Ridge Gourds at Padval Farms

Ridge Gourds at Padval Farms
Tender and young ridge gourd plants seen here at padval Farms. ridge gourds are highly intolerant to cold temperatures and growth stunt can be seen when the day temp is drastically reduced



video and data by Pritham Dsouza

ridge gourds grown during monsoon

the seed beds must contain freshly decomposed organic manure. 2 buckets of manure can be added for every seed bed. the main field should have raised seed beds as water stagnation can destroy the young seedlings.
the figure above shows a typical raised bed. 2 to 3 seeds are sowed in every seed bed.

germination will take place after more than a week. under good field conditions, germination is faster. here germination was recorded 8 days after sowing

after 2 weeks after germination. as there is shortage of sunlight, the plants appear weak, even though the seed beds have all the required plant nutrients.

photo taken after 21 days after germination. when sunlight becomes available, growth and development is rapidly accelerated.

using tree branches as support for the growing ridge gourd plants. ridge gourds are climbers & thus require support for its growth.

thinning out must be done & only 2 seedlings must be retained per every raised bed.

2 or 3 sticks with lateral branches are inserted in every bed as shown. care must be taken to see that the sticks do not damage the plant roots or stem.

then the plants must gently be wrapped around the twigs. in 2 datys time, the tendrils will hold the twigs & grow

field shows support given to the plants.

15 days after giving support, the plant is well established & continues to grow using the provided support.

plant seen climbing upwards, the entire length of the support provided.

one month after providing support. the plant has grown very well & climbed the entire length of the support. the lateral shoots that emerge tend to keep falling away from the supporting material. & so the vines should be monitored everyday.

from another angle. as rainfall subsides, the beds need to be opened up & inter culture operations must be continued.


here we can see, the opening up of the raised beds & now pits have been made. 2 to 3 buckets of fresh decomposed manure is added. it is not required to water the pits as moisture content in the soil due to over night rainfall is sufficient for the plant.
only if prolonged dry spells are seen, watering can be done , alternate days, to retain moisture in the soil. at this stage, using complex NPK is also practiced.

another important index is the color green. when the plant is getting adequate nitrogen, the leaves & entire plant has a lush appearance. here the photo shows the plant has attained a height of more than 8 feet & is now slowly covering the trellis/pendall

harvesting can be seen almost immediate after flowering. since it still rains every now and then, incidence of fruit borer is very common. in some cases, tender fruits are harvested earlier to prevent boring of the fruits from the insect.

another view of the same crop. the on off showers increases the incidence of fungus & insects. using strong organic based insect repellents every week is highly recommended. spraying with chemical insecticides is not done as it does not have much impact during the monsoons. repeated sprays are highly toxic to the plant & also unfit for human consumption.

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

Ridge Gourd

Ridge Gourd (Luffa acutangula) grown at Padval farms. Low quality video, click play to watch

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

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