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Post by woodeye on Jul 30, 2022 16:56:33 GMT -6
Looks great! And the plant looks so pretty and green, nice! ...
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jul 31, 2022 8:22:26 GMT -6
Looks great! And the plant looks so pretty and green, nice! ... Thanks. It does like nice and green in the early morning, but it’s a whole different kettle of fish when the sun gets around the house and hits that corner in the afternoon. It droops so badly it’s amazing that it actually recovers every day so far. I water them every day from a rain tank in the back yard, and the plants drink up a lot. I have clay pots buried in the bed, and all that are buried there had cracked during our bad freeze in 2021 because I never even thought of protecting them. I repaired them with glue, but the roots of the luffa plants found the cracks in the pots and have actually grown inside the ollas. I may see if I can go out now and get a picture because to me it’s just so fascinating. They completely drain 2 quarts out of the olla every day plus what I put directly into the soil in the bed. Edited to add: Here are some pictures I took this morning. The luffa is really brown now and was starting to rattle when I tapped it. Here’s the olla with the roots that’s completely empty every morning. The stem to the plant is just visible in the back where there’s a hole in the soil. (I saw a garter snake moving about there a few weeks back.)
This is the olla that’s next to the other one. I’m not sure which plant these roots come from, but it drains a little more slowly but also needs refilling each day. I believe I had a new female flower this morning. I wonder if it will develop.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 1, 2022 10:52:29 GMT -6
I harvested the luffa this morning. It was plenty rattly (if that’s a word). It’s not huge, but I can tell that there are lots of seeds inside it. It’s inside, and we’ll give it a few more days to dry before we peel it, I think.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 2, 2022 11:52:35 GMT -6
'Rattly' is a word in my book.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 2, 2022 13:37:40 GMT -6
'Rattly' is a word in my book. Glad to hear it. I figure it’s an important term for drying down seed pods and such.
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Post by macmex on Aug 5, 2022 6:26:28 GMT -6
The Loufah I planted at the university is now flowering. Here's a photo from yesterday, August 4. I don't recall the flowers being so large and showy!
The plants are growing so rampantly that I fear they may overrun my experimental beans before they can start climbing.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 5, 2022 13:06:28 GMT -6
Wow! Luffa plants gone wild!!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 5, 2022 14:13:41 GMT -6
That looks great, macmex. I’m so glad they’re doing well for you. The flowers are lovely, so it’s a great ornamental for the grounds there. I just looked back at this thread to see how many days it was for my luffa to go from flower to harvest. I believe I hand pollinated on June 12, and I picked the “rattly” loofah on August 1. I make that to be about 51 days from pollination to picking, so I would think that you’ve got time yet to get some good sponges and seeds. I’ve had lots and lots of male flowers this summer but barely any females. The other day I had a female and male on the same day, and now there is a small loofah growing. Another female appeared the next day, but I’m not sure there have been any males for pollination. I’ll just wait and see on that. I have only one large loofah still on the plant, so it would be exciting to get one or two more.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 11, 2022 18:57:33 GMT -6
Here’s a picture I took of my luffa plants yesterday morning, I think. There’s a new luffa growing at the top of the right-hand trellis to replace the one I harvested. (There’s a big one in the corner on top of the trellises, but it’s hard to see except by looking through our dining room window.). I’m noticing that there are yellow streaks on the lower leaves. I don’t know if that’s just age or a nutrient deficiency or what it is. It doesn’t really correspond with the veins in the leaves. Any ideas? Overall, the plants are putting out healthy growth at the tops, so I’m not really worried.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 11, 2022 22:12:50 GMT -6
The plants look good, and yes there's a replacement luffa. Yay!
I would just blame the leaves you spoke of on age. But I'm an extreme optimist, so that's why.
I've had leaves do that too, and I know they have all the nutrients they need, so sometimes I just pinch them off, sometimes I don't even bother doing that. It never seems to make any difference one way or another...
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Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 12, 2022 20:02:54 GMT -6
My ten year old has really been interested in that luffa that I harvested earlier this month, and I decided today that she could peel it after lunch. Here are some photos of the adventure. We got over 150 seeds out of the luffa, and I ended up cutting the sponge into four parts. I gave one to my daughter for her to use in the bath, and the other three will be for dishes in the kitchen. I also took a picture this evening of the next luffa that is drying down. It’s not easy to see from outside, so this is a shot through the dining room window. It doesn’t make for a great picture with the reflections, but there’s more chance to see the luffa. Instead of being smooth and dark green, it now has angles and is turning more yellowish and brownish. My daughter and I had a lot of fun with the first luffa, so we’ll be looking forward to the second.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 12, 2022 23:42:35 GMT -6
chrysanthemum Thanks for the photos and for sharing your experiences with us! It has been so many years since I have dealt with luffas that it seems almost all new to me.
That's a lot of seeds, there'll be luffas galore in the future. By the way, Luffa #2 is looking great.
I really enjoyed seeing your luffa adventure unfold, and it's even better knowing that your daughter had fun helping her mom with it. Very cool...
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 13, 2022 14:52:31 GMT -6
Chrysanthemum,
Thanks for sharing that. Those were great photos!
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Post by macmex on Aug 16, 2022 10:53:43 GMT -6
The loofah I planted at the university is really going to town. RAMPANT is the best word to describe it.
Look how the tendrils are looking for things to grab!
The beans I have started, in the same patch, are at risk. Every couple days I go out there and cut away loufah vines which threaten to overwhelm them.
As far as I can see there are still no fruit formed on the vines. We're getting some beautiful flowers.
The good thing is that this particular patch usually escapes killing frost for about a month longer than my gardens at home.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 16, 2022 11:26:55 GMT -6
WOW!! macmex, I believe Super-Rampant would also describe them... (amazed smiley here)
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