Zucchini is a vegetable that is favored by many “terrace farmers” because it’s easy to grow, doesn’t need much land, takes little care, but gives a lot of fruit and high yield.
Nguyen Giau, from Ho Chi Minh City, is known by the rooftop gardening community for his secret to growing zucchini successfully. Each crop he grows, a pumpkin can give up to 40 fruits, each weighing 2-3kg.
He shares with VnExpress readers a simple and effective way to grow squash at home with Styrofoam or plastic containers on the terrace.
Supplies
– Planting containers: Plastic containers with a capacity of 100-200 liters, perforated on the side for drainage 5cm from the bottom of the barrel.
– Seed incubator.
– Planting truss about two meters high for convenient care later.
– Seed nursery and planting soil: Clean soil mixed with rice husk ash, coir, peanut shell so that it is very porous, lined with vermicompost + lime + antagonistic mushrooms incubated for 7-10 days.
– Fertilizers: vermicompost, chicken manure, synthetic fertilizer, fish manure, NPK
Soaking and sowing seeds
– The purchased seeds are soaked in warm water for about three hours so that the seeds are completely submerged in the water, picked up the seeds and incubated in a damp towel, in a cool place.
– About 24 – 48 hours after incubation, the seeds will crack, sow them in the nursery, water twice a day in the early morning and late afternoon, leave the nursery in a cool, dry place, avoid rain and light sunshine.
– When the plant reaches 2-3 true leaves, it can be planted in a barrel.
Planting and caring for seedlings
– Gently lift the seedlings from the nursery tray into the container, taking care not to break the potting soil, the amount of soil in the container at this time is only about 2/3 of the container’s capacity and when planting, it should be planted at a corner of the box for later convenience. convenient for rooting.
– Fertilize once every 10 days with a mixture of vermicompost, chicken manure, synthetic fertilizer and watered with fish manure once, the dose is flexible according to the strength of the plant and the number of branches and leaves that the tree is nurturing.
– Prune all branches arising in the process of planting, only raising one main stem for climbing on the truss.
Pumpkin shoes on the terrace of Mr. Nguyen Giau’s house. Image: Nguyen Giau
Circle the root for the tree
– When the tree climbs to the top of the truss, the tree has reached a length of two meters, proceed to cut all the tassels and leaves, leaving only the leaves at the top about 40cm long.
– Bury the stem that has been cut leaves into the barrel and pour more soil up to the top of the barrel, the purpose of this is for the plant to add extra roots to absorb more water and nutrients, the plant is stronger and more fruitful later. .
– After circling the base, continue to fertilize and let the plant climb on the trellis, the male and female flowers that arise while the vines should be removed, when the vines touch the rig again, proceed to press the tops, choose to raise them. 3-4 main branches.
The red arrow is the original position of the root, the yellow is the path of the pumpkin cord when circling the root, the red circle is the new position of the pumpkin root after circling the root. Photo: Nguyen Giau
Additional pollination and fruit-raising
– Pumpkin tree after branching will produce a lot of female and single male flowers, additional pollination around 7-8 am, choose strong male flowers, tear the petals lightly on the female pistil, if successful Two days later, the female flower will swell to form a fruit.
– Press the top right after the fruit position 8-10 leaves to accumulate nutrients to nourish the fruit, the small branches arising from the main branch at this stage should also be removed early to avoid loss of nutrients.
Harvest and pick up the next fruit
– The zucchini fruit is harvested about 50 days after pollination, at this time the squash is old and has a chalky outer shell, so it is very fragrant and sweet to eat.
– At the time of 40 days after harvesting, the pumpkin has reached its maximum weight, from now on the fruit will only age and not grow any more.
– After harvesting, proceed to cut all the old leaves, diseased leaves and fertilize so that the plants will sprout new sprouts, which will lead to flowering, when the pumpkin flowers bloom, continue to conduct additional pollination and press the tops as before. do the steps above.
– A pumpkin tree, if taken care of well, can produce 3-4 consecutive fruits.
Stages need to add NPK for outstanding growth
+ Stage of rooting
+ Flowering and pollination
+ Fruiting period
+ The next stage of harvesting and taking fruit
Nguyen Giau
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
