by Squash and pumpkins love to “eat” well. They grow quickly and bear fruit abundantly only on fertile soil containing a large amount of organic and mineral substances. Special attention should be paid to feeding pumpkins in the first half of summer, during the period of active growth.
You need to feed zucchini and pumpkins throughout the season, alternating organic and mineral fertilizers. But the amount of feeding depends on the type of soil, as well as how well the bed was prepared, how much organic matter was added to the area.
Many gardeners plant pumpkins and squashes in compost heaps, warm beds to provide their green pets with nutrition for the entire season. In this case, the plants only need to be regularly watered and fed several times during the summer with complex mineral fertilizer. But if the pumpkins grow on infertile or sandy soil, from which nutrients are quickly washed out, then the number of fertilizing increases to 7-8 times. This is especially true for long-vine large-fruited pumpkins, which need a larger volume of mineral and organic substances.
Organic fertilizing
Squash and pumpkins respond very well to organic fertilizers, which contain a large amount of nitrogen and other nutrients in an accessible form. As the first fertilizers in June, you can use an infusion of weeds and rotted grass, compost tea, and an infusion of bird droppings.
Root fertilization of pumpkin crops is carried out after rain or watering. When applying fertilizer, retreat 20-30 cm from the base of the bush.
Herbal infusion
Herbal infusion, or liquid compost, is a popular and affordable fertilizer that perfectly stimulates growth and enriches the soil with essential nutrients. To prepare it, fill a container 2/3 full with weeds (goutweed, nettle, dandelion, clover, horsetail, quinoa, etc.) and fill it with settled water, leaving a little short of the top.
Place the container in a well-lit place or in a greenhouse and stir the green fertilizer every day. After 7-10 days, the infusion will be ready. To feed, dilute 1 liter of infusion in 10 liters of water warmed in the sun and water the zucchini and pumpkins at the root, using 1-2 liters per bush.
Infusion of rotten grass
The infusion of rotted grass, or fermented “tea”, is prepared very quickly. And unlike regular herbal infusions, it has no unpleasant odor.
Any mown grass will do for making this “tea”: meadow, lawn, and also pulled out weeds. After you have mowed the grass with a lawn mower or trimmer, rake it into a pile and cover it with black film. If there is not much grass, you can put it in black bags (for example, for garbage) and tie it.
In sunny weather, the fermentation process will begin almost immediately. Under the influence of its own enzymes and thermophilic bacteria, the grass begins to “burn”, heating up to a temperature of 60-70 ° C. In such conditions, weed seeds and pathogens of various diseases, as well as insect pests and their larvae that could be on the plants, die. As soon as the greens become hot, yellow-brown, with a specific smell, it means that the raw material can be used to prepare an infusion.
To make liquid fertilizer, fill a prepared container with fermented grass approximately 1/4 full, pour in settled water and leave for several hours. This time is enough to get a rich infusion the color of strong tea.
On the eve of fertilizing, water the bed and use the fermented tea undiluted, pouring approximately 1 liter of infusion under the root of each adult plant. When performing foliar fertilizing with fermented “tea”, the infusion should be diluted with water in a 1:1 ratio.
Bird droppings infusion
Bird droppings are a fast-acting organic fertilizer that contains a large number of macro- and microelements. The concentration of useful substances in it is much higher than in other natural fertilizers of animal origin. Therefore, it should be used with caution – it is better to use it in the form of an infusion.
To prepare the infusion, take 2 kg of fresh manure, pour 10 liters of water, cover and leave for 5-7 days. After the solution darkens, dilute it with water in a ratio of 1:10 and apply root feeding to damp soil.
To prepare liquid feeding, you can also use granulated bird droppings, which are sold in bags. Add 2 tablespoons to 10 liters of water and leave for 5-10 hours.
Infusion of ash
If at the beginning of the growing season squash and pumpkins actively consume nitrogen, then during the period of fruit formation they need potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and microelements. These nutrients are contained in wood ash. Ash deoxidizes the soil well, improves its structure, and increases the viability of plants.
For liquid feeding of pumpkins, you can prepare an ash infusion to quickly extract nutrients and make them more accessible for absorption by the root system. To do this, pour a glass of ash with 1 liter of hot water and leave for 1 hours, stirring occasionally. Before use, dilute the fertilizer with settled water in a ratio of 10:1. Water the zucchini and pumpkins at the root: about liter per bush.
Mineral Fertilizers
Mineral fertilizers can and should be applied alternately with organic ones. During the flowering and ovary formation period, the following fertilizers can be used to feed pumpkins:
- Kristalon Special, Yellow (root feeding – 10 g per 10 l during watering; foliar feeding – 25 g per 10 l, per 100 sq.m);
- borofoska (20 g per 10 l of water, 1 l of solution per adult plant, on damp soil);
- azophoska (20 g per 1 sq.m. during soil loosening or as an aqueous solution during watering);
- OMU Universal (30-50 g per 1 sq.m during soil loosening).
During fruiting, it is worth focusing on potassium-phosphorus fertilizers:
Kristalon Cucumber (root feeding – 10 g per 10 l of water during watering; foliar feeding – 25 g per 10 l of water, per 100 sq.m).
- AgroMaster 3:11:32 (root feeding – 10-15 g per 10 liters of water during irrigation; foliar feeding – 20 g per 10 liters of water, per 100 sq.m);
- Solution A (root feeding – 10 g per 10 l of water when watering);
- Fertika Lux (root feeding – 20 g per 10 l of water when watering);
- superphosphate (30 g per 10 l of water for irrigation);
- potassium sulfate (20 g per 10 l of water for irrigation).
When feeding pumpkin, keep in mind that roots can also form on the stems that come into contact with moist soil, providing the plant with additional nutrition. It is advisable to sprinkle compost on the areas where the stems have taken root and regularly apply liquid fertilizer to these areas.
Watering and mulching
Fertilizing pumpkin crops will not be as effective if the soil is allowed to dry out regularly in hot weather. This often happens in the first half of the plant’s growing season, while the leaf apparatus is not yet developed enough to shade the soil.
The frequency of watering depends on the type of soil and air temperature. If there is no rain, pumpkins are watered every 2-3 days, using settled, sun-warmed water. To wet the soil, 7-10 liters of water should be poured under each adult bush. Moisture should penetrate the soil to a depth of 50 cm.
To retain moisture in the soil and improve the nutrition of the bushes, it is advisable to mulch the soil in the garden bed where zucchini and pumpkins grow. For this, you can use agrotextiles, straw, hay, rotted sawdust. Under a layer of mulch, the soil becomes loose and airy, earthworms actively work in it, useful soil microorganisms multiply, which actively participate in the mineralization of organic matter and convert nutrients into a form accessible to plants. In addition, mulching allows you to reduce the amount of weeding and avoid loosening the soil, which can lead to damage to the roots. And this significantly facilitates the care of plants.
Do not try to use all of the above fertilizers to feed zucchini and pumpkin – it is enough to choose 2-3 mineral complexes and carry out several organic fertilizers. Do not forget that when applying fertilizers, you should focus on the condition of the plants and take into account the vegetation period.
