The biggest bittergourd of this growing season on the left - 10cm long
I’ve been keeping an eye on our bittergourd vines to see if there’s any difference in the size of the fruits this year.
Why?
Well our vine last year grew in a big pot that was also occupied by a bushy dracaena surculosa plant. I suspected that it restricted the size of the fruits, although the vine certainly grew vigorously.
This year, we grew the vines in the ground, and me being so curious, I wanted to see if the fruits would grow any bigger, even though our bittergourds are probably from one of the smaller varieties.
I don’t know for sure because our plants are volunteers – the seeds were dispersed into our garden by birds, and just grew.
So far, the fruits have been around 6 to 7cm long – similar to last year. However, one just grew that’s the longest so far, at about 10cm! It may have been an anomaly, or it could be a sign of things to come. Time will reveal…
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Wow! That looks great! And since it is the smaller variety, the fruits might mature faster. In growing our bitter gourds, it is really hard to tell by appearance its maturity stage, so our field staff have to open a bitter gourd from each variety every 3-4 days to see if the seeds are mature. Anyway, I’m learning lots about this plant. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Jen,
My guide to harvesting them is when they start lightening from dark green colour. At least, that’s what I was told to do.
I wish I could track the growth of the fruit, but they’re so well camouflaged in the foliage that I sometimes completely miss the fruits until they’re over-ripe (yellow) and can’t be eaten!