How to Raise Sponge Gourd Seedlings in Early Spring? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Seedling-Raising Techniques
Sponge gourd (Luffa) is a cucurbit vegetable with very high nutritional value, and its planting area in China is very large. Sponge gourd is usually planted in summer, because its cold resistance is relatively poor. But now planting techniques are becoming more and more mature, so sponge gourd can now also be raised as seedlings in early spring. So how should sponge gourd be raised as seedlings in early spring? Today the editor brings you the early spring seedling-raising techniques for sponge gourd. Let's take a look together below!
1. Seed treatment
Before raising sponge gourd seedlings in early spring, we first need to do a good job of treating the seeds. First soak the seeds in warm water at about 50°C, and during soaking be careful to stir constantly. Then keep it for about a quarter of an hour, and when the water temperature drops to about 30°C, soak the seeds for another day. During the soaking period, change the water about twice, roughly once every 10 hours. After soaking, rub the seeds, wash them clean and then scoop them out. Then wrap the seeds well with gauze and place them at a temperature of about 26-27°C to germinate. When germinating, wash them with warm water at about 30°C about twice a day, and once most of the seeds have sprouted white, they can be sown.
2. Soil treatment and sowing
First we need to prepare the soil. The soil can be mixed with peat soil and field soil, combined with an appropriate amount of farmyard manure and mixed evenly. Then put it into seedling trays, with the tray size kept at about 10*10cm. When filling the soil, compact the soil in the lower part of the tray and keep the upper soil loose, leaving about two centimeters of space. After filling with soil, put it directly into the seedbed and add a small amount of soil around it. Before sowing, water thoroughly. After the soil preparation is done, you can sow. Sow one seed in each seedling tray, then cover with about 1.5cm of soil, and then cover with plastic film to improve heat preservation and moisture retention.
3. Seedling stage management
After sowing, the daytime temperature should be kept at about 25°C, and the soil temperature at 20°C. Generally, seedlings emerge within no more than 5 days. After emergence, keep the daytime temperature at 20-25°C, and keep the day-night temperature difference at about 10°C. For early spring seedling raising, the seedlings are in an environment with short sunshine hours, weak light and low temperature. So the amount of watering should be controlled, based on the principle of keeping the soil dry-then-wet. If too much water is given, then in a low-temperature environment, it can very easily cause root rot. After the seedlings emerge, although the demand for light in the early stage is not great, light should still be appropriately increased as the seedlings grow. Then one week before planting, carry out hardening of the seedlings. During hardening, do not water, gradually lower the temperature, and increase ventilation.
4. Timely planting
Three weeks before planting the seedlings, do a good job of covering the shed to encourage the soil in the shed to thaw as soon as possible. After the soil thaws, apply sufficient decomposed farmyard manure, combined with an appropriate amount of fertilizers such as diammonium phosphate. Then plow the soil deeply, then level the land and form ridges, with the ridge spacing kept at about 60cm. When the average daily temperature in the greenhouse is not lower than 10°C and the soil temperature within 10cm is not lower than 12°C, planting can begin. Then when the sponge gourd seedlings have unfolded about 4 true leaves, select robustly growing seedlings and plant them on a sunny morning, with a plant spacing kept at about 35cm, and pour in sufficient bottom water.
The above is a brief introduction to the early spring seedling-raising techniques for sponge gourd. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and we hope it can help everyone!