For the five common gourd vegetables, which fruit should be kept for seed saving?

When we buy vegetable seeds, we often run into situations like this: for example, the seed count is too large, the price is too high, we buy a big packet but cannot use that many, yet if we do not buy, we feel uneasy about it. So saving our own seeds is also a good choice. Then for the five common gourd vegetables, which fruit should be kept for seed saving?

1. Cucumber

On a cucumber plant, the offspring of seed cucumbers kept from different positions have different degrees of earliness. The earliness of the 2nd and 3rd cucumbers is not as good as that of the 1st cucumber, but when the 1st cucumber sets, the temperature is low, so pollination is often poor, and the seeds are small and few, so hand pollination is needed to increase the number and quality of the seeds. The seeds of the 2nd and 3rd cucumbers are both plump and numerous. Therefore, if the goal of seed selection is earliness, the 1st cucumber should be kept for seed; for general field planting, the 2nd or 3rd cucumber can be kept for seed.

2. Winter melon

For saving winter melon seed, early-maturing varieties and mid-to-late-maturing varieties differ. For early-maturing varieties, the 1st fruit should be kept, in order to maintain their earliness, and plants with many female flowers should be selected. For mid-to-late-maturing varieties, the 2nd fruit should be kept, only 1 per plant, and all other female flowers and young fruits on the plant should be removed. After the seed fruit matures, it can be placed indoors to after-ripen for 1-2 months.

3. Luffa

For saving luffa seed, the root gourd should be kept, because the root gourd sets fruit early, grows for a long time, has plump seeds, and its offspring also set fruit early. However, if a long-shaped luffa keeps the root gourd as the seed gourd, the seed gourd is often too long and tends to drag on the ground and rot, so the gourd set where the vine climbs onto the trellis should be kept as the seed gourd, and a slender luffa with both ends equally thick is best for fruit shape. The seed gourd should be left until the skin turns brown and becomes hard and dry before harvest, then placed indoors to after-ripen.

4. Bitter melon

For saving bitter melon seed, keep a gourd at the base of the plant with a well-formed shape and the characteristic traits of the variety. Harvest when the top of the fruit turns red, take out the seeds, wash them clean and dry them in the sun.

5. Bottle gourd

For saving bottle gourd seed, the 2nd gourd with strong disease resistance should be selected; the 1st gourd should be harvested early, and all the remaining young gourds and female flowers should be removed. Keep only 1 seed gourd per plant, and harvest when the rind is hard and turns yellow-brown.

In addition, the precautions for a seed-saving plot are:

Strictly rogue out mixtures and inferior plants in the seed-saving plot. After full heading, the plot planned for seed saving should be observed early for uniformity in the field; if it meets the requirements for seed saving, possible off-type plants in the field can be pulled out by the roots. If the mixture is severe, it cannot be used as a seed-saving plot. If seed must be kept, only head selection can be adopted.