How to manage towel gourd greenhouse to achieve high yield

Towel gourd (scientific name: Luffa cylindrica), the Pearl River Delta towel gourd refers to star anise gourd, is a kind of cucurbitaceae plant native to India, also known as vegetable gourd, widely cultivated in East Asia. For Cucurbitaceae climbing herbs, towel gourd has strong roots. Stem trailing, five-angled, green, main and lateral vines are luxuriant, stem nodes with branched tendrils, easy to produce adventitious roots. It is distributed and cultivated both inside and outside China.

Growth environment of towel gourd

Lighting: towel gourd is a short-day crop, like strong sunlight, and more resistant to weak light. In the seedling stage, the treatment with short-day light and large temperature difference is beneficial to the differentiation of female flower buds, early fruiting and high yield. In the whole growth period, shorter sunshine and higher temperature are conducive to the growth and development of stems and leaves, maintain vegetative growth, and improve the development and yield of flowering and fruit setting, young melons and so on.

Temperature: towel gourd is a temperature-loving and heat-tolerant crop. The suitable temperature for the growth and development of towel gourd is 20 ℃ 30 ℃, and the suitable temperature for towel gourd seed germination is 28 ℃ 30 min.

Moisture: towel gourd likes wet, afraid of drought, high soil moisture, good growth when water content is more than 70%, slow growth when less than 50%, air humidity should not be less than 60%. When 75%-85%, the growth rate is fast and there are many melons, and when the air humidity reaches saturation in a short period of time, it can still grow and develop normally.

Soil: towel gourd is a vegetable crop with strong adaptability and loose soil requirements. It can be cultivated in all kinds of soil. However, in order to obtain high yield, loam and sandy loam with thick soil layer, high content of organic matter, good air permeability and strong ability of water and fertilizer conservation should be selected.

How to manage towel gourd greenhouse for high yield?

Variety selection

Greenhouse towel gourd should choose varieties with exuberant plant growth, cold tolerance and strong adaptability, such as cylinder towel gourd.

Soil preparation and fertilization

Before sowing, combine ploughing and turning, apply more than 5000 kg of high-quality barnyard manure per mu, after leveling and raking, trench along the planting line, and then apply 50 kg of superphosphate, 25 kg of potassium sulfate, or 100kg of rotten cake fertilizer per mu; then close the ditch and ridge, ready to plant.

Sowing time and cultivation method

Towel gourd in greenhouse can be direct seeded in mid-October and can also be raised and transplanted. Cultivation methods generally use ridging size planting, large row spacing of 70 cm, small row spacing of 60 cm, plant spacing of 30 cm, 3400 plants per mu.

Sowing and raising seedlings

Soak the seeds in 50 ℃ 60 ℃ lukewarm water for 10 minutes before sowing, soak them for 24 hours after cooling, wrap them in a mixed cloth and place 28Mu32 min for sprouting, rinse with clean water once a day, and sow seeds when most of the seeds are sprouting. When sowing, pour enough bottom water first, cover the soil 1.5 cm after sowing, the direct seeding field can be ditched and sowed on both sides of the ridge, and the seedlings can be unearthed in 4 days. When the seedlings grow to 2 true leaves, the seedlings can be interseeded in the direct seeding field and transplanted in the planting field, leaving only one strong seedling in each hole.

Shed management

1. Adjust the temperature and light. Towel gourd requires a higher temperature in the whole growth period, the optimum temperature for growth is 20 ℃ 24 ℃, the optimum temperature for fruit development is 24 ℃ 28 min, the growth is slow at about 15 ℃, and the growth is inhibited when the temperature is lower than 10 mol. During the management, the temperature in the greenhouse was kept at 25 ℃ 30 ℃ during the day and 18 ℃ at night. Before the towel gourd is drawn, the sunshine time can be properly controlled by grass gourd to promote the growth of stems and leaves and the differentiation of female flowers. In the flowering and fruiting period, the grass should be opened at the right time and make full use of the sun to increase the temperature.

2. Watering and topdressing at the right time. Towel gourd seedling stage water demand is not large, depending on the soil moisture suitable to irrigate small water 1ml twice, when the vine grows to about 5cm, combined with re-cultivation of soil, per mu topdressing 30 kg of potassium dihydrogen phosphate, watering once. After blossom and fruiting, the water is usually watered once every 8 days, and 5 kilograms of urea is applied per mu.

3. Set up and bind the vine and adjust the plant. The stem of towel gourd can be up to 8 meters long, and it needs to be built when the vine grows to about 25 centimeters. In order to reduce the space occupied by the frame pole and sunshade, iron wire or nylon rope are generally directly tied to the greenhouse bracket to form a single-row vertical frame, the top is not crossed, and the vine is drawn vertically according to the original planting spacing and density. After the vine is on the shelf, 5 leaves are tied up every 4 times, and the "S" shape binding method can be used.

4. Protect flowers and fruits. Painting flowers with 2.4 Mel 4D can reduce the drop of flowers and significantly increase the rate of fruit setting. When the temperature is high, the concentration is 20 × 10 ~ (- 6), and when the temperature is low, the concentration is 30 × 10 ~ (- 6). The brush can be applied to the stigma and the base of the Corolla, or the flowers can be dipped directly in the medicine solution. The smearing time should be around 8: 00 a. M.

5. Disease and pest control. The main diseases of towel gourd are anthracnose, blight and Botrytis cinerea, which can be controlled by carbendazim, chlorothalonil, carbendazim and other pesticides. The main insect pests are melon aphid and whitefly, which can be controlled by fish rattan essence, prochloraz, etc.