Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Growing Pumpkin on terrace and land


Pumpkin is the most delicate kind of plantation , the seed it self needs some preparation to germinate.



Seed cover is too hard so suggested to rub teh tip of the seed on a sand stone till next layer is seen.
Then dip the seed in water for 1-2 days.
Now the seed is ready to to sown on a soil bed from where after germinating can be transfered to bigger containers.

Constant check , rather a daily check is preferable.
Need to check when vines start coming those needs to be directed as pre the space available.





If your growing it on a roof make sure that you spread a jute or other kind of mat so that the vines may not be affected because of continuous heat





Hey!!!!   after 60 days i could see the buds at every nodes. I was really exited to see this.

Lets wait for the first fruit ................

After 3 Weeks

My excitement went down a bit, as the flowers didnt fetch any fruit.
I understand that the flowers are of male and female category,
female flower has to pollinate to give fruit. Hope a female flower will appear soon.








WOW!!!.....at last I could find the first female ovary ..."The Pumpkin"




Once the female flower appears with an ovary beneath, this flower needs to get pollinated.



Image on Left shows the female flower, I hope the inner projected structure is Stigma which needs to get sticked with pollen grains from Male flower.




Pumpkin female flower

Pumpkin male flower












Image on right shows the female flower with the Stigma and pollen grains.











Image on left shows the female flower with the Stamen.

This video shows how I tried helping the pollination while using a brush. Since it was a rainy day when the female flower appeared, so I didn't find any bees or fly so while using a painting brush I managed to collect pollen grains from male flower (anther) and sticked it to the female stigma.

After one week 
Fruit grew in size and I have covered it with a
cup on it. But I feel it is already infected by
some pest.
Lets wait and see.






With the help of a knife I removed the worms in it and chopped off the infected part, it is still growing in size.



Approximately now the pumpkin size is 7 cm in radius.



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