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Re: gourds

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

-----Original Message-----
From: Sonya2090@aol.com <Sonya2090@aol.com>
To: sqft@listbot.com <sqft@listbot.com>
Date: Monday, June 14, 1999 5:45 PM
Subject: gourds


>Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
>Has anyone tried growing these?  Would one grow them vertically as squash
or
>let them sprawl everywhere?  Are they as productive as squash and zucchini?
>TIA


The gourds we grow could not be contained in a sqft plot.  Birdhouse, dipper
and Bule gourd vines will run 20 feet, sometimes as much as 40 feet, and
will root as they go with leaves over a foot in diameter.  Some ornamental
and some native wild buffalo/coyote gourds have smaller fruit and could
possibly be grown sqft but they also have a profuse vining habit although
with  thinner vines and smaller leaves.  The gourds I am familiar with all
have vines that send out tendrils which root so should be allowed to run
free and not be trellissed.  Pollination is also sometimes a problem.  The
white blossoms open after dark and pollination is best if pollinated right
after they open.  Problem is:  the moth needed for pollination may not be
around at that time so one should be prepared to hand-pollinate after dark.
As for productivity, we grow them like the giant pumpkins with only one
gourd per vine so they will get bigger.  But the small ornamentals will have
many gourds on a vine.   -Olin, Phoenix  AZ


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