The bottle gourd belongs to the cucumber family and originated in Africa, and is now available in most parts of the world. Also known as calabash, cucuzza, sorakaya, lauki, doodhi, and ghiya in various languages, this vegetable comes in different shapes, the most common being the bottle-shaped (hence the name) and round.
The sizes vary from six inches in length to more than six feet.
| COMMON NAME | FLOWER COLOURS | BLOOM TIME | HEIGHT | DIFFICULTY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| calabash, cucuzza, sorakaya, lauki, doodhi, and ghiya | – | Summer | Height: 10-12 feetSpread: 12 feet | Easy |
Planting and care
The bottle gourd is a vigorous, annual, running or climbing vine with large leaves and a lush appearance. It grows fast and may begin to flower only 2 months after seeding. The vine is branched and climbs by means of tendrils along the stem. The foliage is covered with soft hairs and has a foul musky odour when crushed.
The leaves of the bottle gourd are up to 15 inches wide, circular in overall shape, with smooth margins, a few broad lobes, or with undulate margins.
| SUNLIGHT | SOIL | WATER | TEMPERATURE | FERTILIZER |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full sun | Sandy loamy soils rich in organic matter with good drainage and the pH ranges from 6.5 to 7.5 is suited for bottle gourd cultivation. | Irrigate the field before dibbling the seeds and thereafter once a week. | This crop requires a moderate warm temperature. 24to 27 degrees C | Apply a side dressing of 3 lbs. of 10-10-10 fertilizer per 100 square feet of garden when the vines start to run. Water the fertilizer into the ground well. |
Caring for Bottle Gourd
- Weeding can be done by hoeing as and when necessary.
- Fruit rot during rainy season can be checked by training the plants over the bamboo stick or dried branches.
- Pests Mites: Spray dicofol 18.5 % SC @ 2.5 ml per litre of water. Aphid: Spray Imidachloprid @ 0.5 ml/lit along with sufficient quantity of stickers like Teepol, triton X100, apsa etc., for better adhesion and coverage.
- Beetles, fruit flies and caterpillars can be controlled by spraying Malathion 50 EC 1 ml/lit. or Dimethoate 30 EC 1 ml/lit. or Methyl demeton 25 EC 1 ml/lit.
- Do not use DDT,copper and sulphur dust as these are phytotoxic. Powdery mildew can be controlled by spraying Dinocap 1 ml/lit. or Carbendazim 0.5 g/lit or Tridemorph l ml/l.
- Downy mildew can be controlled by spraying Mancozeb or Chlorothalonil 2 g/lit. twice at 10 days interval.
Harvesting
- Fruits are harvested at tender stage and before 100 % maturity.
- Harvesting shoud be done only after 10 days
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