Spaghetti pumpkin will surely appeal to fans of garden novelties. Its barely sweet fruits are not only extremely tasty, but also healthy. We will learn how to plant and grow this original pumpkin in your garden, and how it differs from ordinary varieties.
Spaghetti Pumpkin: variety description
This pumpkin was called “Spaghetti” or “pasta” for good reason - when the fruit ripens, its flesh becomes fibrous. Thin yellow fibers in appearance - spilled pasta. After cooking, the resemblance to spaghetti is enhanced.
In Russia, this unusual pumpkin appeared recently, but has already managed to become popular with our gardeners. In fact, Spaghetti is not exactly a pumpkin, it is a hybrid obtained by crossing pumpkins with zucchini.
Another name for pasta pumpkin is squash. This word comes from the language of the North American Indians. It translates as "eaten raw."
Spaghetti Pumpkin
Spaghetti Pumpkin Seeds
Here is the flesh of a ripe spaghetti pumpkin
Productivity and other characteristics
Brief description of the variety Spaghetti:
- Plant. It has a powerful root system and requires a lot of space. The lashes are long, grow up to 4.5 m in length. The stems are hollow, covered with a hard pile.
- Leaves. Large, green, big-leafed. In appearance - an ordinary pumpkin tops.
- Flowers. Large, bright yellow or orange.
- Fruit. The shape is round or oval. The peel is light yellow or deep yellow. The pulp is fibrous, medium-dense, bright yellow or orange, with the scent of vanilla and walnut. The length of the fruit is up to 30 cm. Inside the fruit are elongated seeds.
Pulp "Spaghetti" has a low calorie content, in 100 g only 25 kcal.
Grade Features:
- Bloom. It lasts from June to October. These are the terms for the middle band, in other regions they are adjusted in accordance with climatic features.
- Precocity. Between the emergence of seedlings and harvesting takes about 2 months. The growing season is 110-120 days.
- Productivity On one bush grows up to a dozen pumpkins. The average weight of the fruit is 4 kg. One bush gives 20-30 kg.
- Storage. Fruits store no more than 2 months. To increase the shelf life, before laying the pumpkin is well dried in the sun. The optimum room temperature is from +3 to + 10 ° C.
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages of the Spaghetti variety:
- the crop ripens early;
- prolonged fruiting;
- excellent taste of pulp;
- fruits are well stored - subject to storage rules;
- the fruits are good for the body and do not cause allergies;
- good yield.
Minuses:
- vulnerability to temperature changes - in the middle lane it is necessary to grow "Spaghetti" under the film;
- requires fertile, well-moistened soils - it grows poorly on heavy and arid soils;
- affected by some diseases that reduce yield;
- does not tolerate cooling.
Spaghetti Pumpkin Growing
In open ground, seeds are sown mainly in the southern regions. In the middle lane, a seedling method of growing is recommended, it allows you to bring fruiting closer and prevent freezing of seedlings.
The choice of soil and capacity for planting
The best option for growing seedlings is in peat tablets. Then you can do without a pick. Pumpkin seedlings do not tolerate transplanting, and it is not worth replanting it again.
If there are no peat tablets, you can use ordinary wooden boxes. They are filled with a mixture purchased in an agricultural store - a universal substrate or soil mixture for cucumbers is suitable.
Seedlings can also be grown in separate glasses or pots with a diameter of 6 cm.
Soil for seedlings can be prepared by mixing peat, humus and sawdust in a ratio of 2: 1: 1. For each kilogram of the mixture, put a teaspoon of nitrophosphate. Before planting the soil must be decontaminated.
Optimal time for sowing seeds
Sowing seeds for seedlings usually begin in mid-April. Planting seedlings in open ground is made in the second half of May. These are recommendations for the middle band. In other regions, climate adjustments must be made.
In open ground, seeds are sown in late May.
Preparing seeds for planting
Seeds are bought at an agricultural store or harvested in autumn from fruits. They are dried at ordinary temperature. You can’t dry in the oven - the seeds will die. Before spring sowing, seeds are stored in darkness and dryness, preferably in a linen bag.
Before sowing seeds, prepare:
- Sort the seeds. Only large, small and empty recline are suitable.
- Soak the seeds in warm water. Let the night stand.
- Remove the seeds from the water and wrap them in a damp cloth - let it rest for 2-3 days. So that the seeds germinate faster, from time to time moisten the fabric with water.
- Sprouted seeds in the refrigerator for three days - for hardening.
- To disinfect the seeds, soak them in a 2% solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour.
Sprouted seeds are ready for planting - you can plant them in containers with the ground or immediately in open ground.
Sowing seeds for seedlings
When the containers are found, and the seeds are prepared, you can proceed to sowing seeds for seedlings:
- If boxes are used for growing seedlings, pour sawdust onto their bottom. This will help the soil retain moisture longer.
- Fill the container with a substrate and pour generously.
- Make small holes in the soil with a depth of 4-5 cm. The intervals between the recesses are 2-3 cm.
- Plant the seeds and sprinkle them with soil.
- Pour out spray crops.
- Cover with a transparent material - glass or film.
- Place the seed boxes in a room with a temperature of +25 ° C.
Seedling Care
Features seedlings care:
- To prevent seedlings from stretching, remove the film as soon as shoots appear.
- Seedlings need light - put them in a well-lit place. Best of all - on the windowsill of a window facing south.
- Maintain optimal temperature - from +15 to +25 ° С. If it is too warm, the seedlings will be very high, and in the cold it will begin to lag behind in growth and hurt.
- Water the seedlings regularly, the soil should not dry out. Use warm, settled or boiled water, try not to get on the leaves.
- One week after emergence, fertilize the seedlings. Prepare a solution - put 2 g of nitrofoska per liter of water. Pour liquid fertilizers under the root - they should not get on the leaves, otherwise there will be a burn. Or feed the seedlings with mullein solution (for 10 parts of water - 1 part of mullein).
- 14 days before planting seedlings in the ground, proceed to hardening. Take her outside every day. Start with 20 minutes and bring your walks to 2-3 hours.
Transplanting seedlings in open ground
Features of planting seedlings:
- Dates. Seedlings are planted about a month after planting seeds. But you can not focus only on the number of days that have passed since the time of sowing - a stable positive temperature should be established on the street. Seedlings must have at least two full leaves.
- The plot. Choose a place based on the size of the plant - the Spaghetti pumpkin needs room. The culture grows well in fertile sunny areas, this pumpkin will not bear fruit in the shade.
- Predecessors and neighbors. The culture grows well after tomatoes, potatoes and legumes. It is forbidden to plant Spaghetti after cucumbers, squash and squash. But it is possible to side by side with them, as well as with melons, corn, peas. Growing near them, squash squash gives good yields and does not get sick.
The soil is prepared in the fall:
- The plot is fertilized with manure - per 1 sq. Km. m pour 4 kg.
- The beds are being dug.
- If the soil is acidic - make 200 g of ash per 1 square. m
Seedling planting order:
- A half a month before planting, cover the area with a black film so that the soil warms up better.
- Prepare the holes 10-12 cm deep. The distance between them is 80 cm.
- Pour hot water into the pits. After the water is absorbed, plant seedlings. If seedlings grew in peat tablets, you do not need to shake the soil from the roots. If in boxes - take seedlings so that a little land remains on the roots.
- Sprinkle the soil with soil and compact it with your hand.
Seedlings are best planted in cloudy weather or in the evening.
Spaghetti Pumpkin Care and Growing
In order for the Spaghetti pumpkin to produce a full-fledged crop, the plant needs, in addition to the usual agricultural measures, pinching.
Watering: volume and terms
Features of watering pumpkin "Spaghetti":
- Young seedlings, only planted in the ground, are watered as the soil dries.
- Irrigation rate - 8 liters per plant.
- In the future, the recommended frequency of irrigation is once every 3-4 days. In hot weather, the frequency of watering is doubled.
- The best time for watering is morning and evening.
- Water the pumpkin under the root - moisture should not fall on the leaves and stems.
- The variety is drought tolerant and does not respond well to excess moisture. Overmoistening leads to fungal diseases.
Fertilizer application
The culture is responsive to feeding. After 2 weeks after planting in the soil, it is fertilized. You can feed the Spaghetti pumpkin:
- Ready-made store mix - diluted with water according to the instructions. In such mixtures there are all the elements necessary for a young plant.
- Nitroammofoskoy. It is bred - 15 g in 10 liters of water.
- A solution of chicken droppings. Diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 4.
Pumpkin is fed every 2 weeks, alternating fertilizers. For example, superphosphate, urea, ash infusion, and chicken droppings.
Topping
In order for the plant to produce many large fruits, it is necessary to shorten its whips in time - to pinch. If this is not done, the lashes grow to 6-8 m in length, and few fruits are tied.
On one stalk, leave no more than 4 lateral shoots, remove all the others. On each shoot, the top is nipped off - counting 6 leaves from the beginning of the whip.
Weeding and cultivation
The soil is regularly loosened - after every rain and watering. Thanks to loosening, the soil passes oxygen well - pumpkin roots need it in large quantities. Loosened soil also allows water and fertilizer to pass through well.
Weeds are removed during cultivation. When the pumpkin grows up, weeding is not necessary - this powerful plant inhibits the growth of weeds. But he needs hilling - he is carried out every 3 weeks.
Harvesting, storage and use of crops
Fruit harvesting usually occurs in the second half of September to the first half of October. In general, from the time of sowing to ripeness of the fruit takes about 4 months. The first sign that the time has come to harvest is a withered green mass.
If the summer is cool, the leaves do not fade, but the fruits still need to be harvested.
Harvested pumpkins are dried in the sun and stored for 3-4 months in a cool, dark room, observing storage rules.
Spaghetti pumpkin is very tasty. It can be:
- bake in the oven - enough half an hour to achieve readiness;
- fry;
- boil - for 20 minutes;
- canning;
- grill - slices.
Diseases and Pests
Macaroni pumpkin, like any garden plant, is not immune to diseases and pest attacks.
Spaghetti pumpkin diseases and control measures:
Disease | Symptoms | How to fight? |
Powdery mildew | The aboveground parts are covered with white coating. Usually the disease appears in rainy summers. | Preventive treatment with colloidal sulfur (70% solution). Sprayed with malathion. |
Bacteriosis | First, spots appear on the leaves, then they dry out. The plant weakens and may die. | Spray with copper sulfate - 20 g are taken on a bucket of water, and 40 g of urea is added. The solution is made in cool water, and then heated to 40 degrees. After a week, repeated spraying is carried out. |
The main pests of pumpkin:
- aphid;
- slugs;
- whitefly;
- spider mite.
Dusting with ash helps against these insects - it is carried out immediately after transplanting seedlings. Against ticks, spraying with onion and garlic tincture helps. You can spray Actellik plantings, but no later than 20 days before harvesting.
Possible growing difficulties
The agricultural machinery of Spaghetti is the same as that of ordinary pumpkins. But there are still some differences and difficulties in growing:
- The plant does not stop flowering. The lashes are constantly growing. On the central and lateral stems - a lot of fruits. It is imperative to pinch the shoots, forming a plant and restricting its growth in certain directions.
- In rainy and cool weather, most fruits do not ripen, and those that ripen - rot during storage.
Spaghetti Pumpkin Reviews
Maryana, 35 years old, amateur gardener, Mineral water. Never heard of such a pumpkin. Last summer I sowed - to see what kind of culture. She really has long lashes, she has to bother with the bush - pinch off the shoots. There are many fruits, but you need to feed and spray all the time. There are no more significant differences from ordinary pumpkins.
Varvara, 45 years old, summer resident, Vladimir region It’s not easy to grow “Spaghetti” - the first time I lost all seedlings from the disease. She also takes root poorly. I tried to sow in the open ground - the plants sprouted poorly, and only a few bushes survived, apparently due to the cool weather. This culture is more suitable for warm climates.
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It is not easy to grow Spaghetti pumpkin, especially in regions with unstable summers - cool and rainy. But if you want and strict adherence to agricultural technology, you can achieve very good fruiting.
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Russia. City Novosibirsk
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