Snake gourd is a vegetable in India, native to tropical Africa, Malaysia and other regions. It looks weird. The edible tender fruits are rich in glycoprotein, lysine and other ingredients. It can be fried in slices, stuffed, etc. It is slightly sweet. At the same time, snake gourd, with its special long curved snake-like appearance and winding rattan, has a good ornamental value, and is increasingly becoming a major vegetable sightseeing highlight in leisure agriculture, bringing tourists a strong sense of interest of. Therefore, the development of new varieties of snake gourd vegetables has outstanding edible and ornamental value, and has huge market potential.
Snake gourd is a climbing plant with slender, uniform, curved strips resembling a snake. Generally, the length is more than 1 meter. According to the length of the fruit, it is divided into short fruit type and long fruit type; the diameter of the melon strip is 3-5cm, the flesh is thick, the fiber is small, the pulp is white, and the peel color is divided into gray-white, green, and blue-black. , with light green thin stripes in between, with white hairs on the epidermis. In the south, some snake gourds are green at the beginning of maturity, and gradually turn yellow as they age, and the outer skin of some reserved seeds can turn red.
Snake gourd has a strong growth potential and likes a humid and hot environment. It can be planted on a large scale in the field. It needs to be cultivated on a trellis, or it can be interplanted among other crops. Due to the long growing and harvesting period of snake gourd, only one crop is planted a year. The seedlings are raised in Yangqi from March to April in spring, planted from late April to May, and harvested from June to October. The seed coat of snake gourd is thick, the seeds need to be treated, and germination needs to be carried out before sowing. The tender melons are mainly harvested, generally 30 days after planting, and about 10 days from flowering to maturity.
Harvest time
One crop a year, harvested once every 1-2 days during the full harvest period.
income analysis
A single plant can produce up to 40-60 melons, and the annual output per mu is about 8,000-10,000 catties. The output value per mu is 16,000-20,000 yuan, and the economic benefits are good.
Technical essentials
1. Suitable environmental conditions: Snake gourd likes warmth and is not resistant to cold, and the suitable growth temperature is 20-35 °C; it likes strong light, and the soil requirements are not strict. In other words, snake gourd can be grown on any soil. ; Likes a humid environment, but is also drought tolerant.
2. Planting method: Generally, it can be sown in the open field in early and mid-April. If you plant a large amount, it is best to raise seedlings first. The seedling stage is about a month, and you should pay attention to the time arrangement; Apply NPK compound fertilizer once a day or so, and keep the soil moist during the fruiting period; it takes about 70 days from sowing to the first melon picking.
3. Snake gourd has almost no pests and diseases, so it is really easy to plant snake gourd, but it grows on vines, so it is necessary to build a frame in time. Because of its large number of lateral branches, it is enough to remove some lateral branches in time. If it is planted in a small yard at home, after planting the seeds at the right time, you don't need to worry about it, and you can still grow a lot of snake gourd.