Growing round bottle gourds in the backyard

Learning how to harvest this versatile vegetable will help add some variety to your menu while providing numerous health benefits

The bottle gourd, locally known as kaddu or lauki, is one of the most-sought after vegetables used in the preparation of a South Asian meal.  It is not only part of the traditional local curries, saalan, and dry vegetable preparations like tarkari and bhujia usually eaten with bread, but also has other culinary uses too. For instance, lauki ka halwa is a mouthwatering South Asian dessert. Similarly, bottle gourd is also often used to prepare raita, which is a yoghurt-based condiment.

There are two types of bottle gourds: the round ones and the long ones. It is considered to be very light and easily digestible, as compared to different oil-based or protein-rich foods. Understandably, bottle gourds have many health benefits associated with them.

Type of plant

Round bottle gourd has a well-branched, quickly spreading vine which attaches itself to different nearby trees, hanging ropes or trellis with the help of its tendrils. It is therefore recommended to install a trellis for the vine to climb onto and reach its maximum height. The vine may spread and grow up to the height of 8 to 12 feet. White coloured male and female flowers of the round bottle gourd start to turn into a fruit within five to eight weeks of the seeds’ germination, once the female flowers have been pollinated and fertilised with the pollen of the male flowers.

Organically grown round bottle gourd is likely to produce 1 to 3 fruits at a time, if these are being grown in a container rather than in the ground. However, chemical fertilisers such as NPK and DAP can boost your chances of growing more vegetables at a time.

How to sow and grow

The seeds of the round bottle gourd are hard shelled and have a tough exterior. Therefore, it is difficult for the seedling to germinate easily. The gardener, thus, helps the seedling to burst out from the shell of the seed with a little intervention. For that, the seeds, before being sown, are soaked over-night. Other methods often used are scarification and stratification of the seeds before they are sown. Along with the over-night soaking of the seeds, both methods help to weaken the seed shell, hence making it easier for the seedling to rupture the shell while germinating.

It is considered a good practice to sow the large-sized seeds more deeply into the soil than the smaller ones. Round bottle gourd seeds can be placed at least half an inch deep into the soil. Rather than growing on a trellis, a greater yield of round bottle gourd is expected if its vine is spread along the ground. The only precaution advisable here is to ensure that the fruit of the round bottle gourd does not come in direct contact with the floor or the soil, and it should either be hanging or be supported by a cardboard beneath it.

If there is a limited availability of space, then the round bottle gourd can be grown in a 10 inch container, but ideally the container size should be at least 14 inches in both height and width. The best option, as always, is growing the vegetable in the ground, for which a single vine can be grown on every square feet of land available. The best time to sow round bottle gourd seeds is just after the last frost date. The seedlings can be prepared indoors and, as the temperature rises, the seedling can then be transplanted outside.

Pollination

One of the primary issues faced by many while growing round bottle gourds is that the flowers on the vine usually bloom during dusk time. At this time, pollinators like butterflies and bees are generally not available to pollinate the female flowers with pollen from the male flowers. In this scenario, where the flowers are blooming at dusk without pollinators, human intervention can help to fertilise the female flowers. For this, one may use the gardening technique of hand pollination. This can be done by removing the petals of any one male flower and rubbing them onto the centre of all the female flowers on the vine. One may also use a Q-tip for this purpose by swiping it on the centre of the male flower and then swabbing it across the centre of all the female flowers.

Watering and sunlight requirements

The round bottle gourd needs direct sunlight daily for at least 4 to 6 hours. The vine grows well in moist soil, however, it should be ensured that the soil is not over-watered. Like all other plants, avoid showering the vine and do not water directly onto the base of the vine.

Fertilisers for plant nourishment

Initially, the plant should be provided with nitrogen rich fertilisers to increase foliage. Once the flowering starts, nitrogen fertilisers can be replaced with banana peel liquid alongside the normal watering. This way, during the flowering and fruiting phases, the potassium fertiliser will help nourish the vine of the round bottle gourd. It is always better to use home-made organic fertilisers rather than the chemical alternatives available commercially.

Pest attack

The round bottle gourd vine is more prone to diseases and pest attacks. Some of the common pests and diseases include aphids, mealy bugs, fruit flies, powdery mildew and downey mildew. To avoid diseases and pest attacks on the vine, it is recommended to spray the vine with an organic pesticide like the organic neem oil pesticide once a week.  If the vine has a larger space in which to grow, the leaves get quite aerated and this helps to reduce the risk of any plant disease or pest attack.

Fruiting and harvest

The vine is likely to produce round bottle gourds for harvest after around 60 to 70 days of the initial seed sowing, and the fruiting continues for at least another 6 to 8 weeks. If you can scratch the skin of the round bottle gourd with your nails easily, that is when it is considered to be the perfect time to harvest the vegetable. Many use this trick when buying gourds from the market as well.