Small glutinous pumpkins at Agrilink expo
Among the varieties that fascinated us during the recent Agrilink trade show at the World Trade Center were the small glutinous pumpkins exhibited by East-West Seed.
One of them is the Pia butternut pumpkin named after Miss Universe Pia Wurzbach. It is a semi-dwarf plant that produces small but very fleshy fruits that are glutinous, a characteristic much desired by consumers.
Renette Beronilla, the plant breeder who developed Pia butternut pumpkin, said it took her five years to make the selection after combining and recombining four different germplasms from abroad and from local sources. For two more years, the selected plant was subjected to field trials to find out its adaptability under various environmental conditions. Pia finally came out with flying colors after two years of field testing.
Pia butternut pumpkin can be grown in the open field. Because it is semi-dwarf with vines reaching only two to four meters, they can be spaced 0.70 meter within the row and 1 meter between rows. However, when it is grown under partial shade like in between coconut trees, the spacing should be one meter between hills in the row and three meters between rows.
The vines can be allowed to crawl on the ground, or they can be trained to climb a trellis. The plant can also be grown in appropriate containers and provided with stake or trellis to climb on. Container-grown Pia butternut pumpkin is perfect for growing in urban