How To Harvest Luffa Gourds

How To Harvest Luffa Gourds

Gourd

1. Sponge gourd 

Botanical Name – Luffa cylindrica

Family — Cucurbitaceae 

2. Ridge gourd 

Botanical Name – Luffa acutangula 

Family — Cucurbitaceae 

                                                                                            

Luffa gourd is a very popular vegetable in India. It is of two types. Like Sponge gourd (Luffa cylindrica) and Ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula) . Delicious vegetables are made from both types of bottle gourd. The vegetable of bottle gourd is considered very light which is easily digestible for patients. Its vegetable is tasty and nutritious. The vegetable of bottle gourd is cold and anti-bile. Ridge gourd is grown in fields and home gardens.

The oil obtained from the seeds of Sponge and Ridge gourd is useful in skin diseases and its roots are used as a laxative. The juice of black bottle gourd is said to be beneficial in the treatment of diabetes. In industrial areas, after drying the ripe fruits, shoe soles and filters are made. After drying, the fruit is used like a sponge to clean utensils and to rub the body while bathing.

History and Origin - The birthplace of Sponge and Ridge gourd is probably considered to be the warm regions of South Asia and Africa, while the origin place of  Ridge gourd is uncertain. Some scholars believe that its origin place is India itself. It is found growing in wild form in India, Sunda Islands and Java. Bottle gourd is cultivated extensively in Brazil, Mexico, Ghana (Africa) and India, while black bottle gourd is mostly cultivated in India. In our country, it is cultivated in plains and mountainous regions.

Nutritive value - There is a very slight difference in the elements found in bottle gourd and black bottle gourd. The National Research Institute Laboratory, Connor (Tamil Nadu) has given the food value of bottle gourd in the table -  

                                   

                                      (Nutrition Value of Luffa Gourd per 100 gm)

Moisture                         : 95.20 g Fat                                   : 0.10 g Fiber                               : 0.50 g Protein                            : 0.50 g Minerals                         : 0.30 g Other Carbohydrates   : 3.00 g Calcium                         : 40.00 mg Phosphorus                   : 40.00 mg Nicotinic Acid              : 0.20 mg Potassium                     : 50.00 mg Oxalic Acid                  : 27.00 mg Sulfur                           : 13.00 mg Riboflavin                    : 0.01 mg Magnesium                  : 11.00 mg Iron                              : 1.60 mg Sodium                        : 2.90 mg Copper                        : 0.16 mg Chlorine                     : 7.00 mg  gram Thiamine                   : 0.07 mg Vitamin C                  : 5.00 mg Vitamin A                 : 56.00 IU

     How To Plant Luffa

Climate - Tropical and subtropical climate is required for growing Sponge gourd and Ridge gourd. Warm humid conditions are considered helpful in its successful production. Whereas warm hot climate is considered best for Ridge gourd. 25-30 degree Celsius is considered the optimum temperature for its production. During the early growth of the crop, temperature above 38°C is considered suitable for the production of male flowers, which results in a huge reduction in the yield. If the temperature becomes very low, then it also has an adverse effect on the growth of the vines. The best areas for its cultivation in India are Kerala, Orissa, Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu. It is also successfully cultivated in Uttar Pradesh.

Soil and Its Preparation

Both types of Luffa gourds can be grown in different types of soils. But to get a good yield of these, sandy loam soil with proper drainage and abundant organic matter is considered the best.

The preparation of the field depends on the method of sowing Ridge gourd. If the seeds are to be sown in the trays, then one or two ploughings should be done to remove grass etc. from the field. Later, the land of the trays should be dug 15-20 cm deep. If the seeds are to be sown in the furrows, then the entire field should be prepared in the same way. For which 3-4 ploughings are sufficient.

Improved Varieties

(A) Sponge Gourd

Pusa Chikni – This is an early variety which starts flowering only 45 days after sowing. Each plant has about 15 flowers. The fruits are green and smooth. This is a suitable variety for growing in both summer and rainy seasons. Each vine bears 15-20 fruits.

Kalyanpur Chikni - Its special feature is that female flowers appear on its vines soon. Fruits are green and smooth. It gives 100-120 quintals of yield per hectare.

Rajendra Nanua-1 - Female flowers appear on the vines of this variety at the twelfth or thirteenth node. Fruits are thin, long, white in colour and 25-30 cm long. The vegetable is quite soft and tasty. Its seeds are light black in colour. This variety is suitable for growing in both seasons. It gives 125-150 quintals of yield per hectare.

Rajendra Ashish - The first female flowers appear on its vines at the sixteenth or seventeenth node. Due to extreme cold in winters, the number of female flowers increases, but the size of the fruits gradually starts decreasing. Fruits are dark green in colour and 12-15 cm long and 4-5 cm thick.

     Luffa How To Grow

Swarna Manjari – This variety has been developed by Central Horticultural Testing Centre Ranchi (Jharkhand). This variety is resistant to powdery mildew and downy mildew.

R 165 – Fruits are green and smooth. It gives a yield of 110 quintals per hectare.

(b) Ridge Gourd

Pusa Nasdar – Fruits of this variety are light green and yellow in colour with raised stripes (veins) on them. Fruits start appearing 80-85 days after sowing the seeds. About 12-18 fruits grow on one plant. This variety has been found more suitable for growing in summer.

Coimbatore-1 (Co. 1) - The fruits of this variety are 60-75 cm long and yield 140 quintals per hectare. The weight of each crop is 700 grams. The crop duration is 125 days.

Coimbatore-2 (Co. 2) - This variety is ready in 120 days. The fruits of this variety are 90-100 cm long. The weight of each fruit is 800 grams. It yields 250 quintals per hectare.

PKM-1 - This is a mutant, which has been released for cultivation by Horticultural Research Center Perikoolam, Kerala. The fruits are dark green in color and have stripes on them. The fruits are ready for harvesting 80 days after sowing the seeds. The weight of the fruit is 300 grams.

M. 11 - This variety has been developed by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. Fruits are green in colour and have stripes on them. This is an early variety.

   How To Grow Loofah Seeds

Punjab Sadabahar plants are medium sized, 20 cm long and 3.5 cm wide, thin, soft, dark green in colour and striped. This variety has more protein than other varieties.

Satputia - Fruits of this variety are ready for first harvesting in 60 to 70 days after sowing seeds. Fruits are small and grow in bunches, 5-7 fruits grow in a bunch. This variety is more popular in the states of Bihar and Punjab.

Latest Varieties

Pusa Sneha

PRG-7

CHRG-1

Manure and Fertilizers – To get a good yield of Ridge gourd, it is absolutely necessary to use manure and fertilizers in balanced quantity and at the right time. While preparing the field, 150-200 quintals of rotten cow dung should be mixed in the soil 30 days before sowing. Apart from this, in the land with normal fertility, fertilizers should be used at the rate of 60 kg nitrogen, 80 kg phosphorus and 60 kg potash per hectare. 1/3 quantity of nitrogen, full quantity of phosphorus and potash should be put in the field before sowing the seeds. The remaining quantity of nitrogen should be divided into two equal parts and given in the form of top dressing around the plants in two times, when 4-5 leaves emerge in the plants and at the time of flowering.

Luffa crop requires less quantity of manure and fertilizers as compared to other crops of this category. Therefore, it is recommended to apply 25 tonnes of cow dung manure at the time of field preparation and 80 kg of ammonium sulphate in the strips at the time of fruiting. After adding manure and fertilizers to the soil, they should be mixed well so that the plants can use them to the maximum and give good yield.

Sowing

Sowing time - The sowing time of Ridge gourd depends on whether it is being grown in plain areas or mountainous areas. Ridge gourd is sown twice a year in the plain areas -

1. Zaid (Summer Season) - Zaid crop is sown from December to February.

2. Kharif - For Kharif crop, seeds are sown from 15 June to 15 July.

For early crops in which seeds are sown in December, special precautions have to be taken, which is described in the method of sowing further. In hilly areas, sowing of Ridge gourd is done from April to June.

     How To Grow Luffa From Seed

Seed rate – For sowing Ridge gourd, seeds with about 80 percent germination capacity should be sown at the rate of 4-5 kg for Zaid crop and 3.0-4.5 kg per hectare for Kharif crop.

Method of Sowing - 

Zaid crop requires more irrigation. Therefore, for the proper use of water, it is good to make drains and sow seeds on their banks. For this, first 50 cm wide drains are made at a distance of 1.5 meters. Seeds are sown on both sides of these drains in such a way that the nearest distance between the two is 1 meter. 3-4 seeds should be sown in each bag at a distance of 2.5 cm.

For sowing of Kharif crop, rows are made at a distance of 1.5 m. Small bags are made at a distance of about 75 cm in these rows and seeds are sown in them.

In plain areas, for proper germination of seeds in December sowing, they should be sown in polythene bags of 15 cm diameter and 15 cm height. A mixture of soil and cow dung manure in equal quantity should be made in these bags and then this mixture should be filled in the bags. 2-3 seeds are sown in each bag. Proper temperature is required for good germination, so the bags should be kept in the sun during the day and in a room or under a thatched roof at night. Take proper care of these plants until the threat of frost is over. These plants are planted in rows at a distance of 1 meter in the prepared field at a distance of 1.5 meters. The bags of plants should be cut carefully so that their earth ball does not break.

For taking early crop of Ridge gourd on the banks of rivers, furrows are made and sowing is done in the month of December. These furrows are about 1 meter deep and 60 cm wide. While digging the furrows, half the sand on top of the furrow is removed to one side and a heap is made. The other half of the sand is dug out and mixed with cow dung manure thoroughly and the furrow is filled to a depth of 30 cm. In these, pits are made at a distance of 1 meter and seeds are sown. To protect the crop from frost, straw is placed on the banks of the furrow from the north-west direction or twigs are buried. This also provides the seeds with the appropriate heat for germination.

Irrigation and Drainage – Irrigation of Ridge gourd crop depends on weather and type of soil. Kharif crop usually does not require irrigation. If there is no rain for a long time, then irrigation should be done as per requirement. In Zaid crop, irrigation should be done at an interval of 10-12 days initially and later on, when the temperature increases, irrigation should be done at an interval of 5-6 days.

It is very important to have proper drainage system in Kharif crop. Excess rain water should not be allowed to collect in the field during rainy season, otherwise the plants may die.

Staking the crop

In order to get more yield and healthy fruits, Kharif crop should be supported. For this, pigeon pea sticks can be used. Bamboo strips are tied with ropes to make a roof-like structure. Ridge gourd vines are made on top of it. By doing this, the fruits of Ridge gourd remain hanging in the air and do not come in contact with the wet soil below and are saved from rotting. This also makes it easier to pluck the fruits. Zaid crops are usually allowed to spread on the ground in the field.

How To Harvest Luffa Gourds

Plant Protection

Weed control – To get a good yield of Ridge gourd, it is very important to keep the field free from weeds. Weeds cause a lot of damage to the initial growth of the plants. Therefore, weeding is very important at an early stage. Weeding 2-3 times in Zaid crops and 3-4 times in Kharif crops is sufficient.

Insect control – Ridge gourd crop is mainly affected by Red pumpkin beetle, fruit fly and Champa. Description of all these insects and measures to prevent them are given in the chapter on bottle gourd.

Use of plant growth regulators – In black and bottle gourd, 100 ppm of Ethrel 50% (10 ml medicine dissolved in 50 liters of water) should be sprayed per hectare at the stage of 2 and 4 leaves. By doing this, both the number of fruits and production increases.

Disease control – The diseases that mainly affect the ridge gourd crop are powdery mildew, downy mildew and mosaic. The description of all these diseases and the measures to prevent them are given in the chapter on bottle gourd.

Picking of fruits – After the fruits have fully grown, they should be picked in the soft state itself because fibers are produced in the pulp of hard fruits due to which good vegetables are not made from them and such fruits get a low market price. If seeds are to be taken, then the ridge gourd fruits should be allowed to remain on the plants till they are fully ripe.

Yield - The yield of Ridge gourd depends on many factors, of which the type of land, the variety grown and the care of the land are important. By the way, 100-125 quintals and 125-150 quintals of green and tender Ridge gourd fruits are obtained per hectare from the summer and rainy season crop respectively. The seed yield is about 3-4 quintals per hectare.

Seed Production

To obtain high quality Ridge gourd seeds, the Ridge gourd field should be at a distance of about 300-400 meters from the field of other varieties of Ridge gourd. So that cross-pollination does not take place between them. Undesirable plants should be removed in the initial stage itself. Even then, if some undesirable plants remain, they must be removed at the time of flowering. The flowers of Ridge gourd are light yellow in color and bloom in the afternoon, while the flowers of Sponge gourd are deep yellow in color and bloom in the morning. Pests and diseases should be controlled properly in seed producing crops. The crop should be harvested only after the fruits are fully ripe and dry. After extracting the seeds, they should be dried thoroughly in the sun so that after drying the seeds do not have more than 8 percent moisture. The seeds should be cleaned and stored in polythene bags or boxes.