BOTTLE GOURD CULTURAL MANAGEMENT

A herbaceous, annual climbing plants. It has a long tendrils and simple leaves. Fruits are globular or any other shape depending on the varieties planted. It has hard rind. It has different sizes and form. As vegetable, good to be boiled or stewed.

Plow and harrow the field thoroughly to remove all weeds in the field including those that started to germinate. You need 2 kilograms of seeds enough for 1 hectare. To germinate the seeds quickly, soak seeds in water for 24 hours. Wrap it in moist cloth until it breaks the seedcoat. Sow 2 seeds per hill. Cover the sowed seeds with soil thinly enough to protect it from rain or heat.

Sow the seed in a distance of 1 meter between hills and 4 meters between rows. The soil should be fertile with good aeration capacity. To further enrich the soil composition, apply 20 grams per hill during the planting. Further, sidedress by the application of 10 grams/hill of urea (46-0-0) during the vining of the plants. Apply 2 parts of urea and 1 part of muriate of potash (0-0-60) as sidedressing at the rate of 10 grams per hill after 15 days.

As gourd is a plant vines; it should be accommodated by putting up trellises to protect the fruits from deformation and rotting. The design should be to construct vertical and overhead trellis by using bamboo poles, or wood posts or hardwood trees with connecting materials from post to post with the use of G.I. wires, abaca twines and straw twines. The interconnection will be the concrete support for the plant during its vining and fruiting stage.

Pruning is one way of removing unproductive vines. Let the vines climb in the vertical poles serving as ladder until it reaches the overhead trellis as home during their growing and fruiting stage and support the weight of its foliage and fruits. Prune the lateral (lower) branches of the main stem to have a good branching and fruiting ability.

Make it a point to have an adequate drainage of the field to control waterlogging especially during rainy season.

During dry season, provide enough mulch to conserve moisture in the soil. This is also an adequate because there will be a lesser watering of the plants.

The popular insect pests of gourd plant is leaf folder, yellow beetles and fruit fly. The common diseases were mildew, leaf spot.

It is important to check the plant daily and regularly to see their condition and what necessary steps to be done of any sign of disease infestation and pest problem.

A good sanitation habit is important to control pest and disease. It is important to have a schedule application of pesticides and fungicides during the growing and fruiting period of the plants.

Once the plants started fruiting, utmost attention is needed to harvest the fruits reaching marketable size within 15 days  from fruit set to avoid over-mature of fruits. Harvesting be done as often as needed. Use sharp knives to cut the peduncle 5 centimers from the fruit base.

JACKFRUIT CULTURAL MANAGEMENT

Jackfruit is not the main fruit crop in the fruit stand. But the sweetness of this fruit can not be ignored. It was even more sweeter compared to other fruit crops raised by planters. The green fruit was boiled and eaten as vegetables. The ripe fruit was made into preserved (in syrup) in demand by consumers. Dried fruits of Durian is now common and displayed in the supermarket shelves.

One way to raise Durian seedlings is by multiple trunk technique.  This method will produce more fruits. It  is simple to do. The main trunk is cut 50 centimeters above the ground. After several months, the cut trunk started to form multiple branches. The advantage of the technique is that it is easy to do the regular pruning to remove sprouts, dead or diseased branches. This is also to allow better pest and disease control as the tree can be reach due to its shortness in height. This is also to allow a good light penetration and air movement around the plants.

There are many varieties of jackfruit. But there was one variety in Asian country that has no latex when green. The flesh is thick, yellow-gold, very sweet and the quality is excellent.

The method in raising them is through seedlings placed in plastic bag. It is raised in the nursery for proper care, where a shade and water is enough to grow the seedling fast. After having the required height of the seedling,  it can now be planted in the prepared area that are fully cultivated.

This fruit tree can grow in any type of soil but most effective in a well-drained, deep and alluvial soils. Jackfruit seedling is to be planted at the distance of 8 meters x 8 meters or 10 meters x 10 meters.

Dig a hole enough to put the size of the bagging. Put compost materials under the hole. Remove the packing of the seedlings and place it to the hole enough to level the height of the packing. Then close the hole by pressing the soil around it.

Be sure that there is adequate water supply for fast growth of the seedlings. The first few years after the planting is very critical in the life of the plants. Without water and proper drainage, the plant cannot survive for long. Watering should be done regularly for the first and second year. This plants is sensitive of any water deficiency especially if the surface around the plant becomes dry. Water is also needed during the fruiting stage in order to have a heavy flowering and fruit set.

Adequate supply of water is also needed for the proper development of the plants  in order to have a better quality fruits. In case of overcrowding of fruits in a branch or branches, some fruits should be harvested as vegetables. Allow only 2 to 3 fruits to develop into bigger size to ripe in order to have a better and quality fruits in the branches. This is also to ease the burden of the branches to handle on overcrowding fruits. Any excess fruits in a branch should be thinned out.

Fertilization is one factor needed for the growth of the plant and to have a good fruit-bearing trees. Apply chemical fertilizers of 11 kilos to the plants annually. You can split the chemicals into stages:

Flowering – 4 kilos (9-24-24)

After fruit setting – 4 kilos (15-15-15)

Month before fruit maturity – 3 kilos (8-24-24)

You can also apply animal manure (organic) at the rate of 30 to 50 kilos per year. Additionally, a foliar fertilizer (10-52-15) is required to spray to the plants 3 times a year especially during the fruiting stage.

One way to control the presence of pests is to put the fruit in a bag individually upon reaching the size of 250 to 300 grams. You can spray the plants with insecticides (not directly to the fruits) to assure that they cannot infect the fruit in the bag. Most of the pests are leafhopper, stemborer and thrips. Use only those insecticides allowed by the manufacturer for fruit pest control. Control disease called phytophthora by applying fungicides in the ground around the plants.

There are other ways to control diseases of the plants. The most economical method you can use: wide spacing of trees  being planted. Remove low-growing branches. Do regular weeding in areas around and near the trees. Keep the trees healthy by regular application of fertilizers.