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Pumpkin Sweetie was bred by Russian breeders for cultivation especially in non-black earth regions. She not only quickly gained popularity among gardeners, but was also awarded the highest rating by the Institute of the Canning Industry for its excellent taste. The sweet pulp of this vegetable fully lives up to its name.
Description of the pumpkin variety Sweetie
Pumpkin of the Sweetie variety is an annual plant with a creeping stem, the length of which can reach 1.5 m. The stem is rough, prickly. On each, as a rule, 6-8 fruits are tied. The leaves are heart-shaped, large (up to 25 cm), green, located on elongated petioles. The flowers are large, yellow, with long stalks.
Description of fruits
In accordance with the description of the variety, Yummy pumpkin is large-fruited, and you can often find a photo of its giant fruits weighing up to 100 kg. However, her usual average weight on a garden plot is between 1.5 and 3 kg. The fruits are well segmented, have a thick, rough peel, and when ripe become bright orange in color. There are specimens with longitudinal greenish stripes denoting segments.
The pulp is very juicy, deep orange in color. The seed nest is small, filled with large seeds suitable for food.
Description of pumpkin Sweetie characterizes it as a versatile table variety, the main distinguishing feature of which is its extremely sweet taste. The pulp of the fruit contains about 8% sugar, making the Sweetie suitable for baking, making salads, cereals, mashed potatoes. It is good in first courses, and in side dishes, and in appetizers. It, unlike many others, can be eaten raw.
The Sweetie variety has a high content of vitamins and minerals. It contains especially a lot of ascorbic acid and carotene, there is also sodium, phosphorus and magnesium. This vegetable is a dietary product with a calorie content of 22 kcal per 100 g.
The fruits of this variety have found application in the food industry, in the production of baby food, since they are rich in vitamins and microelements, and products with their use do not require additional sweetening.
This variety is also grown in livestock farms. Due to its unpretentiousness, high yield, excellent nutritional value and keeping quality, many farmers use it as animal feed. Description of Yummy pumpkin as a fodder crop receives excellent reviews from the owners of livestock farms.
This vegetable can be stored for up to 10 months at temperatures between + 7 ° C and + 15 ° C and tolerates transportation very well.
Variety characteristics
This variety is cold-resistant, therefore it is widespread throughout Russia. When grown in the Middle Lane in conditions of a long warm summer, up to 7-8 fruits can ripen on one plant. In the colder and rainy Northwest region, up to 3 pumpkins are removed from the plant.
The culture easily tolerates drought, but is demanding on soil fertility and is photophilous.
Yields of pumpkin varieties Sweetie are obtained on average 110–130 days after germination. Depending on climatic conditions and quality of care from 1 sq. m. collect 3.6-8.4 kg of fruit, and from one bush - up to 25 kg. The variety is high-yielding.
You can find F1 Candy seeds on sale.This is a hybrid of the same variety. According to the description and main characteristics, the pumpkin Candy F1 is similar to the main variety, and in order not to be mistaken in the choice of planting material, when buying seeds, you should pay attention to the photo. The bark of Candy F1 is gray in color and has a denser texture. It practically does not differ in taste, although some connoisseurs of this vegetable notice nutty notes in its sweet pulp.
Pest and disease resistance
This variety suffers from the same diseases and pests as other pumpkin crops. These are white rot, bacteriosis, root rot, powdery mildew, spider mites, etc.
Compliance with crop rotation significantly reduces the risk of disease. Pumpkin should not be planted after pumpkin crops (cucumbers, squash, squash), since the causative agents of their common diseases remain in the ground for several years. The preferred precursors to pumpkin are onions, potatoes, legumes, and root vegetables.
The general rule when a pumpkin is damaged by a disease or pest is the urgent collection and destruction (burning) of all affected parts of the plant.
There are special drugs for the prevention and treatment of each disease.
Advantages and disadvantages
The varietal advantages of Yummy pumpkin include:
- sweet taste of pulp;
- wide possibilities of using fruits;
- high content of vitamins, microelements;
- early maturity, unpretentiousness, frost resistance, drought resistance;
- long shelf life.
The disadvantages of pumpkin Sweetie, according to some vegetable growers, are:
- exactingness to soil fertility;
- photophilousness;
- susceptibility to disease.
Growing Pumpkin Sweetie
Pumpkin Sweetie does not require much effort to grow and care. Gathering a rich harvest is not at all difficult. Even novice vegetable growers will be able to get beautiful sweet fruits if they follow the recommendations for planting and cultivating this variety.
Planting a pumpkin sweetie
When growing pumpkin, Sweetie should remember that she, like other large-fruited varieties, requires a lot of space. A distance of 90 to 150 cm is left between the plants. It is better to choose a site for planting sunny, blown by the winds.
The culture grows well on light and medium loamy soils. The bed is pre-fertilized with manure or compost, and if the soil is severely depleted, ash and superphosphate are added to the holes.
Pumpkin Sweetie is grown both by seedling and non-seedling methods.
Sowing pumpkin Candy for seedlings should be from the second half of April to the second decade of May.
As in the case of forcing seedlings of other pumpkin crops, the seeds of this variety for disinfection are first soaked in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. The optimal substrate for germination is a mixture of turf, peat and humus. Individual cups or peat pots are used as containers - pumpkin shoots quickly form a branched root system and it is almost impossible to dive the grown shoots without damaging them.
Seedlings are planted in a permanent place after 3 weeks.
Seeds are sown directly into the ground, usually in the second half of May - early June, and in the southern regions they begin from early May. The planting material is preliminarily placed in a damp cloth and left for a day at room temperature. The strongest seeds sprout, which should be hardened in the refrigerator for 2 days.
Place 3-4 seeds in each well. Of the 3 emerging seedlings, they leave the strongest and strongest.
If there is a danger of night frosts, cover the planting with a film at night.
Pumpkin Care Sweetie
To increase the yield, the bushes are formed: after the appearance of 5-6 leaves, the stem is pinched, as a result of which the plant gives side shoots, on which more fruits are formed. In August, when all the ovaries are formed, they pinch all the shoots to stop their growth.
Further care of the crop is reduced to watering, loosening, weeding and feeding. Water the pumpkin with warm water as the topsoil dries. Plants need more moisture during the flowering period.
Loosening, weeding and feeding begin to be carried out no earlier than one and a half weeks after planting and continue until the leaves close.
Fertilize pumpkin Sweetie, like other pumpkin seeds, with organic matter. Many seasoned gardeners prefer feeding chicken droppings, but a regular mullein will do. Ammonium nitrate can be used as a source of minerals. The first time the plants are fed at the 5 leaf stage, then during the intensive growth of the plant, and then every 3 weeks.
Harvest on a sunny day. A stalk up to 10 cm long is left on the pumpkins. If the fruits are not ripe before the first frost and remain in the garden, they are mulched with straw or covered with foil.
Conclusion
Pumpkin Sweetie is an extremely attractive variety for Russian vegetable growers. Its unpretentiousness guarantees a harvest even in areas with risky farming. The sweet pulp of this healthy vegetable can be used not only in confectionery, but also indispensable in the preparation of dishes for children.
