High-yield cultivation techniques of wax gourd with double film mulching

Wax gourd (scientific name: Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn.) is an annual herb with tendrils on the stem, climbing vines, large leaves and yellow flowers. The fruit is spherical or long cylindrical, hairy and powdered on the surface, and the skin is dark green or light green, which is a common vegetable. Skins and seeds can be used as medicine. Melons are shaped like pillows, also known as pillow melons, produced in summer. Like temperature and heat resistance, high yield, resistant to storage and transportation, the probability of occurrence in winter and autumn is more, planned in vegetable varieties. When the melon is tender, it is green and hairy, and when ripe, it is bluish, the skin is thick and powdery, and the melon meat is fat and white. The flesh of the melon is called melon training, and the seeds in the flesh are called melon rhinoceros, which are arranged and grow. Wax gourd is native to southern China and India, and is now widely cultivated in East and South Asia. It can be used to cook soup and stir-fry food. And it also has the effect of losing weight and moisturizing the lungs, which can eliminate body edema. Wax gourd is divided into two kinds: thorns on the surface and no thorns on the surface.

The function of wax gourd

The fruit of wax gourd is only a few kilograms small, while the big one can reach more than 100 kilograms. High output, resistant to storage and transportation. Wax gourd texture is also cool and delicious, more moisture, light taste. In medicine, it has the effect of relieving heat and relieving fever, diuresis and detumescence. It can also be made into dried wax gourd, dehydrated wax gourd and sweetened products, and its seeds and peels are still very good traditional Chinese medicine. The fresh fruit of wax gourd and its processed products are traditional export commodities.

Wax gourd is mainly produced in summer. It is named because when the melon is ripe, there is a layer of white powder on the surface, just like the white frost in winter.

Wax gourd belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae, annual herbs. Native to southern China and India, it is cultivated in the north and south of China, and the main supply season is summer and autumn.

Wax gourd contains sugar, protein, a variety of vitamins and minerals, rich in nutrition, can not only be used to cook soup, do wax gourd, but also can be pickled into sugar melon, and can be used as medicine to treat diseases. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that wax gourd taste sweet, slightly cold, non-toxic, diuretic detumescence, heat, thirst, detoxification, weight loss and other effects.

How to achieve early maturity and high yield in wax gourd cultivation with double film mulching?

In recent years, protective facilities such as simple plastic arch shed with bamboo and wood structure and plastic film mulching have been applied in the suburbs, so that the market period of wax gourd is more than 30 days earlier than that of conventional cultivation, and the general yield per mu is 4000-5000 kg, with remarkable economic and social benefits. The matching cultivation techniques are as follows.

1. Select improved varieties and cultivate strong seedlings

The green-skinned wax gourd varieties with high yield, high quality, disease resistance and early maturity (the first female flower was born in 9-13 knots), resistant to storage and transportation, with meat thickness of 4-5 cm and marketable were selected. In the first and middle of February, protective facilities such as greenhouse and electric hotline were used to raise seedlings in nutrition bowl. Wax gourd seed coat is thick, not easy to germinate, soaking seeds to promote germination before sowing. Before soaking the seeds for 1-2 days, soak the seeds in 52 ℃ warm water for 30 minutes, then soak them in cold water for 24 hours, wash them with a wet cloth and put them in a temperature of 25-30 ℃ to accelerate germination. After seed germination, choose cold tail, warm head and clear sowing. Make a bowl with nutritious soil (7 parts of vegetable garden soil and 3 parts of ash and miscellaneous fertilizer) 5-7 days before sowing, pour enough bottom water on the seedling bed, and sow 1 grain per bowl. After sowing, cover the sifted nutrient soil 1.5 cm to 2.0 cm thick, then cover with plastic film, and then close the shed to increase temperature and moisturize. Before emergence, the daily temperature was 25: 30 ℃ and the night temperature was 15: 18 ℃. After about 7 days, the seedlings could emerge. After emergence, remove the plastic film in time and sprinkle some dry soil to facilitate the growth of the seedlings. After finishing the seedlings, the seedlings should be properly ventilated and cooled at noon on a sunny day, and the seedling stage should be watered as little as possible. 0.1%-0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution can be sprayed 2 times for 3 times to promote the growth of seedlings. Apply incandescent lamp to fill light in continuous rain and snow weather, and pay attention to spraying carbendazim, methyl thiophanate, chlorothalonil, cupric ammonia mixture and other agents, or sprinkling soil to prevent seedlings from falling. The seedlings were properly refined 5-7 days before planting. 1-2 days before planting, the whole seedling bed was sprayed with 50% carbendazim 800 times solution plus 75% chlorothalonil 800 times solution, and 5% water dung was applied, so that the seedlings could be planted with medicine and fertilizer. The seedling age was 40-45 days, and the seedlings had 4-5 true leaves per plant with light green leaves and no diseases and insect pests.

two。 Reasonable close planting, double film covering

In early spring, wax gourd should be cultivated in sandy loam or clay loam with shelter from the wind and sun, smooth drainage and irrigation, fertile and deep soil and strong ability of water and fertilizer conservation. Apply sufficient bottom fertilizer 7-10 days before planting, dig soil 20-30 cm deep, break soil pieces, and make border surfaces of different widths according to plastic film specifications; 48% trifluralin 100-125 ml per mu, evenly spray the border surface to 40 kg of water, and then mix soil 1-3 cm deep to control Gramineae weeds; then spread ultra-thin plastic film in the middle of the border, build scaffolding, buckle shed to increase temperature and moisturize. From late March to April, 600 holes per mu were planted in sunny days. Immediately after planting, thin water dung was poured, and plastic film around the planting hole was covered with fine soil (so as not to accumulate injured seedlings). The greenhouse was closed for 7 days to increase temperature and moisturize. The greenhouse temperature was kept at 25: 30 ℃ during the day and no less than 15 ℃ at night. After slow seedling, when the greenhouse temperature is above 25 ℃ in sunny day, it should be ventilated properly, and when the outside temperature is stable above 15 ℃ at night, ventilation should be carried out day and night. The greenhouse film should be removed in the middle of May, but the plastic film should be kept to the end.

3. Skillful operation of fertilizer and water

Double-film cultivation of wax gourd should be one-time application of sufficient base fertilizer, that is, combined with soil preparation, the application of high-quality farm fertilizer 3000kg / mu, cake fertilizer 100kg, ternary compound fertilizer 40kg / 50kg, ditch application or hole application is the best. After slowing down the seedling to before setting fruit, due to the seedling system should be applied fertilizer and water 1 times twice, each time apply 1000-1500 kg thin water manure per mu to promote growth. Before and after the female flowers are in full bloom, it is necessary to avoid inducing falling flowers and melons due to excessive fertilizer and water. When the single melon weighs 1.0kg to 1.5kg, according to the growth trend, 1500 kg of mature human and animal fertilizer is applied per mu plus 10 kg of urea. After each batch of wax gourd was harvested, combined with watering, 15-20 kg of urea was applied to each mu. If you encounter high temperature and drought weather after fruit setting, you should choose to water it in the morning and evening to resist drought; in case of continuous rain, it is necessary to clear the ditch and regulate soil moisture in time, drainage and waterlogging.

4. Forking and pressing vines, artificial pollination

In the cultivation of wax gourd with double film, all lateral vines should be removed or 1 or 2 strong lateral vines should be selected before fruit setting, using main vines and some lateral vines to bear melon. When the main vine grows to 65cm to 70cm, it should be cut through the plastic film to use soil tanks to press melon vines with 3 leaf nodes, with a buried depth of 5cm to promote adventitious roots and enhance the ability to absorb fertilizer and water. Wax gourd is a cross-pollinated crop. During the blooming period of the first female flower, due to small air flow and few insects in the greenhouse, it is easy to pollinate poorly, so it should be pollinated by artificial pollination in time to improve the early fruit setting rate. The method is to gently wipe the collected male flowers on the head of the style, or directly cover the male flowers on the female flowers.

5. Prevention of diseases and insects

The main diseases harmful to wax gourd are blight, anthracnose and sunburn. In terms of control strategies, in addition to agricultural control measures such as crop rotation, seed soaking and disinfection in warm soup, reasonable fertilization and watering (no partial application of quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer, low water temperature irrigation), timely drainage and waterlogging, timely covering of melon with withered grass or melon leaves (to prevent sunburn disease caused by strong light), it should also be sprayed in time to control the spread of the disease. When sporadic disease occurs in the field, 60% chlorothalonil 500 times solution, 58% methyl manganese zinc 500 times solution, 77% carbendazim 500 times solution can be used to control the epidemic disease alternately; 50% carbendazim (or 70% methyl thiophanate) 800 times solution plus 75% chlorothalonil 800 times solution can be used for mixed spraying to control anthracnose. The main insect pests are aphids and melon silk borer. In the early stage, 40% dimethoate was used to control aphids, and in the middle and later stage, 1500 times liquid of 80% dichlorvos and 3000 times solution of 20% dichlorvos were used to control melon silk borer.

6 timely harvest

Wax gourd cultivated with double film was harvested from the end of May to the first and middle of June, and the seedlings were pulled in the middle and last ten days of August. Usually, the first batch of wax gourd can be harvested and listed about 25 days after the female flowers bloom, and the single melon weighs 3.5-4.0 kg, which is beneficial to bear more melons and produce large melons in the future.