How to cultivate snake gourd for high yield? Detailed explanation of key planting techniques
Snake gourd is eaten as a vegetable mainly for its tender fruit, but the tender leaves and young stems are also edible. The tender gourd is rich in carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals; its flesh is soft, with a slight unpleasant odor, but once cooked it turns fragrant and slightly sweet. Snake gourd is cool in nature and enters the lung, stomach and large intestine meridians; it can clear heat and resolve phlegm, moisten the lungs and lubricate the intestines. The tender fruit and tender stems and leaves of snake gourd can be stir-fried or made into soup, with a distinctive flavor.
Morphological characteristics of snake gourd
Leaves membranous, round or kidney-shaped-round, 8-16 cm long, 12-18 cm wide, 3-7 shallowly to moderately lobed, sometimes deeply lobed, lobes extremely variable, usually obovate, asymmetrical on both sides, apex rounded-obtuse or broadly triangular, with a short mucro, margin with distant fine teeth, leaf base deeply cordate with a sinus about 3 cm deep, upper surface green, covered with short pubescence and scattered long bristle-like hairs, lower surface pale green, densely covered with short pubescence, main veins 5-7, reaching the tooth tips, veinlets reticulate; petiole 3.5-8 cm long, with longitudinal striations, densely covered with short pubescence and sparsely covered with soft-hairy long bristles. Tendrils 2-3 branched, with longitudinal striations, covered with short pubescence.
Flowers monoecious. Male flowers in racemes, often with 1 solitary female flower borne alongside, peduncle 10-18 cm long, sparsely covered with short pubescence and long bristles, apex with 8-10 flowers, pedicels slender, 5-12 mm long, densely covered with short pubescence; bracts subulate-lanceolate, 3 (-5) mm long; calyx tube nearly cylindrical, 2.5-3 cm long, slightly enlarged at the apex, 4-5 mm in diameter, densely covered with short pubescence and sparsely covered with long soft-hairy bristles, lobes narrowly triangular, about 2 mm long, about 1 mm wide at the base, reflexed; corolla white, lobes ovate-oblong, 7-8 mm long, about 3 mm wide, with 3 veins, fimbriae nearly as long as the corolla lobes; anther column ovoid, about 3 mm long, filaments slender, about 2 mm long; rudimentary pistil with 3 slender separate styles. Female flowers solitary, pedicel less than 1 cm long, densely covered with long soft hairs; calyx and corolla same as male flowers; ovary club-shaped, 2.5-3 cm long, about 3 mm in diameter, densely covered with very short pubescence and long soft-hairy bristles.
Fruit long cylindrical, 1-2 m long, 3-4 cm in diameter, usually twisted, green when young, with pale white stripes, orange-yellow when mature, with more than 10 seeds. Seeds oblong, hidden in the bright red fruit pulp, 11-17 mm long, 8-10 mm wide, grayish brown, narrowed at the hilum end, rounded or slightly truncate at the other end, margin with shallow wavy rounded teeth, both surfaces wrinkled. Flowering and fruiting period late summer and autumn.
How to cultivate snake gourd for high yield?
1. Sowing and seedling raising
The seed coat of snake gourd is relatively thick and hard, absorbs water slowly, and is difficult to germinate. Before sowing, the seeds should be soaked to promote germination: scald the seeds with hot water at 70-80°C while stirring constantly; when the water temperature drops to 40°C, stop stirring and soak at this temperature for 12 hours, then wrap them in a wet cloth and place them at 25-30°C for 7-9 days. When 60% of the seeds have germinated, they can be sown.
During seedling raising, use the block seedling method, with a plant and row spacing of 8 cm each. When raising seedlings, insert the seed with the sprout facing down into the soil to a depth of 0.5 cm, then cover with 1 cm of soil. After the seedlings emerge, keep the seedbed temperature at 20-25°C during the day and 15-20°C at night. The seedling age is about 28-30 days, and they are planted out when they have 3-4 true leaves.
2. Land preparation and planting
1) Land preparation. Snake gourd has strong growth vigor and climbing ability. To ensure high yield, more basal fertilizer should be applied before planting. Generally, 4000 kg of farmyard manure and 50 kg of diammonium phosphate are applied per 667 sq m. At the same time, deep plowing and harrowing should be carried out, and wide and narrow beds should be made: wide beds 1.8-2.5 m, narrow beds 60-70 cm, bed height 10 cm.
2) Planting. Plant spacing 55 cm, two plants per hole, 1100-1300 plants per 667 sq m. Dig holes, place the seedlings into the holes, water thoroughly with bottom water, and after the water seeps down, close the holes.
3. Field management
1) Pruning and trellising. Pruning: for stems and vines about 80 cm from the base of the plant, allow them to grow along the ground and press the vines in time to increase roots and ensure the snake gourd's need for water, fertilizer and other nutrients during growth. All side branches and vines that have not climbed onto the trellis should be cut off; side branches on the trellis should be retained regardless of size, and no pinching is needed. All branches should be allowed to grow indefinitely in one direction, and the vines at the top of the trellis should be tied and fixed in time. Trellising: start building the trellis in late May, making the trellis 2-2.5 m high. Ensure the trellis material is sturdy. There should be enough crossbars, and a vertical pole for climbing upward should be inserted beside each snake gourd plant. Tie the vines in time as the plants grow so that stems and leaves are evenly distributed on the trellis.
2) Management of young snake gourd fruits. High-quality young snake gourd fruits are slender and long, but freely growing snake gourds easily become twisted, losing commercial or ornamental value. Therefore, during the growth of young fruits, check frequently, and promptly straighten fruits that are squeezed so that the fruits hang freely and grow downward on the trellis. If the shape of the fruit still cannot be changed, tie a thin string 2 cm below the fruit and attach an object weighing about 100 g to the lower end of the string to help the fruit develop a good shape.
3) Fertilizer and water management. After the seedlings recover, cultivate frequently and water appropriately less to promote root development and make the plants grow robustly. When the plants begin to bear the first female flower and set fruit from the 14th-18th node, the plants grow vigorously, so they must be watered frequently, and topdressing should be applied once every 10 days, with 10-15 kg of urea applied per 667 sq m each time to promote growth.
4. Pest and disease control
Under normal conditions, snake gourd does not suffer from diseases, and insect pests are also relatively mild. Generally, 800-times carbendazim solution can be sprayed twice at the seedling stage to control seedling damping-off. If aphids are found, 1000-times dimethoate solution can be sprayed.
5. Harvesting
Snake gourd does not have strict requirements for the harvest period. The harvest season is generally in mid-July, about 10 days after flowering, when the gourd has grown to about 1 m long and the skin turns from white to green. When harvesting, do not hold the middle of the fruit to avoid breaking it; it is best for two people to work together, one person holding the top of the gourd with one hand and using scissors with the other hand to cut the connection to the vine, then using the hand holding the scissors to support the lower part of the gourd, handing it with both hands to the other person, who receives it with both hands. Each plant can bear 15-20 gourds, weighing more than 20-35 kg, and the yield per 667 sq m can reach about 4500 kg.
6. Seed saving
For the next crop, it is generally best to use purchased seeds. If they cannot be purchased, seeds can be saved by oneself: select plants with thick and long fruits, regular shape, bright color, robust growth and no disease as seed plants, and leave 2-3 fruits per plant as seed gourds. When the gourd skin turns fiery red and is fully mature, pick it, cut it open, take the seeds out of the pulp, wash them clean, dry them, and store them.