What is the purpose of pinching off the growing tip of loofah? These benefits you should know
What is the purpose of pinching off the growing tip of loofah? Please explain. Pinching off the growing tip is an important task in loofah management and is directly related to the level of loofah yield. Some loofah plants grow weakly, especially in low-temperature seasons, and often develop empty vines that cannot hold fruit. Recently, during an interview in Luocheng Subdistrict, Shouguang City, the reporter learned that vegetable...
What is the purpose of pinching off the growing tip of loofah? Please explain
Pinching off the growing tip is an important task in loofah management and is directly related to the level of loofah yield. Some loofah plants grow weakly, especially in low-temperature seasons, and often develop empty vines that cannot hold fruit. Recently, during an interview in Luocheng Subdistrict, Shouguang City, the reporter learned that when managing loofah, vegetable farmers adopted the management method of pinching off the growing tip early, before the vines became empty, and later the loofah achieved very high returns.
The specific method is: when the plant grows to 7-8 leaves, hang the vine; when it grows to 11-12 leaves and vegetative growth is relatively vigorous, pinch off the growing tip. After pinching off the growing tip, lateral branches sprout more slowly, the stem vine accumulates sufficient nutrients and becomes thick and strong, and after lateral branches sprout, fruit can be retained, with one fruit retained every two leaves. Once the loofah has early-stage vine nurturing, the phenomenon of empty vines and broken fruiting gaps will not occur, and loofah yield increases.
The reporter's analysis: The method of pinching off the growing tip of loofah early is highly advisable. The traditional method of pinching off the growing tip is to retain fruit first when the main vine has grown 13-15 leaves and then pinch off the growing tip. Generally, after harvesting 3-4 fruits, the stems become thin and weak, and the phenomenon of excessive reproductive growth and poor vegetative growth occurs. Therefore, the method of allowing empty vines to nurture the vines has to be used again to ensure the balance between vegetative growth and reproductive growth. Some also use the method of retaining one fruit every 5 leaves to nurture the vines. But on careful analysis, this method of nurturing vines through empty vines and nurturing fruit through many leaves is actually not advisable, because it seriously affects the continuous fruiting of loofah during the fruiting period.
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