Grow a Birdhouse Gourd
Birdhouse gourds are really easy to grow and make for fun crafts that can be turned into birdhouses, bird feeders, drink containers, or even decorations. The plant is a vine that can be grown on the ground to produce flat bottom gourds, or trained on a trellis to produce round bottom gourds. The plants do well in full sun with plenty of water, especially while producing gourds.
Contents
Steps
- Sow the seeds on mounds made of well-draining soil a few feet apart with two to three seeds per hill.
- Thin the weaker seedling(s) once they emerge.
- Give a daily drench watering and increase watering slightly once you see small gourds emerging.
- Once the gourds become larger, place hay below them so that they don't rot.
- Alternatively, train the gourds up a trellis or fence to produce round-bottomed gourds, which is the preferred method if the gourds will be used for decoration.
Tips
- The plants need full sun and lots of water.
- Once the main vine gets to considerable size, cut it at the growth point to produce more side shoots (the parts that grow the actual gourds) which will result in many more gourds per plant.
- Alternatively, if you want less gourds that are larger, pick off smaller gourds and/or misshapen gourds as the plant grows.
- Allow the gourds to ripen on the vine as long as possible until the vine connecting the gourd to the plant turns brown. Then allow them to dry for a few months in an out of the way place.
Warnings
- The vines may have an unpleasant odor, but they aren't toxic.
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