out when the soil is warm enough. Zucchini and most common varieties of hard-barked squash are accepted for growth at a soil temperature of 12–14 °C.
- And for the most heat-loving nutmeg pumpkin, the soil should be warmed up to 15–16 ° C.
Outdoor pumpkin care
For seedlings, even short-term frosts are detrimental, when the temperature on the soil drops to minus levels. For normal growth and formation of fruits, pumpkins need a temperature in the range of 22-28 ° C. If the air is cooler, the development of the plant slows down, the rate of appearance of flowers and ovaries decreases.
A film or covering material will help protect young shoots from the manifestations of changeable weather at the beginning of summer.
Sowing seeds or planting seedlings is carried out on a cover spread on the ground, in which cross-shaped incisions are made. They expand as they grow. As a result, due to less evaporation of moisture and more soil heating by 4-5 ° C, the pumpkin develops faster and bears fruit more readily. The labor costs for caring for the pumpkin are also reduced.
While the plants are small, it is extremely important to keep the soil loose and prevent crusting that interferes with the penetration of moisture and oxygen. As a measure of pumpkin care, it is useful to mulch the space between plants on the ridges with sawdust, sand, if the soil is clayey, or straw. During the second loosening, carried out 30 days after germination, weeds are removed and the growing lashes are laid out.
It is convenient to loosen and weed at the same time as watering, while cultivating the soil should not be deeper than 5-7 cm, so as not to damage the surface roots.
How often to water pumpkins outdoors?
The pumpkin root system is designed in such a way that even in dry periods it is able to provide the plant with the required amount of moisture. A well-marked hard pile covering young stems, cuttings, leaf blades and even partly corollas of flowers helps to avoid drying out of the green part.
And yet, the culture needs a lot of moisture, and the schedule of rare but plentiful watering should be consistent with the development of the plant and the ongoing care of pumpkin plantings. Before the first loosening and hilling, depending on the weather, pumpkins are watered abundantly once or twice. And then they take a break for 2-3 weeks to stimulate active formation and growth of roots.
As soon as female flowers appear on the plants, and the formation of fruits begins, the pumpkin should be watered more often, for example, after 7–10 days.
This mode is maintained while the pumpkins are poured and added in size. In August, pumpkin watering becomes less frequent. Such a measure is designed to force the fruits to accumulate sugar and form a strong bark, which will have to withstand winter storage. Watching how the pumpkin grows, 20–25 days before harvesting, watering is stopped altogether.
As a result, pumpkins are watered 5 to 10 times during the growing season. Top dressing, combined with watering, is carried out at the time of the first hilling, during the flowering of plants and at the beginning of the mass formation of the ovary.
Mineral fertilizers are used to a limited extent, alternating with organic matter. A good reaction, especially in areas with poor soils, plants show top dressing with ash, herbal infusions and regular care for pumpkins.
Why does the pumpkin rot in the garden?
Pumpkin flowering begins 50–55 days after germination. Male flowers are the first to open on plants, which in climbing varieties make up to 90% of the total number, and in bush pumpkins about 50-60%. If you watch how pumpkins grow, female flowers, after pollination of which an ovary is formed, can be seen only 7–10 days later than male ones.
Since pumpkins are pollinated by different groups of insects, in adverse conditions, for example, in cold, rainy or windy weather, the probability of transferring pollen from a flower that lives only one day to another flower drops sharply. As a result, pollination does not occur at all, or the weakened ovary dies off along with the flower corolla.
In some cases, this is the reason why pumpkins rot in the garden and the yield drops. You can correct the situation by carrying out artificial pollination. To do this, the petals are carefully removed from the plucked male flower and the pollen is gently transferred to the female flower with gentle movements. It is better to carry out such a procedure in the early morning, protecting the pollen from moisture.
Experienced gardeners note that the timely removal of wilted flowers and unformed ovaries helps protect plants from attack by pests and the development of putrefactive bacteria that can infect already ripening fruits.
Pumpkins do not tolerate waterlogging of the soil. Therefore, the health of plants and fruits also depends on how often to water the pumpkin in the open field. It is especially dangerous if fruits that have already gained weight lie on cold, moisture-saturated soil on rainy days. Under such pumpkins, strong, moisture-resistant stands should be placed in advance that do not injure the bark.
Pinching pumpkins in the open field
The reason why pumpkins rot in the beds may be excessive planting density, and on bush varieties - an abundance of ovaries that prevent each other from developing.
In order to thin the pumpkins, to ensure better penetration of air and light to all parts of the plants, and also to stimulate the ripening of already formed fruits, the culture must be shaped. Bush varieties do not need to be formed. In this case, they only remove the excess ovary, leaving 3-4 fruits per plant, and make sure that the wilted flowers do not cause rotting of the cuttings, stem and fruits.
In open ground, pinching pumpkins of climbing varieties is carried out in July, when there are 1–2 ovaries of 10 cm in diameter on the lashes. The whip is shortened after 4–6 leaves behind the last of the fruits. The maximum load per bush is calculated based on the characteristics of the variety and the weight of mature pumpkins. Usually, the larger the fruits, the less they should remain after the plant is pinched in the open field.
All single, empty shoots are cut out, and only a pair of the strongest ones are left from the side shoots, shortening them to 50 cm.
In order for the growing pumpkins to receive additional support, along with pinching, several internodes of the spread out lashes are sprinkled with soil and moistened. Already after 8–10 days, strong roots form under the soil, feeding the whip. This measure in an open place will protect the plant from the wind, and the whips and fruits from damage.
Growing and pinching a pumpkin - video
Growing pumpkins outdoors
Pumpkin (lat. Cucurbita) is a vitamin-rich vegetable that has a pleasant mild taste and is used in many dietary dishes. Growing a crop requires compliance with certain conditions and rules, which we will consider in more detail.
Preparation and planting of pumpkins in open ground
Growing pumpkins is possible in two ways:
- Planting non-dive seedlings;
- Sowing prepared seeds.
Pre-sowing seed treatment
Growing pumpkins in the open field begins with the preparation of seeds, which are soaked in water, preferably in sodium humate or potassium humate, for a day. Having taken the seeds out of the water, they are covered with a damp cloth or gauze for two days, leaving in a shaded place at a temperature of up to plus 23 gr. Celsius. The fabric is constantly moistened. It is not recommended to take seeds from the crop of the year before last - there may be poor germination.
pumpkin seeds after sprouting
For dressing against diseases, the seeds are immersed in a 30% solution of table salt (2 tablespoons of salt per 100 ml of water). Healthy and strong specimens will sink to the bottom, while weak specimens will float up and be discarded.
After germination, the sprouts are placed in plastic cups or pots up to 10 cm in diameter, with prepared soil: peat mixture mixed with sand and garden soil (1: 1: 1).
Growing pumpkin seedlings and caring for them
Transplantation and cultivation of pumpkins in open ground in the Moscow region occurs after the appearance of three full-fledged leaves. On average, the age of seedlings should be about a month.
Site selection and soil preparation
The site allocated for growing pumpkins is chosen away from upright crops, with a flat surface and good access to sunlight. The land is pre-fertilized: per 1 sq.m. take 2 buckets of humus, 0.5 buckets of wood shavings, 1 liter of wood ash and 200 g of nitrophoska. The soil is dug up to a depth of 50 cm and beds up to 70 cm wide are formed.
Preparing beds for planting pumpkins
Pumpkin seeds or seedlings are planted in warm soil from mid-May, while the air temperature should exceed the average daily plus 10 gr. Celsius. If the seeds are planted earlier, they will not be able to develop properly and will rot.
Growing pumpkins in open ground on a site where potatoes, melons, sunflowers or watermelons have previously grown is not recommended. In one place, a pumpkin is planted with a break of five years. Sandy, light and medium loamy soils with a neutral Ph 4.5-5 are most suitable for growing pumpkins.
pumpkin planting technology
Holes for seeds or seedlings are made along the entire garden at a distance of 0.9-1 m from each other and to a depth of 5-7 cm. At least 2 liters of water are poured into each well, the temperature of which should not be lower than plus 50 gr. Celsius, after which they proceed to sowing.
Sowing pumpkin in open ground
Top mulch with sawdust, straw or peat. Growing pumpkins in open ground in Siberia is a little different: it is recommended to sow 2 seeds per hole. After they germinate, choose a weaker plant and remove it.
Pumpkin seedlings after planting in open ground
Agrotechnics for growing pumpkins in the open field includes additional cover of the planted seeds with a film, which is carefully fixed along the perimeter of the garden. Covering material creates greenhouse conditions and helps protect seedlings from possible frosts.
After the sprouts have reached 50 cm in height, the film is lifted, stretching it over a wire frame. In mid-June, the material is removed.
The unframed film left in the garden can be used instead of mulch, which will help ease the care of the pumpkin during growth. In covering material with this use, cross-shaped incisions are made for sprouts.
Pumpkin cultivation and care - film mulching
Planting and growing pumpkins in the open field video
Pumpkin Care Rules
Caring for a pumpkin in the open field does not cause difficulties, as it consists in timely watering and top dressing.
Fertilization
Top dressing should be applied no more than once every 2 weeks. Top dressing of pumpkins in the open ground with minerals is performed twice: when five sheets appear (10 g of nitrophoska per 1 plant in dry form); when lashes appear (15 g of nitrophoska per 10 liters of water under each bush).
Feeding pumpkins with wood ash (1 cup per 1 plant) and mullein (1 liter of mullein per 10 liters of water) is also effective. Mullein is introduced at the beginning of the growing season (1 bucket for 6 plants) and during fruiting (1 bucket for 3 bushes).
Top dressing pumpkins in the open field
All top dressings are brought into a ring-shaped ditch, increasing the depth from 8 to 15 cm as the pumpkin grows. At the seedling stage, a recess is dug at a distance of 15 cm, after 2 weeks it is increased to 40 cm.
watering pumpkin
Before watering, the soil is loosened 10 cm deep, trying not to hook the root, and cleared of weeds. Watering pumpkins in open ground is carried out only with warm water, 50 gr. Celsius, do not use cold artesian or well water.
Timely abundant irrigation during flowering is especially important: moisture is necessary for the formation of female inflorescences. Water consumption during this period is about 30 liters per 1 plant.
During fruit ripening, the amount of water during irrigation is reduced, since excess moisture reduces the shelf life and reduces the sugar content of the fruit.
Growing pumpkin video
Formation of pumpkin lashes
The formation of a pumpkin during cultivation allows you not to waste energy on extra ovaries and shoots, due to which larger fruits with better taste characteristics grow. While the main stem has reached a length of 1.5 m, pinch it. They leave only 2 lateral shoots up to 70 cm long. On each of them, a fruit ripens.
Scheme for the formation of pumpkin lashes
To speed up the filling of fruits, the shoots are pressed to the ground, sprinkled with a small layer of soil at a distance of up to half a meter from the main shoot for rooting. A piece of plywood or glass is placed under each emerging pumpkin to protect against fungal diseases that begin to develop on fruits from soil dampness.
Pinching and caring for a pumpkin in the open field video
Protection of pumpkin from diseases and pests
The most common squash diseases are fruit rot, powdery mildew and mosaic. Most often they appear due to increased dampness - a favorable environment for the development of bacteria and fungi. Of the pests, the spider mite most often affects the pumpkin, as well as the melon aphid.
powdery mildew
When the first symptoms of a fungal disease on pumpkin leaves are detected, they are treated with spraying with a solution of 3 g of potassium permanganate or 2 g of copper sulfate dissolved in 10 liters of water. They are treated with 1% Bordeaux liquid during the formation of ovaries and leaves. For prevention - carry out regular watering, observe crop rotation and destroy the remains of diseased plants.
Powdery mildew on pumpkin leaves
Mosaic pumpkin
Mosaic pumpkin in the initial stage
fruit rot
The rotten areas are carefully removed with a knife and the wound is wiped with freshly squeezed aloe juice. The rubbing area dries up, and the pumpkin continues to develop.
Fruit rot pumpkin
Ways to protect against insects
They fight against aphids by removing weeds, spraying with a soapy solution (200 g of grated soap per 10 liters of water) or 10% karbofos in a proportion of 60 g per 10 liters of water.
From spider mites, spraying with onion infusion of 200 g of husk per 10 l of water or a 20% solution of chloroethanol (20 g per 10 l of water) helps.
Harvesting and storage conditions of pumpkin
So that the pumpkin does not start to deteriorate in the garden, you need to harvest it on time. The moment of ripening can be recognized by the following features:
- The stalk becomes rough and rough;
- Foliage and lashes turn yellow and dry;
- The skin coarsens and acquires a pattern typical of the variety.
It is necessary to harvest the crop before stable frosts. Pumpkin pruning occurs with a stalk up to 6 cm. Cut fruits are folded into a dry, warm room. In a week, the pumpkins ripen, and the stalk dries up.
Storing pumpkins in a heated room
When frost occurs, unripe, unplucked pumpkins are mulched with straw or agrofibre.
Outcome
Compliance with all the conditions and rules for caring for a pumpkin will allow you to grow a rich harvest. Tasty and healthy vegetables are well stored until the New Year without any processing. Pumpkin can be used to make main dishes, desserts, soups, preserves, or make a Halloween lantern out of it.
