Setting fruits in snake gourd starts about 50 days after seed sowing. The fruits can be harvested as early as 15-20 days after anthesis. Flowering and harvesting usually remain continued for 1- 2 months. Most often fruits are harvested about 3 months after sowing when they are 30-70 cm long and still green and tender since fruits at full maturity become lighter in weight, fibrous, and bit hard, which are not usually preferred by the consumers in the market.
ScientificFarmingWeb
What is the use of applying Plant growth substances on snake gourd crop?
The proportion of female flowers can be increased either by pruning the vines or by applying Ethrel at 150 ppm. Application of 0.1-0.2% potassium naphthenate on 18 days old plants can increase the number of fruits per plant by 20%.
How training of vines is carried out in snake gourd?
When, Snake gourd fruits are very long, slender, and soft, thus, training is an essential practice to allow the fruits to grow downward and to keep them straight. Vines are trailed on a high trellis to avoid fruit twisting or coiling. The plant training over bower system is considered the best for this crop. Overhead trellises are made at about 2.0 m height. A small weight can be tied to the bottom end of developing fruit to make them grow straight.
What is the irrigation requirement for Snake Gourd cultivation?
Snake gourd in its entire crop duration requires a steady supply of moisture but is sensitive to excessive water application or water logging conditions, thus, providing frequent but shallow irrigation is rather beneficial. The first irrigation may be given immediately after sowing, if moisture in the field at the time of sowing is not sufficient for proper germination of seeds.
For spring-summer crop, regular irrigation at 3-5 days intervals is necessary to uphold the desired soil-moisture level. At the time of fruit set and fruit development, sufficient moisture should be maintained, and there should not be any dry spell during this period.
What is the Manurial requirement for Snake Gourd cultivation?
During field preparation, about 10-15 t/ha of well rotten farmyard manure should be incorporated at the time of land preparation. Besides, a mixture of nitrogen 50-70 kg, P2O5 30-40 kg and K2O 30-40 kg per hectare is also applied to get good yield from snake gourd crop. Full amount of P2O5 and K2O and half of nitrogen are applied as basal, and rest amount of nitrogen is top dressed when the plants start bearing.
Snake gourd crop although responds well to fertilizers application but too much application of nitrogenous fertilizer can lead to excessive vine growth and reduced fruit yield due to increased male to female flower ratio.
How plant population density can be maintained in snake gourd?
In snake gourd, population density varies from 3,500 to 10,000 plants per hectare, depending upon varieties and methods of cultivation. Adopting suitable training practices about 8,000- 10,000 plants can be accommodated in area of one hectare.
How snake gourd seeds are sown in Raised Beds or Ridges?
In this method, channels of 40-50 cm width are prepared manually or mechanically keeping 2.0- 2.5 m distance between two channels. Seeds are sown on both the edges of channel at a spacing of about one meter. Usually, per hill, two to three seeds are sown to have optimum plant population. The vines are allowed to spread over the raised portion in between the channels. In this way, around 3500-4500 plants can be accommodated in area of one hectare.
How snake gourd seeds are sown in Shallow Pit or Flatbed Method?
Shallow pits of 60 × 60 × 45 cm size are dug, and they left open for 3 weeks before sowing seeds. The pits are filled with a mixture of soil, compost (4-5 kg/pit) and recommended dose of NPK. Carbofuran @ 1.5 g/pit should also be thoroughly mixed in pit soil before sowing seeds. After filling the pits, 3-4 seeds per pit are sown at 2-3 cm depth. A spacing of 1.5-2.5 m row-to-row and 60-120 cm plant-to-plant is advocated for the planting of snake gourd.
What is the seed rate required and how seed treatment is done in Snake gourd?
In general, about 4-6 kg seeds are enough for the sowing of one hectare land area, however, seed sowing in pits at a spacing of 2.0×2.5 m requires about 1.5 kg seeds per hectare. Seeds collected from larger fruits produce heavier seedlings and vigorous plants. The seed before sowing in field should be treated with Trichoderma viride @ 4 g or Pseudomonas fluoresces 10 g or carbendazim 2 g/kg of seeds.
At which time snake gourd is sown?
In south India, it is grown during both spring-summer and rainy season. The spring-summer crop is sown in December-January and rainy season crop in June-July. In northern India, generally one crop is taken during rainy season, which is sown in June-July. It is also planted in October- November where winters are very mild.