Latest summary of precautions for mulching pumpkins with plastic film

Pumpkin is a relatively popular cucurbit vegetable in China, so its planting area in China is also relatively large. When planting pumpkins, some basic management work is still very important. This includes plastic film mulching, which can increase pumpkin yields and expand planting benefits. However, there are many precautions when mulching with plastic film. So what exactly are they? Let's take a look below!

1. Apply sufficient base fertilizer

Pumpkins have a relatively large demand for fertilizer nutrients during growth. Therefore, fertilization is still quite important, but because after mulching with plastic film, it is not very convenient to carry out intertillage and topdressing work. Therefore, in order to ensure that pumpkins can have sufficient growth nutrients, sufficient base fertilizer should be applied before mulching with plastic film. Fertilizer should generally be mainly slow-release fertilizer, to avoid burning seeds and roots, causing pumpkin excessive growth. It should be applied as deeply as possible. If fertilization is too shallow, then it is very unfavorable for deep root growth. If there is a fertilizer deficiency phenomenon in the later stage of pumpkin growth, then appropriate topdressing should be carried out, or an appropriate amount of foliar fertilizer should be applied.

2. Water at the right time

After mulching pumpkins with plastic film, the external water supply that pumpkin seedlings can receive will gradually decrease. Therefore, before mulching, we should pay attention to the soil moisture condition. Soil humidity should be maintained at a level where it can form a ball when squeezed by hand and scatter when thrown to the ground. When mulching, if the soil water content is insufficient and water is not supplied in time, then after mulching, the soil temperature will gradually rise, and soil moisture will also rise. Soil 6-9 cm below the surface is then prone to drought, so attention should be paid to watering at the right time to avoid premature aging of pumpkins due to lack of water.

3. Planting density

After mulching, pumpkin seedlings are prone to excessive growth, so we should also pay attention to the planting density of pumpkin seedlings. The density of pumpkins planted with mulching should be slightly smaller than that of pumpkins cultivated in the open field. We should also pay attention to the mulching method, because the effect of mulching is directly related to the mulching method. When mulching, the plastic film should be pulled flat and tight, and then compacted. If the plastic film breaks, then it should be covered tightly with soil in time. Moreover, it is best to spray herbicide before mulching, otherwise later weeding will be inconvenient.

4. Mulching time

When using mulching to plant pumpkins, they are prone to frost damage. Therefore, we should also pay attention to the time of plastic film mulching. First, pumpkin seedlings should be planted after the late frost has passed. If direct seeding is used, then try to control it so that sowing is before the frost and emergence is after the frost. If plastic film is used for mulching, then it should remain covered until harvest time. It is best not to remove the plastic film midway through cultivation. After pumpkin harvest, residual film should be removed in time.

The above is a brief introduction to the precautions for mulching pumpkins with plastic film. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and we hope it can be helpful to everyone!