Pumpkin Vitamin: description, history of the variety. Growing
Content:
The article describes Vitamin Pumpkin in detail: description, characteristics, history of the variety, growing rules.
Pumpkin Vitamin refers to late-ripening nutmeg melons and gourds. Gardeners love this variety for its sweet pulp with a lot of fiber and high content of vitamins and minerals such as folic acid and carotene. In addition to excellent taste characteristics, pumpkin of this variety is valued for its consistently high yield and resistance to diseases and pests. To obtain a decent harvest of this variety, the vegetable will need a warm climate and plenty of sunlight.
Pumpkin Vitamin: the history of the variety
Pumpkin Vitamin: variety photo
Mexico is considered the birthplace of Vitamin pumpkin. Due to the peculiarities of the climate and abundant sunshine, pumpkin specimens grow up to one centner or more in Mexico. It is very popular in this country to use pumpkin for food, and it is very often found in national recipes.
It is difficult to grow many kilogram pumpkins in Russia due to climatic features. Nevertheless, Soviet agronomists in the middle of the 20th century bred a variety of butternut pumpkin, which was given the name "Vitaminnaya". Fruits that can reach up to 7 kg. Pumpkin of this variety is very thermophilic, therefore it grows well in the Russian south and in the southern regions of the European part of Russia.
Pumpkin Vitamin: description and characteristics of the variety
Nutmeg pumpkin Vitamin: variety photo
A vegetable that has many kilogram fruits should be impressive in appearance. Vitamin pumpkin has a powerful trunk with branches up to 7 meters in length. Large leaves are attached to the trunk with long cuttings covered with white hairs. Pedicels are long with bright yellow flowers with a pleasant aroma that promotes an active pollination process. Fruits of the Vitamin pumpkin variety are oval or round in shape with a dense, smooth peel of various colors from beige to orange and coral. The pumpkin skin may show streaks or spots, and small ribbing may form.
The taste qualities of the Vitaminnaya variety pumpkin are highly praised for the rich orange-yellow color of the juicy fibrous pulp with a pleasantly sweet aroma. Smoothies are often made from this pumpkin variety. This drink, like pumpkin in general, is rich in vitamins A, C, pectin, vitamins of groups B, D, PP, ascorbic acid, as well as rather rare vitamins T and K, which help to synthesize blood protein and fight the symptoms of anemia.
Thanks to the plant fibers, which are abundant in pumpkin, this vegetable has a good ability to quickly saturate the body. And ladies love melons and gourds, including for their low calorie content, since 100 grams of pumpkin contains about 20-25 kcal, and the ability to lose weight. In addition, it will help normalize blood pressure and improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as maintain the water-salt level in the body. Pumpkin contains a lot of magnesium, potassium, manganese, each of which contributes to the prevention of the cardiovascular system, and will also help to improve the external and internal condition of the skin and hair.
Vitamin pumpkin: distinctive features of the variety
Pumpkin Vitamin: variety photo
Vitaminnaya variety pumpkin is very thermophilic, does not like temperature changes.From sudden changes in temperature, the trunk darkens and the leaves of the plant dry up, which leads to the death of the plant. Therefore, in central Russia, where the warm season is quite limited, and the weather is subject to sharp changes, it is possible to grow this pumpkin variety only under greenhouse conditions, with a stable temperature of more than 20 ° C. The yield of Vitamin pumpkin is up to 4-5 kg from 1 square meter of land.
The soil is an important element for growing pumpkin - loosening, removing weeds and watering every few days, this is the guarantee of a good harvest and the main recommendations of gardeners, then the plant will form a strong trunk with large leaves and a large number of ovaries will form.
Vitaminnaya variety pumpkins ripen in 130-140 days from the moment of the first shoots. In the middle of autumn, pumpkin fruits ripen up to 6 kg, with a strong peel that can easily withstand any transportation.
Disease and pest resistance
The most common diseases of melons and gourds, which include pumpkins, are late blight and powdery mildew. Vitaminnaya is very resistant to these two diseases, which makes gardeners very happy. Nevertheless, prevention will not only not be superfluous, but will also help strengthen the plant's immunity. And fertilizing the plant with mineral fertilizers will contribute to the collection of a decent harvest.
A pumpkin of the Vitaminnaya variety, like any plant, be it a fruit, vegetable or an ornamental plant, has both advantages for which it is most appreciated among professional gardeners and amateur gardeners, and disadvantages that are worth paying attention to so that your expectations were met, and your efforts on the beds were not in vain.
Pumpkin Vitamin: reviews of gardeners
Gardeners consider the advantages of the Vitaminnaya pumpkin variety to include active flowering and high yields, resistance to the most common diseases and pests, excellent taste and the absence of obstacles to transportation.
Based on the reviews about Vitamin pumpkin, the variety also has disadvantages. These include the size of an adult plant, namely, because of the large leaves, even one pumpkin plant of this variety occupies a large amount of land on the site, which not every gardener can afford. All the more, the situation is aggravated by the fact that this variety is thermophilic and requires a constant air temperature above 20 ° C, and therefore for central Russia this is an additional cost for equipping a greenhouse at its site. An insignificant, but still a disadvantage, can be attributed to the late ripening of the vegetable, when most amateur gardeners prefer early varieties, which can please with their fruits as soon as possible.
Rules for growing pumpkin varieties Vitamin
Pumpkin nutmeg Vitamin: photo of the variety
In warm, favorable climates, butternut squash seeds are planted directly into the soil in late spring or in the first weeks of summer. You should not do this earlier, it is important to make sure that the temperature does not drop below 20 ° C, the roots of pumpkins are very tender, especially during the period of seed germination, they die off in cold ground. If the plant has problems with the roots, then this will immediately be noticeable by its leaves, they begin to fade and become covered with dark spots. However, growing Vitamin pumpkin from seeds may take longer and may not have enough warm season for the crop to grow and mature.
Therefore, in addition to the method of direct planting of Vitamin pumpkin seeds into the ground, cultivation of seedlings of butternut pumpkins is also practiced. This method is considered to be the fastest. When growing seedlings of Vitaminnaya variety pumpkins, you should pay attention to the pots in which you plan to grow them, their diameter should be at least 8-10 cm.The main thing for nutmeg pumpkins is the root system, and if there is not enough room for the full development of roots in the bitter one, then you should not expect anything good from such seedlings.
When planting Vitamin pumpkin seedlings in the ground, it is not necessary to especially prepare the soil. The earth should be dug in and the formed earth stones should be broken, cleaned of roots and debris. Seedlings should be planted to a depth of 10-12 cm while preserving the seedling soil. The distance between the seedlings should be kept from half a meter, depending on the allowable area of the site, since the pumpkin is a very freedom-loving plant. She will grow comfortably with a large amount of free space where the plant can calmly spread its leaves without encountering obstacles and without interfering with the growth of other plants.
In the end, it should be said that the Vitaminnaya variety pumpkin belongs to late-ripening varieties of melons and gourds, is very thermophilic and does not tolerate a drop in air temperature and the cool summer season. The most favorable conditions for plant growth are abundant sunlight, warmed earth and warm, even at night, air. That is why the Vitamin pumpkin variety is good in the warm climatic conditions of southern Russia. This is evidenced by numerous reviews of southern gardeners, who begin planting seeds in the soil at the end of April, and planting seedlings at the end of May. Due to the sweet taste, gardeners very often use pumpkins for preparing a variety of cereals, juices, casseroles, and smoothies.
Vitamin pumpkin: video about the variety
