Detailed Key Points for Growing Pumpkins in Spring and Autumn
Pumpkin is called diaogua in the Shandong region and wogua in the Northeast region. It is edible and comes in two colors, orange-yellow and green, with a flat-round or irregular gourd shape. The immature fruit has crisp skin and dense flesh and can be used in dishes or as filling, while the mature fruit is sweet and mealy and can be used to make porridge. Pumpkin is cultivated in all parts of China. The young fruit tastes sweet and palatable and is one of the gourd vegetables of summer and autumn. The old fruit can be used as feed or as a coarse grain, so in many places it is also called fangua. In the West, pumpkin is often used to make pumpkin pie, that is, pumpkin sweet cake. Pumpkin seeds can be made into snacks. Pumpkin is an excellent source of B-carotene, an antioxidant substance that can help people maintain sharp thinking ability, and the mineral zinc, which is abundant in pumpkin seeds, is also an important substance for promoting the functioning of the brain.
The dietary therapeutic value of pumpkin
Eating pumpkin can play a role in eliminating carcinogenic substances and preventing cancer. Pumpkin contains a large amount of zinc, which is beneficial to the health of skin and nails. Among these, the antioxidant β carotene has the effect of protecting the eyes and heart, and can also effectively eliminate the mutation of nitrosamines and stop the appearance of cancer cells.
Eating pumpkin can help the stomach digest and protect the gastric mucosa. The pectin contained in pumpkin can also protect the gastric and intestinal mucosa from irritation by rough food and promote the healing of ulcers. The components it contains can promote bile secretion, strengthen gastrointestinal peristalsis, and help food digestion, making it suitable for people with stomach ailments.
In addition, pumpkin can also effectively prevent and treat diabetes and lower blood sugar. Pumpkin seeds are also very good food and have the effect of expelling parasites. Eating them in porridge can be even more helpful for digestion. Pumpkin is warm in nature, sweet in taste and non-toxic, enters the spleen and stomach meridians, and has the effects of moistening the lungs and benefiting qi, transforming phlegm and expelling pus, expelling parasites and detoxifying, treating lung abscess and constipation, moisturizing hair follicle walls, and beautifying the skin and resisting acne.
It mainly treats conditions such as prolonged illness with qi deficiency, weakness of the spleen and stomach, transforming phlegm and expelling pus, shortness of breath and fatigue, loose stools, diabetes, and roundworms.
Key points for spring and autumn cultivation of pumpkin
Early pumpkin cultivation
1. Variety selection. It is advisable to choose early-maturing, tolerant-to-cloudy-rain-and-low-temperature varieties such as Yichuanling, Qingpi Yichuanling, and Tianli.
2. Timely sowing. For protected cultivation in large sheds and small sheds, sow and raise seedlings in mid-February; for open-field cultivation, raise seedlings in early March. Put the seeds into 55°C warm water, stirring while soaking and scalding, and when the water temperature drops to 30°C, soak for 4-6 hours. After soaking, rub off the mucus on the seed coat, wrap the seeds in a wet cloth and place them under 25-35°C conditions for germination. After 36-48 hours, when the sprouts are 0.5 cm long, they can be sown. Before sowing, prepare the seedbed well, water it thoroughly, and make small squares 7-10 cm square; then place the seeds flat in the squares and cover with 1-2 cm of nutrient soil. After sowing, maintain a high temperature of 25-30°C. When about 20% of the sprouts begin to push through the soil, scatter 0.6 cm of fine moist soil to preserve moisture. After emergence, ventilate and lower the temperature, to 20-25°C during the day and about 10°C at night.
3. Land preparation and fertilization. Apply 3000 kg of decomposed organic fertilizer and 30 kg of compound fertilizer per mu, plow deeply and cultivate finely, and mix the fertilizer and soil evenly. The bed width including the ditch is 1.3-1.4 m, the ditch width is 0.35 m, and for open-field cultivation the ditch depth is 0.3 m. The bed surface is shaped like a turtle shell.
4. Timely planting. In mid-March, select strong seedlings and plant them with soil blocks in large and medium sheds, or after planting build small sheds and cover with plastic film for 15-20 days. For open-field cultivation, plant in early April. Plant one row per bed, and in every two beds plant the seedlings on the bed edge farther from the ditch between the two beds, planting them correspondingly to facilitate trellising. The planting depth should be such that the cotyledons are about 3 cm above the ground. The plant spacing is 60 cm × 70 cm, and 600-800 plants are planted per mu.
5. Field management. After fruit set and during the harvest period of young fruit, apply 1 topdressing of decomposed human and livestock manure water about every 10 days, or apply 1-2 topdressings of compound fertilizer, each time 15-20 kg per mu. To increase the fruit-setting rate, you can collect male flowers of zucchini that bloom at the same time and newly opened female pumpkin flowers for artificial pollination, or on the morning of the day when the female pumpkin flowers have just opened, spray the female flowers with 40 mg/kg of fruit-setting hormone. For shed cultivation, side vines should be removed in time, retaining only 1-2 robust side vines above the first fruit. When vines begin to grow, set up trellises to guide the vines, building one trellis more than 1 m high for every two beds. If powdery mildew is found, spray 500 times diluted sulfur suspension or 800 times diluted 50% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder at the early stage of the disease for control.
2. Autumn pumpkin cultivation
1. Turning old plants to autumn. For pumpkins sown in summer, in mid-August pick off all old and young fruits, prune away dead old leaves and some side branches, apply 25-30 kg of compound fertilizer per mu, carry out deep inter-row cultivation 15-20 cm deep, turn the fertilizer into the soil, and at the same time injure some of the old roots to stimulate new root growth. Then irrigate thoroughly and keep the soil moist regularly. Around early October, autumn fruits can be produced in large quantities.
2. Autumn-sown pumpkin. Choose heat-tolerant and disease-resistant varieties such as Jinli, Yipin, and Huanglang pumpkin. After germination from late July to early August, sow directly, preferably raising seedlings in nutrient pots and protecting the seedlings with shade nets, and transplant after a seedling age of more than 20 days. For small pumpkins such as Jinli, the row spacing is 1.2 m; for medium and large pumpkins such as Huanglang pumpkin, it is 1.5-2 m, with a plant spacing of 0.6-0.7 m. Apply 30-40 kg of compound fertilizer per mu as base fertilizer. Cover the bed surface with grass to lower temperature and retain moisture, cover with shade nets before early September, and combine with spraying 1-2 times of 50 mg/kg naphthalene acetic acid to prevent viral disease. After vines begin to grow, set up trellises, prune to a single vine, remove all side branches, water in time to resist drought, and apply 1-2 topdressings after fruit set, each time 15-20 kg of compound fertilizer per mu. Watering should preferably be done in the early morning and evening, using furrow irrigation with running water, irrigating less but frequently. While insisting on artificial pollination, dip flowers with 2,4-D to increase the fruit-setting rate.
Autumn-sown pumpkin is prone to aphids and viral disease infection. Every 7 days, spray 0.3% potassium dihydrogen phosphate once, and use 10% imidacloprid wettable powder plus 20% virus A wettable powder to control diseases and insects. In mid-to-late September, young fruits can begin to be harvested, and old fruits are harvested in October, with harvesting continuing until early November. Old fruits are generally harvested before frost when the fruit has hardened, white powder has appeared, and the fruit stalk has turned yellow and hard. When harvesting, leave a section of vine on the fruit stalk to facilitate storage. The yield per mu is 1500-2000 kg, and they can be stored until New Year's Day and the Spring Festival for market.