Ridge Gourd Seeds

This green vegetable is one of the healthiest vegetables. It contains high amounts of essential nutrients like dietary fibers, vitamin C, iron, vitamin A, magnesium, and vitamin B6. Being a great source of iron, eating ridge gourd can help you cure anemia. Ridge gourd also contains substantial amounts of vitamin A which is good for your eyesight. Because of the high fiber content found in ridge gourd, consuming a ridge gourd can help you relieve constipation.

Note: Used as seeds only and not for consumption. Seeds to be sown before the expiry date.

Planting And Care:

• Sow your ridge gourd seeds directly into well-draining pots (16-inch diameter, 8-10 inches deep) or raised beds ( 2 feet apart).
• The Ideal potting mix for ridge gourds is 2 part garden soil & 1 part any Organic Manure (Well rotten cow dung or farmyard manure or compost) or 1 part garden soil, 1 part Coco Peat & 1 part Vermicompost
• Sow 2 seeds in the center of the pot or at the sowing spot on the raised bed by placing them on the soil surface and carefully pressing it 1cm deep.
• Alternately, you can also make shallow depressions in the medium using the back of a pencil and put your seeds inside these depressions and cover them up with coco peat.
• Water the sown seedbed immediately by a light shower with a watering can.
• Fill the cells/cups with a moist coco-peat medium.

Bottle gourd Special Pride Care:

• Your ridge gourd seeds will germinate within the first 6 – 8 days. You will notice tiny sprouts growing at this stage.
• The second week onwards, seedlings will start growing into a small plant.
• After the second week, retain a single seedling at one spot, prune the undergrown seedlings with a pair of scissors.
• Ridge gourds require full sunlight to grow and daily watering in summer.
• For even shower use, a Watering can to water your plants or use a drip irrigation system.
• Ridge gourds are aggressive climbers and need a lot of space to grow. To develop strong trellis support up to a height of 5-6 ft, by using locally available material like pipes, bamboo, ropes, wires, etc. for your ridge gourd plant.
• When your bottle gourd plant is more than 45 days old, provide a handful of Vermicompost in the soil around each plant.
• Your plants will flower 80-90 days from sowing, it has separate Male & female flowers on the same plant. Fruits will be formed on female flowers after pollination.
• Ridge gourd can be harvested 3 months after sowing the seeds. Harvesting season can continue for the next 3 months
• Hold the seeds and sow 2-3 seeds per cell/cup. Since Lavender seeds are small in size, do not sow them deep

Common Problems

Ridge gourd plant is not growing fruits.
Insufficient pollination is a big factor that can hamper the growth of bottle gourds. If sufficient pollination does not take place, the female flower will grow initially but will die and fall off eventually. To increase pollination you can opt for hand pollination using a brush.

Why are my Ridge Gourd seedlings wilting?
Overwatering is the main cause of wilting. Too much water can drown your seedlings and deprive their roots of air, which leads to wilting and your seedlings might eventually die.

Why are my Ridge gourd seeds not germinating?
Growing conditions like moisture, improper soil temperature, overwatering or under watering can all be a reason why your seeds are not germinating.