horned melon

Growing kiwanos from seeds differs little from planting and caring for ordinary cucumbers. Horned melon is more thermophilic and high-yielding, at the same time it is resistant to cucurbit diseases. The fruit contains many trace elements that are beneficial to the body. Therefore, the culture is becoming popular in supermarkets and gardens.

What is kiwano and how is it eaten

An annual crop from the pumpkin family, which is planted with seeds for seedlings, has several names: African, Antillean cucumber or anguria, horned, jelly melon, kivano and others. A branched plant in the form of a creeper with creeping climbing stems reaches 4-9 m in length. Thin shoots are faceted, fragile, with numerous tendrils. The leaves are large, 3- or 5-lobed, coarsely hairy. Weak root system is located close to the surface. Because of this, when growing kiwano at home, it is better to resort to mulching the soil, rather than loosening it. Yellow female and male flowers are formed along the entire length of the stem in the axils of the leaves, bloom from morning to afternoon.

On one kivano bush, up to 50-200 ovaries are created. Oval fruits are noticeable by large soft spikes, they are close in size to an orange, they are 6-15 cm long. The mass of heterogeneous fruits is from 40 to 350 g, there are vegetables up to 480 g. The total collection from one plant reaches up to 10 kg. Young kiwano fruits are covered with a green thick peel with marbled patterns. As it matures, the color changes to yellowish, and then orange. Jelly-like flesh is green, with numerous seeds.

To taste, kivano is suitable as a side dish for meat, seafood. The refreshing fruit is included in snack or dessert salads, combined with vegetable or fruit mixtures. Choose salt, lemon or sugar for dressing. Kivano is widely used in cooking as an ingredient for compotes, jams, an additive to fermented milk products, and soft cheese. Tiny 3-4 day old vegetable gherkins with small seeds and fleshy spines pickle and salt. Many people like fresh juice from horned cucumber as a drink that tones up the immune and gastrointestinal systems.

Where does the kiwano fruit grow?

A plant originally from Africa, its cultivation is now widespread on an industrial scale in many countries with a warm climate. Horned melon is exported by Israel, New Zealand, the countries of South and North America. Growing African Kiwano cucumber from seeds is also possible in the climate of the middle zone.

What does Kiwano taste like?

The taste of slightly tart pulp is unusual, fragrant, the seeds do not interfere with consumption. Notes of cucumber or zucchini, lemon, banana stand out. Someone finds common things in kiwano with avocado, lime, kiwi. Dishes from pickled or salted horned cucumber gherkins are valued by gourmets for their delicate and spicy taste.

How to grow kiwanos from seeds

An exotic vegetable is propagated by seeds that are sown in advance for seedlings.

Sowing seeds of African cucumber for seedlings

Growing seedlings of kiwano continues in cups until transshipment to a permanent place for 30 days. More often, horned cucumber seeds are sown from the 20th of April, and in regions with a cooler climate – in early May. Prepare separate pots 8-9×8-9 cm, which are filled with the usual substrate for seedlings. Seeds of prickly cucumber kiwano prepare:

• treated with the selected growth stimulator, for example, “Epin-extra”;
• germinate for 2-3 days in warmth.

Exotic seeds are sown to a depth of 0,5-1 cm. The pots are placed in a warm place. Kiwano sprouts provide light and heat not lower than + 25 ° C.

Transplantation in open ground

In the garden for African cucumber among vegetable crops, a place with light, drained soil is carefully chosen. Kiwano prefers not direct sunlight, but diffused light – buds and small ovaries crumble in hot weather, and the leaves suffer from burns. At the same time, there should be enough light, the plant should not be planted in the shade. Kiwano suits temperature + 25-27 ° C, development slows down if the heat drops to + 12 ° C. In the greenhouse, vegetables are in the usual conditions. In open ground, exotics are placed under protection from gusts of wind and in a light midday shade. They take care of the supports for the vine in advance, arranging metal or wooden pyramids.

Seedlings are transshipped at the end of May or at the beginning of June with an interval of 50-70 cm between growing seedlings.

Watering and top dressing

Moisture-loving kivano when grown in open ground is watered every other day, more often in drought. The earth is shallowly loosened or mulched. Weeds are removed, they mulch the site.

The culture develops powerfully and forms ovaries with additional nutrition in 15-20 days:

• mullein is bred in a ratio of 1: 5;
• chicken manure is insisted for a week and dissolved 1:15;
• use foliar top dressing for vegetables;
• use ready-made complexes of mineral fertilizers for vegetables such as “Crystal” or “Fertika”.

Usually watered and fed after the grown fruits were removed.

Topping

Agrotechnics for caring for the exotic Kiwano fruit when grown from seeds includes:

• tying climbing stems to supports or special vertical trellises;
• obligatory pinching of the tops of vigorous lateral shoots, where there are male-type flowers.

Pinch the lashes to the ovary, removing barren flowers. Flexible creepers are let in the right direction, tying them with soft material. These techniques are especially necessary when growing Kiwanos in a greenhouse, where they grow profusely in an artificially created favorable climate.

Protection against diseases and pests

Like most members of the gourd family, jelly cucumbers are resistant to diseases and pests. Ants and aphids are driven off with a soap or soda solution. Medvedka, which gnaws the roots of young nods, is destroyed before planting, setting traps or using targeted drugs.

Features of growing Kiwano

The horned cucumber bears fruit under short day conditions. There is no need to sow Kiwano seeds early for cultivation in open ground or a greenhouse. The plant blooms in the second half of summer.

Growing Kiwano in the Moscow Region

According to reviews, the cultivation of kiwano in the middle climatic zone is best practiced in greenhouses. Flowering in August does not allow all fruits to fully ripen. Although some are harvested for ripening, and the vegetables may take on a sweet taste, most remain small, with green skins. Such unripe vegetables go for pickling or pickling. In the process of growing, it is necessary to limit the violent growth of kivano lashes, otherwise they will oppress ordinary cucumbers with which exotics are planted. The cultivation of a domestic variety bred by Novosibirsk breeders will be successful.

Growing Kiwano in Siberia

For temperate climate conditions, Novosibirsk brought out a variety of African cucumber, which they called the Green Dragon. The vegetation of the plant does not depend on the amount of daylight, flowering occurs earlier, the main part of the crop sown with seeds in April will ripen in the greenhouse until frost. The first fruits of the Green Dragon variety ripen by mid-summer. Seeds of domestic kivano are sown in April. After a monthly seedling stage, it is transferred to a film greenhouse, but only when the temperature is above + 18 ° C. If there is no heat, there is a risk of losing young seedlings.

Harvesting

In the optimal greenhouse climate for growing the Antillean cucumber of the Green Dragon kiwano variety, gherkins are harvested as early as late June, early July. Pluck the fruits that developed 4-7 days. Their spines are soft and fleshy. This category goes for marinades or pickling. The fruits are mixed with various assorted tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini. Used for preparations for the winter and for consumption lightly salted.

The more often the fruits are removed when growing kivano, the more new ones are tied. Gherkins of the original horned cucumber are harvested after 1-2 days. The left fruits increase, gradually turn yellow, but during this period they do not yet acquire their taste, but only by the end of development – with a yellow-orange peel. It is in this phase that the pulp becomes more and more jelly, with a characteristic melon-banana aroma, lemon notes and sweet and sour taste. The ripening period occurs 60-70 days after the germination of seeds of the Green Dragon variety Kiwano. Fruits plucked green, which have reached a length of 10-15 cm, ripen outside the bush, remain tasty even after six months. Their preservation even at room temperature is ensured by a waxy film that appears on the surface of the peel towards the end of ripening.

Kiwano Reviews

Conclusion

Growing kivano from seeds is not difficult for beginner gardeners. Many exotic lovers plant 1-2 plants on balconies because of its picturesqueness and original fruits. When growing, they comply with the requirements for light and heat, do not take out the seedlings too early in the fresh air.