Beginner Gardening: Advice on gourds, 1 by Seerenity

Seerenity wrote:
I recently bought a pack of gourd seeds that said they were for crafts and drying -Large Bottle Calabaza gourd. The package did not say how large is large.

Last year we had to prune a crepe myrtle that was close to a power line and one of the branches was so neat that I saved it. So when I started to plant the gourds instead of using a conventional trellis I buried the 8' tall branch and planted four seedlings around it - great way to recycle. My vision was the vines would trail up the limbs and eventually I would have gourds hanging from the branches - like a gourd tree. My vision has come to fruition but I have a couple of questions

The plants had dozens of delicate white blooms, but only a small amount set fruit - is this natural? Is there a nutrient I could have added to help set more fruit?

Second - should I try to make some type of sling to help support the gourds? I don't know how large they will get or how much weight the stems can support. Any suggestions-ideas will be appreciated.