ANGLED LOOFAH (Luffa acutangula)

      

PLANTING

Land Preparation

• Plough and loosen the soils at 20 - 30 cm deep to enable good grow of roots.
• Loosen the soils can be used manually or mechanically

MAINTENANCE

Manuring

• Organic fertilizer or chicken dung (2 tan / 0.4 ha)
• Compound fertilizer NPK - 12:12:17:2
• Manuring schedule:

Watering

• Water twice a day if too hot

To prune shoots and spread the creeper

• Allow only two main lateral branches to grow till fruiting.

• Buds of branches 30 cm below the main branch must be pruned. The idea is to prevent over-flowering and to yield bigger fruits than fruits of unpruned plants.

• The creeper produces well when it creeps up and spread over a support framework.

• Setting small fruits slipped in between leaves must be adjusted to hang so as to allow no hindrance to their growth.

Wrapping

• Fruit wrapping may done at fruit set.

• Growing fruits may be wrapped with paper bags to protect them from fruit fly attack.

HARVESTING

• The fruit may be harvest when it is around 45 days old.

• Fruits which are still soft and non-fibrous, may be picked daily using a sharp knife. The fruits may be picked over 60 intervals.

• Petola plant productive life: 105 - 110 days.

• Average yield on stake support system is 5,200 kg/0.4 ha and on trellis support system
  is 9,000-15,000 kg/0.4 ha.

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