Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) is an annual vine that is considered easy to grow from its seeds. This species is also known as calabash. This gourd is edible and is also used to make bowls and musical instruments.
I. Appearance and Characteristics
Calabash (Lagenaria siceraria), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, birdhouse gourd, New Guinea bean, New Guinea butter bean, Tasmania bean, and opo squash, is a vine grown for its fruit. When it is fresh, the fruit has a light green smooth skin and white flesh.
Calabash fruits have a variety of shapes: they can be huge and rounded, small and bottle-shaped, or slim and serpentine, and they can grow to be over a metre long. Rounder varieties are typically called calabash gourds. The gourd was one of the world’s first cultivated plants grown not primarily for food, but for use as containers. The bottle gourd may have been carried from Asia to Africa, Europe, and the Americas in the course of human migration, or by seeds floating across the oceans inside the gourd. It has been proven to have been globally domesticated (and existed in the New World) during the Pre-Columbian era.
There is sometimes confusion when discussing “calabash” because the name is shared with the unrelated calabash tree (Crescentia cujete), whose hard, hollow fruits are also used to make utensils, containers, and musical instruments.
The plant produces night blooming white flowers. The male flowers have long peduncles and the females have short ones with an ovary in the shape of the fruit. Sometimes the female flowers drop off without growing into a gourd due to the failure of pollination if there is no night pollinator (probably a kind of moth) in the garden. Hand pollination can be used to solve the problem. Pollen is around 60 microns in length.
First crop is ready for harvest within two months; first flowers open in about 45 days from sowing. Each plant can yield 1 fruit per day for the next 45 days if enough nutrients are available.
II. How to Grow and Care
Sunlight
Cucuzza squash requires full sun for six to eight hours every day to produce a good harvest.
Temperature and Humidity
Cucuzza squash is a tender annual and easily damaged by frost. Do not plant seed until the soil temperature reaches at least 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The vines are tolerant of high humidity but not arid conditions unless given sufficient water.
Watering
Because Cucuzza squash grows quickly and vigorously, it requires plenty of water for good production especially as summer temperatures rise. The plants require over an inch of moisture per week during peak development.
Soil
The soil should be loamy, fertile, and have a neutral pH.
Fertilizing
Fertilize with a complete, balanced fertilizer (10-10-10 NPK) at planting and side dress when the vines begin to run. However, too much fertilizer will give you more vines and fewer flowers and fruit.
How to Grow Cucuzza Squash in Pots
Follow the same guidelines for soil type, light, and water when growing Cucuzza squash in pots as you would for garden-grown plants. Because container-grown plants dry out more quickly, the squash vine will require more frequent watering. The container must be placed next to a trellis to support the vigorous growth of the vine.
Pruning
Pruning the Cucuzza squash vine is not recommended because it will greatly reduce fruit production.
Propagation
Cucuzza squash is best grown from seed planted at the start of the growing season. Seeds can be collected from mature squash and saved for the next growing season.
How to Grow from Seed
You will have good results by directly sowing Cucuzza squash seeds directly into garden soil once the danger of frost has passed.
If you cannot plant directly into the garden, you can start the seed indoors to grow seedlings for planting. Sow the seeds about one-inch deep in potting soil, then water well. Keep the seeds moist until they sprout, and continue regular watering until the plants are well established.
When the plants have four or five true leaves, reduce watering and place the plants outside where they will receive wind protection and a couple of hours of sunlight to harden them off. Gradually expose them to more sunlight and keep them well watered. Plant in the garden after the chance of frost has passed in the spring or when the daytime temperature has dropped to around 65 degrees in the fall.
Potting and Repotting
If grown in a pot, Cucuzza squash should not require repotting because it does not overwinter. Plant in a large pot so the plant does not need to be disturbed during the growing season.
Overwintering
Cucuzza squash is treated as an annual plant in the garden or in containers. Overwintering should not be attempted. Once the gourds are harvested, pull up the vine and add it to the compost pile.
Pests and Diseases
Common pests are the same ones that attack any squash variety including aphids, cucumber beetles, squash bugs, stink bugs, cutworms, pickle worms, and squash vine borers. Potential disease problems include anthracnose, fusarium wilt, bacterial wilt, downy mildew, powdery mildew, and blights.
III. Uses and Benefits
It can be either harvested young to be consumed as a vegetable, or harvested mature to be dried and used as a utensil, container, or a musical instrument.
IV. Harvesting and Storage
How you harvest Cucuzza squash depends on how you plan to use it.
For eating: Cucuzza squash, leaves, and young shoots are edible and have a mild, sweet, and subtly vegetal flavor. Harvest the squash before it reaches 12 inches in length for the best texture and flavor. Whole, unwashed Cucuzza can be wrapped in plastic, refrigerated, and used within a few days. The squash can also be cut into slices, blanched, and frozen in a freezer bag.
For drying as an ornamental or utilitarian gourd: Harvest the Cucuzza before a hard freeze when the stems are dry and have turned brown. The stems will be tough so use pruning shears, a knife, or scissors to cut the gourd off the vine. Leave an inch or two of stem attached, to help them last longer. Avoid bruising, scratching, or puncturing the fruits.
To cure gourds, start by washing off any soil. Wipe the gourds with a cloth dipped in rubbing alcohol to remove mold spores, bacteria, and pests. Lay them on a mesh surface to dry. Do not allow the gourds to touch. Turn the gourds regularly to promote even drying. Most will cure in four to six weeks. Once they are completely dry, the gourds will be very lightweight and the seeds will rattle inside. The Lagenaria gourds are considered utilitarian gourds that can be made into birdhouses, dippers, or bottles
