2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Many people grow pumpkin - it attracts not only with its benefits, but also because it is very easy to care for it, and it has a way to be stored for a very long time, but the long-awaited fruits are not always juicy and sweet, and this cannot but depress. In fact, it is not so difficult to grow juicy and sweet pumpkins - for this it is enough just not to let the development of this culture take its course, but to follow a few simple rules
Pre-sowing preparation
Well-chosen seeds in combination with their correct seedbed preparation is almost half the success! If seeds from self-grown fruits are used for planting pumpkins, then they are necessarily pickled - you can disinfect them from all kinds of pests and diseases with the help of a well-known solution of potassium permanganate, in which the seeds are kept for no more than half an hour. However, the pre-sowing preparation of seeds is not limited to this procedure alone - then it will be necessary to select the most viable seeds, and for this they will need to be immersed in a twenty-five percent saline solution: the seeds that have sunk to the bottom will certainly give large and healthy sprouts, but those that floated to the surface, it is better to discard immediately, as they usually turn out to be insufficiently ripe or completely empty. Then healthy seeds are dipped in clean water and, having thoroughly washed them in it, dried for about three hours at a temperature of fifty-five to sixty degrees. And the last stage of pre-sowing preparation will be their bubbling - it will take from eighteen to twenty-four hours.
Basic conditions for full growth
In order for the pumpkin to always turn out as juicy and sweet as possible, it is important to adhere not only to its requirements for the growing conditions it needs, but also to no less important rules of crop rotation. This means that the former places of culture from the Pumpkin family are usually returned only after four or even five years. And so that the harvest really pleases, it is best to plant a pumpkin after cruciferous or legumes.
As for the growing conditions for pumpkin, in no case should we forget that this culture is very demanding on lighting - in case of a lack of sunlight, the number of ovaries will gradually begin to decrease, and the plants themselves will stretch out and become especially susceptible to all kinds of rot and fungal ailments and attacks of gluttonous pests.
During the period of its active growth (from the moment the first shoots appear and until the formation of several true leaves), the pumpkin should stay in the light for an average of nine to ten hours, no less. This will bring closer the moment of formation of the first female flowers. If the pumpkin has already begun to bear fruit, then the most optimal daylight hours for it will be in the range of ten to twelve hours.
The beds on which the pumpkin grows, ideally, should be high enough - this approach will allow you to get an excellent harvest even if the weather is not favorable for this, and in the rainy, cold summer, the forming fruits will be reliably protected from rotting. In addition, when growing climbing varieties between plants, it is necessary to maintain a distance of one and a half to three meters. As for the bush forms of pumpkin, they are characterized by relative compactness, therefore, they do not require such impressive areas for feeding the fruits: when growing such varieties, it is quite permissible to reduce the distance between the bushes to seventy to one hundred centimeters.
If the pumpkin is planned to be cultivated in the open field, then it is better to try to plant not seeds in it, but immediately seedlings, which ideally should be grown in large tablets or peat pots - in this case, when they are moved into the ground, possible injury to the root system will be completely excluded. And the harvest will ripen about three to four weeks earlier!
Care features
The most optimal temperature for growing pumpkin seedlings will be in the range from twenty-two to twenty-eight degrees - even a slight frost can easily ruin the crop. So, if the thermometer drops below the recommended mark, it does not hurt to resort to using a good covering material or at least a film.
The soil must be constantly maintained in a loose state, avoiding the appearance of an air-tight crust on it. Don't forget about regular weeding. In addition, it is recommended to mulch the space between the growing pumpkins with straw or sand or sawdust (the latter two materials are perfect for clay soil).
Watering the pumpkin should be rare, but abundant enough. Before the first loosening and subsequent hilling, watering is carried out only once or twice, after which a two- or even three-week break is taken in order to stimulate active formation and start full-fledged root growth. But from the moment female flowers appear on the pumpkin, watering is carried out more often: once a week or one and a half, and this regime remains until the pumpkins are poured and their size does not increase. It will be possible to reduce watering again only in August, when the fruits begin to form dense crusts and accumulate sugar, and about twenty or twenty-five days before the start of the harvest, any watering stops altogether! Top dressing, however, is usually given at the first hilling, as well as during flowering and at the stage of mass formation of ovaries (too much mineral fertilizers should not be applied - it is recommended to alternate them with organic matter).
As you can see, everything is not so difficult - if you follow these rules, the grown pumpkins will certainly delight you with their impressive juiciness and pleasant sweet taste!
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