Hand-held Hoist Tips for Gourds:
Choosing the right pot size is essential. Before planting, use a loose, well-draining loamy soil mixed with organic fertilizer. Avoid alkaline or compacted soils. A good mix would be 1:5 or 2:5 ratio of nursery soil to compost, or you can directly use peat soil for better results.
If your soil lacks nutrients, add about 50 grams of water-soluble fertilizer or 100 grams of organic fertilizer as a base. Water regularly—especially when the vines start to spread. During hot summer days, water twice daily. Place four poles around the pot, 50 cm above the surface, and create a grid-like support system to help the vines grow upward.
When the female vine has 4-5 leaves, leave two vines to climb upwards. Once the vine reaches the top of the structure, pinch it back to encourage side growth. When the sun vine develops 5 leaves, gently bend the tip so that the fruit grows from the side branches. Let the vines grow freely, and when they go beyond the structure, allow them to droop naturally. It’s important to prune the fruit once it has 5-6 fruits to promote better growth.
Strong seedlings are key to a successful harvest. Make sure to apply top dressing during the growing season using fermented sesame paste or bean cake, diluted and applied with water. Add phosphorus and potassium fertilizers during the budding stage to improve fruit set and quality. Keep the temperature around 30°C and ensure plenty of sunlight. In midsummer, avoid direct heat by shading with leaf stalks instead of using charcoal, which helps prevent overgrowth and keeps the plant healthy.
Once the vines reach about 1 meter in height, trim the top 3-4 leaves to encourage lateral growth. This allows early fruiting at the base and makes it easier to monitor the plants. When lateral buds appear, they usually have 3-4 leaves before flowering. Female buds look like small balls, while male ones are more elongated. If no buds form, they become "sliders"—which grow vigorously and can steal nutrients from other parts of the plant. Remove these sliders promptly or pinch them back to turn them into fruit-bearing branches.
Hand-pollination is crucial since gourds are cross-pollinated. Due to limited space in pots, natural pollinators may not be sufficient. Gourds bloom in the evening, and the best time to pollinate is before 10 am the next day. Use a dry cloth or cotton ball to collect pollen from male flowers and transfer it to the female ones immediately. If it rains, cover the flowers with plastic bags beforehand to avoid damage.
After the first 1-2 fruits appear, remove the earliest female flowers to focus the plant's energy on stronger fruit development. When fruiting begins, add 5-6 solid fertilizers to the pot, then water with a diluted liquid fertilizer (200 times the water volume) after the initial feeding.
The main pest is aphids. Control methods are similar to those used in field crops. Some gardeners prefer using a safe insecticide. A small bag of 30 pounds of water is enough, and it’s harmless to people and animals.
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