Growing loofah on the balcony, the vines climb to three meters long, more beautiful than pothos, and you can never pick them all

If your balcony at home is fairly large and you like growing things, while tending your flowers, you might as well plant a few vegetables, so you get both something to look at and some tasty greens to harvest. On a balcony you can grow not only bok choy, chili peppers, lettuce, celery, and cilantro, but also a few loofah plants. The vines climb high and long, and the loofahs set abundantly.

Growing loofah on the balcony: how to grow loofah at home and the tricks:

First soak fresh loofah seeds in warm water for four hours, then sow them in soil. For seedling raising you can sow directly in a flower pot, and later there is no need to transplant.

You can also sow them in a plastic cup, and once they grow to four leaves, transplant them into a flower pot.

Because you are not growing them in a vegetable garden or in open ground, choose a flower pot with a fairly large diameter, with enough space and depth. The diameter should preferably be more than thirty cm, and the depth more than fifteen cm. Although you can grow loofah in a small flower pot too, it will not grow well enough.

Put in plenty of base fertilizer. When preparing the soil, although soil dug up from outside can also be used for growing, adding some leaf mold, nutrient soil, or worm castings, chicken manure fertilizer, cake fertilizer, etc. as base fertilizer will make the loofah grow more and more lush later on.

Prepare enough growing space for the loofah, for example a railing it can climb, and make sure there is plenty of sunlight. If you are growing it on an enclosed balcony, you need to be able to open the windows every day for ventilation and air exchange.

When the loofah vine grows to one meter long, it does not need to climb the trellis right away. Lay the vine down and bury it in the surrounding potting soil, and after it grows a while longer, you can let it climb onto the trellis or railing. This method can promote more vigorous growth and more loofahs.

It can also cover the whole balcony, like a natural curtain and shade canopy, giving shade to the other flowers and plants.

When the vine grows to more than three meters long, you can pinch off the top, that is, pinch out the growing tip, to encourage it to grow more branches and produce more flowers and loofahs. If it is an enclosed balcony, you can hand-pollinate; if it is an open terrace, there is no need.

On one vine you only need to keep 3 female flowers. When there are too many male flowers, you also need to remove some of them, and remove some of the leaves that are too dense and the old leaves. This increases ventilation and light.

By June and July, it is time for the loofahs to mature and be picked. For the loofahs grown by gardening friends, you can basically pick once every other day.

The loofahs you grow yourself have full flavor, tender and sweet and delicious.