Turn them occasionally to help dry the bottoms.ĭuring the drying process, the fleshy part of the Gourd will begin to decompose and look moldy. If you harvest gourds while the stems are still green, they will usually rot instead of drying.Ĭut them off the vines, leaving a good size stem and place them in a cool, dry area with good air circulation. Wait until the stem where the gourd is attached to the vine turns brown.Įven though the foliage may be dead (such as after a frost) the vines can still feed the gourds water. Harvesting and Drying Your Gourds DO NOT harvest the gourds when they are still green on the vine. The male flowers appear on the main stem, while the fruit producing female flowers will emerge from the side stems, so when the vine has reached about 10 feet long you might want to snip the end to promote lateral side growth, and consequently, more fruit. Spacing: 4 to 5 feet between plants and 6 to 10 feet between rows. Transplant Outdoors: When plants have at least 4 leaves after all danger of frost has passed. Hardening Off: 1 to 2 weeks before transplanting. Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers because they will encourage leafy growth and actually delay fruit maturity. Start Indoors: 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost date. When your gourds are well established, additional fertilizer is probably not necessary, but you may want to occasionally feed with a water soluble low-nitrogen fertilizer like 5-10-5. If you would like to learn more or have any questions, please let me know.Gourds and most other vining plants are heavy feeders, so add a considerable amount of manure and compost to the soil prior to planting. Some favorites recipes that have lauki are sambar, raita, koftas, fritters, halwas, sabzis, parathas or simply saute it like you would using squash for a more crisper texture.
It has a delicate nutty flavor adds greatly to hot curries or having a cooling effect in yogurts. Lauki is a delicious vegetable that has many uses. The Ivy gourd plant(kowakka) has been shown to boost metabolism, lower blood sugar levels, and prevent diabetes.
With a low-calorie value, it can be effectively used in many diets such as keto, low-carb, diabetic, blood-pressure and weight-loss. It also helps stabilize blood sugar levels for diabetics. Studies show that it helps in maintaining a healthy heart and blood pressure by lowering the LDL (Bad) cholesterol levels. Carb content is approximately 3.69 g for 100 g of cooked bottle gourd thus having a Net Carb of 2.5 g approximately. Lauki has 98% water content and is rich in Potassium, Calcium and Vitamin C with dietary fiber of 1.2g. For ornamental purposes, it can be harvested in the fall.įor more prolific growth, trimming some stem sections is recommended and harvesting the fruit as they are ready for more to come. When the female flowers (identified by a small fruit behind the white petals) appear, they have a better chance of setting the fruit if they are hand pollinated.įor consuming purposes, the fruit should be harvested when young (when you notice the fuzziness gone on the surface of the lauki) or about 8-12”. Most of the first flowers are male flowers. White delicate flowers begin to appear and bloom late evening. However, supporting it has several advantages including easier management, not getting dirt, better formation of fruit, reduced bugs or mildew problems.Īs the weather warms this vine grows vigorously in height (4ft – 10ft) with strong thick stems ready to bear and support the fruits. It is best to support this vine on a trellis or along the fence, or if space is not a concern, let it spread on ground.
#Gord plant full#
They prefer a few hours of full sun along with light afternoon shade and consistent moisture. Lauki plants generally prefer light, sandy or loamy, well-drained soils and can be grown in a set of 3 per mound or 2 per 10 gallon container. It belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae like bitter gourd, pumpkin, cucumber etc.Įasily grown from seeds, this annual vine can be planted outdoors when the soil temperatures have reached about 70 degrees F either in ground or in containers. BOTTLE GOURD PLANT - LAUKI OR DUDHI - LAGENARIA SICERARIAīottle Gourd popularly known as Lauki (Hindi), Dudhi (Gujarati) and Opo-squash (Filipino) is a tropical vine plant and grows fast in the warm summer days.
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