Anyone have any experience growing winter melons/wax gourds

[Pulsegleaner]

Hi all

Among the thing I am planning to put in this spring are some winter melons a.k.a. wax gourds, ash gourds (Benicasia hispida). It took me a while but I finally managed to get my hands on some seed for a small fruited one (I may love winter melon soup, but the standard varieties 40+ pound fruit weight makes dealing with a whole melon (let alone several of them) a prohibitive idea. And it's not like I have dozen of relative to invite over (even if it wasn't pandemic time). One or two pound fruits are more like it.

So does anyone have any experience with this vegetable? One thing that concerns me is the fact that they say that, despite the name, it likes warm conditions ( it STORES through the winter, but it's unclear if it grows somewhere where there actually IS a winter, or they grow it south and export it north.)

I already learned that hairy gourd is just immature winter melon (the same way zucchini is just immature summer squash)

 

[Artichoke Lover]

I haven’t grown it but from what I’ve read it should be similar to growing pumpkins. If your season is short and or cool I would start them indoors in peat pots and then transfer to the garden in a bed covered in black plastic or black weed fabric to help heat the soil. I would also imagine your smaller fruited ones would ripen quicker than the larger ones.

 

[digitS']

I have grown bitter melon, snake gourd and luffa.

Not there yet, am I ?

The only way these three have grown well was leaving them in the hoop house and not pulling the plastic film off it until into June. There was a luffa growing up the tree in my backyard once. That didn't work.

Steve

 

[Zeedman]

Haven't grown winter melon yet, but still have seed from a very large swap (which also gave me the bitter melon in my avatar). It is one of the larger ones, with a seed packet all in Chinese. That seed is over 10 years old, but it wouldn't surprise me if a few still germinate. That is a vegetable I've never seen growing, @Pulsegleaner , so I look forward to your observations.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I have grown bitter melon, snake gourd and luffa.

Not there yet, am I ?

The only way these three have grown well was leaving them in the hoop house and not pulling the plastic film off it until into June. There was a luffa growing up the tree in my backyard once. That didn't work.

Steve

I'm surprised you got snake gourd to grow right/ Did you have to hand pollinate it. I was fairly sure it's natural pollinator was fruit bats, which, as far as I know, don't live in the Northwest

Haven't grown winter melon yet, but still have seed from a very large swap (which also gave me the bitter melon in my avatar). It is one of the larger ones, with a seed packet all in Chinese. That seed is over 10 years old, but it wouldn't surprise me if a few still germinate. That is a vegetable I've never seen growing, @Pulsegleaner , so I look forward to your observations.

That one is probably Canton Giant, that seems to by the type most seed companies (and the industry) go for (the packet presumably has a picture, if the skin is sort of white it almost ASSUREDLY is Canton Giant.

There seem to be two major strains based on the seeds. One has sort of squash like seeds (but slightly shiny) with a pronounced ring. The other to which Canton Giant and mine belong has smaller smoother seeds with no ring.

I honestly can't recommend growing it unless you really want to. As I said, it is good for soup, but that and a few other similar dishes are about ALL you can do with it. It has very little taste of it's own (it sort of tastes like the white part of a watermelon) if you are growing it for the immature mo gwa (hairy gourds) you just as well off with zucchini, it tastes almost the same. And if you are after the seeds to snack on, pumpkins work just as well. And of course there is the matter of trying to use up multiple 40 pound fruits. (or why it's usually sold in slices)

If you really do, I have heard of people supporting the vines by throwing them over their roof.

 

[digitS']

Kitazawa: "May need hand pollination to set fruit"

You may have caught me here in the lazyboy, taking a guess. There has been a couple of times when I thought to leave up the pvc pipes for the temporary hoop house through the summer. Growing vines on them was an idea.

I like to order from Kitazawa each year. They have partnered with Agrohaitai this year. It seems that we have to use the Agrohaitai catalog but order through Kitazawa ... I'm not sure how it works and phoning in order might be necessary ...

Steve