The first to try pumpkin was the inhabitants of South America. In the future, this unpretentious vegetable has gained popularity around the world. In Central Asia, it is used for making dishes, and in India, traps for monkeys are made. In Russia, it appeared in the sixteenth century. There is a huge variety of pumpkins, ranging from miniature to giant, they all have different shades - green, orange, gray, red. There are ribbed and smooth, oval and round, perennial and annual.
Volga gray pumpkin: description
A large-fruited pumpkin variety called Volzhskaya Seraya was bred in 1940. The plant is powerful with long lashes up to 8 m, has large bud-shaped leaves and petiole longer than a quarter meter. Flattened fruit weighing up to 9 kg with a smooth or slightly segmented surface. The elastic bark of a light gray or gray-green hue does not contain a pattern. Creamy or yellow pulp up to 4.5 cm thick has an average density and a good sweet taste.
Inside the fetus is a large-sized seed nest with a medium density placenta. Volga gray pumpkin belongs to mid-season varieties. From seedlings to fruit ripening takes about 120 days. Productivity depending on soil fertility is from 1.8 to 3.5 kg per square meter. The plant tolerates arid weather conditions well, and the fruit has good transportability and keeping quality, it is used for table purposes. It is noted that the variety is relatively resistant to fruit decay, Fusarium wilt and powdery mildew.
Pumpkin planting
To obtain a rich harvest of pumpkins of the Volzhskaya Seraya variety, it matters:
- Choosing a place - preferably a sunny place, sheltered from the wind. However, it can also mature in partial shade.
- Soil type - careful preparation is required with the introduction of potash and phosphorus fertilizers, rotted manure, ash.
- Compliance with crop rotation rules - the largest seeds are selected. They are pre-disinfected, germinated and quenched for two days at a temperature of zero degrees.
- The depth of seed placement depends on the soil and ranges from four to seven centimeters. Wells are made through eighty centimeters, throwing two seeds at them.
- Fertilizing - fertilizer is applied three times, and to stimulate the development several times during the season are sprayed with biological products.
- Care - plant formation, watering, cultivation, weed removal, powdering of stems, as well as pollination of flowers.
Pumpkin Growing Methods
Sometimes a pumpkin is planted on the south side in a greenhouse, and when the lash reaches sixty centimeters, it is taken out onto the street. Growing with this method allows you to get a crop much earlier. At the same time, other crops, for example, cucumbers, can grow in the greenhouse. The root system of pumpkin is located in the ground below the roots of cucumbers and does not interfere with them.
In addition, you can get an early harvest of gray Volzhskaya pumpkin, the photo of which is presented in the article, as follows. The bed after sowing seeds is covered with plastic wrap. When the first shoots appear, cuts are made in it so that the plant can throw the whip out through them. With this method, the loss of seedlings is reduced.
However, the most popular recognized seedling method of growing vegetables. Seeds are placed in peat containers filled with a light soil mixture consisting of lowland peat, humus, mullein and sod land, taken in a ratio of 5: 3: 1: 1. For seedling growth, good lighting and compliance with the temperature regime are required, at least 20 in the afternoon and 15 degrees at night. By the time of planting, pumpkin seedlings should have a stocky stem with internodes and well-developed leaves. Planted together with the container, so as not to damage the root system.
Plant nutrition
To obtain large fruits, it is necessary to feed the Volga gray pumpkin several times a season:
- When 3-5 leaf plates appeared, a mullein is used, one part of which is dissolved in a ten-liter bucket of water and irrigated. One bucket should be enough for five plants.
- At the beginning of the formation of lashes, as in the first case, a mullein is used and nitrophosk (one tablespoon) is added to it.
- In the formation of fruits, the same mullein is used, in which a glass of ash and two tablespoons of potassium sulfate are added, the plants are watered with the resulting solution.
Plant formation. Powder Stems
Volga gray pumpkin requires the correct formation of lashes. To do this, pinch the main stem. The best option is to form a plant in two stems. The scourge is positioned so that the tip is in the sun, otherwise the crop will be small. To grow especially large fruits, they form a plant in one lash. On the main stem, after four leaves, one shoot is left on each side, and the rest are removed. Further, all shoots when they appear are removed.
As soon as the ovaries grow to five centimeters, the most healthy are selected from them, and the rest are destroyed. Pinch each shoot three leaves after the fruit. The next condition for a good harvest is scouring of the lashes. When they reach one meter, they are laid in the right direction and sprinkled with loose soil in several places. They will give roots quite quickly, and the plant will receive additional nutrients.
Storage
Volga gray pumpkin is harvested when it reaches maturity, which is easy to determine by the cork stalk. Vegetables can be stored for a long period (about a year).
To do this, they lay it on dry straw and create the appropriate conditions in a well-ventilated room: a temperature of about 6 degrees and humidity of about 70 percent. In the apartment, a mature vegetable can be stored for up to five months.
Volga gray pumpkin, reviews
Many summer residents in their areas grow pumpkin, including the Volga gray and share their advice and success. Here is some of them:
- They cultivated pumpkin through seedlings; leaving turned out to be quite simple. The main thing is timely watering and top dressing, the vegetable has grown weighing 20 kg.
- Some complain that the pumpkin did not have time to ripen and the fruits turned out to be small with thin and green pulp, not at all sweet.
- Others share recipes for various dishes. Assorted vegetables are prepared from unripe pumpkin fruits, adding onions, carrots, peppers and eggplant. The ripened fruit of a pumpkin is baked in the oven, sprinkled with sugar on top, fried with an egg in a frying pan, added to the soup puree.
Conclusion
Large, good-tasting fruits of the Volga gray pumpkin, a description of the variety of which was given at the beginning of the article, are grown through seedlings in the middle lane.
After the end of the frosts, they are planted in a permanent place in fertile and well-cultivated soil. The plant prefers sunny places with regular watering and top dressing. Pumpkin fruits are used both for pet food and are successfully used in cooking for preparing various dishes.