When is the latest time to plant pumpkins?
Today, I will introduce to you when is the latest time to plant pumpkins and some related knowledge about pumpkin cultivation techniques and management in green plants. Next, the editor will provide an introduction.
Spring is the time to plant pumpkins in open fields. Planting a few pumpkins in front of and behind the house, they can be harvested when the weather gets hot. Homegrown pumpkins have a sandy and sweet taste, and the pumpkin tips and flowers are also edible. However, some friends without experience may encounter some problems during planting, leading to fewer pumpkins and poor taste.
1. Pruning
When planting pumpkins in a small family courtyard, usually three or four plants are enough for the vines to cover the entire yard. When planting on the ground, there is no need for pruning, allowing it to grow freely. However, in areas with heavy rainfall and high fertilizer usage, pumpkins grow very vigorously. In such cases, it is appropriate to剪掉 some side branches and yellow leaves to reduce nutrient consumption and promote flowering and fruit setting.
Additionally, there is a new planting method suitable for family planting. If you are on a balcony or have a small garden area, you can use the hanging vine method to plant, allowing the vines to grow upside down, utilizing the upper space, improving soil utilization, and making management and ventilation easier. Generally, leave two vines for flowering and fruit setting.
2. Artificial Pollination
Many friends encounter the problem of pumpkin or watermelon fruits falling off before they grow big when planting. This is mainly due to the lack of pollination. Although open-field planted pumpkins can rely on insects for pollination, it often encounters rainy weather, which affects the success rate of pollination. Therefore, it's best to perform artificial pollination. Artificial pollination should be done before 10 a.m., removing the open male flowers, removing the petals, and pressing them onto the female flowers.
When is the latest time to plant pumpkins?
3. Watering and Fertilizing
Pumpkin roots are quite developed, with many leaves and fruits, requiring a large amount of fertilizer and having some drought resistance. If the pumpkin stems and leaves are weak, the leaves turn yellow, and the internodes are short, it is necessary to supplement water and fertilizer in time, mainly with organic fertilizer. If chemical fertilizers are used, compound fertilizers can be used. However, in actual planting, plants often grow too vigorously.
This is because many friends water and apply too much nitrogen fertilizer during the seedling stage, resulting in excessive vegetative growth, with dense leaves and only one or two pumpkins, which are very sweet at harvest time because all the nutrients are concentrated there.
If you want more pumpkins that are sweet and large, you should pay attention to watering and fertilizing, moderately controlling water and nitrogen fertilizer before flowering and fruit setting. Additionally, when five or six leaves have grown, check if there are any flower buds and remove them in time. Many farmers may not understand why this step is necessary.
Because at this time, there are few leaves and nutrients, and even if the pumpkins are set, they will not grow big. It's best to leave the pumpkins when there are 14 or 15 leaves, which will result in larger and sweeter pumpkins.
When planting pumpkins in the garden, friends can pay attention to the above three aspects to grow sweet and large pumpkins.
The above-sharing about when is the latest time to plant pumpkins and the experience of pumpkin cultivation techniques and management, I hope this article can bring you some help!