Rules for growing pumpkins in the open ground

Many gardeners today practice cultivation pumpkins in the open ground. It is possible to plant a vegetable in the garden not only on the garden bed, but also in a barrel, on trellises and in a bag. Some have successfully cultivated pumpkins right on the balcony. Productivity directly depends on preplant planting and subsequent care of the vegetable.

Rules growing pumpkins in open ground

Breeding conditions

A heat-loving pumpkin has a strong root system and a long stem that grows up to 7 m. Nutrition occurs through a branched system roots, in which the central root grows to a depth of 6-7 m, and the side – up to 3-4 m. Pumpkin foliage is wide, five-fingered, bright green in structure. Fruits are formed on the main stem.

The rules that need to be observed depend on these features of the vegetable crop, choosing the conditions for its cultivation:

• temperature.Sown pumpkin seeds germinate in 2-3 days at a temperature of 30 ° C, germinate for a long time at 20 ° C and do not germinate at 10 ° C and lower. The optimal mode of further cultivation is 25 ° C during the day and up to 13 ° C at night. At this temperature, the vegetable crop quickly grows foliage, the area of ​​which sometimes reaches 40 m², and intensively forms large fruits;
• humidity. In addition to heat, the long roots of the pumpkin require high humidity, especially at the flowering stage. Properly organized watering is important here;
• lighting. The heat-loving vegetable crop requires a lot of sunlight, so the place for planting it must be chosen so that the sun gets there for 6 hours or more. It is better to plant the plant so that from the north it will be protected from the cold winds by a fence (fence, wall of the building, etc.). As the pumpkin grows, it can act as a support for the lashes;
• soil. A powerful root system is responsible for plant nutrition and copes well with its task in loose and fertile soils. Vegetable culture does not bear fruit well on heavy clay soils, especially with a high level of groundwater, which soak its roots. Acidic and slightly alkaline soils are acceptable;
• “predecessors”. It is good to plant a pumpkin after beans, onions, cabbage and garlic. Vegetable culture grows poorly and bears fruit after carrots and tomatoes. You can grow corn, beets, beans and radishes in the neighborhood.Potatoes, cucumbers and lettuce do not affect the development of the vegetable.

Cultivation methods

The classic way to cultivate pumpkins is to plant on beds. For sowing seeds and transplanting seedlings, it is better to make high beds from 0.7 m wide. Each gardener chooses the row length independently.

High beds facilitate subsequent care of plants.

Traditionally, pumpkin cultivation in the open field is as follows:

• plant the pumpkin in rows with a distance of 2-2.5 m between them and with a distance of 1 m between the bushes;
• pits are made 0.4 m wide, digging them to a depth of 0.3 m;
• the bottom of the holes is laid out with superphosphate and potassium sulfate (1 tbsp each), then they are filled by 1/3 humus m or compost, then pour a mixture of peat and turf in equal amounts and ½ cup of wood ash;
• the remaining part of the cavity after sowing seeds and planting seedlings is covered with plain earth and watered.

In addition to the classic cultivation of pumpkins in the open ground, today gardeners successfully cultivate vegetables in other ways.

On the balcony

At home (on the balcony), decorative varieties are more often grown pumpkins, but some also plant ordinary undersized species. A feature of such cultivation is the need for artificial pollination by hand. Containers or pots with a volume of 45 liters or more are suitable for planting.

In a barrel

Unlike industrial cultivation or breeding as a business, summer residents have the opportunity to grow pumpkin for personal use on a plot not in the garden but in the barrel, installing it where it’s convenient.

The advantage of growing a pumpkin in a barrel is to save space on the garden plot of a summer residence, as the lashes do not grow on the surface of the soil, but hang from the edges. Barrels are prepared in the fall:

• wooden or metal containers are installed in the right place;
• lay the plant debris (foliage, etc.) in layers, then grass and food waste;
• pour water over the layers and cover the barrel.

Pumpkin can be grown in a barrel

In the spring, add soil and sand to the container and mix. 1-2 plants are planted in each container.

The peculiarity of barrel pumpkin care is associated with faster drying of the soil compared to the bed, so bushes need to be watered more often.

В bag

The technology of growing in a bag is similar to the method of cultivation in a barrel:

• a durable synthetic bag is filled with layers of plant debris;
• then it is put in the right place, better near the fence, which will become a support for the lashes;
• in each bag plant 1 seed or seedling.

On a trellis

For vertical cultivation on a trellis, a structure up to 2 m high is used, making it from wooden planks. The distance between the bushes is reduced to 0.3 m due to the direction of growth of the crop vertically up.

Mandatory conditions when growing on a trellis machine are the pinching of bushes, pinching and garter of lashes and fruits to the supports.

Method growing pumpkins on trellis equipment is not suitable for varieties that produce large fruits.

Preplanting

To grow a pumpkin healthy and of high quality, it is necessary to carry out a number of preparatory measures before planting.

Soil

Site n before planting, they prepare the pumpkin in the fall:

• when digging the soil, organic matter is added – humus (5 kg per 1 m²) or manure (7 kg per 1 m²);
• add to the organics mineral nutrition – superphosphate (30 g per 1 m²), potassium chloride (15 g per 1 m²);
• provide the soil with the required friability – add peat or coarse river sand.

Seeds

Preparation of seeds according to the general rules includes calibration, disinfection, preliminary germination and hardening.

Calibration

Initially, seeds are selected by appearance removing too then small, insufficiently filled and having mechanical damage. Then they are sorted by soaking in saline. Those left at the bottom are suitable for sowing.Seeds that have surfaced do not use, because they have the lowest germination rates.

Disinfection

Seed treatment with a weak solution of potassium permanganate increases the resistance of plants to diseases and helps them withstand pests. Additionally, the seeds can be soaked in a growth promoter, for example, Epine, which will increase their germination.

Germination

The seeds selected for sowing are germinated, for which they are placed in water heated to 40-50 ° for 3-4 hours. Then they are wrapped in moistened tissue and left to hatch, not allowing it to dry.

Hardening

Hardening helps to increase the resistance of future shoots to temperature changes. For this purpose, seeds in a damp tissue are kept in a refrigerator at 4 ° C for 3-5 days.

Sowing seedlings

Seeds must be hardened before planting

When cultivating pumpkins using seedlings, the seeds are planted in peat cups at home . They can be replaced with plastic, but subsequently accuracy will be required when removing seedlings. The optimal size of containers is from 1010 cm.

The number of seedlings is calculated so that for every 2 m² there are no more than 5-6 seedlings.

For seedlings, take the substrate ready, intended for growing pumpkin, or make it yourself from peat and river sand taken in equal proportions. They are filled with containers and sown seeds hatching, sinking them into the soil mixture for 2-3 cm.

After sowing, the substrate is sprayed with water from a spray bottle. The containers for the first 3 days are placed in a place where the temperature is maintained at 25-30 ° C.

Properly prepared seeds, while maintaining the temperature at the proper level, will sprout for 3-4 days.

After emergence, the containers are moved to a cooler place where the temperature is 18-25 ° C, gradually lowering it to 15-18 ° C. This will prevent the seedlings from stretching.

After 2 weeks of growth, seedlings are fed with mullein diluted with water in a proportion of 1:10 or with a nitrophosphate in the dosage prescribed by the instructions.

The seedlings are usually ready for transplanting for the third week of growth. in the garden. By this time, seedlings grow by 3 leaves.

Planting dates

Pumpkins are grown by seed or seedling method. It all depends on the region of cultivation. So, if in the southern regions it is possible to sow seeds directly into an open bed, then in the northern regions (Siberia), as well as in the Leningrad region, in the Urals, for growing pumpkins in open ground, it is better to germinate seedlings first. It is worth acquiring zoned varieties.

Approximate dates:

• seeds are sown after May 15-20, when the soil warms up to a depth of 15 cm and there is no threat of sudden night frosts. At the same time, residents of the northern regions need to additionally create protection for plants – cover the sowing area with cut-off plastic bottles, make a single film shelter for the whole ridge or plant the seeds in the greenhouse;
• seedlings are transplanted into the open ground at the age of 22-25 days , this period is taken into account when sowing seeds at home.

Care

Pumpkin does not require special care. The main agricultural rule for a vegetable crop is regular watering. For a good harvest, pumpkin top dressing is also important. Pruning and grafting will help the plant achieve the best results.

Vaccinations

Many gardeners try to vaccinate the pumpkin. The secret of this procedure is simple: they make such an “injection” to increase the resistance to diseases and cold of other plants, such as watermelon or melon.

Inoculate should be at an air humidity of 83-85% and a temperature of about 25-29 ° С. Vaccination is often carried out by approaching through the epidermis or into the lateral section of the stem (tongues).

When vaccinated by approaching through the epidermis:

• take plants of 7 days of age;
• remove the layer from the stems in the form of stripes to a depth of 1 mm 3 mm long see;
• the sections are joined and insulated with polyethylene;
• after splicing, they cut the bottom at the rootstock and the top at the graft – the result is a root from a pumpkin and a stem from another plant.

When vaccinated through rapprochement with tongues:

• on the stems 2 cm tongues are cut, making them from the pumpkin from top to bottom, and from another plant from bottom to top;
• connect the resulting latch and turn polyethylene;
• the roots of the plant grafted onto the pumpkin are cut off after germination.

Pruning

Extra shoots must be removed

The peculiarity of the pumpkin is the intensive build-up of side shoots. They pull food on themselves, take up a lot of space and act as nurseries of diseases. Pumpkin start to seed at the very beginning of the emergence of shoots. The plant is usually formed into one stem, the extra shoots are cut and 2-3 ovaries and 3-4 leaves are left.

Pinch the top so that the central stem does not stretch up. In addition, old foliage and empty flowers are cut off yellowed or stained or bloomed.

Watering

A plant with an extensive leaf mass and a powerful root system requires a large amount of moisture, which it actively consumes from the soil. Watering at the stage of flowering and fruit formation is especially important.

The optimum water temperature for irrigation is 20 ° C. It is impossible to pour pumpkin on cold water, because it can shed ovaries.

Before the primary loosening and hilling, the pumpkin is watered 1-2 times, after which it takes a break for 2-3 weeks. When the fruit ripens, watering is reduced, and 20 days before the planned harvest date it is stopped. The total number of these procedures for the entire growing season is 5-10 times.

After irrigation, the soil in the root area is loosened to provide them with oxygen access. Simultaneously with loosening, the emerging weeds are removed.

Top dressing

The scheme for feeding pumpkins counts up to 5-6 fertilizers:

• the first time it is fertilized when the sprouts of the 5th leaf appear;
• the second – with the formation of lashes;
• subsequent feeding is carried out with an interval of 2 weeks.

For Nitroammophoska is suitable for pumpkin, the dosage of which is gradually increased: start with 10 g per 10 l and with each subsequent top dressing, the amount of fertilizer is increased by 5 g for the same amount of water.

When forming and maturing, Odes also need to fertilize the pumpkin with wood ash (200 g per 10 l of water).

Among the folk remedies for feeding a vegetable crop is fertilizer with yeast. Baker’s yeast diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 5 increases the immunity of pumpkins and is suitable for freshly transplanted seedlings: with their help, it adapts faster to new conditions.

Harvesting and storage of the crop

Try to harvest before the first cold weather. A frozen pumpkin begins to rot quickly. The maturity of the fruit is determined by pressing on its bark: when the surface of the peel hardens, there are no traces of pressure on it.

Additional signs of ripeness of the vegetable are blanching of the color of its peel, yellowing and dryness of the leaves and stiffness and dryness of the stalk.

Vegetables are cut from the shoot with a sharp knife, leaving a stump of 4-5 cm.

Vegetables are harvested by cutting from the stem

Only whole fruits without mechanical damage are taken for storage. The shelf life of most pumpkin varieties is about 3-4 months, but may vary depending on the species:

• large-fruited is stored for about 9 months;
• nutmeg is able to lie and retain taste and useful properties up to 2 years.

Optimal storage conditions – cool darkened place.

Diseases

Pumpkin is hardy, but sometimes some diseases strike her.Among the most common are:

• powdery mildew – foliage is covered with a white coating;
• peronosporosis (false powdery mildew) – the leaves do not whiten, but are covered with dry yellow stains, which then acquire dark color;
• anthracnose – foci pressed inward and pink-white plaque appear, subsequently holes form in the form of a web.

Treatment

If the first signs of disease are detected, when the leaves turn white or are covered with yellow spots, they are treated by foliar spraying with with fungicidal agents.

Against infections, the bushes are sprayed with the following solutions: copper sulfate (2 g) or potassium permanganate (3 g) per 10 l of water. Medical treatments are carried out with Bordeaux liquid with a concentration of 1%.

Prevention

The main prevention of diseases is reduced to compliance with agricultural technology, including:

• properly organized watering;
• trimming excess foliage;
• removing plant debris containing pathogens and pest larvae;
• crop rotation;
• presowing seed disinfection.

There are many ways to grow pumpkin. In addition to cultivation in the garden, vegetables are planted in barrels, bags and grown on a trellis, saving space in the garden. Ornamental cultivars are grown on the balcony.

To obtain a crop, it is necessary to create favorable conditions for the vegetable crop to grow and to care for it properly. Harvested vegetables are stored from 3 months to 2 years.