A Detailed Technical Guide to the Flower Dipping Method for Greenhouse Luffa

Because greenhouse-cultivated luffa grows in a sealed environment with little insect activity, flower dipping is mostly used in production to improve fruit set rate and fruit quality and increase returns. However, if the concentration or application of the agent is improper during flower dipping, it may cause deformed fruit. Let us take a look at the luffa flower dipping technique below.

I. Key Points of Luffa Flower Dipping

1. Flower dipping method

Luffa flower dipping is best done from bottom to top, and the dipped part of the young fruit should not exceed two-thirds. If too much is dipped, reaching directly to the base of the young fruit, it will not only cause the phenomenon of “fruit popping”, but the agent will also be conducted through the young fruit to the whole plant, causing hormone poisoning; while if too little is dipped, the luffa is very likely to drop, and its growth will be inhibited.

2. Flower dipping time

Luffa flower dipping is generally done from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. If dipping is done too early, “dumb” flowers are very likely to appear; if dipping is done too late, the luffa flowers tend to drop.

3. Flower dipping concentration

The concentration of the flower dipping agent cannot remain unchanged; it should change with the temperature inside the greenhouse. Generally, when the temperature inside the greenhouse is higher, the concentration for flower dipping should be lower; when the temperature is too low, the concentration should be higher. In addition, within 3 days after flower dipping, it is best not to water. If watering is done after flower dipping, it may increase the transpiration within the plant, causing the phenomenon of “fruit popping”.

II. Precautions

1. Prepare and use immediately

For luffa flower dipping, when the dose of heavy liquid fertilizer is too large, it will cause dry edges on the luffa, or if the flower dipping formulation is unreasonable, or if it is mixed once and used many times, the petals are very likely to become very thin and become diseased. Therefore, a reasonable flower dipping formulation is the first step to reducing dry edges on luffa, and it is recommended to prepare the flower dipping agent and use it immediately.

2. Pay attention to spray amount and concentration

Many vegetable growers are used to increasing the concentration of the agent when spraying, which often causes phytotoxicity. Therefore, while vegetable growers choose the agent, they should also note that the concentration of the agent should not be too high; spraying the petal surface until moist is sufficient.

3. The amount of smoke fumigant should not be too large

Smoke fumigation for preventing and controlling luffa diseases saves time and effort, but the dosage and timing of the agent must be well controlled. Fumigation should be carried out after 9 p.m., and not too early. If used too early, the temperature inside the greenhouse is too high, the smoke floats in the air for a long time, and it is easy to reduce the efficacy, while fumigation for too long is very likely to cause phytotoxicity. Generally, fumigation for 8 hours is sufficient; this can prevent Mycosphaerella blight from harming the flowers.

4. One-time ventilation should not be too large

When ventilating, the method of ventilating twice or more should be used to ventilate and cool down, but many vegetable growers find it troublesome and ventilate too much in one go, which very easily forms the habit of flower flashing. Therefore, flower dipping should be carried out after feeding, when the wind is relatively light, and ventilation will not cause flower flashing.

The above is an introduction to the greenhouse luffa flower dipping technique. We hope it can help you. For more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.