Thursday, August 14, 2008

Ridge gourd vegetable farming


Ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula) also known as ribbed gourd is a viny vegetable. It requires a trellis or support for its growth and development. It belongs to the cucurbit family & is an important commercial crop fetching good yields and returns


LAND PREPARATION & SOIL
Summer ridge gourds are grown in square pits roughly 50 cm in width & around 20 cm in depth. The soil in the pits have to be repeatedly ploughed till a fine tilth is obtained. 10 to 15 kg organic manure is added to each pit.
Furrows are made in the pits & 4 seeds are sown in each pit. Later after germination, only 2 seeds are retained per pit. This is done to avoid overcrowding.
GERMINATION, CLIMATE AND IRRIGATION
Usually in the summer, germination takes place within 4 days from the date of sowing when conditions are favorable. The young seedlings are highly susceptible to attacks from red pumpkin beetle. To avoid this, imidochloprid @ 0.5 ml per litre is very effective.
Within 2 weeks of germination, climbing support must be provided & the plant starts developing tendrils for this purpose. The tendrils help the plant to grasp the provided support & start climbing. The support in the form of long sticks, plant branches etc must have a height of 6 feet. Even thread of strong thickness can be used & a network between the pits can be created to support the climbing habit of the vine.

germinating seedling 4 days after sowing

It can also be trained on a trellis or pergola. It must be noted that, more support given to the vine, more it will keep growing.
When temperatures are extremely high, more male flowers are formed & this will reduce the yields. Similarly, when temperatures are cold, quality & quantity of yield is also affected.
Light irrigation is followed after the seeds are sowed. After germination irrigation every alternate days is useful. Care must be taken to see that water does not stagnate in the pits , as it will result in fungal infections & the young seedling will start rotting. For this well drained soils are best suited. Even repeated ploughings will increase the drainage & porosity of the soils.

INTER CULTURE OPERATIONS, FERTILIZER AND PEST MANAGEMENT
Since the plants are grown in pits, not much inter culture operations are required. Weeding must be done during the initial stages or it will compete with the main crop for nutrients. The growing vines must be made to climb the support at all times. Sometimes due to overcrowding, the vines tend to fall

one month after germination, the plants need support for the vines to grow

down on the ground, and this must be checked. At all times, the vines must be made to climb the support. Even tying the vines together , which helps keeping them from falling to the ground is also seen.

The growing vines require a lot of nutrients. Addition of complex NPK fertilizers can be done 30 days after first day of sowing. At this stage when vegetative growth is accelerating, 10 kg of fresh organic manure can be added to each pit with 50 to 100 grams of NPK.

when 40 days old, intercropped with amaranth

Since the vines produce more male flowers, spraying plant hormones can be done at the initial stages of flowering to induce female flowering @ 1 ml per litre.

Red pumpkin beetle is a serious pest during the initial stages when the plant is young with tender succulent leaves. Spraying dimethoate @ 2 ml per litre, or imidochloprid @ 0.5 ml per litre can be very effective.

when flowering starts, inter cropped amaranth can be harvested

When the fruits start to form, another serious pest problem is the attack of Daucus dorsalis & daucus cucurbitae flies. They bore right into the young forming fruits, laying their eggs, which hatch and the larvae feed on the insides of the fruit which will result in rotting of the fruit, making it unfit for consumption.


Spraying the crop is not advised as pesticides will have toxic residue on other growing fruits. The most suitable remedy is the usage of pheromone traps & lures which is very effective in controlling dorsalis & cucurbitae flies.
PLEASE SEE Tfruiting appears after 60 days

ridge gourds ready for harvest

REFER THE OTHER POST FOR USING PHEROMONE TRAPS & LURES IN GOURDS

Another pest is the gregarious Lepidoglossus sps, which uses its needle like proboscis to puncture wounds in the ridge gourd, sucking its juicy nutrients and making the fruit hollow. Since the incidence of this pest is only seasonal, and temporary, it is best advised to manually catch the insect as it is quite large & cannot escape properly due to its heavy weight. The other option is the use of neem extract sprays which act as insect repellents. But pollination may also be affected so since neem based sprays are totally organic, the forming fruits could be sprayed , leaving the leaves and flowers.

from another angle

HARVESTING
The fruits start to form after 60 days from the first day of sowing. Since the fruits are long, care must be taken to ensure the fruit is hanging in a downward direction. When the vines grow long & thick, the developing fruits get entangled in the vines, resulting in fruits getting undesired shape, thus making marketability difficult.

excellent yielding in summer

the disfigured ridge gourd due to entangling with the vines

In summer, the crop will continuously yield for more than 2 months.

Photos and content by Pritham 'Heavy metal farmer' denzil dsouza

91 comments:

  1. Hello,

    I have a query : do we need to prune the main stem of the ridge gourd to encourage lateral growth? Currently my plant is about a month old with only one lateral, which is nearly as long as the main stem. There are no flowers. Any tips?

    Many thanks
    AG

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks for visiting my blog.
    there is no need to prune the ridge gourd as u have said its only been a month. it takes more than 45 days for flowering to occur. rain & extreme cold hamper flower production. and flowering when it does occur , can be seen mostly at night, i.e. the bloom is at night, very rarery seen during day time.
    pruning can be done, only when the stem is thick enough & old. this can be done in older plants & not young ones. so its not recommended, as of now, and by the time the plant becomes old, pruning it will again keep the plant in mnore vegetative phase. hence not really recommended.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi there,

    Many thanks for your prompt response. Though it is less than 45 days, the ridge gourd plant has started putting out flowers. Since the night temp where I live in is below 15C, I have grown the plant indoors. Therefore, I have to hand pollinate the flowers. Unfortunately I do not know which are male or female. Can you please please help? I also have a query for snake gourds, that I will post in the relevant section.

    Many thanks in advance.
    AG

    ReplyDelete
  4. http://www.thegourdreserve.com/hand_pollination.html

    please check this site to see how exactly hand pollination is done..

    its very difficult to identify male n female flowers... but male flowers have a long stamina which sticks out with the pollen

    but the best i suggest is, keep a tiny bulb in the place where u are growing the plant and leave it on for a few hours at night. this will attract moths & night bugs & they will pollinate the flowers. this is the best & in nature too, the night flowers are pollinated this way... cheers

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good day,

    Some spots on the ridge gourd leaves. Does not look like DM that is on the vegetable cucumber - is it some other viral infection or am I being paranoid?

    http://www.filefactory.com/file/ahd46f6/n/DSCN0225_JPG

    Take care
    AH

    ReplyDelete
  6. ha ha,
    this is no need to worry about.. it looks like an infection, but nothing to worry about. u forget, the older leaves also start aging, so it sould probably be that as well....

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thought I would update you - finally, I have a ridge gourd fruit. See attached pic link.....

    http://www.filefactory.com/file/ahga252/n/DSCN0228_JPG

    Regards
    AG

    ReplyDelete
  8. HA HAH A.. its not ridge gourd.. its bottle gourd... seems like u confused witht he gourds....u have posted bottle gourd pic in my ridge gourd post....

    its awesome.... so u got only one?? if thats the case, this should be kept for seeds, coz its the best, early yielding, variety n its seeds will be the same too...
    unless off course u listen to ur taste buds .. then bon apetite....

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is what happens if one lives in the desert all their life - one does not know the difference between the various types of gourds when they are in the fruit stage!

    The seeds were sold to me saying they were that of ridge gourd. I did think the fruit looked a bit unlike ridge gourd, maybe the spikes will come on later is what I was thinking!

    God, I am feeling so silly & sheepish! Anyway thanks for the clarification.

    Two more female flowers yet to bloom! Not so excited now as I prefer ridge to bottle gourd.

    ReplyDelete
  10. ha ha h thats ok...small lesson for u... ridge gourd seeds are mid size, irregular and black in color...most times they are pointy but black n irregular edges
    bottle gourd seeds are rectangular shaped, and have stripes/ridges on them...
    the ridge gourd plant will have yellow flowers n blooming is seen after dark.. i.e. nocturnal bloom
    bottle gourd flowers are white in color, and large flowers,

    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi, i sowed the ridge gourd plant and it is now flowering..but i dont know why the flowers are falling after one day...is that okay if this happening in the beginning stage or do i need to take any special care for this problem...please help..thanks

    ReplyDelete
  12. dont worry about ridge gourds... they have like a million flowers... and nearly all of them fall off.... its very common... and if u notice. flower fall is very prominent during day time, or early mornings.. and reat of the day teh flower buds are closed. it opens only during night
    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nice pics. We just started growing ridge gourd and we love it. The fruit was produced within a month. We have two gourds hanging from our plant. I am not sure when to harvest it. Any tips on how to determine when its ready to harvest?

    ReplyDelete
  14. My problem is that all my turya is getting dry from bottom in early stage and then full turya dried in early stage.
    Is this due to some disease as in very early stage sometime or sometime after few weeks this happens to turya.

    Regards.

    JAIPALGOSAI

    ReplyDelete
  15. dont worry about ridge gourds... they have like a million flowers... and nearly all of them fall off.... its very common... and if u notice. flower fall is very prominent during day time, or early mornings.. and reat of the day teh flower buds are closed. it opens only during night
    cheers

    ReplyDelete
  16. thanks karthik for visiting my blog...
    the ridge gourd can be harvested/lucked when it reaches optimum length. for that i need to know if yiur gourds are local or hybrid variety. also i need to know if they are dwarf or long variety. in any case, u can pluck them when are long and tender, not over ripe. u can do the fingernail test & just prick the skin of the gourd gently. if it pricks with ease, then its tender and juicy. if the skin is tough n not easily penetrable then it might be over ripe & keeping it too long will only make it more upfit for consumption. u can keep them for seeds

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is a very nice blog. Lot of information. However, I have a question. I did not put a trellis for this creeper.. IS it okay to grow this on the ground? Will the yield be any different?

    ReplyDelete
  18. thanks for visiting my blog.... ridge gourds are climbers and not creepers, which means they prefer to climb rather than just creep on teh ground. there is nothing wrong in growing ridge gourd on the ground, but the yield will be affected. we tried it as well, and apart from low yield, we also got plenty of disfigured fruits since there is no scope for vertical growth. if your ridge gourd variety is small size then there wont be much problem, but i still prefer to use any kind of support.. thanks

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for the response..
    Do you have any procedure in your blog here, that shows how to make a trellis?
    Thanks
    Chunnu

    ReplyDelete
  20. well i have not posted making trellis or support as opinions may differ from person to person. i will , later, add a post showing how to make trellis.. in the mean while.. u can perhaps check this link and modify it to use ridge gourds...http://padvalagriculture.blogspot.com/2008/12/indian-spinach-basale-soppu-valchi.html

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thanks a lot. I will probably plan on making for the next season. I will let it go for this season.
    You site is a wealth of information.. Glad I came across it and that you are responding immediately.

    Good Job and Good Luck.

    ReplyDelete
  22. thanks for the comments, much appreciated. i have still over 50 posts and nearly 400 more photos and videos still to upload, but not finding time. once i do, then the blog will be a lot better

    ReplyDelete
  23. I am regularly checking this blog. Keep those new posts and pictures coming.. Is this your hobby to grow vegetables. Looks like you have lot of knowledge.

    ReplyDelete
  24. magnus said....,
    hello there,
    urs blog is fantastic with a wealth of information.
    I had planted a ridge gourd plant which is now almost 1 month old and is having buds now in very small size.Idont had better place for the plant hence i planted them in corridor of home where the time period of light fall is 2-3 hours.and my is surrounded by buildings from 3 sides.will it be a problem?

    2)i had planted bitter gourd with ridge gourd side by side.will it show any effect on the yield of both plants?

    please help...thanks,waiting for reply.............

    ReplyDelete
  25. thanks for visiting my blog.
    1. ridge gourd needs plenty of sunlight, as it is a day loving plant. having said that, it requires at least 8 hours min of sunlight for it to flower and get quality fruits. other wise i feel it will only grow and remain in vegetative stage and will later die due to lack of sunlight
    2. there is no immediate problem if u have bitter gourd along with ridge gourd. one may feel that the ridge gourd is tasting bitter because it is planted next to each other, but it cannot happen, simply because, the rate of pollination between species is very very rare. in simple words, the ridge gourd requires its own pollen and the bitter gourd too requires its own species pollen. so do not worry

    ReplyDelete
  26. truly good blog. i learned lots! thanks

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hi,

    Hope the blog is still active. Please can you let me know what the optimum temperatures are for growing ridge gourd? Also please advise if its best to sow them indoors and transplant them. I live south to London and the temperatures are not above 70 in summer and would like to know if I am being over ambitious about trying to grow them and if I should drop the idea.

    Thanks in advance.

    ReplyDelete
  28. hello,
    due to over heat there are a lot of viruses in my ridge gourd what can i spray in order to reduce viruses...

    ReplyDelete
  29. thanks ragha for checking out my blog... for virus there is sadly nothing that can be done. if the plant is severely infected then u have to uproot the entire thing and burn and destroy. however if its mild, then u need to check its further spread. virus is spread by small insects like leaf hoppers and minors. so u need to get rid of these smaller pests in order to prevent virus spread as these act as vectors. u must use neem sprays @5ml per litre. spray when u seen attack. then spray once every 10 days and later once every 7 days.

    ReplyDelete
  30. thanks London dweller,
    ridge gourds are tropical and require good amount of sunlight. optimum temperatures are between 29 and 35 degrees centigrade. extreme temps will result in excess flower drop. at the same time its highly succeptable to lower temperatures.

    growing seedlings indoors is not a good idea unless u provide good night. even a bulb will do the trick coz it needs lots of light,. it will still germinate but will look pale and lanky. so even if u are growing them indoors, u need to provide good light.

    u can grow them provided u get local hybrids that are tolerant to the weather in London. but dont try n grow them from seeds u got here in India coz they will grow but not yield. check out my posts where i have grown ridge gourd hyrdoponically without soils soon

    ReplyDelete
  31. Hello,

    I am trying to grow ridge gourds in pot on my terrace..temperature and light should not be a problem at all..my plant is about 10days old. will it yeild fruits even when its planted in pots? please help.

    many thanks

    Shivalee

    ReplyDelete
  32. hi Shivalee
    off course ridge gourds will grow in pots!!!

    the only problem is space for the roots becoming restricted and depending on what fertilizer you provide (organic or chemical) the soil in the pot will harden and become compact.

    i have successfully grown ridge gourds in pots using a technique called Simplified Hydroponics which i will post on this very blog soon..

    so dont worry and happy farming

    ReplyDelete
  33. Hi
    thanks or your effort on this blog. It is very informative. I live in the US and I have ridge guard plants that are more than 60 days old and they are big too. However, there is not a single flower yet. The summer only last another 2 months and I was concerned it might not Twila anything at all. Any suggestions ?
    Thanks
    Manjula

    ReplyDelete
  34. How to change the new male flowers to female flowers. I am not able to find the "sex change phytormones" in market

    ReplyDelete
  35. hello NM
    i dont think u can change the male flowers to female flowers, nor do i think u get any sex change hormones in the market.... if u do pls let me know.. but u can use certain organic spray and liquids which will increase the number of female flowers... some products are biovita, organic gel, multimin etc... they increase the production of female flowers and hence more yield... but it has to be used judiciously...

    ReplyDelete
  36. Hi,

    I sowed ridge guard seeds before 2 months and it grows only a very small height and just it stared climbing. But, it blossemed flowers and a ver few ridgeguards are there now and it is in ver few inches. It seems it is not growing in a proper speed. Its leaves seems to be affeacted by insects and holes ae present in it. I dont know what steps need to take for its growth. Please guide me.

    ReplyDelete
  37. hello Padma
    thanks for checking my blog.... there could be several reasons why the ridge gourd didnt grow properly.... i can tell u what the problem is , if u could send me photos to my email address here prithamdsouza@gmail.com

    thanks

    ReplyDelete
  38. Hi, Just came across your blog. very informative. great to see step by step pics. I have a Q. my ridge gourd is planted 3 months ago. plant looks healthy. but no flowers. I see some ants eating some tender shoots( not sure what it is) because I never got to see them grow. are they eating the flowers before they even bud? please help

    ReplyDelete
  39. thanks for checking out my blog...3 months? thats way too long and u should have had yield by now. i think your seeds are faulty...but there can be several reasons... where do u live? light, temperature, nutrients play a very important role in fruit bud formation. and ridge gourds , the flowering is seen once the sun goes down. u wont be able to see th flowering during day time. ants do not eat the tender shoots, but if there is infection due to others like aphids or other bugs, then u will see lots of ants... but ants dont generally attack ridge gourd plants... if u have a photo , send it to prithamdsouza@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  40. yes, my plant leaves too are being eaten by ants (small black ants); the plant looks weak now, leaves being sucked out of their juices by these ants. I am worried about this problem. I live in north-east USA and am growing a couple of these plants in my small backyard this summer. Any recommendation is much appreciated!

    ReplyDelete
  41. Aruna, pls send me photos of ur ridge gourd plants, the ones eaten by ants... as its not something i see here happening. prithamdsouza@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  42. Is it possible to grow rigdegourd in between beetlenut trees.

    Ramesh

    ReplyDelete
  43. yes Ramesh.... its possible... but do remember the plants grow better in the presence of good sunlight

    ReplyDelete
  44. Hi Thanks for posting good info on ridge gourd cultivaton, I encountered the same issue as Aruna posted earlier, I planted my ridge gourd seeds 2 months back, now the vine is growing fine but no sign of flowers at all. I could see some black spots on the leaves and looks like ants are devouring the plant. Can you please suggest some prevention measures.......Thanks Much

    ReplyDelete
  45. hello Lakshmi... sorry for the delay in replying... is it possible to send 3 or 4 photos of the ridge gourd plant as i need to first study it and then give u a suitable reply.
    there can be several factors why there is no flowering. bad seeds, low nitrients, soil conditions, weather, etc etc...

    ReplyDelete
  46. aruna, hi ur blog is fantastic.really it helps me a lot,whn ever i gt problem with my plants i just log on to this.i am grwing ridge gourd in my garden,i cant remm the age of plant,the wine has grwn big,but the problem is the leaves are becomming yellow,burnt looks,more flowers are there but the small fruits becmes wrinkled and falls down,now i am nt able to harvest atleast1 fruit,plz suggest me wht meds i have to spray. thx

    ReplyDelete
  47. thanks for the lovely comments....truly appreciated.... if the leves turn yellow, its a sure sign of nitrogen deficiency... first the older leaves turn yellow, since Nitrogen is a mobile element and will travel to the younger leaves from older leaves to younger leaves.... u need to first send me some pics to my gmail address prithamdsouza@gmail.com but for now, it seems nitrogen deficiency...add nutrients!!

    ReplyDelete
  48. I have a healthy ridge gourd plant and it has abundant flowers,problem is that the baby ridge gourds turn yellow and wither away. what could be tbe problem?

    ReplyDelete
  49. thank u Mrs tauro,
    this could be due to insect attack, particularly melon fly/fruit fly which attacks the young developing fruit. a tiny incision is made on the fruits and it is then exposed to various fungus which further attack the fruit and kill it.... but i need to confirm, it will be helpful if u can manage to send me a photo of the problem to prithamdsouza@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  50. Hi Sir,
    I am not sure if I would get a reply to this blog since lately I dont see anyone commenting. We do organic farming and I have grown ridge gourd. The plant is now almost 2 months old but it seems to have some problem. The leaves has marks on them and a small fruit develops but soon dries off. I would like to know if you are still active then I will post the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  51. hello super zoozoo
    yes the blog is very active and i would prefer if u sent me the pics instead to my email address which is prithamdsouza at gmail dot com

    waiting for ur email... cheers

    ReplyDelete
  52. Hello,

    Congratulations on your blog. I am in Brisbane, Australia and have a ridge gourd plant. Its more than 2 months now and there has been no ridge gourds produced. There are lots of young fruits, but they turn yellow eventually. I will send in the pics to your email. Appreciate if you can let me know the problem and suitable remedy so that I get to eat home-grown herekayi!

    ReplyDelete
  53. thank u Vidya.... send me an email with the pics to prithamdsouza@gmail.com cheers

    ReplyDelete
  54. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  55. hi, I have planted ridge guard in pots in Delhi. Now it is flowering. My only concern is that though there are lots of flowers but they are not getting converted into fruits. What should I do next?

    regards Tripti

    ReplyDelete
  56. Trupti, In my layman experience, There are 2 types of flowers for ridge gourd. One comes a s a bunch - this does not become the fruit. After some more weeks, there are flowers at each leaf/stem junction. This is the one that becomes the ridge gourd.

    ReplyDelete
  57. hi, my 2 ridge gourd plants are only a few weeks old with 3 to 4 true leaves. They are growing well and i have provided supports. On the bottom, the very first true leaves, i notice white films.Also there is one (only one) fly like black insect sitting on it constantly. I try shooing it away but trapping it seems difficult.After a few days I noticed a hole in the leaf.
    a) what is the white film? should i remove it now? how do i treat it.? neem spray on this young plant ok?
    b) how do i get rid of the black insect?
    c) holes in leaf? do i discard leaf immediately or wait for it to ease out naturally? will it spread?

    thanks

    ReplyDelete
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  60. Hi,
    I came across your blog through surfing and I have a question. I planted 5 ridge gourd plants and they have started fruiting. It seems like they are the local variety since the fruits seem small size. It seems like they are not growing in size , its been more than a week since the fruits appeared, but they are very thin and have grown only palm size. Is this normal?

    ReplyDelete
  61. It is true that there is no need to trim the variety gourd as u have said its only been monthly. it requires more than 45 times for blooming to happen.


    Seed Drills

    ReplyDelete
  62. Hello, Hope you are doing great as usual.

    I came back to get some help. Ridge.g is growing very well in my patch. But i have observed that there is some problem with the fruit. Right after the flower the fruit-like ones appear. It looks like a miniature ridge.g... about an inch long and a few millimeters thick. But then it does not grow beyond that. It turns brownish yellow and dries up. The leaves look great and flowers are also healthy. What could be the problem?

    Please Help.
    GB

    ReplyDelete
  63. Hi,
    Even I face the same issue guards turning yellow after inch long and dries up. What could the problem

    ReplyDelete
  64. hi it is turning yellow because of insusfficiant micronutrients and calcium nitrate spray both of them 2 gms per lts of water it will recover

    ReplyDelete
  65. I am finding this problem with the Ridge Gourd plants, earlier it was all Green and i had about 5 tress which
    were planted in close proximity. i had put in the Buffalo dung earlier
    I had one ridge gourd from 3 of the trees but now all of them are growing an inch and
    they are turning yellow and also the older leaves as you can see from the image.
    I had put in around 2 spoons of KPG Dipotassium but i dont see anything happening infact the female
    flowers aren't blossoming at all.
    Could you please advise as to what should i do,I see that there is no chance for these female flowers to blossom at all. any remedies or workaround for it. I am sending you the images by mail.


    Thanks,
    Devender Rawat

    ReplyDelete
  66. Hi, we are also facing problem of no flower at our ridge gourd plant. there are a lot of black ants on the plant.

    we have planted the seeds last year, got fruit. then vine was dried. this year leaves again came from the remaining stem of the vine.

    Do we get fruits from re-grown vine, also is ants a common issue with ridge gourd vines.

    Regards,
    Deepak Verma

    ReplyDelete
  67. Can you please help - My ridge gourd fruits (small to medium size) turning to yellow and drying out.

    ReplyDelete
  68. HI, we have organically cultivated ridge guard firm, its 50 days old, in the beginning we did not supply any manure because of heavy rain. 20 days back we supplied liquid organic NPK and Micro nutrients twice but the growth is not up to the mark.
    kindly suggest

    ReplyDelete
  69. Hi,

    My ridge guard plant growing long and healthy ridge guards. I cut three of them and all the three of them are bitter at the edges, only small center portion is good. Is there anything I can do for that? I am scared that all the fruits are going to be bitter...

    ReplyDelete
  70. I am growing ridge gourd since July 14 in a small pot (8") in my small balcony in Mumbai. It received about 2 to 3 hours of direct sun in the afternoon but is quite bright throughout the day. I am now noticing very tiny buds in clusters, which after going through your blog I realise, could be male flowers. There are a couple of other tiny green buds - whether flowers or leaves, I don't know. Two weeks back I had missed watering the plant for a couple of days and it had withered. Luckily it revived within a few hours of watering. Some of my older leaves have been turning yellow and withering away while a few of the very young leaves and tendrils are turning brown and drying away. The plant otherwise looks ok. Kindly suggest.

    ReplyDelete
  71. I want to add to my earlier comment - I use organic manure periodically and have used neemcake once.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Hi I have a ridge gourd plant 2 months old initially had male flowers only that dropped off, now there are only female flowers . what can i do to help the plant to produce male flowers.
    thanks

    ReplyDelete
  73. Hai
    Your blog is very useful. My ridge gourd plants are also facing the same problem. The small fruits are drying up and withering not at all growing. I want to use only organic manure. What shall i do for calcium nitrate spray ?

    ReplyDelete
  74. I am having few ridge gourd plants. They are very healthy.
    Lots of male flowers have appeared.
    Along with that many female flowers with baby ridge gourd have appeared.

    But unfortunately, all the baby ridge gourds are turning yellow after some days of appearance.
    What is the reason behind this?

    ReplyDelete
  75. My ridge gourd plant produces only yellow male flowers. The plants are healthy and it is more than 4 months old. No fruits. Why?

    ReplyDelete
  76. Hi my ridge gourd plant is blossoming and few baby ridge gourds are turning yellow and withering out without growing.pla suggest.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Hi my ridge gourd plant is blossoming and few baby ridge gourds are turning yellow and withering out without growing.pla suggest.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Hi, my ridge gourd plant was really doing well but recently it's leave has turned yellow and has thread like mark all over the leaves and small buds are also dying.please suggest something.

    ReplyDelete
  79. I have planted ridge and bottle gourd plants two months back in my backyard. They have grown well and started fruiting. The problem is most of the female fruits turn yellow and drop off before blooming and some after blooming. Thus I have not reaped a single fruit so far . What is the reason and suggest remedy , good if it is organic one

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Flower doesn't seem to have fertilized. Try hand fertilization with ear buds

      Delete
  80. More study ridge gourd cultivation
    @http://www.agricultivation.com/ridge-gourd-cultivation-information/

    ReplyDelete
  81. More than 90 days since sown ridge gourd plant growing healthy but no flowers. Please suggest me options.

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  82. Sir, I have one Ac Farm planted with RG . Now it is 45 DAS.Since 15 days we are receiving Moderate RAins in the evening and day time is cloudy with no sun visible.Plants look healthy but leaves are big and drooping giving a sick appearance.What remedy you suggest in terms of sprays of nutrients. Field is flat and non-sloppy

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  83. Poor drainage and no exchange of air. Can i do something to make my plantation flurish

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  84. Interesting Article. Hoping that you will continue posting an article having a useful information. Dried Gourds for Sale Australia

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  85. Young ridge gourd are dying and not coming in proper usual shape. Please suggest.

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  86. Hai ...i m growing ribbed gourd in my house ..female flowers became yellow colour and get dried up before blooming and formation of fvegetable get affected.. whats the problem in female flower and how can i rectify tis problem..

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  87. Hi.. Thanks for sharing lot of information re. Ridge Gourd cultivation. In my wines there are too many large leaves and it is now about 45 days old and no flowers yet. It is raining in Sri Lanka so growing fast. Do we need to remove these extra leaves?

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