Growing pumpkins in the open field of the Moscow region
It is difficult to imagine the garden beds of Russian household farms without such a culture as pumpkin. And in the gardens near Moscow, in the fall, among the dead tops, bright spots of these fruits of the most varied shapes and colors are clearly visible.
Read also the article about when to plant zucchini!
It would seem that growing a pumpkin in the open field in the Moscow region is not difficult at all, and many gardeners after planting are limited to minimal attention and caring for the vegetable. Indeed, early ripening, but not the sweetest and longest-stored pumpkins can be removed in the last days of August and September. But orange large-fruited beauties and fragrant nutmeg pumpkins, with a disdainful attitude to agricultural technology, do not always ripen.
In order not to be left without the desired harvest, it is important to know how to bring the harvest time closer, to properly care for the pumpkin in the open field and to determine the ripeness of the fruit.
How and when to plant pumpkin seedlings?
As soon as the flaps are open, the seed can be planted in the soil.
But for pumpkins of late-ripening varieties and seedlings that risk falling under spring frosts, it will be better to stratify the seeds in advance. For this, the seeds that have nailed are placed in the refrigerator in the same humid environment. Here, at a temperature of 2 to 5 ° C, the planting material is hardened and spends 3-4 days.
It is optimal to plant pumpkin for seedlings three weeks before the moment when young plants fall into the ground. That is, the use of such a cultivation method for at least 10-15 days brings pumpkin harvesting in the Moscow region closer.
But at the same time, it must be taken into account that vegetable seedlings are difficult to transplant and all the gain in time can evaporate due to the long acclimatization of plants. Therefore, sowing is carried out in peat 10-centimeter pots filled with a peat-humus mixture with the addition of sand and garden soil.
This will be enough for the development of the seedling root system. If the seeds are planted in large sowing containers, it is better to make a 3-centimer layer at their bottom from the aged sawdust:
- Until the shoots appear, the pots are covered with foil and kept at a daytime temperature of 18-25 ° C. The air can be 5–7 ° C cooler at night.
- When sprouts appear above the ground, pumpkin seedlings are further lowered in temperature for additional hardening and to prevent stretching, now to 15-18 ° C during the day and 12-13 ° C at night. In such conditions, the plants are about a week.
- As true leaves begin to develop, the temperature rises by 3-5 ° C during the daytime, and at night the air can warm up to 15 ° C.
Pumpkin seedlings for growing in the Moscow Region open field needs moderate, but regular watering and good lighting... If there is not enough natural light, additional lighting is arranged, which also prevents the sprouts from stretching out and weakening.
At one week of age, the seedlings receive the first nitrogen fertilization, for which 250-300 ml of mullein solution or nitrophoska in the concentration indicated by the manufacturer is used per plant.
By the time the seedlings of pumpkin grown for open ground in the Moscow region fall into the soil, it has several true leaves of a rich green color and a strong, upright trunk. The time when pumpkin seedlings are planted in open ground comes with the departure of spring frosts from the Moscow region.
Between the plants of bush varieties, gaps of 70-100 cm are left, to ensure the nutrition of large plants that form powerful whips, it is better to leave 1.5 meters.
Outdoor pumpkin care
If you want to get an early harvest, as well as if there is a danger of flooding the area for pumpkins, use high ridges.
The simplest way is to plant a pumpkin on a mound about 10–15 cm high. In this case, the soil warms up better and faster, and the plant that finds itself in new conditions can easily tolerate replanting. The soil should be moist, nutritious and loose, and the planted pumpkin seedlings must be watered and covered with a film or non-woven material.
Outdoor pumpkin care starts from the moment of planting and does not stop until harvest. So that moisture evaporates from the soil surface more slowly, weeds do not grow, and the soil is warm, the beds around the sprouts are mulched with straw. In the summer months, if the weather turns out to be rainy, such protection will prevent the ovaries and already ripening fruits from rotting.
Of no small importance for obtaining an early harvest is the choice of a site for planting. Not only does the crop require nutritious, organic-rich loose soil, the ridges must be well lit and protected from the cold wind. For varieties that form powerful whips, hedges and walls of buildings become such protection and a kind of trellis.
For active and rapid growth of pumpkin grown in the open field of the Moscow region, you cannot do without regular feeding. Moreover, it is better to apply fertilizers not at the root, but at some distance from the plant, in an annular groove. Its depth increases from 8 to 12 cm as the bush develops. When the plant is still small, for the first feeding at the stage of several true leaves, such a depression is made at a distance of 15–20 cm from the stem. Then the hole is made at a distance of 40 cm. This is how all subsequent feeding is carried out with an interval of 7-10 days.
When applying fertilizers, you need to try to prevent the solution from getting on the flowers, leaves and other green parts of the plant, as this threatens with burns. At the end of the procedure, the gutter is sprinkled with soil. At the initial stages of pumpkin development in the open field, organic fertilizing is included in the care, provoking the rapid growth of greenery. A week after planting, the seedlings are watered with a solution:
- chicken droppings at the rate of 1:16;
- diluted manure in a ratio of 1: 6;
- 1:10 herbal infusion, such as nettles;
- synthetic fertilizers containing nitrogen in the proportion indicated on the product.
As they grow, they introduce mineral supplements, and by the time of harvest, nitrogen fertilization is practically excluded and the proportion of potassium in fertilizers is increased. Such a measure will not allow the fruits to accumulate nitrates, but it will make it possible to form well and bring closer the moment when pumpkins will ripen in the Moscow region. Pumpkin also responds well to foliar dressing, for which you can take ready-made universal products.
Outdoor caring for pumpkin cannot be effective if the plant is limited in moisture. Watering, especially in the early days before the pumpkin has grown green, is extremely important. They may be rare, but not superficial.Roots located at a depth of 40 cm must receive enough moisture to ensure the development of a large and abundantly fruiting plant. In this case, the water for irrigation is taken standing and warm.
A month before the pumpkins in the open field ripen or will be cut due to the onset of cold weather, watering is gradually reduced, and then completely stopped.
Under artificial drought conditions, the plant will determine when it is time for the pumpkins to ripen. And by the time of harvest, the bark of the fruit will be harder, the stalk will dry out and woody, the pulp will become dense, with a high sugar content.
Forming pumpkin in the open field
When growing pumpkin in the open field of the Moscow region, it is difficult to get a decent, early harvest, if you do not form and limit the plants in growth. If for bush varieties you can limit yourself to removing female flowers during a period when a sufficient amount of ovary has already formed on the plant, then you will have to do differently with a pumpkin that gives long powerful lashes.
At the moment when 5-6 true leaves are opened on the main pumpkin shoot, the stem is pinched, which stimulates:
- development of lateral lashes from the sinuses;
- an increase in the number of flowers, ovary and ripe fruits.
This does not end the formation of the plant. When the number of ovaries with a diameter of about 12-15 cm reaches 3-5, depending on the variety, the growth point of this lash is removed, leaving 3 to 5 leaves above the last ovary. So that all the forces of the plant go to the already formed fruits, from this moment all lateral shoots and flowers are removed. At the end of the article, in a detailed video on the formation of a pumpkin in the open field, the entire sequence of actions is considered.
Along the way, with the formation of a pumpkin in the open field, you can provide the plant with additional nutrition using a simple technique. As the lashes grow, they are evenly laid out in the area designated for pumpkins, and the stems are sprinkled with soil at a distance of 50-60 cm from the root and watered. As a result, additional roots are formed in these places, which help nourish the ripening pumpkins.
The number of fruits on pumpkins grown in the open field of the Moscow region is determined by:
- maximum permissible load for the grade:
- the time remaining until the end of the growing season;
- the degree of maturity of the already set pumpkins.
Therefore, it is not recommended to leave more than 2-3 fruits on large-fruited varieties.
When does pumpkin ripen in the Moscow region?
With proper care for pumpkins in the open field, early and mid-season varieties ripen well in the middle lane, giving not too large fruits.
For gardeners who make every effort to grow large-fruited varieties and butternut pumpkins, famous for their delicious taste and aroma, it is important not to miss the moment of harvesting and know exactly how to determine that the pumpkin is ripe.
There are several signs that the fetus is ready:
- By the time pumpkins ripen, the stalk becomes coarse and looks like a dry cork.
- Scourges and leaves begin to turn yellow and dry.
- The bark changes color, a pattern characteristic of the variety appears on it. Although there are plants producing gray, green and creamy pumpkins, most varieties produce orange or all shades of yellow fruit.
- Not only does the color of the peel change, but also its hardness. If the bark of the ovary can be easily damaged with a fingernail or a rough lash, then the bark of a pumpkin ripened in the Moscow region becomes extremely strong.
And although the most delicious fruits are those that ripen in the sun, it is important to harvest before the onset of stable cold weather.
Do not forget that autumn in the Moscow region is insidious because the sun shines during the daytime, and the temperature is quite comfortable for pumpkins, and at night on the soil, September air cools to very low levels.
Therefore, no matter how the summer resident takes care of the pumpkin in the open field, it is better to remove the fruits that have not ripened in time at the first doubt.Frosts can seriously damage even mature fruits, reducing their quality and storage capacity.
Pumpkins intended for storage are cut, leaving a stalk at least 4–6 cm long, sorted and left to dry. For 8-10 days in a dry warm room or outdoors, under a canopy, if the weather permits, the fruits ripen, the bark hardens, the cut on the cutting dries up. If the nights are cold, as happens when a pumpkin ripens in September or early October in the Moscow region, the fruits are covered with hay or non-woven material. Unripe pumpkins are ripened in room conditions, which may take from 10 days to 1.5 months.