"Patience Is a Virtue" yes it definitely is. Remember the luffa plant that infringed onto the the next trellis and wanting to go on to the next one too. The plant was really huge with lots of foliage but no fruits. Well I decided to let it grow on to the third trellis since I have no plans of using it soon. A week or two later the weather changed from extreme heat to a cooler temperature - but it is still hot for me - with torrential rain now and then. The day also got shorter and I think the luffa also noticed that and ... Yes there were a sudden burst of flowers, lots of them both female and male. What a beautiful sight. And the bees of all species including the huge carpenter bees are all very happy. Happy bees Today there are about 28 fruits hanging on the vines and to date I had harvested more than 20 of them. We had given to all the neighbours that are on the same street at least one and we never had eaten so much luffa before I have to wrap the luffas because I am not taking any chances against any insects that might take a fancy to them. Living at the edge of a primary forest there are lots more insect pest which was unknown to me when I was in my old place. I have also left a few of the luffas to grow old to make scrubbies. Anyone want a luffa?
Mate, I am lost for words. What a great success story. I did not know that folks ate luffa. That alone is interesting. There is a Turkish lady on our complex that attempted growing luffa this year for the first time. She is off on hols now, when she returns I shall ask her how the luffa experiment went. I had forgotten about her experiment. I imagine that she also plans to eat some and dry the rest. It is interesting how those flowers grow up on a long stem like that. Good for the pollinators as well as the eyes.
Several species of gourd are edible ! Dipper gourd and birdhouse gourd are a couple as well as Luffa !
Yes Dirtmechanic they are happy you can actually hear them humming and buzzing along Thanks Logan, if you are growing luffa you must try eaten them at least once and make sure that it is a young one. They are nice and very sweet You can get the recipes from you tube - luffa recipe chinese - YouTube Sjoerd thank you, if you have the chance you should also try eating it too! Thanks Netty, happy ending is always the best! Mart these are the common gourds eaten here - bitter gourd, bottle gourd, snake gourd, hairy gourd, luffa and old cucumber. Old cucumber is not an old cucumber of the regular cucumber which many people mistaken it for which I myself too thought the same, I think it is another variety of cucumber which look old when young or is it ...
Cor, well done KK Ng - fantastic results! We tried to grow those - without success It was great to see your pictures.
Thanks Tetters, sorry to hear that it you did not have success with yours. I think in you location timing is very critical where change in season is distinct. I am no expert but maybe you can start your seeds in around mid summer or so and enjoy the fruits in the fall. It is just a thought
Thank you for your reply, and Zigs just said he thought you were right. He sowed the seeds too early maybe - as you said. It seems that they need sowing when the days are longer. We might try again next year if we can source some more seeds. It has to be worth a go
