A Detailed Guide to Growing Ornamental Pumpkins in Pots
Ornamental pumpkins have delicate, unusual fruits and high ornamental value. They can be grown in the open field, in a greenhouse, or in flower pots, and they are a vegetable variety with both ornamental and edible value.
Choosing Ornamental Pumpkin Varieties
Golden Egg, Silver Egg, Five Finger Mountain, Golden Boy, Jade Girl, Incense Burner, White Jade, Golden Apple, Little Alarm Clock, A Touch of Green, A Touch of Yellow, Little Pillow, Crown, and others are all ornamental pumpkin varieties suitable for pot cultivation.
Preparing Nutrient Soil for Ornamental Pumpkins
You can use pond mud or garden soil that has never grown cucurbits. After drying it in the sun, disinfecting it, and crushing it, mix it with substrates such as peat soil, perlite, and river sand, then add compound fertilizer to make nutrient soil. Place the coarse particles at the bottom of the pot, and fill the soil only to 3/4 of the pot's height.
Sowing Ornamental Pumpkins
25°C is the suitable temperature for ornamental pumpkin growth. Spring and autumn are the sowing seasons. Before sowing, soak the seeds to promote germination. Wrap the seeds in clean gauze, soak them in 30°C warm water for 4-5 hours, rub them clean, then take them out to germinate. Water the nutrient soil thoroughly before sowing, with 3-4 seeds per pot as appropriate. After sowing, cover with soil to a depth of 1 cm as appropriate, and water the seeds.
Potting and Transplanting Ornamental Pumpkins
Choose a flower pot of appropriate size. When potting, spread a small amount of river sand at the bottom of the pot, add an appropriate amount of sesame paste residue as base fertilizer, fill in nutrient soil, plant the seedling, firm the soil, and water thoroughly.
Timely Shaping of Ornamental Pumpkins
For ornamental pumpkins, pinch off the growing tip when the plant reaches about 15 cm to encourage branch development. When the branches reach a height of 10 cm, pinch again; usually 3-4 pinchings are needed. When the plant reaches 25-30 cm, set up a trellis to guide the vines, using materials such as bamboo stakes or iron rods. When the leaves are too dense, remove some leaves to improve ventilation and light penetration and to keep the plant's shape attractive.