How to grow zucchini- Master the 3 principles of high yield
Zucchini, also known as horned melon and white melon, is an annual herbaceous plant of the Cucurbitaceae family. Zucchini is native to southern North America. It is grown all over the world and is one of the most important vegetables in the world.
There's a reason zucchini, a summer squash, is such a popular crop in the home garden: It's easy to start, can be grown in containers, and once zucchini plants start producing, they can be amazingly prolific.
Zucchini is very nutritious, rich in a variety of amino acids, alkali substances, and has low sodium content. It is a recognized health food and is therefore deeply loved by the general public. Due to the rapid development of solar greenhouses, the cultivation types, cultivation area and yield of zucchini have been greatly improved, thus enabling annual supply of zucchini to be gradually achieved.
Since zucchini seeds will come to maturity quickly — about 45 to 55 days — you can even wait until August to plant for an early fall harvest. In fact, many experts recommend waiting until mid-July to plant so you can avoid infestation of a specific type of squash bug.
Feeling inspired? Here's everything you need to know about planting, growing, harvesting and using zucchini.
1. Morphological characteristics of zucchini
The root system of zucchini is very developed and penetrates deep into the soil. When planting directly, the main root of the plant can penetrate the soil to a depth of more than 2 metres. The root system of zucchini grows quickly, ages easily, and has poor regeneration ability after root cutting. The stem is creeping, 0.5-1 metre in length, hollow, and easy to split and break. The true leaves of the plant are palmately deeply lobed, alternate, rough and spiny, and green in color. Some varieties have silvery white spots at the intersections of the leaf veins. The leaves are larger, the petioles are long, and they are easy to break. Zucchini flowers are unisexual and monoecious. Female flowers usually do not have the ability to parthenocarpic and must be pollinated before they can set melons. The fruit of zucchini is cylindrical and has a smooth surface. The tender peel is green, light green or dark green, usually with or without reticulation, and the mature fruit is yellow with no white frost on the fruit surface. Zucchini seeds are oval, flat, off-white or light yellow, weigh 140-200 grams, and have an effective use period of 3 years.
2. Requirements of zucchini on environmental conditions
1. Temperature
Zucchini is a warm-loving vegetable. The optimal temperature for seed germination is 25-30 degrees, and the minimum temperature is 12 degrees. In an environment below 20 degrees, the seed germination rate is very low, and it cannot germinate below 12 degrees or above 35 degrees. The flowering and fruiting period of zucchini requires temperatures above 15 degrees, and the optimum temperature for development is 22-33 degrees. The minimum temperature for root elongation is 5 degrees, and general greenhouses should be kept above 12 degrees to ensure normal growth of plants.
2. Lighting
Zucchini has higher light requirements. Due to the weak light in greenhouses in winter, zucchini often blooms late. Zucchini is a short-day plant. The short-day conditions in the seedling stage are conducive to increasing the number of female flowers and reducing the node position of female flowers. The growth of nodes and leaves is also normal. During the melon-bearing period of zucchini, strong light on sunny days is conducive to setting the melons and preventing them from turning into melons, which can significantly increase the early yield of zucchini.
3. Moisture
Zucchini is relatively drought tolerant due to its strong root system and strong ability to absorb water. However, the roots of the plant grow more horizontally, the leaf area is large, and the transpiration is strong. Continuous drought can also easily cause leaf wilting, weak growth, flower topping, and disease. Therefore, during the planting process, the soil moisture is required to be relatively high. But it should not be too high to prevent various diseases. When planting in winter, it is necessary to strictly control the water to promote root control and appropriately suppress the growth of stems and leaves to promote the root system to develop deeper and lay a solid foundation for high yield.
4. Soil conditions
Zucchini is not tolerant to saline-alkali conditions, and the suitable soil pH is 5.5-6.8. For the absorption of mineral nutrients, potassium is the most important, followed by nitrogen, followed by calcium and magnesium, and phosphorus is the least. It is easy to obtain high yield and high quality products by planting in fertile sandy loam soil with rich organic matter.
Planting Zucchini
Choose soil that drains well in a sunny area of your yard. Amend the soil with compost or manure as zucchini plants are heavy feeders, meaning they require a lot of nitrogen.
Plant seeds an inch deep, 4 to 5 seeds per hill. If you're planting in rows, add 2 to 3 seeds per hole and 36 inches apart. If planting in hills, thin to 2 to 3 plants per hill once seedlings emerge.
Growing Zucchini
Here are some tips on caring for you zucchini:
Mulching around your zucchini plants after they have emerged can help the soil retain water, especially important if you're having a dry summer.
Make sure your zucchini plants get at least two inches of water per week.
Water zucchini using a soaker hose as watering from a can may lead to mildew on the plant's leaves.
Pollinating Zucchini
If your zucchini has beautiful blossoms but they fall off with no fruit, then you may need to hand pollinate.
Most common garden plants produce flowers that have both male and female parts. However, the reproductive processes of squash plants are separated into distinctly male and female flowers. A pollinating insect must transfer the pollen from the male flower to the stigma inside a female flower for fruit to develop. The fruit then develops from the female flower only. Squash plants tend to produce loads of male flowers early in the season, sometimes well before the first females start to show up. This can account for what appears to be a fruit set problem early on as the male flowers are useless until the females arrive.
The first thing you'll need to do is identify the male and female flowers. Males have a straight, thin stem just behind the petals. They contain the anther inside, which should be loaded with powdery, yellow pollen. Females are easily identified by a tiny, immature zucchini fruit (or ovary) that sits just behind the petals. Depending on the variety, it sometimes looks more like a thickened stem than a fruit.
Zucchini flowers tend to open up wide in the morning and are often closed by the afternoon, so it is important to hand pollinate in the morning. Pluck a fully open male flower from the plant. Peel off the petals to expose the pollen-heavy anther. Gently brush the pollen over the stigma of a fully opened female flower. That's it. Over the next few days you should see the small zucchini begin to swell and grow into a fruit.
Zucchini Companion Plants
You can improve your chances of growing a bumper zucchini crop by pairing your zucchini with companion plants that can minimize pests and disease issues or improve the soil. For example, 'Blue Hubbard' squash can be used as a "trap crop" to lure squash bugs, cucumber beetles and squash vine borers away from zucchini. Position 'Blue Hubbard' several feet away from individual zucchini plants or around the perimeter of your zucchini patch.
3. High-yield Cultivation Techniques for Zucchini
1. Variety selection
When planting zucchini, it is appropriate to choose varieties with short plants, compact plant shape, small leaves, low female flower nodes, fast growth and development, and strong cold resistance. At present, the common ones on the market include Early Spring Generation, Gray Caini, Zhengzhou Yiwo Chicken, etc.
2. Cultivate strong seedlings
Generally, seedlings are raised in nutrient pots or nutrient soil blocks. The most suitable time for raising seedlings is from October 10th to November 25th. The specific method is: put the seeds flatly into the hole, cover them with 1.5-2.0 cm thick nutrient soil, and cover them with mulch in time after covering the soil to keep them warm. Maintain a relatively high temperature before emergence, generally at 28-30 degrees. When the seeds show signs of being unearthed, remove the mulch and cover with a 60-mesh insect-proof net to prevent aphids, whiteflies, spotted flies, etc. After emergence, we need to control the temperature at 18-22 degrees. Zucchini is generally not watered during the nursery period. If the bottom water is insufficient or the seedling soil is severely sandy and drought occurs, use a watering can to spray water and avoid flooding with floods. When the cotyledons are unfolding, it is necessary to spray fungicides on the seedbed, such as doxepin, chlorpheniramine, etc. plus agricultural streptomycin, which can effectively prevent and control damping off, damping off, etc. The seedling stage generally takes 15-20 days.
3. Site selection for planting
When planting zucchini, we should choose fields that have not been planted with melon crops in the past 2-3 years and have a low base of pathogenic bacteria and few nematodes in the soil for colonization. If you have to choose a field where melons have recently been planted, soil treatment should be carried out before planting. Specific methods include paddy and drought rotation, exposure to the sun after plowing, high-temperature stuffy sheds, chemical fumigation and disinfection, etc., to ensure that the field is suitable Zucchini is cultivated over the long season.
Before planting, we need to plow the soil deeply, preferably more than 25 centimeters, and apply 1,000-2,000 kilograms of fully decomposed high-quality farmyard manure, 20-25 kilograms of diammonium phosphate, and 70-90 kilograms of superphosphate per acre of land. kg, potassium sulfate 15-20 kg. We generally adopt the method of combining ditch application and general application. Superphosphate should be applied concentratedly, and the border should be built with a row spacing of 80 cm and covered with mulch.
The cultivation density of zucchini should not be too high. The spacing between rows and plants is 80 cm × 50 cm, and 1,600-1,800 seedlings can be maintained in one acre of land. Moderately sparse planting is conducive to ventilation and light transmission, which can reduce the occurrence of pests and diseases. It is also conducive to field operations and fully reduces damage to plants.
4. Field management
(1) Water and fertilizer management
In terms of water and fertilizer management of zucchini, from the seedling stage to flowering and fruit setting, the main focus is on cultivating water to conserve water and controlling water and fertilizer to effectively prevent leggy or "crazy seedlings" caused by excessive soil water and fertilizer. When the root melon fruit begins to expand, usually when the root melon grows to 5-6 cm, start watering and topdressing. Combined with irrigation, 15-20 kg of diamine phosphate is applied per acre of land. When the second and third fruits are enlarged, we can perform a second top-dressing of 20-25 kg of urea per acre of planting land. After this, the soil should be kept moist at all times. Generally, top dressing and watering should be carried out in time after each harvest. After irrigation and top dressing, we must pay special attention to ventilation and moisture removal to prevent the occurrence of large-scale gray mold.
(2) Preserve flowers and fruits
When grown in a greenhouse, zucchini is prone to melon formation and must be artificially assisted in pollination. The method is: pick the male flowers and remove the corolla at 6-10 o'clock every morning, and gently apply the stamens of the male flowers on the stigmas of the female flowers to complete artificial pollination. Each male flower can generally fertilize 3-4 female flowers. Of course, treating stigmas and fruit stalks with appropriate concentrations of 2 4-D can effectively prevent melon formation and promote fruit enlargement. Spraying 0.1% Sukonin liquid on the stigma of young fruits can effectively prevent gray mold from harming young fruits.
(3) Hormone treatment
In winter, when there are fewer male flowers, when the temperature is low, and there is less pollen, hormone treatment can be used to prevent flower and fruit drop. The most commonly used hormone is 2, 4-D. The treatment time is between 8 and 10 o'clock in the morning. The suitable concentration is 100-200 mg/kg in winter and 25-30 mg/kg in spring. Apply it between the base of the style and the base of the corolla of the newly opened female flowers. You can also apply it on the young melons, but never on the stems and leaves of the plant. To prevent double application, we'd better add red dye to the 2,4-D.
(4) Pruning and hanging vines
Hanging vines are a new cultivation method that regulates growth, increases growth space, rationally utilizes light energy, and increases yield and efficiency. When the plant begins to sway, we must pull the rope to hang the vine in time, and pay attention to restraining the strong and supporting the weak to keep the faucet at the same height. Be gentle when hanging the vine to avoid breaking the top.
5. Pest and disease control
(1) Disease
Damping-off disease: In the early stage of the disease, use 60-80 grams of antiviral alum 64% wettable powder to prepare a 500-600 times solution per mu of land, or use 50-70 grams of thiophanate methyl 70% wettable powder per mu of land. Prepare 600-800 times of liquid for foliar spraying. In protected areas, one acre of land can be sprayed with 1 kg of chlorothalonil 5% dust agent.
Viral diseases: Prevention of viral diseases in zucchini should be focused on controlling and killing aphids, leafminers and other spreading pests.
Powdery mildew: One acre of land can be sprayed with 2500-3000 times of Aoning 25% wettable powder in the early stages of the disease. For zucchini grown in facilities, one acre of land needs to be smoked with 110-180 grams of chlorothalonil 45% smoke agent or 200-250 grams of Soklin 10% smoke agent.
Botrytis: Use 1,000-2,000 times of Sukerin 50% wettable powder per acre of zucchini field, and spray it at the early stage of the disease. In protected areas, 110-180 grams of chlorothalonil 45% smoke agent can be used for fumigation treatment per acre of land.
Brown rot: In the early stage of the disease, it is recommended to use 65-80 grams of antiviral alum 64% wettable powder to prepare a 500-600 times solution per acre of land and spray it. The control effect is excellent.
(2) Pest pests
Aphids: Use 16-20 ml of acetamiprid 20% EC to prepare 2000-2500 times solution or cypermethrin 10% EC 4000-8000 times solution for spray control on one acre of land.
Whitefly: In the early stage of damage, spray 10% imidacloprid 1500 times or 1.8% avermectin 3000-4000 times per acre.
Spider mite: In the early stage of damage, one acre of zucchini should be fully sprayed with 1000-2000 times of 50% wettable powder of fenbutyl tin.
6. Harvest at the right time
The standard for harvesting zucchini melons in the early stage is when a single melon weighs 500-600 grams, and in the mid-term, it is harvested when a single melon weighs 700-800 grams. When the weather is good, the water and fertilizer are sufficient, and the plants are growing vigorously, a single plant can produce 3-4 melons at the same time . We should increase ventilation and apply water and fertilizer to ensure timely harvesting. The length of the zucchini blooming period is related to management techniques. Insufficient water and fertilizer, excessive temperature, serious diseases and insect pests, late harvesting, etc. will lead to premature plant failure and seriously shorten the melon blooming period.
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