Re: Gourds: Penultimate Report

I think these plants--gourds, squashes, cucumbers--have a built in lifespan that is not entirely regulated by weather. The gourd vine is beginning to look a bit tatty and I suspect it will go south at about the same time of year it would if it was planted on your fence. The cucumber vine has produced about two dozen fruits and is definitely on its way out. The last time I grew a luffa vine, it started early [March], produced 30 or so sponges, and died in October--no different from the one I grew in Northern California, except the season was longer and the crop heavier.

On Aug 6, 2005, at 10:06 AM, Donna wrote:

Since I have always been a northerner....question!

Since you don't get the freezing weather than kills such type plants off
here, will this continue to grow for you- like forever or till you get tired
of it and rip it out?

Just curious,
Donna

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On
Behalf Of james singer
Sent: Friday, August 05, 2005 3:12 PM
To: Garden Chat
Subject: [CHAT] Gourds: Penultimate Report

The bottle gourd has now reached the top of the giant bird of paradise,
maybe 20 feet in the air, and it's now starting down again. It
continues to set fruit--a couple of tiny ones in the ionosphere--and
many of the older ones continue to get larger. The main vine grows on a
combination of plants that includes bougainvillea. The "Winds of
Dennis" beat some of the older fruits against bougainvillea spines and
scarred them but otherwise did not seem to damage them. About five of
the gourds [I counted a total of eight last weekend but saw more,
smaller ones today] seem to have reached maturity. They're beginning to
yellow and their stems are beginning to turn brown. At the outset, I
had figured that these babies would go tapiola in August's hot-soup
weather. But then remember that south Florida has a native curcubit, so
maybe not.


Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

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