How to fertilizationto extra pollinate bottlegourd?
Answers
gourd vine bears male and female flowers. The male flowers usually appear first. It is very easy to tell male from female flowers as the female flower will have the small gourd shape below the bloom, while the male flower ( photo at left is male flower ) grows on a stem without the ball shape below the flower.
The first vine that grows will generally have mostly male flowers, but you can make it produce more female flowers ( thus making more gourds ) by cutting the ends of the vine back.
Left on their own, gourds depend on insects such as bees and beetles for pollination. One problem with this is that gourds cross-pollinate very easily, and the seeds the gourd produces will usually not be true, and will produce a gourd with characteristics of both plants.
Another side effect is that the germination rate of the seeds will be very poor. Normal germination for gourd seeds can be as low as 25%, but by hand pollination, germination can be as high as 80% or more.
I am from India, I planted some bottle gourds in my home garden past 3 months. Water is supplied regularly. Flowers are growing and small fruits are growing. There is no pests are there, leafs are good condition. But Fruits are not grows big size. fruits are destroys in small size after flower. They are not grown like big size gourd.Why & What is the problem for that? what type of grow fertilizers could i use? Tell me the solution for that. I send a picture for that. fruits are grows like that in the picture. fruits don't grow in a big size. i am waiting for your reply. thank you