Evergreen bush pepino (or melon pear) comes from South America. Its name was not accidental. Its fruits resemble a pear in shape, but taste like melon. They perfectly quench their thirst and refresh. The fruit can be eaten raw, added to salads, dried, frozen, canned, cook candied fruits or jam.
Melon Pear Pear
Many gardeners are wondering about pepino - what is this plant, which is becoming more common in recent years? Culture refers to the family of Solanaceae, like tomatoes or potatoes . The plant is a branchy, strong, semi-arboreal shrub with a height of up to 1.5 meters and a stem thickness of 5-7 mm. It is perennial, grown in open or closed ground.
Pepin's wreaths are collected in inflorescences, similar to potato. Fruits are creamy, yellowish or orange, the flesh is covered with a skin with gray strokes, the seeds inside are small. The fruit is sweet and sour to taste and very juicy, has a length of up to 17 cm and weight of up to 750 grams. In a season from a bush it is possible to remove up to 7 kg of fruit, and at cultivation in pots - 5 kg. The fruit is nutritious and valuable - rich in carotene, iron, pectin, vitamins, iodine.
Pepino grades
The melon pear has two special varieties that are grown on the territory of our state - Consuelo and Ramses. They are known among gardeners, since 2000 they are officially included in the State Register as the most promising. Features of domestic kinds of melon pear:
- Pepino Ramses . Harvest, early-ripening, resistant to adverse factors grade. His stems are erect, flexible, green with violet impregnations. Fruits have a yellowish color, almost imperceptible strips, orange pulp, weight up to 750 grams. They sometimes have a slight peppery taste, and melon is weakly expressed.
- Pepino Consuelo . Also a yielding, but less resistant to adverse factors variety, more late-ripening. The plant has thin fragile lilac stems up to 2 m in length. Leaves resemble pepper plates. The fruits of Consuelo are brightly colored, they have purple hatching on a yellow background. The main advantage of the variety is excellent taste qualities of pepino as a fruit. It has a sweet and sour taste, similar to a melon. If the fruit ripens, it softens so much that it can be drunk like juice through a straw. The fruits are smaller than those of Ramses, their mass reaches 620 grams.
How to grow pepino?
Exotic pepino is easy to cultivate with the help of seeds or cuttings. Although it is a long-term culture, it takes root every year, as it is done with tomatoes or pepper. The plant loves the sun and warmth, from planting seedlings to harvesting takes 4-5 months. The optimum temperature for the harmonious development of pepino, growing such fruit at home is 18-25 ° C. In the heat above 26 ° C, the fruit can not tie.
Pepino - growing from seeds
In order to obtain an adult seedling of pepino from seeds at home in May, planting begins in November-December. The seeds are sprinkled slightly with loose soil. To conserve moisture, the seedlings are covered with a film. Seedlings are squashed after 5-7 days. At this time the shoots need constant illumination of the lamp. In the phase of 2-3 leaves, the seedlings are placed in the cups, deepening to the cotyledons and covering with a film. The backlight is reduced to 14 hours a day, closer to March it is completely stopped. By the time of landing in the open ground, the shoots must reach 10 cm in height and form 8 leaves.
Reproduction of pepino by cuttings
Grow and multiply the melon pear with the detachments safest. To every year to grow the fruit yourself, you need to have a uterine shrub. The selected healthy plant in autumn is transferred to a tub and brought into the house. Shoots reduce it by one third, watering is reduced, the bush should be kept at a temperature of + 8 ° C. At the end of winter, the tank is placed in a room with conditions + 16 ° C, increasing watering.
On the question, when cuttings of pepino, experienced gardeners answer - in mid-February. From the overwintered specimens, the apical part of the shoot with 7 leaves is separated. The lower 2 are removed, the shoots are placed in water, after 5-7 days, the roots are massively pecked on them. Then cuttings are planted in disposable cups with holes for removing water, they are taken care of before the time of disembarkation into the substrate.
Pepino - care
The melon pear is grown in a greenhouse, open ground or in pots with a volume of 5 liters. In a closed greenhouse, seedlings are planted in mid-April, this will allow to prolong the vegetation of the plant and get an early harvest. In an enclosed space, it is easier to grow a plant - there you can adjust the temperature. In the open ground sprouts of melon pear planted later - in May, while the risk of nocturnal frosts becomes minimal. When asked how to raise pepino at home, dacha's are advised to take a tub with a bush on the balcony on warm days. Culture needs fresh air and sunlight.
How to plant a pepino?
Before planting the sprout substrate is better to handle the solution of potassium permanganate. Pepino - competent landing and care:
- rows are prepared with intervals between them of 70 cm;
- fertilizer is applied: compost 4 kg / m 2;
- seedlings are planted in staggered order so that there is a gap of 50 cm between the bushes;
- The seedling is moistened and mulched with dry soil. This reduces the evaporation of moisture, and improves the conditions for the growth of sprouts;
- preferably landing in the evening.
The melon tree of pepino - the soil
The bush of the melon pear feels well in the soil with neutral acidity, well aerated. Soil should be without excess nitrogen, which causes strong growth of the stem at the expense of fertility. The best predecessors of pepino in the country are onions, cucumber, beans , garlic. After harvesting the old harvest, the earth is digging up, cleared of weeds and remains of roots.
In the fall, manure and mineral potash phosphorus feeds are introduced into it. In the spring, the soil loosens again to keep moisture in it. Feeding of melon pear is carried out monthly. Primary makeup is done 10-14 days after disembarkation, the second - after the fruit is tied, then - every two weeks. The plant responds well to manure (1: 7), or bird droppings (1:20).
Pepino on the windowsill - watering
When deciding to cultivate pepino at home, it is better to keep it on the south window sill, as it is very light-loving. To water a melon pear in the open or indoors it is necessary moderately - it does not take out waterlogging and it is easily amazed with a root rot. Moisten the soil every few days, you do not need to allow it to dry out - at the same time small roots are dying off, and the plant throws off the foliage and ovary. Pepper water is poured then, if the earthen lump is dried to a depth of 1 cm. With sudden changes in humidity, the fruit can crack.
When Pepino Consuelo blooms?
Pleases with flowering melon pear 70-85 days after emergence. Corollas on pepin resemble potato. Numerous flowers are collected in groups, up to 20 pieces in each. The petals are white and lilac strips. Fruits are tied from the end of March to May. The plant is self-pollinated, but it is advisable to shake it gently for the formation of the fruit during flowering. In June, after the days become longer and the temperature rises, the ovary is no longer formed.
Wondering why Pepino does not bloom, you need to know that this culture is heat-loving, but needs a certain microclimate. Optimal conditions for ovary formation are 20-25 degrees. It is easier to create them in a greenhouse. When caring for a plant in the open ground, there are more problems. Sultry summer at +30? C the plant does not bloom or on it sterile white corollas are formed, which simply crumble. Fruits are tied only on buds with lilac stripes.
If the conditions are suitable, the exot will be pleased with juicy fruits in September. From the time of the appearance of flowers to the ripening of the fruit takes 2.5-3 months. By this time they become soft, get a light yellow or cream color, on the peel appear strongly noticeable lilac stripes. A mature fruit is easily pressed with fingers, even more than a tomato. Fruits should be removed from the plant in time - a little unripened pear easily rises in the refrigerator, where it can be stored for up to 2 months.
When do I start papin?
Obligatory reception at cultivation of pepino melon (melon) - pasynkovanie and a tie up of a plant. Culture very strongly bush and forms many processes. The stepsons are removed if they reach a length of 3-5 cm. On the stem you need to leave small penechki (0.5-1 cm), which prevent the appearance of fresh shoots in the sinuses of the same leaves. The bush is advised to patronize regularly - every week.
After the plants are planted, on the bed you need to fix the supports (pipes, fittings, wooden pegs) with a height of up to 80 cm. As the stems grow, they are tied to trellises. Unresolved plant without pasynkovaniya under the influence of its own weight wilts, spreads on the ground, its branches take root and do not actually bear fruit. The formation of the bush and tie-up enable the culture to optimally use the radiant solar energy.
Diseases of pepino
Pepino is affected by diseases and parasites characteristic of tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. The main problems in cultivation:
- The main pests are aphids, whitefly, Colorado beetle. Of the chemical agents against them are applied: insecticides (Actellik, Confidor, Fosbitsid) for the destruction of whiteflies and aphids; Acaricides (Carbofos) from spider mites.
- Amaze the melon pear and sickness: shoots spoil the "black leg", so that this does not happen, the substrate is pre-impregnated with manganese solution.
- When the soil is overmoistened, root rot appears to get rid of the disease, it is necessary to disinfect the soil with copper sulfate, replace the upper soil layer with fresh soil, reduce watering.
- In the second half of the vegetation, the shrub can hit the phytophthora. Fight it with the help of milk whey or a drug Fitosporin - watered once a week.
- The plant is susceptible to the nightshade bronchitis virus: the pepino's leaves dry, the affected plates darken and twist. The virus is not treated, the main method of preventing its reproduction is the removal of affected bush.
There are no drugs to fight diseases and pests for pepino, for this the same means are used that help in protecting tomatoes, eggplant and other nightshade plants. In order not to use chemistry, you can make infusion of tobacco, yarrow, garlic or peel of onions and spray pepino from the sprayer once a week. Before you send a maternal specimen for the winter, it must also be irrigated with protective solutions.