We get acquainted with interesting varieties of the miracle pumpkin lagenaria
If you are tired of cutting ornamental shrubs on the arch annually, but you need to create a life-giving shade, plant a lagenaria. This amazing creeping vine is quite large in size and fast growing: in just a few months, long lashes will completely cover the support, moreover, they will also delight with the harvest. The latter, by the way, has a multifaceted application: fruits of the most diverse forms can not only be eaten, but also made from them original decorative and kitchen utensils. Growing lagenaria is no more difficult than growing squash or pumpkin, which are its closest relatives. How to do this, and what types of creepers can be planted on your site, this will be discussed today.
Lagenaria came to us from distant Africa. It is very thermophilic and is most commonly grown in southern regions, although many gardeners successfully cultivate it as a greenhouse culinary culture.
What does the plant look like?
True, you can put a litter under them, but, you must admit, it is difficult to cover such a large area, and there is not always so much free space on the site - it is much easier and more convenient to grow lagenaria on a support.
It should be noted that the support must be stable, reliable and high. Not only do the shoots stretch a meter in length every week, but also the weight of the fruit in some varieties can exceed 10 kg, and the length is more than 1 m.
Interestingly, lagenaria blooms at the same time as datura or matthiola: Delicate white inflorescences with a heady scent bloom among the foliage after sunset.
In the early morning of the next day, fully open flowers cast a barely noticeable pink or cream shade, but then turn pale and close by noon.
As for the shape of the fruit, then nature has gone to great lengths: long "mutant cucumbers", giant pears, round zucchini with an inflated cap, similar to plump overgrown mushrooms, beautiful pumpkin-vases with a long neck or altogether resembling a snake in their sinuous shape ...
In short, Lagenaria can surprise even the most demanding gardeners. Moreover, if you wish, you can give the fruits other outlines, which only your imagination will tell you - you just need to tie a young pumpkin with a rope in the right place and it will gradually narrow.
How to use the fruits of lagenaria?
Young Lagenari pumpkins will be appreciated by gourmets - the sweet taste is very similar to squash. The main thing is to pick them off in time, while the pumpkin still has soft and juicy flesh and a thin skin. If you skip this moment and let the lagenaria begin to ripen, the pulp becomes tough (in some varieties it even gets a bitter aftertaste), and the shell hardens.
A lot of delicious dishes can be prepared from young fruits:
- caviar like squash;
- pancakes;
- vegetable stew stew;
- salad;
- stuff with rice and meat and bake in the oven;
- pickle;
- salt.
Lagenaria fruits have a unique property: if you cut off a piece from them, for example, for a salad, the pumpkin continues to grow further, and the cut site simply corks up and the edges dry out.
When the lagenaria is fully ripe, its skin becomes so strong that it is almost impossible to break the pumpkin. Even after overwintering outside, in most species it does not become soft. Due to these properties, the fruits of Lagenaria are used for the manufacture of various small household items, such as dishes, vases, stands, toys, ashtrays and even musical instruments. It is enough just to make a hole at the top, remove the pulp with a wire and dry the pumpkin. Very beautiful multi-colored dishes are obtained if you peel the skin with sandpaper, paint with gouache and varnish.
If you store milk in such a "lagenar" jug, then it will not turn sour for a long time, and the wine will remain cool for a long time.
The most interesting types of lagenaria
The shape of the fruit of a creeping vine depends on its variety. Most often, on the sites you can find the following types of lagenaria:
- calabash;
- bottle;
- fieldlike;
- serpentine;
- cobra;
- goose with apples;
- Swan geese;
- cylindrical;
- warty;
- clavate;
- turban.
Some varieties of Lagenaria are grown for food consumption. Others are so original that, already hanging on lashes, they are a work of art. They make beautiful decorative crafts. Let's take a closer look at these types of creepers in more detail.
Lagenaria Calabaza
One of the most decorative varieties, the fruits of which look like giant ones, up to 50 cm in length, pears, but with an elongated top. Thanks to their narrow neck and wide bottom, they make comfortable jugs. With good care, even a two-meter pear can be grown, however, this is not so common. Pumpkin ripens 200 days after sowing the seeds. As for the length of the lashes, in a sunny place they can grow up to 15 m.
Bottle lagenaria
The variety is similar to Lagenaria Calebas, only the upper part of the fruit is wider, and the bottom is slightly less voluminous. The bottle lagenaria is one of the most compact: the length of its lashes does not exceed 3 m, and the pumpkins themselves grow up to a maximum of 70 cm in length. Fruits are rarely used for food, since they have a slightly piquant taste, most often pumpkins are grown for decorative purposes, the seedling method is predominant.
In the scientific literature, the variety is found under the name Butles.
Lagenaria field-shaped
The variety is closest to the "home" zucchini and completely repeats their shape with even smooth edges, but only if you consider that the zucchini will be simply giant. If young pumpkins are still not distinguished from a relative, then over time their length reaches an average of about 1 m, and there are specimens up to 2 m, while they weigh 10 kg. An impressive zucchini, isn't it? The bush itself is distinguished by good branching, and its leaves are more like pumpkin leaves - they are large and covered with light fluff.
Lagenaria serpentine
This is a more elegant and fanciful version of a log-shaped pumpkin - the variety is also characterized by an elongated shape, but the diameter of the fruits is noticeably smaller, and they themselves bizarrely bend like a snake, for which they got their name. The total length of such a snake usually does not exceed 70 cm, although it is capable of hanging all 7 kg. The leaf blade of a medium-sized variety, however, the size of the bush is also quite compact: 2 m in height for an adult plant.
Serpentine lagenaria is often grown for culinary interest. Young fruits no more than 50 cm long have tasty and sweet, "squash", pulp and even leaves have nutritional value.
Lagenaria Cobra
The variety is distinguished by beautiful fruits of a rich dark green color with blurred light green spots and a mysterious shape.The lower part of the pumpkin is even and round, and the upper part is curved to the side and thin, while at the very stalk the “neck” has a thickening resembling the head of a snake. Lagenaria Cobra in home cultivation makes high demands on the temperature regime, therefore it is most often grown in the southern strip and only by seedlings, otherwise the fruits do not have time to ripen before the onset of cold weather.
The variety has not only nutritional and decorative value, but also has healing properties - it can help with excess weight, diseases of the heart, blood vessels, kidneys and gastrointestinal tract.
Lagenaria Goose in apples
The variety outwardly resembles a Cobra: the fruits, wide at the bottom, end at the top with a long, curved "neck", like a goose, and also have a dark green color with white spots. Most often, pumpkins have only a neck, but there are also varieties when at the stalk it turns into a slight thickening, and then the lagenaria looks like a goose with a head. If the vine grows on a support, then the hanging pumpkins have a straight neck and do not bend.
You can distinguish Goose and Cobra by looking at the very tip of the pumpkin, near the stalk: in Goose it is either even or ends in a "head", while in Cobra, after the "head", the fruit becomes thinner again.
The variety belongs to tall ones, its whips can rise up to 15 meters in height. On average, the weight of one fruit is 1.5 kg with a total length of 0.5 m, but in an especially productive year and with proper care, specimens weighing up to 8 kg can be grown, with up to 15 pieces per plant.
Lagenaria Goose in apples is distinguished not only by abundant fruiting, but also by excellent keeping quality of fruits. Pumpkins picked in September are able to lie until spring without losing their taste.
Lagenaria Swan
Another "goose" variety with green spotted fruits. They also build up a long neck, but in Swan, it is most often bent to the side, although if you let the lagenaria on the arch, the hanging fruits will have an even neck. The variety is decorative; it is not eaten due to the bitter taste of pumpkins. Scourges grow long, leaves are large, smooth.
Lagenaria Geese-Swans
In terms of the shape of the fruit, the variety is almost similar to the Goose in apples. You can distinguish these two types of lagenaria by looking at the bush itself. If the Goose is a large-sized liana with long lashes, then the Swan Geese are compact varieties, because their length does not exceed 1.5 m. In addition, they have smaller leaves.
Interesting souvenirs can be made from unusual fruits, and young zucchini, until they have grown to a length of more than 30 cm, are used for food purposes.
Lagenaria Hostess
The variety is characterized by strong growth and shape diversity: pumpkins can be in the form of a bottle, a pear or a cylinder. The neck is elongated, straight or curved, or with a thickening at the top. The color varies from pure light green to spotted dark green. The young Hostess has good taste; various crafts are made from ripe fruits.
Lagenaria cylindrical
The variety is a cross between serpentine and log-like lagenaria: fruits are elongated, like in the first, but with smoother outlines, like in the second variety. But the color is most often rich green, although there are also light green long zucchini. Cylindrical lagenaria at a young age is very tasty pickled or canned. Ripe fruits are used to make decorative dishes.
Lagenaria warty
One of the most "ugly" varieties, not all are taken to grow it, but not because of the difficulties of care, but because of the interesting, but repulsive shape of the fruit. However, everything is clear with the shape of the pumpkin - it can be either standard, round and small, or elongated, but rather thick and huge. The color is most often light green or creamy orange. But what is most interesting is the large growths in the form of warts, which almost completely cover the lagenaria.
Lagenaria clavate
Slightly elongated in the lower part, the pumpkin smoothly turns into a long and narrow "neck", which reminds of a mace - this is how the fruits of the variety look. They are light green, with blurred white spots, the leaves of the liana are pale green, of medium size, the bush blooms with large white bells. In a sunny place, it grows long lashes, and the size of the pumpkin can reach up to 2 m in length.
Lagenaria Turban
One of the smallest varieties in terms of fruit size, thanks to which this Lagenaria cannot be confused with other species. Small pumpkins grow no more than 40 cm in length and consist of two rounded parts in the form of independent zucchini, dressed on top of each other:
- the lower one is painted in cream color, has a wavy, but stable bottom;
- the top looks like an orange-red cap, the edges of which are slightly protruding.
The variety is also called the Red, Oriental or Turkish turban, and the pumpkins themselves can be painted with green stripes, mainly in the lower part. Lagenaria blooms with yellow large inflorescences.
How to grow Lagenaria?
Planting and caring for a lagenaria will not cause much trouble, given some of the nuances of its development. First of all, this concerns the method of planting seeds. Like all pumpkin crops, liana is very demanding on heat, therefore, it can most often be found in southern latitudes, although it is possible to grow outlandish fruits in the middle lane.
Depending on the place of cultivation and climatic conditions, the seeds are planted in one of the following ways:
- Directly into open ground. This option is acceptable only in the south, since for germination you need at least 25 degrees Celsius in the depths of the soil, in addition, the fruits must have time to ripen before the onset of cold weather. Seeds can be sown not earlier than May in shallow grooves, after spilling them with hot water with a small amount of potassium permanganate. For the first time, it is better to cover the planting site with a film so that shoots appear faster.
- For seedlings. The method is suitable for the middle band. Seeds should be sown in April and transplanted to the garden in June. By this time, the bushes should be at least 10 cm high. You can put some humus and wood ash in each hole.
Growing lagenaria in a greenhouse will allow you to bring the harvest time closer and insure the crop against early autumn frosts.
When planting in rows between the bushes, it is necessary to leave from 25 to 70 cm, and it is imperative to provide a support so that the vine can curl, and the fruits do not lie on the ground.
Features of sowing seeds
The seeds of the lagenaria, although a relative of the pumpkin, differ in their shape and structure. They are elongated, square at the bottom and have a sloping top. Two light stripes are drawn along the seed. But the skin is very dense, even stronger than that of certain types of pumpkin, therefore, without special preparation, the lagenaria germinates for a long time.
There are two ways to speed up sprouting:
- Carefully cut the top.
- Soak the seeds in a growth stimulator for a day and place them for a week in wet sawdust for germination at a temperature of 23 degrees Celsius.
Where to plant and how to care for lagenaria?
Liana from the squash family will give the largest and most abundant harvest in a sunny place, protected from drafts. In such conditions, the bush itself will grow large and powerful, while in partial shade the leaves and fruits will be small. Ornamental pumpkin prefers fertile light soil with neutral to slightly acidity.
Caring for lagenaria is simple and consists in simple and familiar procedures for the gardener, namely:
- If there is no rain, water twice a week (2-3 buckets under a bush). With the beginning of autumn, when the fruits are ripe, watering can be stopped.
- During the season, feed with mullein and mineral complexes, alternating them.
- If the support is not high, pinch the lashes after they reach about 3 m in length to limit vertical growth and stimulate branching. Such a procedure will not only restrain growth, but also contribute to the setting of female inflorescences that give a harvest.
Each lagenaria bush should have a support in the form of an arch, tree, fence or special ladder. As the bush grows, the lashes should be tied every meter and guided so that the antennae can catch on.
To get your own seed version for breeding lagenaria, you need to leave the first ovary. To increase the number of seeds in a pumpkin, it is recommended to artificially pollinate the female inflorescence with several male flowers. If the fruit did not have time to ripen by the cold, it does not matter - it can be cut off with a part of the lash and allowed to ripen at room temperature. Good ripe seeds will be brownish in color, and they can be stored for up to 10 years with virtually no loss of germination percentage.
In conclusion, I would like to say that lagenaria is just an extremely useful vegetable for a summer residence. It will create a pleasant shade in the yard, allow you to admire the delicate flowers and breathe in their pleasant aroma, decorate the area with fancy garlands of original fruits that can be used for creativity or for culinary purposes. Grow this unique plant and let all the neighbors be jealous!