Winter greenhouse loofah planting method

Loofah is a vegetable that many people like to eat. It is rich in nutrients, has tender texture and a fragrant taste. There are greenhouse loofahs in many areas now. Here we will introduce to you the method of growing loofahs in greenhouses in winter.

1. Variety selection

For winter greenhouse loofah, you should choose loofah varieties with short vines, compact internodes, small leaves, good quality and excellent commercial traits. At the same time, they must have the characteristics of cold resistance, low light resistance and disease resistance.

2. Sowing and seedling raising

In greenhouse, winter and spring loofah seedlings are usually grown in nutrient pots in mid-to-late September, with about 600g of seeds used per acre. Put seedling soil into the nutrient pots, with the soil height slightly lower than the pot mouth. Place the nutrient pots together in the seedling bed and fill the gaps between the nutrient pots with soil. Water the nutrient pots thoroughly, put 2 germinated seeds in each pot, and cover with 1-1.5cm of soil. After sowing, build a small shed and cover it with a shade net or old film to provide shade and protection from rain. After germination, the temperature should be lowered appropriately to prevent the seedlings from growing too tall.

3. Planting

Use large and small ridges for cultivation, and try to minimize the spacing between plants and rows. The large ridge spacing is 80cm, the small ridge spacing is 60cm, and the ridge height is 10~15cm. The plant spacing is 35 to 40 cm, and 2,400 to 2,800 plants are planted per acre of land. The density is 3 to 4 times that of ordinary trellis cultivation methods. Cover the greenhouse with plastic film before planting, choose a sunny morning to plant the seedlings on the ridges, and water them sufficiently after planting. When the moisture content of the soil is such that the soil can be kneaded into a ball with hands without water dripping out, cover the small ridges with plastic film, pull it tight from north to south, make a small hole to take out the melon seedlings, and then press the plastic film with soil all around.

4. Fertilizer and water management

The first topdressing should be carried out when the loofah seedlings grow to 5-7 cm. After tillage and loosening the soil, 30 kg of urea should be applied per mu and water should be irrigated. When the loofah just blooms and bears fruit, 5 kg of compound fertilizer should be applied per mu to meet the loofah's demand for nutrients. At the same time, the fruiting period also has high requirements for water. Pay attention to watering in time. It is best to keep the soil moist. In the middle and late stages of fruiting, spray the leaves with 0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution 2-3 times to extend the fruiting period, increase yield and increase income.

5. Whole vine and leaf picking

When the loofah seedlings grow to 25-30 cm, they must be trellised in time. In order to make better use of the space in the greenhouse, bamboo poles cannot be used for trellises like open-air planting. Generally, nylon ropes are tied to the brackets in the greenhouse to make single-row vertical frames. The trellises are set up according to the planting rows and the vines are led onto the frames. The vines are tied once for every 5 leaves, and the tightness should be appropriate. During the peak fruit-bearing period, the diseased, old and yellow leaves at the bottom should be removed in time to increase ventilation between plants and reduce the occurrence of diseases and pests.

6. Artificial pollination

Luffa is a cross-pollinated crop. There are very few insect vectors in greenhouse luffa. Its fruit-setting rate is closely related to artificial pollination and the use of hormones to treat female flowers. In order to increase the fruit setting rate, artificial pollination is necessary, which can be done by the traditional method of pollinating male and female flowers. 2,4-D is often used as a growth regulator. After the loofah blooms, preferably when the flowers have just opened, 20~30 mg-kg-1, 2,4-D is applied to the pedicel. Within this concentration range, the concentration can be lower when the temperature is high, and higher when the temperature is low.

That’s it