Vegetable growing » Pumpkin
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Kira Stoletova
The Muscat de Provence pumpkin originated in France. It is unpretentious in care and cultivation, and with proper storage it retains its qualities until spring. The composition of nutrients in this product gives a head start to many vegetables.
Description of Muscat de Provence pumpkin
general characteristics
Butternut squash has a deep orange color inside and out and a smooth, ribbed shape. It has high productivity. The lashes grow quickly and are about 8 m in length.
The pulp of a ripe vegetable has a very dense texture, thanks to which it can be stored for a long time. The fruits are large - weigh 8-10 kg. The walls are thick, the texture is dense.
Pumpkin has a pleasant aroma and sweet taste.
The plant unravels very well on special nets or on the ground. Ripe fruits can be collected from the beginning of August until almost the first frost.
The best butternut squash varieties
The best
varieties
: Nectar, Muscat de agro, Miracle Yudo, Prikubanskaya, Arabatskaya, Zhemchuzhina, Vitaminnaya, Muscat de Provence, Gileya, Polyanin, Spanish guitar, Butternut (Nut), Augustina, Vita, Bylinka, Family.
Vitamin
The variety of nutmeg pumpkin Vitaminnaya was developed and bred by Russian breeders from the “FSC Rice”, which is located in Krasnodar.
The application for variety testing was submitted back in 1950. And only 2 years later, in 1952, the variety was successfully entered into the state register. The variety was allowed to be grown only in one North Caucasus region, although successful cultivation in other more northern regions is possible in greenhouses. Description of the variety
:
Muscat pumpkin varieties such as Vitaminnaya are considered late-ripening. The variety has a growing season of 124 - 130 days after full germination.
The plant is long-climbing, the length of the lashes can be up to 6 m. The leaves are pentagonal in shape, and they are colored grayish-green.
The fruits are short in shape - oval or cylindrical. They are wide, segmented, and with pronounced ribbing at the stalk. Their weight can be 4.5 kg - 6.8 kg, and their skin color is dark pink with an orange tint. The pattern is expressed in a dark green mesh and lighter spots on the surface. The pulp has a bright orange color, which in some cases can even be red.
Advantages of the variety
:
- High yield (36 tons - 44 tons are harvested from 1 hectare).
- Pumpkin is well transported and stored.
- Great taste.
- Good resistance to major diseases.
- The seed nest is small and contains few seeds.
- Possibility of obtaining your own seeds.
Disadvantages of the variety
:
- Heat-loving culture. Even minor frosts lead to death.
- The plant is powerful and climbing, so it requires a lot of space to grow it.
Pearl
The nutmeg pumpkin Zhemchuzhina was bred by Russian breeder Tikhanovich Genrikh Adamovich from the Krasnodar region.
An application for variety testing to include the variety in the register of breeding achievements was submitted in 1998. And already in 2000, the variety was successfully registered in the Russian state register. Officially, the culture was approved for cultivation only in three regions such as the North Caucasus, Ural and Far Eastern. Characteristics of the variety
:
Muscat pumpkin varieties such as Zhemchuzhina have a medium-late ripening period. The variety ripens within 100 - 125 days after the seeds hatch in the spring.
The pumpkin has a powerful bush with long vines and medium-sized dark green leaves. The shape of the sheets is pentagonal, but not dissected.
Pumpkins have a cylindrical shape, and their weight varies from 2.6 kg to 5.6 kg. They can be up to 40 cm - 55 cm in length. The color of the fruit is orange with a bluish tinge. The peel has a pattern of fine mesh and orange spots. When cut, you can see the juicy dark orange pulp.
Advantages of the variety
:
- Resistance to bad weather conditions. For example, to drought, cold and temperature changes.
- Excellent sweet taste and aroma (sugar content 3.9 - 6.0%).
- Harvest from 1 hectare is collected at 172 centners - 449 centners.
- Small seed chambers containing few seeds. At the same time, the thickness of the pulp is impressive.
- Excellent transportability and keeping quality.
Disadvantages of the variety
:
- Average disease resistance. Preventative measures are very important for culture.
- Long-term storage may result in deterioration in taste.
Tsukatnaya
The nutmeg pumpkin variety Tsukatnaya was created by agricultural specialists in 2008.
And in the same year, the variety was sent for variety testing to be included in the state register. But it was officially registered in our state register of selection achievements only in 2010. The crop was allowed to be grown only in one Central region on private plots. Description of the variety
:
Muscat pumpkin varieties such as Tsukatnaya are mid-season. The variety ripens within 4 months.
The plant has long vines with medium-sized green, slightly dissected leaves. And on their surface you can see white spots.
The fruits are flat-round in shape and have a light brown color, which is often accompanied by a waxy coating. Segmentation is average. Average weight 5.8 kg - 7.2 kg. The flesh is orange and thick.
Advantages of the variety
:
- High yields (352 centners - 560 centners per 1 ha).
- The variety has excellent keeping quality. Fruits can be stored without loss of taste for more than 6 months (under optimal conditions).
- It can be successfully grown under different weather conditions, as well as on different soils.
- Transportability.
- The taste is good or excellent. The pulp is starchy and moderately juicy.
Disadvantages of the variety
:
- Average disease resistance.
Prikubanskaya
The Prikubanskaya pumpkin variety was developed and bred by specialists from the Federal Scientific Center "Rosa" in 1989, and in the same year it was submitted for testing to be included in the register of breeding achievements.
And only in 1998 the variety was registered in the Russian state register. The culture was allowed to be cultivated only in 2 regions of our country: in the North Caucasus and Ural. Characteristics of the variety
:
Muscat pumpkin varieties, such as Prikubanskaya, have a growing season of 91 - 136 days, and therefore the variety is considered mid-season.
The plant has medium-length vines, where the main vine can grow up to 3 - 4 m in length. The leaves of the pumpkin are dark green in color and are medium in size. Moreover, their shape is pentagonal, and there is always a white spot on the surface.
Pumpkins are cylindrical in shape. And they are colored orange-brown. The pattern is represented by a grid and spots on the surface. The average fruit weight can be 2.3 kg - 4.6 kg. When cut, you can see red-orange thick flesh (3 cm - 4 cm).
Advantages of the variety
:
- The taste is good. At the same time, the sugar content in the fruit is 6.3%. The pulp is juicy, tender and dense.
- Harvest from 1 hectare is collected at 104 centners - 189 centners, and this is not bad.
- Excellent presentation. Pumpkins are aligned.
- The purpose is universal.
- Unpretentiousness. The variety does not require special skills when growing.
- The fruits are stored well (for 3 months) and transported.
- A small seed nest with a small number of seeds. The narrow part contains only the pulp.
Disadvantages of the variety
:
- Disease resistance is average. Can be severely affected by powdery mildew.
- Tolerates temperature changes painfully.
Augustine
The Augustine butternut squash was created by agricultural breeders in 2009.
And then, after passing variety tests in 2011, the variety was successfully registered in the state register of the Russian Federation. It was approved for cultivation throughout almost the entire territory of our huge country, which is 12 regions. Description of the variety
:
Muscat pumpkin varieties such as Augustine are mid-season. The variety is capable of producing the first harvest within 105 - 110 days after full germination.
The culture has a bush with long vines and spotted leaves of medium size, which are colored dark green.
The fruits of the variety resemble a cylinder shape with a thickening at the end, and they grow up to 4.3 kg - 5.5 kg. Their color is dark green. They are smooth and have a waxy coating. The pulp is yellow with medium density and thickness.
Advantages of the variety
:
- High yield indicators (480 quintals - 543 quintals are removed from 1 hectare).
- The seed chamber is medium in size.
- Good keeping quality. Fruits can last up to 100 days without loss of taste.
- Possibility of long-term transportation. And this is thanks to the dense structure.
- Universal application.
- Great taste.
- Excellent presentation.
- Since this is a variety, you can get your own seeds from it.
Disadvantages of the variety
:
- Requirement for care: watering, fertilizing and weeding.
- Average indicators of disease resistance.
Arbatskaya
The Arbatskaya nutmeg pumpkin variety was developed and bred at the Crimean Research Institute of Agriculture in 2014.
And after variety testing, in 2022 the variety was successfully registered in the Russian State Register of Breeding Achievements. It was allowed to be grown almost throughout the entire territory of the Russian Federation. Characteristics of the variety
:
Muscat pumpkin varieties, such as Arbatskaya, have an average ripening period. The variety ripens within 115 - 125 days after the seeds hatch in the spring.
The plant is long-climbing. The leaves are large and green with white spots on the surface.
The pumpkins of this variety are orange-brown in color and have a club-shaped shape. The average fruit weight ranges from 6.5 kg to 20 kg. At the same time, the pulp is orange in color, and it is juicy and dense.
Advantages of the variety
:
- Small seed chamber with few seeds.
- Excellent sweet taste with a pronounced nutmeg aroma.
- High yield (4.1 kg per 1 sq. m of plot).
- The purpose is universal. It is also successfully used in dietary nutrition.
- Easy to care for.
- Strong immunity.
- Possibility of cultivation throughout the Russian Federation, except the Far North.
Disadvantages of the variety
:
- The best results are obtained by following agricultural cultivation techniques.
Nectar
Nectar Pumpkin was created by specialists from the Research Institute of Vegetable Crops Breeding in 2011.
And then, after passing the tests, the variety was added to the state register of the Russian Federation in 2013. The culture was recommended for cultivation throughout Russia in private household plots. Description of the variety
:
The Nectarnaya variety of nutmeg pumpkin has an average ripening period, which is up to 120 days, if you count after all germination.
The plant grows lashes that are of medium length and dark green, medium-sized leaves.
The variety's pumpkins are pear-shaped. Their color is orange-brown. They are smooth. The weight of the fruit can be from 3 kg to 7 kg. When cut, you can observe dense and juicy orange pulp.
Advantages of the variety
:
- Excellent taste. Here the fruits contain 7.8% dry matter, 5.1% sugar and 17.3 mg of carotene (per 100 g of product).
- Harvest from 1 sq. m plot is collected at 4.9 kg.
- The fruits have good keeping quality. They can last for 90 - 100 days without loss of taste.
- They can be safely transported over long distances.
- Small seed chambers with few seeds.
- You can make your own seeds from the fruits.
- The purpose is universal.
Disadvantages of the variety
:
- To obtain a truly rich harvest, you need to correctly apply all agronomic techniques.
Muscat de Provence (Muscat de Provence)
The French variety of nutmeg pumpkin Muscat de Provence was bred by agricultural experts in 2011.
And in the same year, an application was submitted to undergo variety testing to include the variety in the state register of the Russian Federation. Then, 2 years later, in 2013, the variety was included in the Russian state register of breeding achievements. And it was approved for cultivation throughout the Russian Federation, except for the Far North (12 regions). Description of the variety
:
Muscat pumpkin varieties such as Muscat de Provence can be called medium-late because the variety has a ripening period of 110-115 days after all the seeds have hatched.
The plant has medium-length vines with medium-sized green, slightly dissected leaves.
The fruits are flat-round in shape and segmented. Their color is orange-brown with a waxy coating. Average weight - from 3 kg to 8 kg. The flesh is orange.
Advantages of the variety
:
- High yield (2.8 kg - 4.3 kg per 1 sq. m).
- Great taste.
- Drought resistance. You still need to water it.
- Can be used universally.
- Unpretentiousness in the growing process.
- The immune system is quite strong. Any plant can get sick. This is influenced by growing conditions. For example: excessive humidity.
- Good transportability and keeping quality.
Disadvantages of the variety
:
- The crop is very heat-loving, and therefore it should be grown with caution in regions with a cool climate.
Vita
The Vita nutmeg pumpkin variety was developed and bred by breeders from the All-Russian Research Institute of Irrigated Vegetable and Melon Growing.
This institute is located in the Astrakhan region. An application for variety testing to include the variety in the state register was submitted in 1990. And now, 4 years later, in 1994, the pumpkin was officially registered in the register of breeding achievements of the Russian Federation. It was allowed to be grown only in one region, the Ural region. Characteristics of the variety
:
Muscat pumpkin varieties such as Vita are considered mid-season. The variety has a growing season of up to 120 days after seed germination.
The plant is a climbing plant, and here the main stem is usually the longest. The leaves are dark green in color. They are average in size. There are grayish spots on their surface.
Pumpkins can be round or slightly oval. Their surface is most often smooth, although in some cases it may be slightly segmented. The bark of ripe fruits is light brown in color, and there is a pattern of orange spots on its surface. The pulp has an orange color when cut.
Advantages of the variety
:
- The harvest from 1 hectare is 9.9 tons, and this is a good result.
- The variety can be safely harvested mechanically.
- Great taste or good.
Disadvantages of the variety
:
- Large seed nest.
- Average disease resistance.
Family
The Family nutmeg pumpkin was developed and created by agricultural specialists in 2015.
And then, after passing the tests, the variety was included in the state register of breeding achievements of the Russian Federation in 2017. It is worth noting that pumpkin was allowed to be cultivated throughout our vast country. Description of the variety
:
Muscat pumpkin varieties such as Family ripen in 130 - 140 days, which means that the pumpkin is clearly late-ripening.
The plant is a climbing plant, where the main stem usually grows the longest and most powerful. The leaves are dissected, large and green, and they are always spotted with white spots.
The fruits of the variety are cylindrical and have an average diameter. They are segmented on the outside, and their color is dark green with a waxy coating. Weight 8.5 kg -16 kg. When cut, you can see the orange flesh, which is juicy and dense.
Advantages of the variety
:
- The seed chamber is small.
- Stress-resistant. Easily tolerates both drought and cold.
- High yields (1.8 kg - 3.8 kg per 1 sq. m of plot).
- Shelf life up to 90 days after harvest.
- Great taste.
- The purpose is universal.
Disadvantages of the variety
:
- Compliance with agronomic practices is of particular importance (feeding, watering and weeding).
- Average resistance to diseases and pests. Important
! Diseases appear especially often at high humidity.
Penguin
The nutmeg pumpkin variety Penguin was developed by Russian breeder Andrei Vladimirovich Goncharov in 2011.
Next, there were tests to include the variety in the register of breeding achievements. And already in 2012 it was included in the Russian state register. It was approved for cultivation throughout the Russian Federation with the exception of the Far North. Characteristics of the variety
:
Muscat pumpkin varieties such as Penguin are mid-season, which means that the pumpkin should have time to ripen within 100 -120 days. The process directly depends on the growing conditions.
The plant is a climbing plant with medium-length vines. The leaf is not dissected, medium in size and dark green in color with white spots on the surface.
Fruits can be slightly segmented or smooth. They are pear-shaped in shape. Their color is orange-brown with a waxy coating. Average weight 2 kg. The pulp is medium in thickness and is orange in color.
Advantages of the variety
:
- The taste is good or excellent.
- Shelf life is 220 days and this is an excellent result (7 months).
- Medium-sized seed chamber.
- The harvest is harvested from 1 square. m plot is 3.4 kg, and that’s excellent.
Disadvantages of the variety
:
- For a rich harvest, it is necessary to follow the growing rules (feeding, watering).
Beneficial features
According to its characteristics, the most valuable thing about nutmeg pumpkin is its low calorie content and small amount of sucrose, which is why this variety is considered a dietary product. The pulp has a delicate sweet taste and a firm texture that will be similar to young almonds.
Pumpkin is universal - it is useful both in fresh (raw) and in heat-treated form.
Daily consumption will help:
- removing excess water from the body;
- disappearance of swelling caused by excess fluid;
- beneficial effects on the nervous system (when systematically used in food);
- normalization of metabolism;
- improving digestion, because is not a contraindication for various diets;
- enriching the skin with beneficial microelements;
- Pumpkin seeds (raw) cleanse the intestines of parasites.
Galette Pie with Pumpkin, Blue Cheese and Thyme
This free-form tart combines pumpkin and apples and is topped with salty, melty blue cheese. Recipe:
Galette Pie with Pumpkin, Blue Cheese and Thyme Categories:
Autumn dishes / Main courses / Vegetables and mushrooms / Appetizers / Sandwiches / Vegetable appetizers / Soups / Cream soups / Recipe collections / Pumpkin dishes / Pumpkin appetizers / Pumpkin soups / Pumpkin main courses / Pumpkin side dishes / Pumpkin casseroles / Pumpkin pies / Pumpkin desserts and baked goods
Planting a pumpkin
Use quality seeds for planting
Pumpkin de Provence ripens in approximately 110-120 days. Seeds of this variety should be purchased from trusted sources, because... You can often find a fake or low-quality product.
The package price can vary from 36 to 400 rubles (it all depends on the quality and quantity).
Usually, in early spring, seedlings are sprouted from seeds at home in order to plant them in the ground in the first half of May.
Seeds are planted in special soil:
- soil that can be bought in stores (it can be universal or you can use a mixture for cucumbers);
- You can make the soil yourself: from small sawdust, humus peat (1:2:1), you can add nitromophos to this mixture (1 tsp per 1 kg of soil).
By the time of planting, the seedlings should reach 10-12 cm and have at least 4 formed leaves. According to technology, it is better to grow seedlings in special peat pots, and then plant the plant in the ground with them.
Growing will be better in soil where nightshades grew last year. You cannot plant after similar plants: cucumbers, zucchini, onions.
The soil must be fluffed up before planting (fertilizers must be added to it in the fall). Seedlings should be planted at the rate of 1 plant per 1 m².
When to plant?
Provençal pumpkin is planted in open ground in mid- or late April. In the southern regions, at this time the soil temperature at a depth of 5-8 cm reaches 12 C. The area can be covered with film so that the soil warms up faster. The film will retain the moisture in the area necessary for the seedlings.
The seeds are planted to a depth of 5 cm. The bed is covered with film. Remove the covering material when young growth appears.
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The time for sowing seedlings depends on the pumpkin growing method. If you plan to plant seedlings in an open area, then sowing is carried out in mid-May. When growing pumpkin in a heated greenhouse, seedlings are sown in mid-April.
Seedlings are grown for a month. It is planted in the greenhouse in mid-June. If in the region at this time the air temperature rises to 18-20 C, then the greenhouse is not used. Planting is carried out in open ground. The seedlings are protected from frost and precipitation by a film tunnel.
Care
Muscat de Provence pumpkin is very easy to grow. The plant is undemanding to heat, light, and soil composition, but you need to remember that the pumpkin needs to be fertilized. She needs additional nutrients.
Additional feeding is positive; they are effective if the plant is planted in soil poor in nutrients. Don't forget about weeding and remove weeds on time.
Excess fertilizer can harm the plant
The pumpkin weaves quickly, you need to allocate more space for it or make special sets so that it weaves upward, but not high, because... the fruits are heavy.
- After transplanting into the ground, seedlings should be watered when the outside air temperature is above 25 °C for 3-4 days. It is necessary to pour carefully - under the bush, on the ground, without pouring water on the leaves. It is best to do this in the evening so that the sun's rays do not form a crust.
- To feed, you need to use store-bought preparations, which you simply need to dilute with water at home, according to the instructions. These mixtures already contain all the necessary elements. You can use Nitroammofoska by diluting it with water (10 g per 7 liters of water).
The main thing is not to overdo it with fertilizers so that the plant does not burn from excess nutrients.
Potimaron is...
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out: crossing a pumpkin and a chestnut and thus developing a hybrid is quite a task. And if someone takes it up one day, we will, of course, be interested to see the result. But potimaron is definitely not the fruit of love between a pumpkin and a chestnut tree. The French call pumpkins potimarones, which are part of a single group and are united by the flavor of roasted chestnut. And, as you know, the French love chestnuts no less than escargot and artichokes.
It is believed that the first people to grow potimaron were the inhabitants of Central America. And the Portuguese, who saw an unusual vegetable among the Indians, borrowed the seeds from the Americans and brought them to the Land of the Rising Sun - Japan. It was the Japanese, and not the French, as many people think, who continued selection over the unusual crop. In France, the fruit appeared only in the late 50s of the last century. The vegetable was originally called “Hokkaido sweet pumpkin.” And a little later, the funny and absurd name pumpkin chestnut was assigned to it, which is still popular today.
From a botanical point of view, pumpkin is Cucurbita maxima, that is, a giant or large-fruited pumpkin. We quite often grow her sisters in our garden plots. Therefore, to say that potimaron is an outlandish vegetable would not be entirely true. One way or another, large-fruited pumpkin is familiar to us. All pumpkins from this group are very similar to each other and are united by the taste of roasted chestnut, which we already wrote about above. Note that the classic potimaron is painted bright orange. But this feature cannot be considered characteristic of all varieties of the above-mentioned group. The fact is that thanks to breeders, we now have potimarons of green, bronze, and even unexpectedly pink color.
Potimarons have mealy pulp that is bright in color. And if you puree the pumpkin pulp, the aroma of roasted chestnuts will become even more pronounced. The weight of pumpkins is small and usually varies from a kilogram to three. That's why potimarons are called portioned pumpkins.
Harvest and storage
Provençal pumpkin is harvested in late autumn - after all the vegetables have been collected, in the second half of October.
The very first indicator of maturity is a dry and very hard tail. The pumpkin skin becomes tough and requires considerable effort when cutting.
It must be removed before frost begins, otherwise it will not be stored (it will begin to deteriorate). You need to store the fruits in a place where it is dark and cool: the temperature should not exceed 12-14 °C and be sure to maintain air humidity - about 50-70%.
The position of the fruits should be tail up and they should not touch. Damaged ones will need to be eaten first.
Diseases and pests
According to the description of the variety, Provence pumpkin is susceptible to some diseases and pests.
- Bacteriosis is small yellowish and red spots on the surface of the leaves; when they appear, the plant begins to dry out. Bacteriosis should be removed with copper sulfate diluted with water.
- White rot is the process of destruction of the plant by covering the surface of the pumpkin with a white coating. Due to a lack of moisture in the soil, this rot penetrates from the surface into the fruit, causing harm to it. You can remove rot using crushed activated carbon (sprinkle on the affected areas) or a solution of copper sulfate.
- Powdery mildew - the leaves and fruits themselves become covered with white drops, similar to dew, because of which the pumpkin begins to dry out. The reason for everything is fungal spores; they need to be gotten rid of by treating the seedlings with a 70% solution of colloidal sulfur.
- Spider mite - it wraps itself around a plant with a sticky web, clogging its pores. The plant begins to rot. To get rid of mites, you need to prepare a tincture of garlic and onion peels and spray the pumpkin once a day.
To prevent diseases, you can use drugs that are also used for growing cucumbers, watermelons, melons, and squash.
Culinary use
Interestingly, nutmeg varieties are not the sweetest among pumpkins. They accumulate 5 - 6% sugar, and record varieties of large-fruited pumpkin - from 8 to 13%. But the spicy aroma and delicate consistency of the pulp make the “nutmeg” more tasty.
Many of them can be eaten raw, like fruit.
And they should be cooked more like fruits than vegetables. The pulp is put into porridge and fruit salads, it is used as a filling for sweet pies, and a thick juice is obtained. The preparations are also excellent – jams, marinades, candied fruits.
@Joe Spake, flickr
The nutritional value
Butternut squash is a delicious and nutritious vegetable with medicinal properties. The benefits are determined by two main factors - the ability to be stored for a long time and the abundance of carotene. Shelf life of nutmeg pumpkin varieties indoors:
- from 3 months (Augustina, Guitar, Maria, Honey Tale, Chamomile)
- up to six months or more (Amati F1, Ariel F1, Penguin, Tsukatnaya, Chudo-Yudo).
When stored, the sweetness and aroma are enhanced, but the vitamins are not lost.
The pulp of most nutmeg varieties has a rich orange tint. This is a sign of a large number of carotenoids - provitamins of group A. They provide a person with healthy eyes, blood vessels and intestines. Minerals and phytosterols regulate the functioning of the liver and kidneys, as well as the production of hormones. The low calorie content (25 - 30 kcal) is also attractive.
The seeds are not as full-bodied as those of the large-fruited pumpkin, but they are also rich in microelements and omega acids.