Sow the seeds at 30 cm spacing on sides of the ridges with 2 seeds per hill after
treating with Trichoderma viride @ 4 g or Pseudomonas @ 10 g or carbendizim @ 2 g/kg of
seeds.
Install drip system with main and sub-main pipes and place the inline lateral tubes at
an interval of 1.5m. Place the drippers in lateral tubes at an interval of 60 cm and 50 cm
spacing with 4 LPH and 3.5 LPH capacities respectively
The crop is ready for harvest in 30-35 days. As the tender immature fruits are meant
for canning the price of the produce is decided by the stage of maturity. Smallest fruit (stage
1) which will weigh approximately 4.0g (250 fruits per kg) will fetch the maximum price
followed by stage 2 and stage 3. To maintain the grade, the harvesting of fruits should be
done every day. A day‘s break would end up with outsized or overgrown gherkin means loss
to farmer. Avoid sharp sun and high temperature while harvesting. For this picking of fruits
must be none in the very early morning or late evening. Harvest the fruits by retaining the
stalk on the plant. Harvested fruits must be collected under shade. Flower head has to be
removed from fruit. Water should not be sprinkled on harvested fruits at any stage. Even if
there is surface water during harvest it should be dried by aeration. For collection of fruits
jute bags alone have to be used and plastic bags should be totally avoided. The harvested
produce should be transported to the factory on the same day before dusk. Leaving the
gherkin unprocessed overnight would result in poor quality produce.