How to Grow Pointed Gourd at Home?

Pointed gourd plant thrives in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Growing requirements of this plant include well-drained soil, regular watering, full sunlight and ideal temperature of 30C-35C.

Though growing pointed gourd from seeds can be done with ease, I prefer growing them from roots. It saves time and you can expect the harvest at the earliest.

You can get pointed gourd seeds from local store or extract it from ripe pointed gourd. Wash those seeds, dry them and sow them in the soil to encourage germination.

Pointed gourd seeds germinate in 10-14 days in warm climate and you can transplant them once the seedlings reach certain height.

Prepare the growing soil with garden soil, vermicomposting or worm castings. Adding organic fertilizers to the soil gives the initial boost for plant growth.

Cultivating vegetables in our home garden gives grace to it, as they are like ornaments to the garden.

Moreover, creepy vegetables are very beautiful in nature that they are a treat to watch. There are many creepy vegetables found that can be cultivated in gardens.

One of the healthiest vegetables that give us the chance of enjoying outer and inner beauty when we eat is Pointed Gourd. By end of this write-up you’ll know how to grow pointed gourd at your home.

Pointed Gourd is one of the healthiest vegetables that can be easily grown in the gardens. To grow Pointed Gourd the minimum and important step to follow is the propagation process for its seed. We take the help of already grown plants while new seedling processes so that it can give fast growth.

It is popularly known as Parwal from its native place. This vegetable belongs to the gourd family known as cucurbitaceae. And also it looks similar to the vegetable ivy gourd but bigger in size.

Pointed gourd gives a good source of vitamins and is also used for medical purposes. It consists of the rich amounts of vitamin A, C, and carbohydrates and also traces elements like potassium, magnesium, copper, and silver. Therefore it is considered as a healthy vegetable used for weight loss programs too.

Compared to all the regions, the consumption of Pointed gourd in Bangladesh and West Bengal regions is very high. This is the long-lasting plant that exists for an infinite period of time.

What is the Pointed Gourd?

Pointed Gourd is found mostly in the north-east parts of India. Therefore it is cultivated in different places; it has different names according to the different languages.

Different names of pointed gourd in different languages are:

• English: Pointed gourd/Parwal
• Telugu: Kommu potla/chedu potla
• Hindi: Parval
• Tamil: Kambu Pudalai
• Bengali & Assamese: Patol
• Marathi & Gujarati: Paraval
• Punjabi: Parwal
• Oriya: Patal
• Urdu: Prora
• Kannada: Kaadu Padaval
• Malayalam: Patolam

It is a beneficiary food that encourages people to consume it, because it has many health benefits and medicinal values.

As the pointed gourd has a good amount of vitamins, it helps in solving digestion problems. It controls the sugar levels in the body. As it gives a good amount of fiber to the body, it controls the cholesterol levels and reduces all the heart problems to keep it healthy. It helps in treating constipation. It also helps in blood purifying. It helps in flu infections. It also fights with aging.

Cultivation

Pointed gourd harvested by cutting the vines and roots of the plant. Seeds cannot produce germination processes because we cannot determine the sex of seed before flowering so that they are unable to proceed with the germination.

Therefore to produce germination and seeds, maintaining male and female ratio for cultivation is very important i.e, 9:1 ratio should be considered for female and male ratio respectively.

How to Grow Pointed Gourd (Parwal)?

It’s amazing to grow your food in your backyard. For me gardening gives the ultimate satisfaction that can’t be achieved otherwise.

Before you start to sow seeds in the garden, ensure the climate in your region is ideal for this climber.

As already mentioned pointed gourd does well in tropical and sub-tropical climates. This perennial climber can’t survive in extreme cold and frost.

If you’re living in colder regions of USA, then you should opt for greenhouse and ensure to maintain ideal temperature for optimal growth of this plant.

Soil Requirement

Pointed gourd requires light soils. It cannot be grown in heavy soils. The soils that are suitable for growing Pointed gourd are like loamy or clay soil which is light soils. And also soil should have its pH value in the range of 6.0 to 6.5.

Also Read: How to Grow Papaya in Pots from Seeds?

Climate Requirement

Climate for growing the Pointed Gourd is warm. As it is a perennial plant, dry tropical weather and the hot temperature are preferred for cultivation.

The plant will not support growth in frosting and cold regions. Therefore it prefers a hot humid climate and does not prefer cool weather, the climate that comes after monsoon is mostly preferred to grow the Pointed gourd.

Distance between pointed gourd plants

As Pointed gourd is a vein producer, this needs more space for creeping. But the space given to it depends upon how we train the veins. Approximately the distance should be 1.5 meters x 1.5 meters or 2 meters X 2 meters should be maintained between two plants.

Watering Pointed Gourd

Frequency of watering parwal plant depends on the climatic conditions in your region. In winter, then plant doesn’t need much water. So, water once in 10 days.

If you’re growing pointed gourd in pots, then to avoid overwatering it is recommended to check soil moisture. Water generously, only if you find the soil dry.

In summer, you should ensure watering once in every 3-4 days. Mulching around the plant with hay grass ensure the moisture is locked for longer time.

Similarly, to avoid underwatering in hot days, check the soil moisture regularly.

Yellowing of pointed leaves and stunted growth can be signs of overwatering and underwatering the plant.

Sunlight Requirement for Growing Pointed Gourd

As the plant grows well in warm and humid climate, this perennial climber needs full sunlight at-least up-to 8 hours.

When the plant doesn’t get enough sunlight, it may result in discoloration of leaves and slow growth of the plant.

Also read: Growing Cluster Beans at Your Home Garden

How to Plant Pointed Gourd?

Land preparation

Before we plant the seeds, the soil should be allowed up to 2 to 3 times to get fine soil. Manure selection for cultivation is also a very important step. Farmyard manure is suggested to be used for cultivation. It gives a good yield to vegetables.

Propagation method

Seed propagation

Seed propagation is a late process that takes a long time for converting seed into a plant and then into flower, because the reproductive progeny takes time in the seed.

Usually, flowering fruiting plants use pollinating processes, mostly seed propagation is used only for staminate plants.

Vegetation propagation

Vegetation propagation is the process where it tries to reproduce the plant from an already grown plant so that it gives fast results. A 1meter long root will be cut from a one-year-old plant and is rooted in the same plant i.e,

If a plant is rooted in October, in February or march the plant should be transplanted into fields and again in October 1meter root of that matured plant is cut and directly rooted into 20meters to 30meters deep in the same plant and covered with moist soil.

By this 90% of the growth required from the sowing the seed to growing into the plant will be fastened. So that the plant grows faster and the growing process will be easier by cutting and using the matured plant.

Mostly this process is used for growing the pointed gourd, as this is the fastest and easiest growing method of the Pointed Gourd.

Tissue propagation

Tissue propagation is multiple production methods which are produced from the small piece of organ culture in the small space. This small space provides a nutrient medium for propagation.

Planting process

In the planting process of pointed gourd, root suckers, or cut veins are used. These are collected from the mature and one-year-old plant so that for the easy process of cultivation.

The roots used for rooting new plants should consist of a minimum of 8 to 10 nodes of the root so that it can help in harvesting. The roots used for planting are also repotting plants. But the condition is the roots or veins collected should be fresh.

These roots will be replanted after the subdivision of the plant. They will help in controlling all the circumstances. And also the main condition is to collect the roots in the ratio of 9:1 of female roots and male roots respectively which helps in the germination process.

By using this process the faster and easier cultivation process takes place. And the result will be approximately produced in a one-month duration only.

Check this: Can You Grow Arugula in Pots?

Irrigation requirement

Irrigation is the most important part of growing Pointed gourd. As soon as the rooting process ends, the first irrigation process starts. This plant does not take the overflow of water.

The excess water may lead to rot of plant roots. So removing excess water is very much required for this plant, mainly in the rainy season.

It is better to use a drip irrigation or sprinkling process. So that the weed occurrence will be avoided and the soil will be moist.

Fertilizers and Manure usage

Manure used should be well decomposed that is used for cultivation. As mentioned above, Farmyard manure is well-decomposed manure.

Applying micronutrients and macronutrients should be provided to achieve good results. Macronutrients that should be considered are Phosphorous, Nitrogen, and Potassium. They should be split into dosages for avoiding an excessive amount of chemicals.

Before managing the nutrients, soil testing should be done. After soil testing, fertilizing the soil is a mandatory step. So, for fertilizing and nutrition management too many chemicals will be used. Therefore in the time of spraying the chemicals, the dosage should be maintained so that the soil will not get dry and poisonous.

After providing all the required ingredients, land should be irrigated.

Pests and Diseases

The diseases that can be occurred for Pointed gourd are:

• Fruit flies
• Fruit Rot
• Mosaic viruses
• Epilachna beetle
• Red beetles
• Red Pumpkin beetle
• Root-Knot Nematode
• Downy Mildew

All these diseases that occur will be most in the rainy season, because of the excess water provided to the plant. They occur due to the forming of viruses, fungus, pests, and insects.

These pests and diseases can be controlled by providing Potassium, Nitrogen, and Phosphorous in the required amount for the land. Potassium can be used up to 40 to 50 kg, Nitrogen can be used up to 60 to 80 kg and Phosphorous can be used up to 40 kg. These can be used as fertilizers for the hectare of land.

How to Harvest Pointed Gourd?

Usually, after rooting the vines and after transplanting in the month of February, the plant starts fruiting in 120-140 days and it completes till approximately September.

From 15-18 days after pollination, they are ready for harvesting. The fruit will be ready between July to October months. Harvesting should have happened between these days. Because fully ripened fruits are not suitable for eating.

They should be harvested before they reach a fully mature stage. Therefore before tuning into fruit, the Pointed gourd vegetable should be harvested.

Yielding process

Yielding of Pointed gourd is mainly dependent upon growth management, nutrition management, fertilizers, and irrigation management. The estimation of the yielding can be 15 to 20 tonnes per hectare.

Hybrid varieties of the Pointed gourd

• Swarna Rekha
• Swarna Suruchi
• Swarna Alaukik
• Rajendra Parwal-1
• Rajendra Parwal-2

Pointed Gourd Plant Care Tips

Mainly while harvesting, the main steps to be taken are nutrition management, fertilizers, and irrigation management. These will ensure the good growth of the crop.

Post-Harvest management

Pointed gourd vegetables should be cleaned after harvesting. They should be cleaned before use.

Conclusion

If you’re living in tropical or sub-tropical regions, then you can start planting pointed gourd in your backyard.

Else, you should ensure ideal temperature for the plant growth. You can do this by building a greenhouse.

Pointed gourd can be used as a good alternative at home gardens in the view of nutritious vegetables. It can be grown in a tropical climate. Mostly it is grown in the tropical regions of the world.

They are India and Bangladesh. It is popularly known as Parwal in those countries. Nowadays, in temperature countries too, pointed gourd is getting popular and in demand, as it consists of rich nutrition and vitamins. And this can give many medicinal values.

The exploitation of pointed gourd is very much indeed for the Asian subcontinent countries India and Bangladesh. You can grow pointed gourd at home through hybridization process using genetic progeny.

This process is conducted by collecting the veins from parental clones. Different types of species can be produced in large amounts by this genetic progeny. This process leads to the production of new genetic spices, which helps in the expansion of the very important crop pointed gourd.