Horticulture :: Vegetables:: Pumpkin

Horticulture :: Vegetables:: Pumpkin

Pumpkin Cucurbita moschata Poir. Cucurbitaceae Varieties Co 1, Co 2, Arka suryamuki and Arka Chandan. Soil Sandy loam soil rich in organic matter with good drainage is suitable. The pH ranging from 6.5 - 7.5 is found ideal. Season June- July and December- January are suitable seasons. Seed rate 1.0 kg /ha of seeds required Seed treatment Soak the seeds in double the quantity of water for 30 minutes and incubate for 6 days. Treat the seeds with Azospirillum just before sowing. Sowing Sow the seeds (five seeds/pit) and thin the seedlings to two/pit after 15 days of planting. Spacing Pits of 30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm size are dug at a spacing of 2 m x 2 m.  Application of fertilizers Apply 10 kg of FYM (20 t/ha) and 100 g of NPK 6:12:12 mixture as basal and 10 g of N per pit after 30 days of planting. Apply Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria @ 2 kg/ha such and Pseudomonas 2.5 kg/ha along with FYM 50 kg and neem cake @ 100 kg before last ploughing. After cultivation Weeding is done thrice. Spray Ethrel 250 ppm (2.5 ml per 10 lit of water) four times at weekly intervals commencing from 10 to 15 days after sowing. Optimum stage for spraying growth regulators Quality seedling production Nursery raising In hi-tech horticulture, use 12 days old healthy seedlings obtained from shade net houses for planting. Raise the seedlings in protrays having 98 cells. Use well decomposed coco peat as medium. Sow one seed per cell. Water regularly twice a day. Fertigation Apply a dose of 60:30:30 kg NPK/ha throughout the cropping period through split application. Apply 75% of the phosphorus as superphosphate as basal dose. Pests and diseases Beetles and caterpillars Insecticide Dose Dichlorvos 76 % EC 6.5 ml/10 lit. Trichlorofon 50 % EC 1.0 ml/lit.  Fruit fly 1) Collect the damaged fruits and destroy them. 2) The fly population low in hot day conditions and it is peak in rainy season. Hence adjust the sowing time accordingly. 3) Plough the field to expose the pupae. 4) Use polythene bags fish meal trap with 5 g of wet fish meal + 1 ml Dichlorvos in cotton. Totally 50 traps are required/ha, fish meal + Dichlorvos soaked cotton are to be renewed once in 20 and 7 days respectively. 5) Neem oil  @ 3.0 %  as foliar spray as need based Do not use DDT, lindane 1.3% dust, copper and sulphur dust. These are phytotoxic Diseases Powdery mildew Powdery mildew can be controlled by spraying Dinocap 1 ml/lit. or Carbendazim 0.5 g/lit. Downy mildew Downy mildew can be controlled by spraying Mancozeb or Chlorothalonil 2 g/lit. twice at 10 days interval. Harvest When the fruits turn from green to yellow and easy detachment of stalks from the stem, harvesting can be done. Well matured fruits are harvested 85 - 90 days after sowing. Yield 18-20 t/ha of fruits can be obtained. Market information Crop Growing districts Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Theni, Dindigul Major markets in Tamil Nadu Periyar Vegetable Market Koyambedu, Chennai Gandhi Market, Oddanchathiram Natchipalayam vegetable market, Coimbatore Grade Specification Clean and glossy, bright appearance, peel changes from green to yellow, yellowish flesh colour