Gourds: When is a luffa ready to be harvested?

Morph, the ones pictures were grown in 2001 in Tennessee. I did sow some in Texas this year but only one germinated and it was scorched to death in the sun within a few short days. :( I'm going to try them again next year, but I'll sow them in late March instead of late July. :)

dave

This is my first year with luffas, they took over my deck wich is over 5 feet off the ground. I LOVE IT! It made my deck look so beautiful.
Question-about how long will a luffa get before I should consider harvesting and bringing in before a frost? I have a couple that have to be over 1 foot in length, havnt measured. Im in maryland zone 7a or b, no frost yet.and the vines are still green and still getting flowers although alot fewer.

Dravencat,

Do not harvest them at all until they turn brown, brittle and dry and you can hear the seeds rattling around inside.

If you pick it earlier, it will surely rot.

Dave

Thanks Dave, and thank you for an absoluty wonderful site. My new rutine(yes bad spelling) is get kids off to school, grab my coffee and go to Dave's.
Ive learned so much here and hopefully have been helpful to others in some way. Thank You
Im hoping to do what others are planning here, to pour in some soap bought at local craft store and give out as Christmas gifts. Keeping my fingers crossed.

You're welcome and thank -you- for the words of encouragement!

best,
dave

I was in a hurry to dry mine last year for holiday gifts. After they had been on the vine for quite a while and after a good frost, I did remove them and then dry them over our heating vents inside the house. They dried before Christmas. I did not have any get soft as I have had happen with gourds that I have picked too early. But, I have problems with squash bugs here and if I leave the fruit out, they eat through the gourds. So, my chances are better to rescue fruit before they are attacked but after they have hopefully matured enough.

Thanks Morph,
Ill remember that, Id have to figure out about the vent thing tho because all my vents are on the walls and not the floors. Still have to wait for a frost too. I go out everyday and check on them so I know nothing is eating itas of yet.
So far so good.

I make homemade soap from scratch and it's really not that hard, especially with new techniques, like a blender. If anyone is interested, send me an email and I'll email you the directions. My recipe is made without the expensive coconut oil and has a great lather. Soap has to age to be good, though. Don't expect to use it until a month to 6 weeks after making it, at least. So if you want it for Christmas, you need to get moving on it now. My email address is: artbysheryl@hotmail.com.
I'm just a visitor at Dave's. I'm in the Barrie, Ontario area and would love some extra brug cuttings. If you live near here, I'll happily exchange some homemade soap for brug cuttings or pay for postage in a bubble envelope.

Thanks,
Sheryl

I used to teach soapmaking and have all my recipes, directions and tips to email anyone who wants them. these are my class handouts.

You don't need to send me anything, just email me and I'll email it to you.

Hello everyone. New to the site, so far GREAT info! First year for luffas, and I'd like to ask a few questions. I have about 100 luffa gourds total. All are about 1 1/2 foot in length, some smaller but not many. About 30 are light green and getting light in weight. The rest are dark green and heavy. The light ones are hard as a rock, the green ones are considerably softer, but not really mushy. We have a hard frost comming tonight and most of the vines were already wilted and dried out from earlier cold fronts this year. My question is will the softer green gourds produce sponges or will they likely rot? The hard ones are already on their way to proper drying. I read that they should not be exposed to a hard frost so I "picked" all the gourds yesterday and will have them in the shed by this afternoon. What are the chances that the green ones will dry properly. I have a small heater in the shed to help dry the hardshell gourds I have as well. I'd hate to lose the 70 or so "greenies" I have. Thanks for any advice.
PS, Morph, what part of Dayton are you in? By the way, I'm in Cincinnati Ohio.

This message was edited Nov 7, 2003 10:18 AM

Hi CincyDave :) I'm on the south side of Dayton and used to work in Mason until about a year & a half ago. Where abouts are you located?

I do believe the freeze ruins the luffas. I harvested mine last year before the frost and brought them inside to dry. Not one rotted. If it were me, I would take one of the "considerably" softer gourds and slice it open to see what's inside. I suppose it can't hurt to try to save those softer ones, but I suspect they may not be viable.

I grew mini-luffa balls this year. I finally had some fruit growing by middle September. But, we had an early freeze here and even though I covered the plants with sheets, the fruit died :( I REALLY was excited about these, but I got lucky and found some at the Mt. Gilead, Ohio gourd show. I practically bought the guy of his mini-ball luffas ~ lol!

Morph, I'm on the West side of Cincy. I hung all of the luffas yesterday in the shed, even the green ones. I did take one or two to the cutting board and found that they had a small amount of fiber strands inside. All I can do is hope. Today we make room for the 100 or so hardshell gourds in the shed. Doesn't leave much room for the mower!
I'll figure out how to post a pic and next post will show you the "drying shed". It makes my wife laugh every time she sees it. The shed that is!
Dry Baby Dry!

I have not grown my own louffa, but have made soap from purchased ones. You can get soap blocks, essential oils and soap dye at most craft stores. Just melt the soap in a double boiler, add whatever scent and color you want (I use lemon, when the soap is sliced it looks exactly like lemon slices). Wrap the louffa in Saran, leaving the top open, place in suitable container, such as a Crystal Light can. Pour in the soap and let it cool. Remove and slice. I also wrap each slice individually in Saran (helps retain moisture and scent), tie the top with narrow ribbon and place in appropriate package for gift giving.

Everyone loves them.

I'd love a picture, CincyDave and good luck with the green ones :)

Maigard, thanks for the info! That sounds like a great way to retain the shape & I love lemon. Do you use the clear glycerin soap block or the white ones? I make soap from scratch, too, but for fun, I may just make it easy on myself and try your method! Also, do you get just one piece of soap with this method or do you put in a longer luffa piece, fill with soap, and then cut slices?

I made soap in luffa last year. I did it just as maigard said. Wrap the saran wrap around several times and cover one end only. I taped it to secure it then placed the sponge in a container that would hold it upright. We used store bought sponges so they weren't as long as some you might grow. Just like candle making, the soap settles so you may need to top them off. Let dry overnight before slicing. We used glycerine soap from the craft store and just colored and scented it. We used dried lavender and it smelled great.

WIth all the soap I've made over the years, I've never done that with the luffas. I'm going to try it this year, if I can get the luffas started early enough. We may be moving soon, so starting stuff indoors this winter may be a problem, but I'm going to try!

Good luck to you, Lilies! I don't think you'll be disappointed. I still have luffa seeds out the wazoo, but they are several years old. Maybe I should grow a few more this year just to keep fresh seeds around...

Also, the dried luffa can be used as a sponge for starting other seeds. That is an entirely different topic, but worth considering if you are growing them :) See either the propagation or brugmansia forums for more threads about that.

This year I will definately be trying to grow the smaller luffa variety (Luffa operculata) again. They took so long to germinate last year that by the time they had flowers, there wasn't enough time for the fruit to grow in my zone.

I tried Luffas for a couple of years,I had great looking vines,my problem was little ants,they seemed to bite off the blooms as they opened,I tried spraying with seven.

Yes, I remember having ants out the wazoo, too, Root. That, combined with the lady bug looking pests and mold, are a challenge! I do think the ants transferred pollen, but I also sprayed several times using homemade formulas here at DGs. One was for the fungus/mold & another was for the bugs. It slows it down as I recall, but doesn't completely eliminate the problem.

Will you be growing luffas this year?

I might Morph,if I can get some seeds,I would like to try again,I love Luffas in the shower!

Plenty of those seeds here ~ just email me your snail mail!

It is on the way Morph,Thanks!!

~:)

Bringing this up for the good information on louffas....Jo

Time to bounce this up again...

I had thought of a good "form" to put the louffa in to pour soap in....a Pringle can...then just peel it off after the soap hardenes. Jo

Also, pvc pipe works well and withstands the higher temperature of the soap I make the old fashioned way with lye, oils & butters. I think Dave recommended that idea earlier up in this thread and it worked like a charm. You have many choices on diameter of pvc pipe to use which is nice depending on how thick & healthy your luffa is.

As I improved my processes, I eventually sawed the pvc pipe vertically to make two halves. That way I could just pull them apart when the soap had cooled after a day or two. Of course it still needed to cure for several weeks after that.

On another note, I think that grinding the luffa fiber first works best. You can use a food processor, a blender, or whatever. I then add the finely ground fiber to the soap mixture, mix and then pour into whatever mold I am going to use. This method is not so abrasive on the skin as it would be if I used the slices of the luffa with the soap melted into it.

This is just my experience when working with this particular variety of luffa which has such strong fiber. My experiments with the mini-ball luffas are still in progress...

I think the Mini Ball Louffa would be nice in hotel room baths! LOL

Jo

Very timely to find this thread, as I have luffas soon to harvest for the first time. Thank you for all the fine information.

Morph, any photo summaries of your soap luffas? Excellent photo above from 2002. Thank you for the effort to share.

4paws....this forum is very addictive! LOL Jo

:-)
Uhmmm...like gardening?

Once you grow gourds ....you are hooked! LOL Jo

Hi from Springdale, Ark. I think I am part of this thread but am not sure. After reading some of your replies, I pulled about 75 of my luffas 12 - 20 inches. I have grown big hardshells( Caveman, dipper, birdnest, and some I don't the name of. Also decoratives of all types. Oh I forgot the snakes. None relate to your rules on luffas. Mine seem soft and turn black and softer with frost. None had turned brown. I must have hundreds that are 3-5 ins long plus some are still blooming that are up in the trees. We have had frost 5 times and in the 20's three times. These things are crazy. What do I do now? Look at them, keep them from freezing and wait for them to turn brown. Help! Ray

Ray...I had to pull my Louffas before time because the darned Javalina was eating into them....They dried nicely. After they turn black I would think you could just peel the out side off and have the nice louffa. Youc an soak them in some water to make them peel easy too. Jo

I used the plastic wrap method and it just isn't pretty. I want the luffa to show more in the soap. Any suggestions? I used clear glyserin soap.