1. Planting time: There is a folk saying that it is better to plant melons and beans before and after Qingming Festival, so the planting time is just before and after Qingming Festival. The air humidity at this time is relatively high, which is good for seeds. Germination occurs, and the ambient temperature is more suitable for seed germination. If you are in the south, the temperature will warm up earlier, so the planting time can be slightly earlier. If grown in a greenhouse, it can be done all year round.
2. Sandy soil: In fact, pumpkins do not have high requirements for soil. Generally, soil is suitable for the growth of pumpkins. However, if you want your large pumpkin to grow better, you need to choose to plant it on sandy soil. Then prepare the ground according to the environment and use soil ridges to make rows of borders. Finally, remember that before planting pumpkins, you need to add some base fertilizer to the soil to make it fertile.
3. Select seeds: It is best to choose pumpkin seeds with full particles. After selecting the seeds, you can soak them in water to speed up the germination. After soaking in water, place them on a damp cloth to keep them moist. , and control the temperature at around 25°C, the seeds will germinate in a few days.
4. Land selection and preparation: Before planting in the ground, you first need to select a suitable plot, which needs sufficient light. It is best to choose a vegetable garden for planting. Such a substrate has better air permeability and at the same time It is also rich in nutrients. However, it is best to sprinkle some farmyard manure on the substrate and plow it to ensure that the fertilizer can be evenly mixed into the soil.
5. Sow seeds: Because pumpkins are vines, the vines grow relatively vigorously. If they are planted close together, they will become entangled with each other, and they are also prone to insufficient nutrient supply. , so when planting, you need to control the distance between plants to about one meter, put two seeds in each pit, and then pull out the weak one after the seedlings emerge.
6. Planting seeds: The most important step in planting large pumpkins is planting seeds. Because large pumpkins are generally very large, we need to leave enough space for them to grow. If it is a trellis For cultivation, the best spacing is 1.5 to 2 meters, and for ground planting, the spacing is 0.5 to 0.7 meters. Note that there must be 2 pumpkin seeds in a planting pit, and the sprout tips should be placed in the soil, and then covered with 3 cm of soil on top. And after the pumpkin seeds sprout, you need to gently remove the seed husks. Removing the seed husks can promote the expansion of the cotyledons. At this time of germination, you should also pay attention to the slightly moist soil. This can prevent the pumpkin seedlings from growing too long and not bearing fruit.
7. Watering and fertilizing: It is necessary to fertilize when growing vegetables. The amount of watering for pumpkins should not be too much, otherwise it will cause waterlogging. Water until the ground is dry before watering, and try not to water frequently. Fertilization depends on the growth of the pumpkin. It is best to fertilize during flowering and fruiting. Compound fertilizer or potassium fertilizer is suitable. Approximately 25 kilograms of fertilizer per acre of pumpkin field is enough.
8. Pumpkin pollination: Pumpkin pollination is best done manually. Artificial pollination can reduce flower drop and failure rate, especially on rainy days. But generally pumpkin flowers bloom very early, before 6 o'clock in the morning, so in order to increase the success rate of pollination, we need to pollinate them early and complete it before 9 o'clock in the morning. Gently touch the stamens of the male flowers that have bloomed to the stigmas of the female flowers and lightly apply pollen on them.
9. Later maintenance: After the pumpkin emerges, it needs to be trellised in time, otherwise its vines will grow along the ground, which is not conducive to later flowering and fruiting, and the later management is also relatively difficult. Control the height of the shelf to more than 1.5 meters, and then tie its vines to the shelf.