| GROWING GOURDS |
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Preparation: There are 3 factors that influence the growth of healthy gourd plants: plenty of sun, well fertilized soil, and lots of water. A garden requires full sun. Having said that, I have successfully grown gourds under trees using the limbs as a trellis to insure straight extra long neck dipper gourds. But, sun is good. Gourds require 120-140 frost-free days to mature – depending on the type of gourd you plant. If you live in an area with a short growing season, you can start plants indoors early and then transplant them. However, they may suffer transplant shock for as much as 2 weeks. Once in the ground, they need full sun – up to 6 hours a day. They may be planted in rows, on hills, on a trellis or fence (depending on their weight), and in containers. Just be sure to not plant gourds in the same spot year after year. They deplete the soil of many nutrients and are susceptible to garden pests. This becomes exaggerated if they are grown in the same place year after year. Fertilizer: Gourds require well-fertilized, rich soil. You can have your soil analyzed by your extension agency for the pH balance and mineral content. The ideal soil conditions for gourds are 6.0pH-6.5pH – with 1 being totally acidic and 14 being totally alkaline. To raise the pH level you can add lime, wood ashes, organic matter, and calcified seaweed. To reduce the pH level, you may add sulfur, peat moss, evergreen needles, or ground bark. The 3 components of the soil that are tested are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Nitrogen is the building block of protein and important to healthy stem and leaf production. Use a fertilizer higher in nitrogen first in the growing season to insure strong vine growth. Once blossoms appear and the baby gourds begin to set, you do not want to add any more nitrogen to the soil. Phosphorus stimulates root development in young plants when applied later in the spring. It encourages a greater proportion of fruits per plant. Potassium is critical for the formation of starches, sugars, and cellulose. It helps build resistance to fungal disease and helps produce a thicker shelled gourd. Check the numbers on the label of your fertilizer. The 3 numbers represent nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (example = 10-10-10). Start preparing your soil as soon as you harvest the last crop if possible. This eliminates serious pest or disease problems. Completely remove the old vines and old leaves or fruits that could harbor insects, eggs, or larvae. Then plant a cover crop (vetch, clover, mustard, etc). This replaces nitrogen and provides carbon and organic material. Till the soil in the spring. You can topdress the soil in the fall with cow manure and bone meal. This helps to replace phosphorus and potassium. Add the manure and a well-balanced fertilizer far enough in advance of planting your gourds to allow the manure to decompose and not burn the seedlings. If the ground is prepared thoroughly before planting, you won’t have to add much fertilizer during the season. Water: Gourds require regular watering, especially right after the seeds are planted. You may use a variety of methods; however, try not to get the leaves wet as this may make them susceptible to mildew and fungal problems. How much should you water? That depends on where you live and how much rain you receive. Be sure to keep new seedlings moist until the roots are firmly established (about 4-6 weeks). After that, water anywhere from once a day to one or 2 times a week, depending on the intensity of the sun. Gourds contain 90-95% water; therefore, they are extremely thirsty throughout the growing season. Their leaves are very large and are prone to lose moisture through evaporation. During the summer, the leaves often wilt and droop. If the leaves do not recover in the evening, you may need to water more often. Be sure to decrease the water in the early fall to allow the gourds to begin to “harden off”. Mulch is the gardener’s best friend. It will help retard or eliminate weeds, minimize evaporation, protect leaves from becoming wet, and create a dry soft bed for a mature gourd to rest on. It can also be tilled into the ground at the end of the season to help add organic material to the soil. Seeds: The gourd seed not only determines the shape and size of the gourd, but also the strength of the shell and resistance to disease and pests. It is often difficult to accurately predict which exact shape and size will grow from a particular seed, unless it was specifically isolated or hand pollinated. Remember, also, that gourds can be fertilized by pollen from nearby varieties, producing interesting and unpredictable gourds. But that could be a good thing if you want unusual shapes. Sue Haberer |