How often we had to see, on television, of course, how a gardener unknown to anyone had grown a miracle pumpkin. The news is accompanied by an image of a fetus of incredible size, and childhood memories come to mind that in ancient times such beauty could be turned into a carriage and went to a ball. Tales are fairy tales, but you can also grow a big beautiful pumpkin in our very real time. Of course, you just need to know some secrets and rules.
Pumpkin food items
The growing season of pumpkins, depending on the variety, is from 90 to 110 days. During this time, the culture manages to ascend and grow a fruit, the weight of which sometimes reaches 50 kg and above - here a lot depends on the variety. In order for the berry, which is exactly what biologists call the pumpkin fruit, to grow large and tasty, you need to make some efforts.
Bright large pumpkin - the pride of a gardener
Important points when growing this crop are:
- location - sunny open area;
- the soil is fertile, loose, with lots of organic matter;
- watering - regular and plentiful;
- top dressing - timely, taking into account the growth phase.
Pumpkin, like many other vegetable crops, needs basic nutrients - nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, but at different stages of growth, the plant needs certain amounts of minerals and organics.
First feeding
Pumpkins are often grown through seedlings, especially in the northern regions. With this method of growing, the first top dressing is given to seedlings after the appearance of the second true leaf. Further, before planting seedlings in the soil, fertilizers are applied every two weeks.
The first time pumpkin seedlings are fed after the appearance of the second real leaf
To obtain a nutrient solution, add to 10 liters of water:
- 1 liter of mullein or green fertilizer;
- 20 g of superphosphate;
- 15 g of potassium salt;
- 15 g of ammonium nitrate.
With the same solution, you can feed the pumpkin sown with seeds into the ground for the first time.
Important! When feeding seedlings or young seedlings of pumpkin with complex mineral fertilizers for vegetable crops, the concentration should be two times weaker than indicated in the instructions. The manufacturer offers the norm for adult plants, and for seedlings such a number of trace elements can be fatal.
The amount of fertilizing directly depends on soil fertility. Pumpkin grows well on compost heaps, but compost is usually stored in the shade, and the crop needs a sunny location. Experienced gardeners from autumn prepare a place for a pumpkin - they rake plant debris from the garden into piles, sprinkle with earth and cover it with foil or agrofiber. In spring, pumpkin seedlings are planted on these heaps or seeds are sown. This method of growing eliminates the need for nitrogen, namely organics are rich in it, since the plant will receive all the necessary substances from overheating plant residues. In the phase of fruit formation, the pumpkin grown on the heap is fed twice with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.
Pumpkin grown on a compost heap hardly needs fertilizer
Types of fertilizer for pumpkin
When grown on a regular bed, the pumpkin is fed every two weeks, introducing alternately mineral and organic fertilizers. So that the roots of the plant receive all the additives due to them, grooves of 6-8 cm deep are made around each plant at a distance of 20-25 cm. The first fertilizers, both dry and liquid, are added to the grooves and sprinkled with earth. For further feeding, deepenings are done a little further - at a distance of 40 cm from the bush.
Around the pumpkin bush make a small groove for fertilizing
Liquid top dressing is preferred for most vegetable crops - they quickly and evenly reach the roots of plants and are easier to digest. Dry fertilizers dissolve for a long time and unevenly, so plants can simultaneously be deficient in some elements and get burned (if undissolved particles get to the roots) by others.
Mineral fertilizers
Without mineral fertilizers, it is difficult to grow a large sweet pumpkin. Even on fertile lands, this vegetable crop will require a full set of elements and in large quantities. From the beginning of growth to flowering, plants need nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. For top dressing at this time, it is convenient to use complex mineral fertilizers, which include these elements.
Of the complex mineral fertilizers, the drug Kemira Combi has proven itself well. This drug, in addition to the main ones, contains other necessary elements for plant nutrition. In addition, trace elements in Kemir are in chelated form, which means that the resulting solution is not toxic to the environment. Chelates are biologically active organic compounds that are well absorbed by plants. Kemira Hydro has the same qualities.
Kemira Combi complex mineral fertilizer contains a complete set of elements necessary for plants
When using mineral fertilizers, you should always carefully read the instructions. Manufacturers indicate not only fertilizer application rates and frequency, but also methods for preparing solutions.
You can use these fertilizers both in dry form and as liquid root and foliar top dressings. To prepare the solution, 1-2 tablespoons of the drug are diluted in 10 l of water and shed grooves. With dry use, the same amount of fertilizer is evenly sprinkled over the groove and sealed with soil.
Azofoska is a complex mineral fertilizer known, probably, to our grandmothers. There are different types of this fertilizer on sale with different ratios of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The classic norm NPK 16:16:16 is suitable for all garden crops. With dry top dressing per 1 m2 make 30-40 g of the drug, for liquid - 20-30 g are dissolved in 10 l of water.
Azofoska contains elements necessary at the beginning of the growing season
For reference: In 1 tablespoon without top - 10 g of dry preparation.
Foliar top dressing is carried out when the plants have grown a little. For spraying, the same fertilizers are suitable as for top dressing under the root, but the concentration, as a rule, should be half as much.
Foliar top dressing is not inferior in effectiveness to the application of fertilizers under the root
During the formation of fruits, a solution of ash can be used as mineral top dressing. As you know, ash is a natural fertilizer with a rich content of phosphorus, potassium, iron, boron, magnesium, sulfur, zinc, molybdenum, calcium and many others. The composition of trace elements depends on how the ash was obtained - by burning wood, grass or coal. Chlorine is completely absent in the ash, and phosphorus and potassium are in readily available form. It is advisable to carry out such dressing after flowering, as there is no nitrogen in the ash, but at this time, in large quantities, the plants no longer need it.
The use of ash not only deoxidizes the soil, but also improves its structure and enriches it with trace elements
When ash is introduced into the soil, favorable conditions are created for soil inhabitants, and transplanted plants take root more quickly and become less sick. Foliar top dressing with ash protects plants from many diseases and pest attacks. To prepare a solution for application under the root, 1 cup (100 g) of ash is dissolved in 10 l of water. For foliar treatments take 50 g per 10 liters.
Organic fertilizer
Mineral fertilizing must be alternated with organic. This order saves the soil from the accumulation of nitrates, improves the structure and evenly enriches its composition with a large amount of nutrients and microelements.
Organic fertilizers, as well as mineral ones, contain a large number of useful elements. The difference is that all the nutrients in the organic matter are natural and obtained naturally. Therefore, all types of natural fertilizers - whether it be manure, compost, chicken droppings or fermented weeds enrich the soil with beneficial microorganisms and bacteria.
When growing pumpkins, do not limit yourself to organic feedings. The fact is that organics are rich in nitrogen, and with an excess of this element and a lack of potassium, plants are susceptible to various fungal diseases, such as powdery mildew and downy mildew.
The simplest and most affordable organic fertilizers are mullein or slurry, chicken droppings and herbal infusion. All these top dressings are rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and other essential trace elements. Solutions for organic top dressing are easy to prepare and, importantly, absolutely free.
To make mullein, a bucket of manure is soaked in 5 buckets of water, insisted for 3 days. Then add 5 more buckets of water and mix well. For top dressing, 1 liter of the solution is diluted in 10 liters of water and the plants are watered in grooves on moist soil.
Chicken or quail droppings are soaked and dissolved like mullein, but the working solution is prepared with a lower concentration of 1:20 (0.5 l of the solution is diluted in 10 l of water).
In the absence of chickens on the farm, shops for gardeners and gardeners come to the rescue
Any mowed grass is suitable for herbal infusion, although if nettle grows in the garden or in the vicinity, then preference should be given to it.
Preparation of infusion:
- Half a plastic or wooden barrel full of grass.
- Add a bunch of dry grass.
- Add a shovel of land from the garden.
- Pour to the top with water.
- Mix.
- Cover with a lid or plastic bag - this measure will prevent nitrogen from escaping and relieve the cloud of flies.
Green fertilizer can also be prepared in a metal barrel, if you insert a strong plastic bag inside
Every day, the infusion must be mixed. On the second or third day, the mixture begins to bubble - this is normal. After 5 days, if the weather is warm, the foam will settle down, then the infusion is ready. In cold weather, the process may take a little longer. The resulting concentrate is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10 and watered pumpkin on moist soil, into grooves. On one plant take 1 liter of diluted fertilizer.
Dressing Procedure
Excess fertilizers, both mineral and organic, are also undesirable for pumpkin, as deficiency. Therefore, when making fertilizing, it is very important to adhere to the scheme. So, if the pumpkin is grown on an organic heap - feeding is minimal. With this method, it is enough to feed the plants 2 times during the growing season: organics after the appearance of two real leaves and complex mineral - during the appearance of the ovaries.
On poor sandy and loamy soils, top dressing is applied every two weeks, alternating organic and mineral fertilizers. With the beginning of flowering, organic dressing is stopped.
From the time of fruit setting to the weight gain of the pumpkin, you can feed plants with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers 1-2 times: dissolve 2 tablespoons of superphosphate and 1 tablespoon of potassium salt in 10 liters of water. This ends fertilizer application, and the pumpkin ripens on its own.
With the end of the growth of pumpkin fruits, feeding is stopped
On fertile soils, when growing pumpkins, fertilizing is given in the following order:
- Organic fertilizer after the appearance of two true leaves.
- Integrated mineral during the appearance of ovaries.
- Phosphorus-potash during the formation of fruits.
Video: how to grow a pumpkin
Growing a pumpkin is not difficult at all, but in order to get large and tasty fruits, you need to not only water, weed and loosen, but also properly feed them. Having selected fertilizers taking into account the growth phase and, alternating between organic and mineral fertilizing, it is important to give them not from case to case, but according to the scheme. And the beautiful pumpkin will certainly thank for the care of an excellent harvest.
