Laguaria
General: Also known under the names of Vietnamese zucchini, a bowl, an Indian cucumber and a pumpkin pumpkin. The annual lianate plant forms a long creeping main stalk with large rounded leaves and numerous shoots. In the axils of the leaves, large beautiful pale cream flowers with a specific odor are formed. Fruits grow very fast - 8-10 cm per day and reach 2 m in length and 10 cm in diameter. Seeds are large, light brown, angular in a dense thick shell.
Ingredients: The fetal pulp contains 4.8-7 % dry matter( 2.5-4.9 % sugar, 0.55 % protein, 0.13% fat).
Requirements: heat-loving plant. Cultivate it mainly on the southern slopes, well warmed by the sun. High yields yield on loose, well-fertilized soil. In cold weather, to prevent the death of plants from frost, they must be covered with a film.
Cultivation: the seeds of lagenarii have a hard bark, so before sowing they are soaked for 2 days and germinated in wet sawdust or in moss at a temperature of 25 ° C.After 5-7 days, they are sown with a sprout down one at a time in a pot with a diameter of 12 cm. Seedlings are sown for about a month during sowing in late April.
Prepare large seedlings before planting seedlings, placing them at a distance of 1 m from each other along the fence on the south side. Put in the holes, the manure or compost, as well as the ashes.
Care: water regularly and abundantly with warm water. To preserve the moisture, the wells are mulched with peat. If the nights are cool, the plants are covered with a box, on top of which they lay a film. Top dressing during the growing season is 3-4 times, alternating organic and mineral fertilizers. For fertilizing it is better to use aqueous solutions of mullein( 1: 10) or bird droppings( 1 i 20).White large plant flowers begin to open in the afternoon and fully open by midnight, so they are pollinated by hand. The central stem, when it reaches the upper wire of the trellis, as well as the side shoots pinch. To avoid thickening, some side shoots and fruits are removed, leaving on the plant no more than 7 ovaries.
Harvesting: One fruit, intended for seeds, is cut off when it is fully ripened, that is, in September. It can not be stored in a warm room for a long time, since under the leathery shell there are good conditions for the germination of seeds: they must be extracted in time and dried. One plant removes up to 30 kg of fruit.
Usage: in the food, 25-30 cm long fruit is used as ordinary cucumbers. Mature fruits weighing 7-10 kg are used for food, like zucchini and squash: from them they prepare salad, caviar, sauces, cook porridge, fry in oil. The fruits of lagenari, having a varied shape - flattened, spherical, pyriform, bottle-shaped, cylindrical - are used to make household utensils - bowls, vessels and basins. The bark of them easily lends itself to artistic processing - varnishing, painting, burning, while obtaining beautiful vases, caskets, etc.