Gymnospermous pumpkin differs from ordinary varieties in the structure of the seeds - they are devoid of the usual hard shell and represent a valuable raw material for the food industry. We learn about the popular types of this culture, about its planting and cultivation.
Gymnospermous pumpkin
Gymnosperm gourd seeds have good oiliness
Gymnosperm pumpkin tolerates temperature changes well
Characteristics of gymnospermous pumpkin
Gymnospermous pumpkin is a climbing plant that practically does not differ from ordinary varieties.
A brief description of gymnospermous pumpkin:
- Plant. The scourges reach a length of 5-12 m. The stalk is braided, hollow, massive. Mustache is long. Oblivion is high.
- Leaves. Rounded, five-lobed, dark green, pubescent.
- Flowers. Large, bright yellow. On the plant, up to 80 female flowers are formed, male - up to 400.
- The roots Powerful, occupy an area of 3-5 sq. m. Able to reach a length of 10 meters.
- Fruit. Rounded, with a hard and thin crust. The fruits are striped - yellow, with green stripes. Seeds of medium size, in a thin shell of dark green color. The seed chambers of the fruit are deep, they contain a large number of seeds. The pulp is weakly fibrous, thickness is 3-7 cm.
Characteristics of gymnospermous pumpkin:
Characteristics / Parameters | Description / meaning |
Ripening terms | 120 days. |
Yield | 20-40 kg per bush. |
Disease and pest resistance | Average. It can be affected by powdery mildew, mosaic, fruit rot, as well as pests - melon aphids, wireworms, etc. |
Frost resistance | Low Minimum soil temperature: + 14-16 ° C. |
Fruit weight | 6-8 kg, maximum 16 kg. |
Drought tolerance | Low. In the absence of watering, the fruits are smaller. |
Keeping | Low. Stored for no more than 2 months. |
Appointment | Universal. Technical grades - for squeezing oil from seeds. In sweet varieties containing 5-8% sugar, the pulp is used to make mashed potatoes, juices, cereals and other dishes. |
The pulp of gymnospermous pumpkin practically does not differ in nutritional value from the pulp of ordinary varieties. But its seeds are different - the calorie content of gymnosperm pumpkin seeds is 100 kcal more than that of ordinary varieties, with a hard peel.
Nutrition value of 100 g gymnosperm pumpkin seeds:
- Calorie content - 650 kcal.
- Proteins - 23.4%.
- Fat - 84%.
- Carbohydrates - 8.4%.
- Dietary fiber - 30%.
- Water - 5 g.
Fats in gymnospermous pumpkin seeds are 35% more than in conventional varieties, proteins and carbohydrates are slightly less.
Popular varieties of gymnospermous pumpkin
Gymnospermous pumpkin is represented by varieties that differ in maturity, fruit size, yield and other characteristics. Moreover, they all have one thing in common - their seeds are without a peel, in a transparent edible film:
- Golosomyanka. Mid-season variety. Ripens in 100-110 days. On a climbing plant there are 4-5 flattened fruits weighing 4-6 kg. The pulp is yellow, sweetish; during storage, the content of carotene and sugars increases. The seeds are olive green, high in vitamins and zinc. Cold resistance - moderate.
- Olga Mid-season and medium-growing variety. Ideal for squeezing pumpkin seed oil. Fruits are round, weight - 5-6 kg. The pulp is light, sweetish. The seeds are large.
- Miranda. Mid-season Polish variety with juicy pulp. The main difference is the semi-bushy form of the plant. It occupies a small area - compared with climbing varieties. The fruits are flattened, with a light green crust and juicy, medium-sugar pulp. Fruit weight - 3-4 kg.
- Danae. It is a mid-season, strongly plaited variety, ripening occurs 120 days after planting. Fruits are rounded, peel - orange-yellow, mesh. Pulp - yellow-orange, with a pleasant aroma, crispy and dense. It is good boiled and baked; delicious juices and purees are prepared from it. The weight of pumpkins is 3-5 kg. It has a high content of starch and sugar. It is prone to over-pollination.
- Juno. Early ripening grade. Differs in strong climbing. It requires spatial isolation - to avoid dusting. The pumpkins are round, weighing 4 kg. The pulp tastes good, it is used in fresh, boiled, stewed, baked form. Differs in a very high keeping quality - pumpkins can be stored for up to 4 months.
- Styrian. Austrian mid-season and long-flowered variety. The main purpose is oil production. The product obtained from the seeds has a nutty flavor. Fruit weight - 4-8 kg. Pumpkins are stored - almost 3 months.
Advantages and disadvantages of gymnospermous pumpkin
Pros of gymnospermous pumpkin:
- High seed oiliness. The pumpkin varieties are used commercially to produce pumpkin seed oil.
- Ease of processing due to the absence of rigid casings. The process of squeezing oil is simplified.
- It can grow in almost all regions of the Russian Federation.
- Disease resistance.
- It tolerates temperature extremes.
Disadvantages:
- Only grown by seedlings.
- Relatively low productivity.
- Most varieties do not have good keeping quality, it is stored worse than ordinary pumpkin.
- It is inferior to ordinary pumpkin in the taste of pulp.
Gymnosperm pumpkin has a lot of disadvantages, but it is still grown for the sake of "naked", without husks, seeds.
Soil and crop rotation requirements
Gymnosperms, like all other types of pumpkins, are a thermophilic culture of a subtropical day. Since in the Russian Federation, in most regions, the weather is not too sunny, the pumpkin needs well-lit areas with fertile soils.
The ratio of gymnospermous pumpkin to the soil:
- Grows on fertile and loose soils enriched with organic matter.
- It can grow on soils with neutral acidity, slight acidity is allowed - pH from 6.5 to 7.5. On acidic soils, the culture is inhibited.
- The plant absorbs many nutrients. One ton of fruit requires: potassium - 4.5 kg, nitrogen - 2.7 kg, phosphorus - 1.2 kg. It is impossible to satisfy such needs by introducing humus, compost or manure - mineral fertilizers must be used.
Crop rotation rules:
- Desirable predecessors - beets, cabbage, onions, carrots, potatoes.
- Unwanted - squash, squash, cucumbers, other pumpkin varieties.
Agriculture gymnosperm pumpkin
Gymnosperms varieties, unlike ordinary pumpkins, are much more demanding of care and growing conditions. Grow seedlings and seedlings. There is no need to carry out any special events - pumpkins with "naked" seeds need watering, feeding, and loosening.
Seed preparation
Seeds can be bought or collected independently - from pumpkins of your own crop. Rules for collecting and preparing seeds:
- The seeds are taken from pumpkins that are 100% ripe.
- The collected material is washed and dried thoroughly.
- The collected seeds are stored in paper bags.
- Before sowing, the seeds are heated at + 40 ° C for 10 hours.
- After warming up, the seeds are soaked in a germination stimulator for 12 hours.
Growing seedlings
Sowing seeds for seedlings begins 30-45 days before planting in open ground.
The procedure for growing seedlings:
- Prepare individual containers. Pots with a volume of 500 ml are suitable. Provide good drainage. Plants do not tolerate transplanting well, so you have to do without picking - transplant seedlings from pots directly into open ground. The best option is growing in 10x10 cm peat tablets.
- Fill containers with ready-made cucumber substrate - it is sold in agricultural stores. Or prepare a soil mixture by mixing peat, humus and sawdust in a ratio of 2: 1: 1. Add complex fertilizer to this mixture - dose its amount according to the instructions.
- Properly prepared seeds - warmed and soaked, plant one at a time in a pot. Deepen each seed 4-5 cm.
- Water the crops after planting. Seeds sprout in 5-8 days.
- Maintain the temperature between +22 and +25 ° C. The optimal daylight for seedlings is 12 hours.
- Water seedlings regularly - as they dry out. Do not allow waterlogging.
- Feed seedlings with complex fertilizers once a week - as soon as shoots appear.
- Start hardening a week before planting. Take seedlings to the street - first for half an hour and, gradually increasing the duration of the walk, bring it to 3-4 hours.
The pumpkin planting scheme depends on the variety:
- Bush pumpkin planted according to the scheme 70x70 cm.
- Medium-weight - 70x140 cm.
- Large-toothed - 200x100 cm.
Planting seedlings into the ground begins when the soil warms up from +14 to +16 ° C. Usually such conditions are created in May-June - the exact time depends on climatic conditions. Only strong seedlings are transplanted into the ground.
Transplant procedure:
- Prepare your garden bed. To prepare it, pour the following components into the hole if the climate is dry, or directly on the ground if the climate is humid:
- mullein - 2 buckets;
- black soil - 1 bucket;
- superphosphate - 1 tbsp. l.
- Make a groove on the prepared bed.
- Pour 3 liters of warm water into the hole.
- Plant a seedling in a hole by transshipment. And if the seedlings are grown in peat tablets - just place them in the holes along with the "container".
- In order for the seedlings to take root faster, temporarily shade them with large leaves - for example, burdock will do.
Planting seeds in open ground
In the southern regions, where spring begins early, the seedless pumpkin cultivation method is practiced. The soil is prepared in the traditional way - in the fall it is dug up and organic matter is brought in for digging.
Sowing begins when favorable circumstances develop - the soil warms up to + 14-16 ° C, and the likelihood of return frosts will be excluded.
The order of sowing pumpkin seeds into the ground:
- Loosen the soil before transplanting seedlings. The depth of loosening is 6-7 cm. Harvest the rhizomes of the weeds while loosening.
- Dig holes. The optimal diameter is 30-40 cm, the depth is from 7 cm.
- Pour 1-2 liters of warm water into the hole.
- Add humus (5 kg) to each well, as well as superphosphate (75 g), ash (200 ml) and potassium sulfate (100 ml). Mix the ingredients thoroughly with the soil.
- Plant 3-4 seeds in each hole - with an interval of 3-4 cm. Planting depth - 5-6 cm. Sprinkle them with soil and mulch with peat or humus.
- When the shoots appear, choose from 3-4 sprouts the strongest. Pinch the rest.
Care Features
Gymnosperm pumpkins require the same care as regular varieties:
- Watering. The culture needs regular watering. The soil should be moist at all times. The pumpkin needs irrigation all the time while it is growing. It is recommended to irrigate the pumpkin in the morning, when there is a minimum temperature difference between the soil and water, then the plant roots will not be stressed.
- Loosening. The soil is loosened regularly to remove crust and improve aeration. By loosening, the roots are supplied with oxygen.
- Mulching. To keep the earth loose and not overdried, as well as to prevent the growth of weeds, mulching is used. The soil is mulched with hay, sawdust, straw, peat.
- Top dressing. As soon as the seedlings take root in the beds, feeding begins. The first time fertilization is applied 7-10 days after planting. For feeding, bird droppings, mullein, infusions of herbs, ash, and also mineral complex fertilizers are used. During the growing season, pumpkin is fed 3-4 times. Fertilizing is combined with watering - water helps the absorption of nutrients and prevents root burns.
Cross-pollination probability
Insects pollinate gymnospermous pumpkin. There should be no squash, zucchini or other pumpkin varieties near the pumpkins - otherwise, soon the pumpkin with soft seeds will be transferred.
The best pollination method that avoids pollination and maintains the purity of the variety is artificial:
- Using a brush, pollinate female flowers with pollen from male flowers.
- To prevent insects from reaching the pollinated flower, they cover it with bags.
Thanks to artificial pollination, it is possible to prevent degeneration of the variety and increase productivity.
Harvesting and storage
Rules for collecting gymnospermous pumpkin fruits:
- The ripeness of the fruit is determined by the rich color of the fruit and the dry stalk.
- The harvest time is influenced by the regional climate. Usually the collection takes place in the fall. In a temperate climate, pumpkins are ready for harvest in mid-October, in the southern regions in mid-September.
- The fruits are plucked with stalks.
- It is advisable to collect all the fruits in one day - before the onset of frost.
The fruits are not stored for long - usually 2 months, over time they begin to rot, and the seeds germinate. Some varieties are stored for 3 or even 4 months.
Storage conditions for pumpkin:
- Indoor temperature - up to +10 ° C.
- Humidity - up to 80%.
- Pumpkins are not stored on the ground, they are stacked on shelves, shifting with straw - the fruits should not come into contact with each other.
- From time to time, the fruits are inspected in order to remove rotted ones in time.
Pumpkins with short stalks should be processed first - they are stored less.
Reviews gardeners and farmers
Boris, 35 years old, amateur gardener, Rostov region. Gymnospermous pumpkin is very powerful - whips, flowers, leaves, everything is large. It grows like a monster, lashes sprawl everywhere, suppress weeds. I plant on a compost heap, so there are no nutritional problems. The yield is high, the pulp tastes so-so, but the seeds are delicious.
Zinaida, 45 years old, summer resident, Voronezh region The gymnospermous pumpkin has a worse pulp than the usual one - not so sweet and tasty, but the seeds are excellent, I call them - "for lazy people." But you need to eat them a little - very nutritious. Caring like a regular pumpkin, the only difference is that you need to plant it away from cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins, otherwise it will become dusty and degenerate.
Pavel, 30 years old, farmer, Krasnodar Territory. I grow gymnosperms pumpkin on drip irrigation. Productivity per hectare - up to 1200 kg. I start up the seeds for butter, and the pulp goes to feed the cattle. If you sell products for export, you can make good money.
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Gymnosperm pumpkins are interesting, first of all, to pumpkin seed lovers and farmers who can grow this unpretentious and fruitful crop for industrial purposes. Pumpkin seed oil is a valuable liquid product that can be a good business to sell.
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