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Introduction of Growing Bottle Gourd in the Backyard
Hi Readers , grow vegetables at home is becoming more popular these days . There are plenty of reasons as to why citizenry like to grow vegetables , herb , fruit , etc . in their garden . Some hoi polloi care about the function of chemicals/ pesticides in veggie and fruits , while others care to be close to nature , and line up it unbend to work in the garden . Whatever may be the reasons for suppose about growing your vegetables ; it should be fun for you , and not a chore .
The botanic name of bottle gourd is Lagenaria siceraria . Bottle gourd also is known as Calabash gourd , Squash , White efflorescence gourd , Dudhi , Lauki , and so on . Bottle gourd contains about 96 % of water . They are plentiful in dietetic fibers , and are also a good source of vitamin B and incorporate atomic number 26 as well . Bottle gourd is one of the light vegetables and it is very easy to digest .

A Guide of Growing Bottle Gourd in the Backyard
The independent goal of veg production in the home garden is to bring forth vegetable to tolerate daily intake for the family members throughout the year . Bottle Gourd is one of the healthiest veggies . It has passel of health benefit , is easy to grow , and liberal to gamy temperatures , prepare it a expectant vegetable for the Amerindic summertime .
The Bottle gourd is typically grown for non - food use . When they are mature the fruits are cosmetic , hardwearing , and waterproofed . The growing calabash may be constrict with bands to constitute any desire embodiment . Designs scratched into the open when the rind is still soft , will scar and remain in the matured fruit . Dried and full , the nursing bottle gourd is waterproof and valuable for musical instruments , water jugs , kitchen equipment , planters , masks , or floats for fishing nets . Because of its meek flavor , like summertime squash , it is very versatile in the diet of humans and the plants with young gourds may even be feed to animals .
Some pop varieties of bottleful gourd are listed below :

Punjab Bahar : It is fleeceable in colour and has circular fruits .
Punjab Long ( 1997):The plants have shinny , profusely branched bearing cylindric and light green color fruit . It has near long - aloofness merchandising quality .
Punjab Komal ( 1988):It is an former maturing variety that mother mature in 70 twenty-four hours after sowing . It is a light green color and has medium - sized yield which comport 10 - 12fruits per vine . It is tolerant to Cucumber Mosaic Virus ( CMV ) .
Punjab Barkat : liberate in 2014 . They have foresighted fruits , light unripened color , and its cylindrical bod . The variety is moderately resistant to mosaic disease .
Bottle calabash is a summer - acquire veg . Raise the seedling in a 4 - column inch raft indoors or a hot frosts free place ( temperature at least 20 ° cytosine ) in - ground by sowing 2 seminal fluid , half - inch deep . Keep the pot moist .
fill up your skunk with the given growing medium and tear down the control surface . Wet the soil with water to provide the right environs for seeds to germinate . Plant seeds about 1 - 2 inches deep in a mathematical group of 3 seeds then get over them with growing medium . Keep the soil moist by spraying pee twice day by day .
Bottle gourd can be grown in - ground or good deal in your garden . If you plant Lauki in a pot , select a wide and deep pot , at least 50 centimeter diameter , also you’re able to plant a feeding bottle gourd type that grows very slowly or remains unforesightful .
you may raise bottle gourd in a pot , if you have only a small place , spread the vine on trellis or cap . Spread the works on the fencing , if you desire to get feeding bottle gourd on your terrace .
The bottle gourd seeds are obtuse in sprouting and may take from 7 to 25 solar day to germinate depending on the land temperature . To speed up the sprouting , you could soak the semen in water overnight . Use only the seeds that go to the bottom of the soaking bowl . When the seeds germinate and the plants grow to 2 - 3 leaf , transplant them to the final space . Discard the weak plants .
It is easygoing to spring up feeding bottle gourd by seed sowing method throughout the year . Summer and monsoons are the best time to plant seeds . Buy bottle gourd seeds online . Seeds are sow in directly in small pit or on raised beds which spud in 7 - 8 days . nursing bottle gourd seedling are very tight - get and quickly form the habit of a climber .
Strong trellis support should be built for the climber to grow . Many gardener let the plant lead on the ground or allow it to wax on the poles or roof of the house . purloin off growing points of the untried works to induce forking . The side shoots will modernise separate male and distaff flowers in the 2d month . After pollination , the female flowers have petty gourd beneath them . If male efflorescence are ample , some of them can be remove .
Bottle gourd produce both manful and female bloom . The white flower mainly blossom at night and they fell off after pollination . The female flush changes into a bottle gourd , and this set them apart from their manful counterparts .
Your bottleful gourd plant may have flowers but no fruits sometimes . None of the female peak farm fruits , and they were dropping without growing into a bottle gourd . This is causing due to the failure of pollenation as there was no bee body process in the garden sphere . Then you need to pollinate the bottle gourd by hand .
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Bottle gourd vine prefer sandy loam grunge that is productive in organic matter with dependable drainage . The optimal grunge pH of bottle gourd is 6.0–6.7 , but flora tolerate alkaline soils up to pH 8.0 .
Bottle gourd call for a minimal temperature of 18 ° C during other ontogeny , but the optimum temperature of bottle gourd are in the image of 24–27 ° C . The crop can stick out low temperature , but uttermost cool temperature will slacken down ontogeny and frost will kill the plant . The plant are adapted to a spacious variety of rainfall conditions .
The domain or independent field should be organize exhaustively by six to seven ploughings and the pH range in land should be from 6.5 to 7.5 in bottle gourd culture . This vegetable requires good drain . lend organic affair will make the soil rich so that dependable return with quality vegetable can be expected .
Check the filth once or twice day-by-day for moisture release . If it feel juiceless , it ’s time to weewee . A healthy Bottle gourd plant uniformly needs body of water , so that the soil does not dry up . right tearing at the proper meter at the turn degree will encourage plant flowers and fruit . If not water well , the plant will have weak green goods .
For plants to farm well , it ’s important to provide the right nutrients . The plant food for Bottle gourd should be high in phosphoric and atomic number 19 than nitrogen . Bottle gourd needs nitrogen to develop sizable , but excess nitrogen will encourage more leaves instead of fruit . An NPK fertilizer with a proportion of 6:10:10 or 4:8:5 can be used . Add 20 gigabyte mix in the soil for each works before planting .
Once the flora have reached at least 1/2 foot in height , it ’s sentence to transplant them to a skunk or unresolved quad . Before transplanting , keep one intelligent plant and polish off others . At the base of the soil , cut the weakest seedlings out . Be measured not to raise up the root of the healthy plant . This process is call plant cutting and it ’s a great way to insure healthy growth .
After cutting , switch the full biodegradable heap out in an open place or a container 18 to 24 inches deep . Bottle gourd grow well in sandy loam soil . By adding organic manure you may make the soil copious . This will give you high - quality vegetables . The plant can grow over 1 – 6 feet as a vine , so it needs unanimous financial support to climb . you’re able to provide support by installing vertical treillage .
Pests and disease of bottleful gourd are relatively few . However , to keep insect from laying eggs in the rind , mosquito netting may be draped over the vines . Since the blossom need insects for pollenation , do not cover the plants until after the blossoms have dropped off . Major pest and diseases of bottle gourd are listed below with constituent control .
Shoot and fruit woodborer
Spider mites and Aphids
Beetles and caterpillars
yield fly
disease of Bottle Gourd
Damping - off and Nematode
leafage spot
Downey mildew
Powdery mold
Bottle gourd plant life care
Taking care of bottle gourd is as follows :
To control the weeds , 2 - 3 hoeings are expect at the initial microscope stage of plant development . weed operations are carried out at the time of fertilizer program program . earth up is also an efficacious way which should be take out in the rainy time of year .
Particularly in the showery season to prevent the fruit from molder , the vine are trained to spread on bowers made from lean coconut rophy and bamboo sticks and allowing the vines and foliation for better exposure to luminance and atmosphere .
The bottle gourd fruit harvest should be done at the tender fleeceable stage , otherwise , grueling seeded player and coarse dry skin is not palatable for cooking and does not fetch a good price in the market . Depending upon variety and mature season , it takes 60 - 80 days after sowing for first harvest . Upon accomplish the marketable sizing fruits should be withdraw cautiously from the vine with the help of a tongue . It is desirable to pick the fruit within 3 days of desquamation of small hair present on the skin . In peak season , picking should be done at an separation of 3 or 4 days . The harvesting should be done during aurora or evening hour .
salt away of bottle gourds should be in a cool and dry situation for several weeks or until they are lightweight with a hard rind . Leave outer space between the gourds so air can circulate all sides .
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