Techniques of grafting loofah onto water spinach

Have we ever heard of grafting loofah onto water spinach? This situation actually happens in greenhouses. Let me tell you about the situation in detail below.

Variety selection.

The varieties of water spinach that should be selected include big chicken yellow, big bone green, sword leaf, silk water spinach, big chicken green, etc.

Prepare the land and make ridges.

After deep plowing and fine harrowing of the garden, apply about 4000 kg of high-quality soil and fertilizer, 50 kg of compound fertilizer and 50 kg of superphosphate as base fertilizer per mu. The fertilizer should be thoroughly mixed with the soil to make high ridges with a ridge width of 110 cm and a ditch width of 35 cm.

Plant water spinach.

Sowing in early December, about 2 kg of seeds per mu, sow the seeds that have been soaked and germinated on the ridge, cover with fine soil, cover with mulch and add a small arch shed after spraying water. When the seedlings open leaves, you can spray thin water fertilizer, and fertilize after each harvest, spray 0.3~0.5% urea liquid fertilizer, and keep the soil moist.

Sowing loofah.

Sponge gourds are sown and raised in early January. Seedlings are raised in greenhouses with electric heating beds. The germinated seeds are directly sown into seedling pots, covered with small arch sheds, and heated with electricity. The ground temperature is controlled at 28°C. Constant temperature day and night is conducive to seedling emergence. The temperature is gradually lowered after the seedlings emerge.

Luffa planting.

Planting was carried out in mid-February. Holes were dug at the edge of the ridges with a spacing of 20 cm and 30 cm, so that the 30 cm distance could be used for picking water spinach later. About 3,000 plants were planted per mu, and after planting, they were covered with a small arch shed together with the water spinach.

Set up a trellis for pruning.

When the loofah vines are growing, small bamboo poles or ropes are used to build a straight fence to guide the vines onto the fence. All side branches are cut off during the entire growing period to encourage the main vine to produce more and larger fruits.

Fertilizer and water management.

Since loofah and water spinach grow together, the amount of fertilizer required is much higher than that of single cropping, so topdressing is needed frequently. Water spinach can be sprayed with urea or compound fertilizer and water, and pay attention to keeping the soil moist.