How to Grow Bottle Gourd? Detailed Guide to Planting Methods and Key Techniques

Bottle gourd is a plant belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family, generally divided into large gourds and small gourds; the former can be used as a fresh vegetable, while the latter is purely ornamental. So how do you grow bottle gourd?

How is bottle gourd planted?

1. Cultivating strong seedlings

In the Yangtze River basin, cultivation using protected facilities such as solar greenhouses and plastic tunnels allows sowing from late December to early January, with seedlings raised in electric heating beds and plastic nutrient pots; for early spring open-field cultivation, seedlings can be raised from late February to early March in plastic tunnels or small arched sheds; for late autumn cultivation, sowing can be done in early to mid-August, with seedlings raised under shade nets. Throughout the seedling stage, temperature and moisture should be well controlled to prevent leggy growth and cultivate strong, healthy seedlings.

2. Land preparation and fertilization

The base fertilizer requires loose, fertile soil rich in humus, with strong water and fertilizer retention and good drainage and irrigation. The land should be deep-plowed, and beds built during land preparation, with the full amount of base fertilizer applied at once. Generally, per 667 sq m, apply 1500 kg of decomposed pig manure, 500 kg of human excrement and urine, 25 kg of superphosphate, and 100 kg of imported compound fertilizer.

3. Timely transplanting of bottle gourd

Seedlings can be transplanted once they have 2 to 3 true leaves. As temperatures are lower in early spring, transplanting should be done on a sunny afternoon, seizing the weather at the tail end of a cold spell and the start of a warm one. The bed width is 1.33 m, with 2 rows planted per bed. For protected cultivation, the plant and row spacing is 40x50 cm, with 2500 to 2700 plants per 667 sq m; for open-field cultivation, the plant and row spacing is 50×60 cm, with 1600-1900 plants per 667 sq m.