What does the decorative turban pumpkin "Little Red Riding Hood" look like and why grow it?

The Red Riding Hood pumpkin is used for landscaping areas; its bright fruits adorn hedges. However, these are far from all the options for using the vegetable. In this article, you will learn how to grow and care for Little Red Riding Hood, what is the secret of a good harvest and how else to use decorative pumpkin.

Description and characteristics of the variety

Outwardly, this variety of pumpkin of the turban family cannot be confused with any other. One of the features of the plant is long tendrils-lianas, thanks to which it is possible to grow crops on vertical supports.

Yield

The Red Riding Hood variety is high-yielding. The plant is capable of producing more than 10-20 fruits from each bush weighing 2-5 kg.

Fruit characteristics

Outwardly, the vegetable looks like a mushroom with a red cap resembling a turban. At the bottom, the fruit has fairly clear edges with smoothed corners. The pulp is orange-yellow, bright. It tastes sweet, slightly melon-like, with a nutty aftertaste.

The weight of one "fungus" of decorative pumpkin is about 2 kg, but pumpkins weighing 4-5 kg ​​can be grown. The base of the fruit is light, cream in color, sometimes with green irregular longitudinal stripes.

Pictured pumpkin Little Red Riding Hood:

Is it possible to eat decorative pumpkin

Many, seeing a pumpkin in the form of a mushroom with a red cap, ask themselves: "Is it possible to eat it?" Chalmovidnaya is an ornamental, not culinary variety. However, the young fruits of Little Red Riding Hood are edible, unlike its bitter-tasting counterparts. It is eaten raw, stuffed, added to salads, stewed, fried and boiled.

Important! You can only eat vegetables with a soft and thin skin. As the pumpkin grows, it becomes hard and unusable.

Pros and cons of the variety

The Red Riding Hood variety has a lot of advantages. These include:

• resistance to cold;
• unpretentious care;
• drought resistance;
• persistent immunity to a common disease - powdery mildew;
• seed germination of the Red Riding Hood variety lasts 7 years.

What about negative points? Here, all experienced vegetable growers agree on one thing - the Red Riding Hood pumpkin has no shortcomings.

How to grow

Plant grade in spring, after frost. The seeds can be sown directly into the ground or the seedlings can be prepared first. The difference will be in the timing of flowering and ripening - the pumpkin seedlings will ripen and bear fruit faster.

It is recommended to plant a crop from the sunny side, next to some kind of support. For decorative purposes, gardeners sow it near the fence. Little Red Riding Hood over time begins to trail along the fence, forming a hedge.

Growing features

To get a good harvest of ornamental pumpkin, you should know the peculiarities of its cultivation. Little Red Riding Hood has a lot of them:

1. Vegetable crops do not dive... The transplant begins in June. The planting scheme is as follows: the distance between plants is 0.3 m, the depth is no more than 0.3 m. The recommended distance between the rows is 0.2 m.
2. The turbid culture prefers fertile soil with neutral acidity. It grows well and bears fruit on manure fertilizers. The application rate of cow dung is 50 kg per 10 m².
3. After planting, the plant is covered with a film, creating a greenhouse effect. When the air warms up to 20 degrees, the film is removed. The vegetable begins to grow actively at a temperature of 30 degrees.
4. It is imperative to form a plant. Plucking begins when the lashes reach a length of 1 m.
5. Chalmoidnaya grows poorly after sunflower, watermelon, potato. Neighborhood with other large-fruited varieties should be abandoned. Red Riding Hood is best grown in complete isolation with artificial pollination.

Prevention of diseases and pests

Infection of a plant and the appearance of pests on it is easier to prevent.

For prevention purposes, it is recommended to perform a number of agrotechnical measures:

1. Observe the rules of crop rotation. Pumpkin crops are not planted in the same place more often than once every 3-4 years.
2. To carry out deep plowing with incorporation of fresh manure.
3. Observe the distance between plants. Do not thicken the planting.
4. Do not cultivate gourds nearby (zucchini, melons, cucumbers).
5. Weed regularly. They contain fungal spores.
6. Feed the pumpkin with complex mineral fertilizers (copper sulfate, boric acid with urea, potassium permanganate, zinc sulfate).
7. Regularly inspect plantings for diseases and pests.
8. Remove infected plants and fruits in a timely manner.
9. Plant residues after harvest should be carefully removed from the field and burned.

Good care in most cases prevents plant diseases and insect infestation. But if the trouble did happen, you can't hesitate.

To combat pests, it is recommended to use herbal remedies or folk remedies that are harmless to humans. It is only possible to resort to the help of toxic chemicals in extreme cases.

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Harvesting and storage

Harvest before the first frost - in September-October. For gastronomic purposes, vegetables are cut unripe so that they do not have time to become tough. In the process of ripening, the taste improves. However, the longer the fruits lie, the firmer they will become. So, by the spring they become so hard that they are suitable for making dishes.

At home, Little Red Riding Hood lays about a year. To prevent pumpkins from spoiling for a long time, they are cut off with a footboard not shorter than 5 cm.

Advice! For planting next year, the seeds are laid for storage in the fall. The ideal place for this is wet sand. Store seed in a refrigerator or on a closed balcony.

Reviews of gardeners

Most gardeners note in this variety unpretentiousness in cultivation and versatility in use. There are no negative reviews about the variety. Judge for yourself:

Yuri: «This pumpkin is cold-resistant, resistant to powdery mildew, drought-resistant. It is early ripe, sweet, fruitful. From one plant, I collect up to 30 fruits weighing 3-5 kg. The plants are quite compact, the length of the lashes does not exceed 3 m. Having reached a certain weight on the lash, the fruits then ripen safely in the prone. Most of the fruits ripen in December-January with normal storage on the floor in the room. It was during this period that their taste is irresistible. The first fruits ripen much earlier. "

Irina: «Interestingly, turbid pumpkins are stored at home for more than a year. Sunflower seeds these pumpkins are healthy, with a lot of oil. Jam or candied turban pumpkins are transparent amber in color. When the pumpkin skin is still soft, you can stuff it with meat, vegetables and simmer in sour cream. But in a mature state, they become inedible, with a thick crust. In spring the pumpkin hardens, becoming suitable only for making vases. "

Faina: «Turtle-shaped pumpkin "Little Red Riding Hood" I usually plant with seeds. Although the weight of the pumpkin is small, it has a tasty and sweet, melon aroma, bright orange pulp. The fruits are rich in carotene. I like to bake pumpkin slices and make porridge out of it. "

Conclusion

Increasingly, on the plots of summer residents, you can find an unusual type of pumpkin Little Red Riding Hood.This decorative variety has a number of advantages: high yield, long storage, resistance to cold and drought, bright taste.

The unpretentiousness of this culture will especially appeal to novice gardeners. And despite the fact that it is more often used for decoration, there is also a place for it in gastronomy.