The timing of planting pumpkins in open ground seeds. Pumpkin - cultivation and care in the open ground. Transplanting pumpkin seedlings

The end of spring is the time to plant a pumpkin. It can be grown in two ways: sowing seeds in open ground and through seedlings. The second method is more suitable for central Russia and its northern part.

Growing pumpkin seedlings for open ground

The most common types of pumpkins for growing in personal plots are hard-bark, large-fruited and nutmeg.

For experiment and comparison, grow all three varieties, then to determine the best.

So, it is better to sprout pumpkin seeds before sowing: spread the cloth or paper napkins in 4 layers on a saucer, soak and place the seeds, cover with a plastic bag and germinate for about 10 days, opening regularly for ventilation. The temperature in the room is 25-27 ° C. Preparedness for sowing seeds will tell you the grown roots (length 0.5-1 cm).

20-30 days before planting pumpkin seedlings in open ground, and this is about mid-May, fill the peat pots with prepared soil, one that is suitable for growing seedlings of cucumbers, or prepared in advance (peat, humus, rotted sawdust in a 2: 1 ratio :1). Add Kemira or nitroammophoska to the soil mixture (1 tsp per 1 kg of the mixture). Water and sow. In the process of growth, make sure that the leaves do not touch each other (move the pots). Pumpkin seedlings 10-15 cm tall with 2-3 real leaves are ready for planting in open ground. A week before planting, harden the plants by lowering the temperature during the day to 15 ° C and at night to 12 ° C with frequent ventilation.

Soil and place

The soil for growing pumpkins requires loose, nutritious, sandy loam with a neutral pH level. Well, if the predecessor was potatoes, tomato, cabbage or beans. Pumpkin is not grown after cucumbers, squash and squash. The place is chosen warm, dry, with a southern slope.

To plant pumpkin seedlings, holes (1 hole for 1 plant) are prepared with a depth of 10 cm, at a distance of 1-1.5 m, and between rows of 2 m, since the plant is quite climbing. Before planting seedlings, 2 kg of compost are added to each well and watered with 2 liters of warm water. Plants are planted in gruel and covered with dry earth so that a crust does not form. In the first 7 days after planting, pumpkin seedlings are covered with cut-off 5-liter plastic balloons or special paper caps.

If the pumpkin seeds were sown in plastic cups, then the plants must be removed so that the root system is not damaged, otherwise it will not work to grow a good pumpkin. Overgrown pumpkin seedlings are planted obliquely, with tops in one direction.

Pumpkin Care

Watering is moderate around the stem, since the root system of the pumpkin goes to a depth of 3 meters and has the ability to enrich itself with moisture from the depths of the soil. With ovaries the size of a fist, you can go to drip irrigation. The easiest way to drip irrigation is to put a container of water near each plant and lower the edge of the cotton rope into it, wrap the whip with the other end and sprinkle with earth near the roots.

If you pamper the pumpkin with frequent or plentiful watering, then the roots will “forget” about their abilities and you will be attached to plants.

There is an opinion that it is better to water the pumpkin often, then you need to do this every week at the rate of 20-30 liters of water per 1 sq. m, starting from the period of germination to flowering, during flowering, watering is reduced for better fruit setting, and continues again until harvesting.

After watering or rain, it is necessary to loosen the row-spacing, until the leaves grow and close together.

Fertilize every 15-20 days alternating organic (per 10 l of water 2 l of slurry, 40 g of superphosphate and 40 g of wood ash) with mineral (per 10 l of water 30 g of ammonium nitrate, 50 g of superphosphate and 30 g of potassium salt). The calculation of 1 liter per plant at the beginning of development and 5 liters per plant at the end of summer. Combine top dressing with watering.

To obtain large pumpkin fruits, formation is required; without this, a good pumpkin cannot be grown. To do this, remove lateral non-fruiting shoots, leaving one ovary on the main stem and two lateral ones. 5-6 leaves are left over each fruit, and pinch the growth point. The approximate length of the main stem is 1.3–1.5 m; at the side shoots, 0.6–0.7 m. Remove the flowers that appear further.

In windy weather, the whips can turn over, so it is best to pin them in advance or sprinkle them with moist soil.

Under the fruits of the pumpkin they lay boards or plywood sheets for and from possible rotting (from contact with the ground).

If pumpkins form huge leaves that interfere with the pollination of flowers, then they should be thinned out.

If during the flowering period the pumpkin does not ovulate or in the dry weather forms irregularly shaped fruits, then conduct artificial pollination. To do this, in the morning tear off several blossoming male flowers, cut off the petals and conduct anthers along the stigmas of female flowers. The procedure can be carried out several times with extreme caution.

Damage to pumpkins by slugs can be repaired. For this, all damaged soft tissue is cut with a knife and the resulting hole is sealed with adhesive tape. In 2 months, the peel will be restored and the pumpkin will be subject to a long one.

They grow pumpkin seeds, sow in open ground in mid-May, when dandelions bloom, and always in dry, warm weather. It will be better if the seeds are germinated, with roots about 0.5 cm long.

Before sowing, add humus (2 buckets), sawdust (0.5 buckets), nitrophosk (1 glass), wood ash (1 liter jar) for each square meter of soil. Dig a site to a depth of about 40 cm, make beds 70 cm wide and spill them with hot water to disinfect. Wells are made every 90 cm, with a depth of 8-10 cm for light sandy soil and 5-6 cm for heavy. Throw 2-3 seeds into each well. After sowing, make a film shelter that can be removed in a month.
Thinning is carried out when the shoots have 2 true leaves. Weak seedlings pinch, do not pull, due to the possibility of damage to the root system of the neighbor, as a result, you have only one strong plant in the hole.

In early September, choose an auspicious day to harvest pumpkins. It should be dry, warm weather. The maturity of the pumpkin is determined by the shrunken peduncle 3-5 cm in size and the hard bark (it does not push through with a finger). When harvesting, try not to allow mechanical damage to the fruit, as this affects keeping quality.

Pumpkin is beautiful and healthy, many delicious main dishes and desserts are prepared from it - this is a wonderful occasion to plant it on your site. This fantastic vegetable came to us from the tropics; it loves the sun and nutritious soil, but it feels quite comfortable at our dachas.

Many delicious pumpkin varieties can be grown by sowing seeds in open ground at the end of May, but not nutmeg - they just will not sprout, it is better to grow them in seedlings. Seeds should be taken only fresh, it is advisable to test them for germination, in order to know what to expect after sowing in the ground. Discard seeds that have surfaced when soaked with salt water, sank to the bottom, prepare for sowing.

Pumpkin seeds before sowing need to be warmed up for 2-3 hours at a temperature of 60 degrees. After that, you need to disinfect them with a pink solution of potassium permanganate. In order for the sprouts to be able to break through the hard skin of the seed, they are soaked for 12 hours with water infusion of ash or at least just water, which is changed every 4 hours. Those summer residents who are not afraid to use chemistry usually soak the seeds with a fertilizer solution or a stimulant (crezacin, epin, potassium humate) to accelerate germination. This not only accelerates growth, but also protects future seedlings from diseases and the adverse effects of the environment.

After soaking, the seeds are immediately planted in the ground or placed on germination. Seeds on sawdust sprout well and quickly. Sawdust is placed at the bottom of the box, spilled several times with hot water, seeds are placed on top of several layers of wet gauze, covered with several more layers of gauze on top and covered with sawdust. The box is covered with a film on top - it turns out such a greenhouse, after 2-3 days the seeds will sprout, and they will need to be planted immediately in the ground.

Landing and care

Before sowing, it is advisable to prepare the soil. 2 buckets of humus, half a bucket of sawdust, a glass of nitrophoska and a liter jar of wood ash are added to 1 square meter of the pumpkin plot. The site is digged well to a depth of not less than 40 cm and spilled with hot water. Vegetable growers determine the timing of sowing, it depends on the weather and the characteristics of the variety. Hatching seeds of large-fruited and hard-barked pumpkins are planted in the soil when it has already warmed up to 10 degrees at a depth of 10-12 cm. In the Moscow Region, this usually happens at the end of May.

In light permeable soil, the seed is laid 8-10 cm, and if the ground is hard, then 4-5 cm with the beak or sprout down. If the landing is shallow, the sprouts can sprout without dropping the seed coat, then birds can peck them. To prevent this from happening, you can close the crops or just check more often and remove the shell manually. Bush pumpkin is planted at a distance of 80 cm from each other, and it is better to plant a climbing pumpkin with an interval of 1 m.

3-5 seeds are placed in each hole at a distance of several centimeters. The soil after sowing is mulched, many are advised to cover it with a film or non-woven fabric from spring cold. When the sprouts appear, they leave 2 of the strongest, and the rest are plucked. The pumpkin has a very developed root system, small sprouts are already intertwined with roots, so as not to damage them (with the slightest damage to the root, the pumpkin will not grow), the extra ones are not torn out, namely pinch off.

After planting seedlings in the open ground or sprouting from seeds at the pumpkin, side shoots quickly form, they need to be removed, leaving in addition to the main scourge two more side ones. The number of ovaries also needs to be limited, leaving 3-4 on each branch: after counting 5 leaves after the last ovary, the lash must be clipped, then the plant will not waste strength, but will direct them to ripen the fruits.

So that the wind does not turn the lashes, they are sprinkled with moist soil, in this case additional roots may form, which will further strengthen the plant. The wide leaves of the pumpkin evaporate a lot of moisture, so watering is simply necessary, and only with warm water. After planting in open ground, each plant is watered with 1 liter of water, and the older it is, the more water it needs, so at the end of summer each should receive at least 10 liters. When the fruits have reached their maximum value, watering is stopped.

If there are few bees or bumblebees in the area during pumpkin flowering, you will have to pollinate the plant manually. Male flowers do not sit on the stem, but grow on a long stalk, unlike female flowers, and female flowers under the petals have a thickening (ovary) - so that they are easy to recognize. In the morning (from 9 to 11 o’clock) you need to pick a male flower, carefully cut off the petals from it, and touch the pistils of the female flowers with anther.

It happens that female flowers bloom earlier than male flowers, then you can pollinate with male flowers of another related plant - zucchini or squash are suitable. The fruits ripen perfectly, but it will be impossible to use seeds for planting, so if you want to sell or plant seeds, then you need to pollinate only with the flowers of the same plant.

Video “Planting Pumpkins”

From the video you will learn how to plant pumpkins simply and efficiently.

How to protect yourself from pests

After planting pumpkins in open ground, you need to think about protecting it from pests. So that the bear does not gnaw the roots, several granules of a special preparation called Medvedox are put in each hole during planting.

In wet, rainy weather, slugs may appear that can kill the pumpkin. Melon aphids, spider mites, sprout flies and nutcrackers - pumpkins have many enemies. To avoid danger, you need to loosen, do not overmoisten the soil, do not leave torn weeds, because many are attracted by plant debris. No wonder gardeners often inspect their plants, at the first appearance of pests, you need to spray the plant with infusion of onion husks, ash, soapy water.

Larvae of sprouting flies can only damage planted seedlings if they are attracted to the smell of fresh manure. The nutcracker (wireworm) may remain from previous crops of perennial herbs. To secure planting will allow good tillage and thoughtful crop rotation.

There are many chemicals that can save you from pests, it’s not difficult to find them, but you need to remember that ripening fruits can absorb harmful substances too. It will not be amiss to plant nearby onions, dill and marigolds.

Top dressing

They plant the pumpkin in fertilized soil, and then feed it with liquid organic-mineral fertilizers. If the soil is rich in fertilizers, it is enough to pour 2-3 times for the entire growth period with liquid diluted bird droppings or mullein with 1 tablespoon of full mineral fertilizer.

Planting a pumpkin in depleted soil means that you doom yourself to weekly fertilizer plants throughout the season. Only at the end of summer, when the fruits are already large, can potassium be added as a mineral top dressing.

Video “Planting seedlings in the open ground”

To properly plant seedlings in open ground, we recommend that you watch the next video lesson. An experienced gardener will tell you about all the nuances and features of the process.

Pumpkin is an incredibly useful vegetable that is not at all difficult to grow, so it has a place in almost any garden. The easiest way to do this is to plant pumpkin seeds in open ground. Of course, if the spring is warm enough and the summer is long so that the crop has time to ripen to frost.

How to choose and prepare seeds for planting

You can buy pumpkin seeds for planting in a store or collect pumpkin seeds, which were planted in your garden in previous years and fully ripened. Everyone knows how to collect the seeds: you just need to remove and rinse them after cutting the ripe fruit, and then dry and put into storage in a bag of natural fabric all the collected material for future sowing. They are considered suitable for use for as long as 4 years, but fresh seeds do not plant, it is better to preserve them for a couple of years, then germination will increase significantly. A large, full-weighted seed will give a healthy plant, so the planting material is calibrated by size, the unfit is discarded. To do this, it is enough to soak the pumpkin seeds before planting in salted water - the worst seeds will remain on the surface.

Vegetable growers often talk about how to properly prepare the seed. It must not only be taken away, but also disinfected, stimulated germination. To protect their future plants from diseases, the seeds are treated with different substances. Most often they are placed for several hours in a bright pink solution of potassium permanganate, but you can use potassium humate, crezacin, infusion of wood ash.

All these measures are designed to protect plants after planting pumpkins in open ground. Is it possible to do without this? Of course. Whether it is necessary to soak pumpkin seeds before planting, each owner decides for himself. But, as a rule, all preparatory efforts take a little time and attention, while increasing the germination and quality of plants.

We germinate and harden the seeds

Before planting a pumpkin in open ground with seeds, the soaked seeds germinate or wait only for the sprouts to bite, and then they harden. This will help to shoot more quickly, which means reducing the total growth time, that is, managing to grow the crop even if the summer ends early, especially since the pumpkin grows better when the daylight is less than 12 hours, being a short daylight plant. And hardening will increase the immunity of plants, make them stronger in conditions of changing weather.

In order to make the sprout easier to overcome the skin of a seed, the seeds are heated for 8–9 hours at a temperature of + 50–60 degrees. You can use an oven for these purposes, or simply hold them in the sun, periodically turning over for even heating. After that, they are placed for 12 hours in an ash solution (2 tablespoons of wood ash and 1 liter of boiling water are insisted until the temperature is acceptable - about +50 degrees) or simply wrapped with a well-soaked solution of gauze, pre-rolled several times.

Before planting, sprouted or stubborn seeds are placed on the last day in the refrigerator, leaving on the lower shelf. Sometimes they are simply kept alternately for 10 hours in a room, 2 in the refrigerator, and only then planted.

Top dressing and other soil preparation

A place for pumpkin beds is chosen sunny, although many varieties grown in partial shade do not lose when it comes time to harvest. The soil should be non-acidic, fertile, loose enough so that the water does not stagnate, and the air gets to the roots. The best option would be a fertile sandy loam or loam. In the same place, pumpkin crops are planted no earlier than 5 years later. Good predecessors are cereals, legumes, cabbage, green manure and perennial herbs.

Before planting pumpkin seeds in the garden, it is worthwhile to carry out some preparatory work. The plot is best prepared in the fall. It must be freed from weeds, dug to the depth of the shovel bayonet, humus and compost can be added, even an unrefined mullein, with a total complexity of up to 10 kg per 1 square meter of area, can be added.

You need to add superphosphate and potash fertilizers (up to 20 g each), a 1-liter can of wood ash. If the soil is too heavy, sawdust is added to it (preferably semi-overripe), sand, loam should be added to too sandy. If the soil is acidic, then in the fall, dolomite flour or even lime is added to it. Those who did not manage to enrich the soil in the fall usually apply fertilizers before planting directly at the bottom of the hole.

Landing time

The timing of pumpkin planting is determined by the climatic conditions of the region. Pumpkins are sown in the ground in the south usually in early May, a little north - towards the end of May, in the summer (if the weather does not allow earlier) it is better to grow this vegetable not directly from seeds, but through seedlings. Before planting a pumpkin in open ground, you need to make sure that the ground has warmed up to a depth of at least 10 cm to +12 degrees. At lower temperatures, they will germinate very slowly, and may even rot.

Planting dates are calculated as follows: you need to harvest before frosts, from the emergence of sprouts to ripening fruits usually takes 3-5-4 months, prepared seeds germinate for less than a week, unprepared - from 10 to 14 days.

Knowing when the colds come in the fall, when the earth warms up to the desired temperature in the spring, you can navigate with the sowing dates.

Planting seeds in the ground

Now it's time to talk, actually, about how to plant pumpkin seeds. On the selected and prepared plot of the garden in spring, weeds appear that are harvested, a bed is dug up (or just loosened), shallow holes 30 cm in diameter are dug at a distance of 80-100 cm from each other. A distance of one and a half to two meters is left between the rows. It is best to stitch the holes. If fertilizers were not applied in the fall, then at least 5 kg of organic and 1 tablespoon of complex mineral fertilizers, wood ash, are placed on the bottom of each hole (which are dug deeper). All this is slightly mixed with the ground. 1-1.5 liters of hot (about +50 degrees) water is poured into each well, and after it is absorbed, seeds can be planted.

3-5 pieces are placed in each hole to a depth of 5 to 8 cm, they are planted not nearby, but at the maximum possible distance from each other. Then sprinkle with earth, sawdust or humus. After all the plants have sprouted, they will have a couple of real leaves. Only two plants are left. Which pumpkin to choose will be shown by their condition, the rest are plucked from the ground itself.

Video "Planting pumpkins in the open ground"

In this video, you will hear some helpful pumpkin planting tips.

Dessert and fodder pumpkins require well-moistened nutrient soil. Planting both types of vegetables and caring for them in the open ground are carried out identically. This gourd is planted with seeds in open ground in the last decade of May. From one grain you can get from 1 to 3 large pumpkins. In the southern regions, you can get two harvests of this useful vegetable, if you sow in late April - early May, pollinate manually and harvest ripened fruits in time.

From one grain you can get from 1 to 3 large pumpkins

Pumpkin grows best on the south side of the plot in well-lit areas. Its lashes and leaves perfectly tolerate direct sunlight. If you plant a pumpkin in open ground in a completely shaded area, it will not bear fruit. The development of this gourd will be slow. Despite the fact that the flowers are pollinated by hand, the ovary decays on them and falls off without developing, because the processes of photosynthesis in plant cells are severely disturbed.

You can choose a place that is shaded in the summer by a growing tree, but in spring the sun should fall on the landing site. Then, after the emergence of seedlings, the plant will have time to gain strength in order to release the lash, which will begin to grow in the direction where there is constant sunlight. There, the pumpkin will bear fruit well.

Before planting seeds, you need to prepare a place for this. In areas where summers are short and humid, pumpkins can be placed on compost heaps or on rotted manure that rises above the ground. Layers of organics will provide nutrition, warm the thermophilic roots of the plant. In such conditions, the vegetable will be able to develop well and have time to give a full crop.

Growing pumpkins in open ground in southern areas requires a special place. This gourd loves moisture. Having found a place for it in a lowland where water stands for a long time in spring, they remove the fertile layer with a bayonet spade and remove it to the side. Then they dig a hole of 0.5x1.5 m, in which they will arrange a nest.

To fill it you will need 2 buckets of manure and 1 bucket of humus. Pumpkin has a branched root system that goes deep into 50 cm. Such a pillow allows it to receive moisture and nutrition during a short drought. From above, everyone is covered with soil from the pit, a handful of ash and river sand are added. All components are mixed together.

Creating a pillow from nutrient soil is necessary for proper nutrition during the vegetative development and laying of the crop. If there is no manure, it can be replaced with dry grass, which a week before planting is put in a prepared pit and watered with hot water. Within 7 days, waste from the kitchen can be drained into it to start the combustion process. Before planting a pumpkin, this grass is covered with a bucket of nutrient soil, adding 1 tbsp. l urea or complex fertilizer. You can add wood ash. If dry and hot, half a bucket of water is poured into the finished nest to moisten the lower layers of the nutrient mixture.

If you need to plant a large plot, the process of preparing it for growing pumpkins can be simplified. The earth is covered with an even layer of mullein under digging. Before plowing make a complex fertilizer according to the manufacturer's recommendations.

Gallery: pumpkin (25 photos)

All about growing pumpkins (video)

How is landing

You can plant a pumpkin in open ground using seeds in a dry form. Then the grain itself is saturated with moisture and will rise when the temperature allows. Manure or dry grass in the nest forms heat well.

When to plant a pumpkin in open ground, you can find out, focusing on the temperature regime, which is observed annually in a particular area. Planting of seeds is carried out after the threat of frost passes. The plant is very thermophilic. It ceases to grow at a temperature of + 14ºС, and at 0ºС its roots completely die off.

The older the seeds, the more female flowers will be on the plant, which affects the harvest. Seeds remain valid for up to 5 years if their storage meets all requirements.

If the timing of planting seeds in the ground has been violated, then the seeds can be wet so that they are more likely to sprout. First, they are heated in the oven at a temperature of no more than 40 ° C during the night. Then soaked in a solution of wood ash for 12 hours. To prepare it, take 1 liter of hot water and dissolve in it 2 tbsp. l powder. Such events improve germination and increase the number of female flowers in lashes. The seeds soaked in an alkaline solution should swell and sprout faster.

You need to grow pumpkins at a distance of 50 cm from each other. Then caring for a pumpkin in an open space will be much more convenient. Overgrown lashes will be freely located and develop correctly.

Plant a pumpkin in open ground with seeds 5 cm deep in 4 corners of the hole. If the placement takes place in several rows, then the distance between 2 lines of plants should not be less than 1 m.

On a large plot, you can plant the seeds in a tape way, after 15 cm per seed, to then remove the extra sprouts in a checkerboard pattern.

How to plant a crop (video)

Bed Care

Growing a pumpkin and caring for it does not require much effort, but a vegetable crop needs attention until the land in the planted crop area disappears under its lashes. After the pumpkin seeds have been planted, at least a week must pass before the first sprouts hatch.

With good nutrition and sufficient soil moisture, they develop very quickly. To accelerate growth, the culture needs to be weeded once and break a crust that interferes with air circulation. This greatly accelerates the vegetative growth of shoots.

If too dry, seedlings should be watered. Pumpkin requires a lot of moisture. So that there is enough water for its development, during the rain all the collected fluid can be used for irrigation. The more moisture poured out on a bed in rainy weather, the better it will grow in a dry and hot period of time.

This vegetable is good for everyone: unpretentious, gives a large harvest, is well stored and very healthy. We are talking about a pumpkin, planting and caring in the open ground for it is possible even for a novice gardener.

There are many of them. Pumpkins differ in maturity and size of the fruit. There are other differences: the sugar content, and, therefore, the sweetness of the fruit, the ability to withstand long-term storage, cold resistance. The choice of variety depends on the region of cultivation. Heat-loving varieties will not ripen in places with a cold climate. Our experts will recommend pumpkins that will give a guaranteed harvest in any region.

Hard-boiled pumpkins most often have a bush form, are convenient to grow. They contain a large amount of sugars.

Smile - an early ripening variety, ripens already 3 months after germination. There are a lot of orange fruits on the bush - up to 15, but their weight is small - up to 1.5 kg. To get larger fruits, their number must be normalized. The smile has a sweet flesh, can be stored up to 5 months.
Freckle - early ripening bush pumpkin variety. It forms 4 short whips with strongly dissected leaves, covered with white spots. Roundedly flattened fruits are medium-sized, up to 3 kg in weight. They have a light green color with a yellowish mesh pattern. The pulp is orange with a pear flavor, sweet. It is stored for a very long time.
Bush orange - an early ripe grade with fruits up to 5 kg of orange color. The taste of the vegetable is excellent, the pumpkin is well stored, unpretentious in cultivation.

Large-fruited pumpkins are intended for lovers of large fruits. They are considered the sweetest, easily adapt to adverse conditions.

Volga gray - ripen 4 months after germination. Gives powerful whips and fruits with an average weight of up to 7 kg of gray. Taste good with moderate sweetness, very well stored.
Dawn - ripens in the mid-term. Its fruits weighing about 5 kg have a segmented surface and a beautiful dark gray color with bright pinkish-orange spots. The bright orange pulp contains a lot of sugars and tastes good, and the carotene in it is just a record amount - more than in carrots. This variety has high resistance to many diseases of pumpkin crops.
Medical - an early ripe variety, has a slightly segmented rounded shape. The fruits reach a weight of 5 kg, have a gray color with a lighter mesh, stored until the end of spring.

Nutmeg pumpkin is more thermophilic than its other relatives, it requires more time for its cultivation. Many nutmeg pumpkins are elongated. Their seeds are concentrated in the widest part of the fruit, so there is more tasty pulp compared to other varieties. All pumpkins of this group are well stored.

Butternut. Belongs to late ripening varieties. Small portioned fruits have a weight of up to 1.5 kg, pear-shaped and light gray in color.
Vitamin - late ripening grade. It has an elongated shape and green color with barely visible stripes. Fruit weight up to 6.5 kg.
Prikubanskaya - mid-season. The weight of one pumpkin is up to 5 kg. It has a pear-shaped and light beige color.

Features of growing pumpkins

Pumpkin is a thermophilic vegetable. To form a large crop, she needs fertile soil, enough moisture and proper plant formation. A long core root allows the plant to extract nutrition and moisture from the lower layers of the soil. Powerful leaf mass and large fruits require a high nutritional density, therefore, for bush varieties, the minimum distance between plants is 0.5 m, and for climbing plants - at least 1 m.

Outdoor landing

To grow in comfort, a pumpkin needs a soil temperature at a depth of 10 cm of at least 10 degrees. Pumpkin loves warm air - at least 20 degrees.

It is impossible to sow and plant it early. Therefore, the question arises, how best to grow it: seeds or seedlings?

Seeds or seedlings?

The choice depends on the maturity of the variety and the region in which the vegetable is going to be grown. In the south, seedlings are needed only for those who like to eat pumpkin in the middle of summer. In the middle lane and to the north, the choice is not so clear. Planting pumpkin seeds will yield fully ripe fruits if their growing season is early. But the cold summer can make its own adjustments - the lack of heat will not allow these varieties to give a full crop. Therefore, it is even better to grow them through seedlings, and even planting mid-ripening and late-ripening varieties can not do without it.

How and when to plant?

For growing seedlings, the best time is the end of April, the beginning of May, if you sow prepared and previously germinated seeds. After the return frosts and the establishment of warm weather, which happens in early June, it will be possible to plant ready seedlings at the age of about 30 days. It is not recommended to grow it longer - it will not have enough pot volume for full development.

Seed preparation:

calibration - selection of full, well-made seeds of the correct form, without damage;
soaking in water with a temperature of about 50 degrees for 2 hours;
germination in wet tissue in a warm place;
hardening for 3-5 days by holding it in the refrigerator for ½ days and in a warm place with a temperature of about 20 degrees the rest of the time.

Prepared seeds are sown in peat pots or other dishes whose diameter and height should not be less than 10 cm.

Pumpkin negatively affects damage to the root system during transplantation. It is grown without picking, in individual containers, from where the sprouts are easy to extract without damaging the earthen lump.

The soil for cultivation should be loose, nutritious and breathable.

good lighting;
about 22 degrees during the day and 5 degrees lower at night;
watering with warm water as necessary, but without flooding the plants;
2 top dressing with full mineral fertilizer;
hardening before planting for 3-5 days to accustom it to the conditions of open ground.

Seedlings are planted in prepared wells with the addition of humus near a bucket, a glass of ash and a pinch of mineral fertilizer. Watered with warm water in an amount of about 2 liters.

Sowing pumpkin seeds is carried out only in warm soil, otherwise the shoots can not wait.

Sowing technology:

prepared beds are marked in accordance with the selected distance for each particular variety;
dig holes, the depth of which depends on the mechanical composition of the soil: on the lungs - up to 10 cm, heavy - not deeper than 5;
2 handfuls of humus are poured into each hole, and on poor soils even to the bucket, but then the hole should be deeper, add ash and mineral fertilizers, water and spread 2-3 sprouted seeds;
sprinkle seeds with soil, slightly compact, close the bed with a film so that the seeds germinate faster;
when shoots appear, the film can be removed or left on the bed, making cross-shaped incisions for the shoots in it;
the extra shoots are cut, but not pulled out.

Ground requirement, location selection

According to the requirements of pumpkin for soil fertility, only cucumbers can be compared with it. It grows well on a compost heap, in the soil where manure was previously stored. If there is no such place, choose a bed in a sunny place on which for 3 years plants from the pumpkin family have not grown. Stagnant water for pumpkins is undesirable. The soil is prepared in the fall. The bed is well fertilized: for each square. m make up to 8 kg of manure, or compost, 15 g of potassium sulfate and 20 g of superphosphate. Nitrogen fertilizers in the amount of 15 g per 1 square. m contribute with spring loosening.

You can not overfeed the pumpkin with nitrogen, this will lead to an increase in leaf mass to the detriment of fruit formation.

You can plant pumpkins in pre-dug trenches filled with shredded branches, grass, manure, which are sprinkled with a layer of soil. The depth of the trench is 50 cm, and the width is up to 40 cm.

Pumpkin: Outdoor Care

Successful pumpkin cultivation is impossible without observing all the rules of agricultural technology: watering, cultivating, fertilizing.

Watering and feeding

Young plants are most sensitive to lack of moisture. They are watered regularly at intervals of 4-5 days. After the root system has grown, irrigation is less common, but at least 1.5 buckets of water are poured onto the plant to wet the entire root layer. Excessive moisture can provoke too strong leaf growth to the detriment of the crop, cracking of the fruit, rotting of the roots. During the ripening period of pumpkins, a large amount of moisture will lead to a decrease in sugar content. Therefore, it is better to underfill the vegetable than to overfill.

Pumpkins are fed 2 times with a solution of a complete mineral fertilizer:

in the phase of 3-4 leaves;
during the growth of lashes.

Pumpkin also responds well to organic dressings, which can be applied once every 2 weeks. With the growth of pumpkins, fertilizer doses per plant increase.

Loosening and thinning

Getting enough air to the roots is a prerequisite for successful pumpkin development. Therefore, the soil under it is loosened after each watering, hilling plants in the phase of 3-4 real leaves and sprinkling the internodes of the overgrown lashes with earth to form additional roots.

Thinning plants in the seedling phase, leaving in the hole only one of the strongest sprout.

Pumpkin lash formation

So that the fruits are larger and have time to fully ripen, do not leave all the ovaries on the plant, and pinch the whips. In long-climbing varieties, all axillary shoots are removed without pinching the main lash. 1 fruit is left on it, and if they want their size to be portioned, then several. In bush varieties, pinch the stem 4 leaves after the formation of the fruit. All shoots on which there are no fruits are also removed.

Pumpkin Diseases and Pests

Pumpkin is affected by diseases caused by fungus-like microorganisms: powdery mildew, root and white rot, bacteriosis. All of them are treated with copper-containing fungicides: Bordeaux liquid and copper chloroxide. Processing is carried out in accordance with the instructions.

Soaking seeds for a day in a solution of zinc sulfate of 0.02% concentration will be a good preventive measure.

The most common pests are spider mites and gourds. If the plant already has ovaries, chemical treatment is undesirable. Apply folk methods. They can not always completely destroy the pest, but will reduce its number many times over. For spraying against the spider mite, a solution of 200 g of onion husks and 10 l of boiling water is prepared. After insisting for 2 days and filtering, the infusion is ready for use. It will help against aphids.

Harvesting and storage

Unripe pumpkin is poorly stored. Therefore, for long-term storage, only those fruits are collected that have acquired a color corresponding to the variety, their peel should harden. This should be done before the onset of frost in dry and preferably sunny weather. Harvested carefully, avoiding mechanical damage, from which the fruits quickly rot. Not fully ripe pumpkins are used immediately after harvest, or processed. The fruit must leave part of the stalk not less than 5 cm long.

The first two weeks of pumpkins finally ripen. For this, a temperature of at least 14 degrees is needed. In the future, from 3 to 8 degrees will be enough for storage, air humidity is maintained at a level of 70% or slightly lower. In such conditions, pumpkins do not dry out and are well stored for a long time.