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What can you plant next to a pumpkin? Is it possible to plant pumpkins and zucchini together?

Zucchini and pumpkin belong to the Cucurbitaceae family. Although they have common requirements for growing conditions, planting and growing zucchini and pumpkin in open ground are slightly different. In order not to make mistakes and get a full harvest, when planting you need to take into account all the nuances of each plant.

General requirements for growing conditions

Zucchini and pumpkin are heat-loving plants. At temperatures from +12 to +18°C, seeds germinate for about two weeks, and at temperatures from +20 to +25°C, seedlings appear quickly, after 5-7 days. The seeds are sown in the ground in the second decade of May, under the film, and it is not removed until the shoots appear. Then the cover is removed only during the day, if the weather permits, and at night it is covered again. This protection is necessary until the threat of frost has passed.

You can speed up fruit set and ripening of pumpkin and zucchini crops by planting seedlings in open ground. Typically, seeds are sown for seedlings in early May, 25-30 days before planting in the garden. Before planting in a permanent place, the seedlings are hardened off, and for the first time after planting they are covered with agrofibre to protect them from possible night cold snaps.

Zucchini and pumpkins do not tolerate root damage, so each plant must be grown in a separate cup and replanted very carefully.

For both zucchini and pumpkin, air temperatures close to zero are destructive. For growth, it is optimal if the air warms up to 22-28°C during the day. At a prolonged temperature of 15-18°C, growth slows down, and if the air humidity is increased and the soil does not dry out, the plant begins to rot.

Pumpkins and squashes love bright light. The area should be illuminated by the sun throughout the day. The less sun shines on the plantings, the slower the growth. In addition, it is important that the place is protected from drafts and northern winds. It’s good if you can plant melons along the fence, which will be protection from the cold wind, or near the southern wall of the house.

Members of the pumpkin family like their roots to be in warm soil.

In cold regions, warm beds that are prepared in the fall are suitable for growing. Another growing option is to plant the seedlings on a compost heap, which should be covered with a layer of soil and thoroughly watered with warm water.

The soil in the garden should be loose, fertile, with neutral acidity. If the soil is acidic, it must be limed.

Is it possible to plant zucchini next to a pumpkin?

Due to the fact that zucchini and pumpkins belong to the same family, they cannot be grown next to each other. There are several reasons for this, and the most important is the likelihood of cross-pollination. In this case, the fruits will not meet expectations either in appearance or taste. Pumpkins may lose their sweetness and change shape, and zucchini may have rough skin and unpalatable flesh.

Also, you should not plant zucchini and pumpkins in one place for several years in a row. Replanting is possible no earlier than after 4 years. The reasons are quite simple:

  • lack of nutrients in the soil that the plant used up in the previous year;
  • the presence of pathogens or pest larvae in the soil. Both pumpkin and zucchini suffer from the same ailments, the pathogens of which remain in the soil for a long time.

Preparing zucchini and pumpkin seeds for planting

Pumpkin and zucchini seeds are sorted by weight. Only heavy seeds are left for cultivation. If this is difficult to determine visually, then the seed is immersed in a strong salt solution. Those seeds that float to the surface are empty inside and are discarded. Heavy, full-fledged seeds will settle to the bottom.

In order for plants to produce more female flowers than male ones, the seed material must be kept warm for two months before planting. The seeds are wrapped in natural fabric and placed near the battery.

To reduce the likelihood of diseases, the seeds are soaked for 30 minutes in a bright solution of potassium permanganate. After this, they are washed in warm water.

To speed up germination, seeds can be wrapped in a damp cloth and kept in a warm place until they hatch. It is necessary to plant immediately, otherwise overgrown sprouts may break off.

Rules for planting and growing zucchini

The bed for growing zucchini should be 50 cm wide for bush varieties and 70 cm for climbing varieties. Rules for placing zucchini in the garden - there should be no more than three plants per square meter.

Prepare the bed in a few days:

  • dig up;
  • remove weed roots;
  • if the soil is acidic, then it is limed;
  • moisturize abundantly.

If seeds are sown in a garden bed, do so at the end of May or beginning of June, depending on the weather. At the specified distance, make holes, add a handful of ash and a shovel of rotted manure to the bottom, mix well. Water the bottom with hot water. Seeds are placed in 3-4 pieces at a depth of 4 cm and covered with soil. If cool weather is expected, the beds are covered with dense white agrofibre to speed up germination.

After the shoots appear and 2 true leaves grow, the strongest sprout is left in the hole, and the rest are removed.

Seedlings are planted in early June, the holes are prepared in the same way as for seeds. The seedling is deepened down to the cotyledon leaves. Water at the root so that drops of water do not fall on the leaves. At night, cover with agrofibre for the first time. This is important not only to prevent the seedlings from getting frostbitten, but also to protect them from cold morning dew.

Zucchini roots are close to the soil surface. It is necessary to loosen the plantings shallowly so as not to damage the root system. Watering should be careful, with a weak stream of water. Due to strong pressure, the soil (especially light, sandy) is washed away, and the roots are exposed. These problems can be avoided if the soil around the bush is mulched with mown grass, hay or sawdust.

Zucchini is harvested when its length reaches 20 cm. If necessary, small fruits can be cut off. Timely cutting of fruits provokes the setting of new ones, so it is not recommended to leave ripe zucchini on the bush for a long time. In addition, an overgrown zucchini becomes rough and tasteless.

Rules for planting and growing pumpkins

The place for growing pumpkins should be very warm, light and spacious. The entire area is cleared of weeds. A few days before planting, they dig up, add rotted manure or compost and level it. The holes are prepared at a great distance from each other. There should be 2-3 meters between plants of climbing varieties, and at least one and a half meters between bush varieties.

Several seeds are placed in each hole to a depth of about 5 cm, after germination the most developed one is selected, the rest are removed. If the seedlings have already appeared, and the weather forecast warns of an approaching cold snap, arcs must be installed over each hole and covering material must be stretched.

The time for planting seedlings is early June. It is planted when it is 25-30 days old. Pre-hardening is carried out. Planting is carried out on a cloudy day or in the evening, when the sun's rays stop burning. It is important to protect planted seedlings, as well as seedlings in the garden, from possible frosts and cold dew. Plants can be left without shelter from mid-June.

Unlike zucchini, pumpkin bushes need to be formed. One or two vines are left, but the total number of fruits that should be on the plant is 3 or 4, depending on the variety. All stepsons are promptly removed. After the last pumpkin, 4 leaves are left on the vine and the vine is cut off and sprinkled with earth in several places. In this place, additional roots are formed, which will supply the plant with more nutrition.

The rule for watering pumpkins is rarely, but abundantly. Each adult bush will need 2-3 buckets of water.

Watering is carried out according to a special scheme:

  • the first month after emergence, water generously 3 times;
  • then take a break for 3 weeks;
  • after flowers form on the plant, water once every 7 days;
  • in August, when the fruits finish growing and begin to ripen, watering should be rare;
  • do not water three weeks before harvest.

conclusions

Planting pumpkins and zucchini should be done in different places on the site. It would be better if they were separated by some kind of building.

Particular attention should be paid to these plants at the beginning of summer, when a drop in temperature to zero can destroy all plantings. The shelter is labor-intensive, but it justifies itself in that the plant does not experience stress from temperature changes, the ovaries form on time and the fruits have time to ripen before the end of the season. In addition, under shelter, in warmth, more female flowers are formed, which is a guarantee of a high yield.

Zucchini is an unpretentious crop that grows in almost every summer cottage. This vegetable is famous for its beneficial properties, which have a positive effect on the condition of the human body, as well as its low calorie content. 100 grams of vegetables contain only 27 kilocalories. It contains a high concentration of vitamins, minerals, organic acids, macro- and microelements. An advantageous feature is the versatility of using the fruit.

Zucchini is an annual herbaceous plant belonging to the Pumpkin family. Breeders tirelessly develop new varieties; gardeners have the opportunity to grow white, yellow and green fruits.

Conditions for growing zucchini

This representative of Pumpkin is a heat-loving and light-loving plant. Therefore, it must be planted in open sunny areas.

Is it possible to plant zucchini next to a pumpkin?

Important: The more sunlight the plant receives, the faster it will bring a high-quality and abundant harvest.

The optimal soil for zucchini is loamy and light sandy loam. It is extremely important that the soil is evenly heated throughout the growing season of the plant.

Plants love abundant and frequent watering. The root system is poorly developed, so in dry weather the plants experience extreme thirst. It is recommended to water in the evening with warm water. Until the leaves close, you need to water the zucchini every day or at intervals every other day.

As the plant grows, the developing foliage will cover the ground, then in dry weather you can water the zucchini at intervals of 2-3 days, and in cool weather - no more than once every 5-6 days. If the leaves begin to fade, they should be watered from a watering can using a fine nozzle.

What to feed

The culture responds well to fertilizing with organic fertilizers. When mowing or weeding, do not put all the material into compost. It is recommended to place the part in a separate container, fill it to the top with water and leave for one week. For better infusion and decomposition of organic matter, the contents must be mixed. After a week, the resulting infusion must be filtered, diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 8 and watered over the zucchini near the root system. After a week, fertilizing should be repeated.

Grass irrigation can be combined with the application of manure. Manure is diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 10, and left to infuse under sunlight for three days. Water near the root, avoiding the foliage. As soon as the fruits begin to set, it is time for the third feeding. This time it is recommended to add manure/herbal infusion, sifted wood ash and double superphosphate.

What to feed

Disease Prevention

To prevent the development of diseases, it is necessary to follow the rules of crop rotation. It is worth refraining from planting zucchini where watermelons, pumpkins, melons and/or cucumbers grew the previous year. This is due to the fact that all representatives of pumpkin have the same diseases. When harvesting, you cannot put the tops from them into compost; you need to dry them well and burn them, and use the ash as an organic fertilizer.

Note: To prevent root rot and other diseases, you should not water the zucchini with cold water, and when applying fertilizers, you should refrain from getting the composition on the foliage and fruits.

Another equally important issue that should concern gardeners is the proximity of zucchini to other vegetables. Neighbors of zucchini in the garden, which ones are the best?

Compatibility of zucchini with other vegetables

Many agronomists, especially beginners, are wondering what to plant next to the zucchini in the neighborhood.

In our country, mixed plantings of agricultural crops are becoming increasingly popular. Using this technology, it is necessary to analyze the compatibility of the crops used. However, even with the traditional method of cultivation, it is no less important to rely on the compatibility of crops growing in neighboring beds.

Compatibility of zucchini with other vegetables

What is affected by plant compatibility?

In addition to the ability to rationally use a summer cottage, proper compatibility of crops allows you to increase productivity. This is due to the fact that plants growing nearby influence each other. Some are able to stimulate the growth of their neighbors, others, on the contrary, oppress them, and still others are completely neutral.

Properly organized beds are depleted evenly, due to the fact that crops are selected with different requirements for the type of nutrients. There is no possibility that certain chemical elements will be sucked out of the soil, the deficiency of which in subsequent years will leave the summer resident without a harvest.

Types of plant interactions

Successful combination of plants allows you to grow a good harvest. Compatibility manifests itself not only directly, but also indirectly. During direct interaction, chemicals are released from plants. As a rule, water-soluble substances are released from the root system, and volatile substances are released from the above-ground part. Actually, these substances either inhibit or stimulate the growth of crops growing nearby. Therefore, it is very important to study the compatibility of garden and vegetable crops.

Basic rules for plant placement sequence:

  • The main plant, which takes a long time to mature, can be planted again in the garden no earlier than after three years. Parsley, cucumbers, peas, beets and carrots require more time because they do not react well to their own root secretions.
  • The main crop can be replanted in the beds ahead of schedule if green manure or grains are planted after it.
  • Previous and subsequent plants with a short growing season should not follow each other.
  • Vegetables belonging to the same family cannot be near each other in either a small or large crop rotation, since they are very susceptible to their own secretions from the root system.
  • If the soil is rich in nutrients or fertilized with rotted compost or manure, then it is recommended to grow all varieties of tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, leeks and celery, squash, raspberries and strawberries. Potatoes, legumes, onions, and garlic can be planted in unfertilized areas.

The compatibility of vegetable representatives should also take into account their effect on the soil. Some crops compact and deplete the soil, while others loosen it with their root system and enrich it with nitrogen and organic matter. Let's consider the influence of some crops on the soil.

What to plant with zucchini in the same bed

What can you plant zucchini next to? Many agronomists wonder what to plant zucchini next to, since they take up a lot of space. The culture reaches impressive size only in mid-summer. Experienced agronomists are convinced that a spacious squash bed can be used rationally until mid-summer. To do this, it is necessary to plant early ripening crops there.

Neighbors of zucchini in the garden:

  • To save space, you can plant onions or winter garlic in the same bed with zucchini. When the zucchini bush fills up and begins to significantly increase in size, it will be time to collect the fruits planted for the winter.
  • You can plant green crops near the zucchini, for example, lettuce, dill or parsley. Radishes are the best choice for early vegetables.
  • Legumes such as beans or peas will grow well next to zucchini plantings. Before the zucchini bushes stretch out and shade everything, these plants will grow green mass and climb up the supports. In addition, they enrich the soil with nitrogen, which will have a beneficial effect on the growth of zucchini.
  • Radishes and/or turnips will feel comfortable with each other, as well as beets, chard and onions.
  • Tall crops such as sunflowers and corn are also suitable for partnership with zucchini. In this case, it is important that the soil is rich in nutrients, otherwise all the plants may begin to wither.
  • Of course, black radish will be a useful neighbor for zucchini, which, thanks to its powerful root system, will repel spider mites from zucchini.
  • A good tandem for zucchini and tomatoes. They protect the melon from aphids, moths and sawflies.

There are some crops that should not be planted near zucchini. Is it possible to plant zucchini next to pumpkin and squash? No, cross-pollination can occur with related crops, resulting in hybrids that are not always palatable or attractive.

You can also plant mustard and clover near the zucchini. Thanks to this arrangement of crops, nutrients will be added to the soil. On the other side you can plant beets, carrots, onions and garlic. Due to general pollination in the first year of growth, plant hybrids will still not grow. Hybrids will grow only after another year.

Note! Zucchini can only be planted in the same place at intervals of 5 years. Otherwise, the resulting harvest may not meet expectations. The most favorable place for planting zucchini is near a compost heap, which will more than provide the plant’s root system with nutrients.

Zucchini is a unique and unpretentious plant that has become famous for its ease of cultivation and its beneficial properties. Even a novice agronomist can grow this crop. The main thing is to choose the right variety and study its characteristic features; it is equally important to follow all the rules of agricultural technology to provide the family with high-quality and tasty vegetables. There are many recipes for preparing preparations for the winter, and you can also fry the fruits, stew them, and prepare caviar from them.

Kira Stoletova

With the arrival of spring, gardeners begin to actively prepare for the upcoming cultivation of vegetables and fruits. It is important to carry out proper crop rotation and distribute plants on the site so that they do not harm each other. Their proximity to pumpkins and other melons deserves special attention.

Planting a pumpkin next to a zucchini

These crops belong to the same family. These are dietary, healthy vegetables that have found widespread use not only in cooking, but also in folk medicine, cosmetology, etc. Despite the “family connection,” growing these crops in open ground is somewhat different.

  • both crops need a lot of free space: the vines of plants extend far beyond the space allocated to them. They can intertwine, interfering with the normal development and formation of each other’s ovaries;
  • Planting pumpkins and zucchini in neighboring or nearby beds can trigger cross-pollination of crops. In this case, the variety of plants will be lost - the fruits will turn out to be hybrid. If this is less scary for pumpkin, because it belongs to the dominant crop in this case, then the second vegetable will become unsuitable for consumption.

Sometimes these crops are planted in neighboring beds. In this case, it is important that the distance between the plants is at least 3 m, and their lashes should be systematically directed in the opposite direction from each other. It is worth considering that even under these conditions the risk of cross-pollination does not disappear.

To reap a full harvest of zucchini and pumpkin, it is not recommended to plant them next to each other.

The neighborhood of pumpkin and eggplant

A popular vegetable to grow is eggplant. Most of its varieties are designed for cultivation in greenhouses and greenhouses. If you decide to plant a vegetable in open ground, you should take care of choosing the right place for this.

Due to its active growth, pumpkin can choke the plant, preventing it from developing properly. This will lead to the fact that the eggplant harvest will be inferior and meager, and the fruits themselves will be deformed.

If the size of the plot does not allow you to allocate a distant place for a pumpkin, and you had to plant eggplants next to it, in this case it is recommended to put a kind of partition between them (oilcloth, wooden board, etc.).

The culture in this case will not harm the growth and development of eggplants. This will also protect vegetables from infecting each other with characteristic diseases.

Favorable neighborhood

Neighborhood with a pumpkin crop does not harm corn. If beans are also planted nearby, they will constantly saturate the soil with nitrogen, which has an extremely beneficial effect on its development.

Vegetable growers note the good proximity of pumpkin to early onions. By the time the first crop begins to actively develop, the onion is already approaching the harvest stage. You can plant winter garlic next to the pumpkin, which protects the plant from diseases and pests.

Greens are grown between the pumpkin beds: parsley, dill, cilantro. These aromatic herbs are not picky, and such proximity does not bother them.

Undesirable neighborhood

When planting pumpkin next to other garden crops, you should consider some factors:

  • different plants must be placed from each other at the greatest possible distance;
  • Having discovered a disease or pests in one variety of vegetables, it is recommended to carefully examine its “neighbors” and carry out preventive treatment. The diseased plant should be isolated or removed from the garden bed;
  • feeding the pumpkin is carried out separately from the crops next to it;
  • When the area of ​​the plot is small, original partitions are installed between different plants that are not “friendly” with each other.

In addition to zucchini and eggplant, the proximity of pumpkin to the following crops is undesirable:

  • cucumbers;
  • almost all varieties of cabbage;
  • tomatoes;
  • other varieties of pumpkin or melon crops;
  • other low-growing varieties of vegetables that react painfully to such a dominant and strong consumer of nutrients as pumpkin.

Crop rotation rules

Pumpkin is characterized by a powerful and strong root system, which significantly depletes the soil, taking all useful substances from it. The bed where the pumpkin grew needs to be fertilized in the fall. The crop needs to be placed deep in the ground, so after removing its rhizomes, loose and oxygenated soil remains in their place.

Do varieties of tomatoes, pumpkins, and strawberries cross-pollinate? Is it possible to plant them side by side?

CUCUMBERS AND PUMPKINS GROW NEXT TOGETHER

It should be taken into account that after harvesting pumpkin plants, it is advisable to further enrich the soil under them before future planting. This is done in late autumn with the help of organic fertilizers. The place where pumpkin was grown last year will be actively overgrown with weeds next season, so you need to be prepared for this.

A characteristic feature of pumpkin is that it is extremely undesirable as a “predecessor” for its “relatives” - cucumbers, zucchini and other crops. Planting the same vegetable or one belonging to the same family in the same place can provoke diseases characteristic of this variety.

A bountiful harvest in the garden beds will please gardeners only if the proximity of vegetable crops is first correctly determined. For greater clarity, before sowing, you can draw up a plan for placing plants on the site. Rational recommendations will help you make the right choice of “neighbors” for pumpkins in your garden.

The key to a good harvest is proper sowing, care and feeding of vegetables. Zucchini and pumpkins contain many vitamins and nutrients. From them you can prepare various types of dishes with individual taste and aroma. In order for these vegetables to be beneficial and remain tasty, it is important to grow them correctly. The growing process is not difficult, especially if you know how to do it. Many vegetable growers are concerned about the question of whether these vegetable crops can be planted together. Let's try to understand this issue.

Preserving the purity of the variety

Today, vegetable seeds are presented in abundance on the Russian market. All of them differ in their requirements for soil and climatic conditions and the taste of the fruit. But manufacturers do not always provide detailed information on cultivation on the packaging. A novice farmer is forced to grow seeds almost at the household level.

Let's start with the fact that pumpkin is a cross-pollinated plant. Because of this feature, it follows that vegetable crops belonging to the same species can easily cross-pollinate. As you know, zucchini is a variety of hard-barked pumpkin; therefore, to avoid cross-pollination, only one variety should be grown without isolating it. To maintain the purity of the variety, it is better not to plant different varieties of vegetables close to each other. To more successfully maintain the purity of the variety, hand pollination is recommended. In this case, the risk of unwanted cross-pollination will be minimized.

Friendly neighborhood

The issue of the proximity of pumpkin crops should be taken seriously. The results of random cross-pollination can produce very unexpected results. Some gardeners, after their own unsuccessful experience with growing pumpkins and zucchini in their neighborhood, say that they have hybrids. For example, zucchini turns out to have a pumpkin flavor, and the latter turns out to be unsweetened and thin-skinned. Therefore, experienced gardeners strongly recommend sowing these vegetable crops away from each other at least at a distance of 20 meters. However, there are exceptions. So, as mentioned above, zucchini is a type of hard-barked pumpkin; it gets along well next to large-fruited and butternut squash.

If the manufacturer does not indicate on the package what type of pumpkin it is (in rare cases, this happens), then the variety can be determined by the external characteristics of the seeds. If the seeds are single-colored, light-colored with an expressive rim, this is a type of hard-bark pumpkin. The large-fruited variety has larger, convex, white to dark brown seeds. The seeds of nutmeg pumpkin are gray in color, flat, and medium in size.

By observing the rules of the neighborhood, the gardener will not have to subsequently harvest a bizarre crop of unknown shapes and sizes. These recommendations will help you maintain the purity of the plant variety and get a full harvest from your garden every year.

Most varieties of pumpkin are sown when the soil at the seeding depth warms up to 12-13°C, since the seeds begin to germinate at this temperature. In cold soil they can quickly rot.

The seeding depth for medium loamy soils is 5-6 cm, for light soils - 8-10 cm. The distance between holes should be approximately 1 meter. To reduce the risk of damage to seedlings by night frosts, many gardeners sow seeds thickly at different depths. If finely planted seeds cause early shoots to freeze, then later seedlings will survive and no time will be lost. If there are no frosts, then late shoots are simply removed.

By the time the seeds are sown in the ground, there is often not enough moisture in the soil. This can lead to delayed emergence and slow growth. Therefore, 1.5-2 liters of warm water with a temperature of at least 50°C must be poured into each well. After it is absorbed, the seeds are placed in the ground and the holes are filled with a nutrient mixture. After sowing, the holes must be mulched with humus or peat chips. Thanks to this, the field germination of pumpkin seeds increases sharply.

Read the article “How to choose the right pumpkin variety”.

To make seeds germinate faster, gardeners often cover the holes with film, sprinkling the edges with soil. When the shoots appear, holes are cut in the film over the plants or stretched over a wire frame installed above the holes. Many gardeners remove the film altogether when seedlings appear, but this must be done in warm weather.

Under normal conditions, pumpkin seedlings appear 6-7 days after sowing. After the formation of one or two true leaves, the seedlings are thinned out, leaving one strong plant each for the large-fruited pumpkin and two plants each for the hardbark and nutmeg. After 4-5 leaves appear, the weaker plants of these varieties are plucked off. They should not be dug up, as the root system of the remaining plants will be severely damaged.

There is another original scheme for growing pumpkin, in which the plants are grown in a cucumber greenhouse and the harvest is harvested outside. To do this, make two holes in the southern end part of the greenhouse close to the wall and fill them with a nutrient mixture. The sprouted pumpkin seeds are sown in these holes. Caring for pumpkins - fertilizing, watering, etc. - is carried out simultaneously with caring for cucumbers. When the plants reach a height of 50-60 cm, the film is lifted or cut and the lashes are directed to an area of ​​open ground. The roots of the pumpkin (and they are located in the ground much lower than the roots of the cucumbers) remain in the greenhouse, develop and supply nutrients to the plant. With this method of growing, pumpkins can be cultivated in a non-transplant culture, and the seeds can be sown 7 - 10 days earlier than in open ground.

When growing pumpkins in non-Black Earth conditions, covering the soil with film has a great effect. After the emergence of seedlings, cuts up to 10 cm long are made in the film on each plant to improve ventilation. At the end of the danger of spring frosts, the cuts are increased to 15 cm in diameter, through which the plants are released from under the film, and then they spread along the film. This creates extremely favorable conditions for plant development, since the soil temperature is 4-5°C higher than usual, and the evaporation of moisture from the soil is sharply reduced.

Growing, care

Watering

Pumpkin is a moisture-loving plant. It has a large root system and “pumps” a lot of water from the soil, which it evaporates into the atmosphere through its leaves. It consumes a lot of water during all periods of growth, but especially needs it during the period of mass flowering and fruit formation. Therefore, during prolonged dry and hot weather, before the female flowers begin to bloom and during the filling of fruits, the plants must be watered generously with water at a temperature of at least 20°C. You cannot take water for irrigation from a well or artesian well, as you will destroy the plants.

At the same time, thanks to their strong root system, pumpkins can withstand short dry periods more easily than cucumbers.

Irrigation usually involves removing weeds and loosening the soil. First, the soil is loosened by 8-10 cm, and then 5-6 cm, so as not to damage the roots of the plant.

Feeding

To get large fruits, the plants need to be fed. The first time this is done when three to five leaves are formed, the second time at the beginning of the formation of lashes. It is best to use nitrophoska for this - 10 g for the first time, 15 g per plant for the second time. In wet weather, fertilizers can be applied in dry form, in dry weather - dissolved in water. Feeding with ash (1 cup per plant) and mullein solution (1:8, 1 bucket per 5 plants at the beginning of growth and per 3 plants during the fruiting period) is very effective.

Formation of plants

To get a good pumpkin harvest, the plants need to be formed - usually into one or two stems.

When formed into one stem all side shoots and excess ovaries are removed immediately after they appear. Two or three ovaries are left on the lash. After the last ovary, leave 3-4 leaves and immediately pinch off the growing point (tip). If you leave more ovaries or don’t pinch the top, you won’t get large fruits. After this, you need to mercilessly cut off all the flowers that appear - both male and female.

When formed into two stems You should leave two fruits on the main lash, and one on the side lash. After the last fruit, leave 3-4 leaves on each vine and pinch off the tops.

A mandatory agricultural practice when growing pumpkins is sprinkling with vines. When they reach a length of more than a meter, they are unraveled, laid in the desired direction and sprinkled with earth in several places. If this is not done, the wind easily turns over and twists the vines, causing the leaves to break off, and this negatively affects the development of the plant. But this is not the most important thing. At all internodes of the vine, especially in places where it is sprinkled, strong roots are formed, which additionally nourish the plant. This should not be forgotten when watering plants.

Obtaining fruits

When growing pumpkins, you can often see rotting ovaries. This occurs because the female flowers are not pollinated. The reasons can be very different, this often happens in inclement weather when insects fly less. This is very disappointing, especially when growing large, late-ripening pumpkins.

To prevent this from happening, artificial pollination of flowers must be done. To do this, early in the morning in the south and in the first half of the day for the middle and northern regions, when female flowers bloom, male flowers are collected, their petals are removed and two or three anthers are alternately pressed to the stigma of the open female flower.

Male pumpkin flowers. They bloom early in the morning and fade by evening.

Female pumpkin flowers. They have a pestle in the middle. Without pollination they wilt the next day.

If you have pumpkin vines covering a fence or gazebo, in order to prevent them from tearing under the weight of the harvest, ordinary nets are hung from the fence and the growing fruit is placed in them.

Giant pumpkins must be protected from soil moisture, otherwise they may rot. To do this, you need to place four stones on the ground, a wide board or slab on top, and a pumpkin on it. But this must be done while it is small, because handling a giant fruit can break the stem.