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Planting Gourds

These are members of the CucumberFamily belonging mostly to the genera Cucur-bita, Lagenaria, and Luffa. By far the largestnumber of varying ornamental hard-shelledgourds are those originating from Cucurbitapepo ovifera which is the yellow-flowered gourd,easily distinguished from the white-floweredLagenaria types which take a longer growingseason to mature properly. Gourds can begrown in any good soil similar to that in thevegetable garden. They need as long a growingperiod as possible, especially L. siceraria, thereason why some gardeners in the North justdo not have a sufficient number of days of hotsunshine to mature the fruits. On the otherhand, Cucurbita pepo ovifera ripens easily inZones 3 and 4.

Seed

One should be certain at the start to obtaingood viable seed from a reliable source. Seeds-men are selling gourds in 2 ways. The first is"mixed," that is, several varieties of differentlyshaped gourds have been used for seed purposesand one can obtain many interesting gourdsfrom such a package. On the other hand, theunscrupulous person will mix seed from a lotof inferior-shaped types together, and still sellthem as "mixed" and be correct in so doing.Other seedsmen who have sources of seed frompure stands of Nest Egg, Striped Pear, Spoonor Miniature Bottle, will sell seeds of these typesand the gardener has reasonable assurance theywill produce gourds true to name. It really paysto purchase well-grown reliable seeds of thistype regardless of whether they are sold asindividual varieties or as "Super Hybrids

Mixed." Germination is helped if the seed issoaked in warm water for 12-48 hours beforesowing. Seed will keep at least a year, (usuallyseveral), if put in a dry cool place.

WHEN TO PLANT. Good seed should be sownin hills, 6-8 seeds per hill, after all danger offrost is over. It is unwise to sow too early forthey simply will not grow until the soil warmsup. They can be started in pots in the green-house 3 weeks before they are to be set out inthe garden, thus gaining a few weeks on theones planted directly in the soil. However, theroots should not be disturbed in transplanting,but the entire potful of undisturbed roots andsoil set out in one careful operation. Certainlythis is the way to plant Lagenaria varietiesespecially in the North, and even then there maynot be sufficient time for the fruit to ripenproperly. All gourds should be grown in fullsunshine, not in the shade.

Theoretically gourds should be trained on atrellis, up some chicken wire or over some brushto keep the fruits off the ground. Most of us donot have time for that and are willing to takeour chances with a few of the fruits being marredon the ground. Seeds might be planted twicetheir length deep in good, friable soil. Whenseedlings are up the hills might be thinned toabout 4 plants per hill, the hills being about8 ft. apart. If the seed was "mixed" rememberthat the seedlings will show variation and oneshould not remove all the smallest seedlings,because these might just be the varieties withthe smallest and most interesting fruits.

Fertilizers should be applied as for pumpkinsand squash, which sec.

The roots of gourds arc very close to the soilsurface, hence in hoeing one should be carefulnot to disturb the roots. They need ample waterand should be given plenty of it during droughtperiods.

Pruning

Pruning the vines can increase the number offruits borne per vine. The main stem should beallowed to grow until it is to ft. long, when theend can be removed. It is on this part thatmostly male flowers are borne. The lateralshoots bear mostly pistillate flowers. If the endbud of the main shoot is snipped off after theshoot is to ft. long, then the first lateral shootshave the main end buds taken off them wheneach shoot has developed about 4 leaves, thisis sufficient for the pruning. Any sublateralshoots developing after this are allowed to growat will. This type of pruning can aid in theproduction of more fruits.

Harvesting

Gourds must be thoroughly ripened on the vine before they are picked, for if picked whengreen or immature they will soon rot. For thevarieties of Cucurbita pepo ovifera, the stemwhere the gourd is attached to the vine should bewatched. When this starts to shrivel and dry up,then the gourd should be picked. It is best tocut them off the vine with shears, saving a fewinches of stem on each gourd, rather thanroughly tearing them off the vine, often severingthe stem right at the end of the gourd. Ifroughly done, this can injure the gourd end justenough to allow disease to enter and the fruitwill rot.

Ornamental gourds

The gourds should not be left out in the field,but rather brought in and washed, often with amild disinfectant, and set aside a few days todry thoroughly. The idea is to wash off any soilor impurities which may have become attachedto the shell. After a few days they can then becarefully waxed with any floor paste wax, andset aside for use as ornaments. Some willundoubtedly rot, but the majority, if pickedwhen fully mature, will harden nicely and canbe used for years.

The white gourds of Lagenaria sicerariashould be even more carefully watched andpicked just before they start to turn yellowishfrom too much sunshine. In the South thesecalabash gourds are easy to grow and to mature,but in the North it is very difficult to grow themproperly. They include the Bottle, DepressedBottle, Powder Horn, Dipper, Kettle, Bird's

Grading

Nest and Dolphin types along with manyothers are 2 species have green fruits with a rindthat is not hard, but dry and papery. These canbe a foot long and also take a long growingseason. The inside pulp can be dried out andthen used as a dish cloth.

It is of interest to note that markings can bemade on the shells of any of these gourds whenthey are half ripe and growing on the vines.Thus, initials, characters, rough line sketchesmade at this time, eventually look as if theyhad actually grown on the shell. Also wires,strings or even containers can be placed aroundthe developing fruits in such ways as to perman-ently change and control the shape. Thus, it ispossible to have a square gourd (forced to growwithin some confining square metal or concretebox). These then are the popular hard-shelledgourds. For other types see Citrullus, Cucumis,Echinocystis, Sechium, Sicana, Trichosanthos,Momordica.

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