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Post by chrysanthemum on Oct 21, 2022 19:14:39 GMT -6
macmex, that is a fantastic crop you are hauling home. Great work! I only have experience of three luffa gourds and two vines. My vines are still alive but petering out now. I will say that I wait until the gourds are completely dry to peel them. I haven’t soaked them in water either, just because I hadn’t seen that when I was researching. The peeling takes a bit of work, but nothing extraordinary. I haven’t encountered any slime with the dried fruits. I have been really happy with the luffas I’m using for dish sponges. The scrub well and hold up. Mine are wearing a bit since I’ve been using them (not exclusively) since August. Sometimes if they get greasy, I just run them through with a load in my dishwasher, and they clean right up. I haven’t tried luffa as a back scratcher, though I do like using them wet in the shower. I had leaf miner damage on my luffa leaves early on. I have not seen squash vine borer damage, though I suppose it’s possible that’s what’s causing my vines to die back now. I haven’t hunted.
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Post by amyinowasso on Oct 22, 2022 9:47:43 GMT -6
My guess is that I didn't have anywhere to hold them till dry. Knowing my husband, he probably said it's time to clean up the garden and the vines were pulled. On another note, I have a friend who says the immature ones have softer fibers, which she likes for bath sponges. Glad bugs don't bother them. I may have to try again.
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Post by amyinowasso on Oct 24, 2022 12:13:59 GMT -6
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Post by amyinowasso on Oct 24, 2022 12:17:10 GMT -6
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Post by woodeye on Oct 24, 2022 13:50:44 GMT -6
Boy I'll tell ya', the lady that wrote that article is not shy, & definitely does not mince words. She's grown a few luffas, there's no doubt about that...
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Post by macmex on Oct 24, 2022 13:54:15 GMT -6
I'll have to look at that article. Can't right now. I suspect loofah served tender is about as nutritious as zucchini.
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Post by rdback on Oct 26, 2022 9:50:43 GMT -6
Boy I'll tell ya', the lady that wrote that article is not shy, & definitely does not mince words. She's grown a few luffas, there's no doubt about that...
I agree woodeye. The term "colorful" came to mind, lol.
Having never grown luffa, I did find the article informative, especially this statement:
"Peel green loofah as soon as you pick them. Don't wait for them to dry out - they could rot and discolour."
I'm use to letting things color up or dry out, not to peel them when green. It makes perfect sense though.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Oct 26, 2022 20:14:02 GMT -6
I had actually read that article before in my research on luffa, so I hadn’t clicked on the link this time around until I saw the quotation above about peeling the green loofah. Out of context, I didn’t realize that she was talking about loofah that is necessarily picked when still green because of frosts and freezes, and I got confusing, thinking that the article was saying that one should pick green loofah. I then did go reread the article and realized that she wasn’t saying that it’s best to pick it green. She was just there discussing how to handle peeling if you must pick it green. I straightened myself out and haven’t been doing it wrong. Phew!
Talking of having to pick green luffa before a freeze, @rdback, reminded me of Snowball and Chance. Did they get picked before that freeze or were they still way too immature?
My luffa vines have several small ones on them that got put on late in the season. They made things heavy enough that they pulled the vines down from the stucco walls, but the gourds are still hanging on. I don’t know if frost will come and do them in or if the vines will just dry out completely first. They’re pretty brown at this point, but I’m just letting them keep going as long as I can at this point.
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Post by macmex on Oct 28, 2022 13:27:27 GMT -6
I've had such a good sized harvest of these I decided to try peeling one green, as mentioned above. I thought, "What have I got to lose?" Well, I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to peel a green loofah, though the one I chose was pretty mature. I just used a small blade on my pocket knife to cut down seams and then peel off strips of skin. Anyway, here's a photo I took after peeling it. I'm going to let it dry out now, before taking out the seed.
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Post by woodeye on Oct 28, 2022 16:24:52 GMT -6
Well I'll be, that looks fine to me. Looks like a fibrous baseball bat...
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Post by rdback on Oct 28, 2022 18:30:25 GMT -6
That's really cool George. I was thinking about you when I posted that excerpt above about peeling them green, because I remember you driving home with a load of them in the truck. Glad you gave it a try and happy to know it actually worked, lol!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Oct 30, 2022 14:19:25 GMT -6
Thanks for the photo, macmex . My luffa plants have some young ones on them, so it’s good to know that I may still get small sponges when the vines give up the ghost. Here’s a picture I took yesterday evening at sunset. It shows how the vines are withering and the clusters of young luffas that started out up high but got heavy enough to pull the vines down and are now hanging low on the trellises.
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Post by woodeye on Oct 30, 2022 16:49:35 GMT -6
Very nice, chrysanthemum. Your plants really pumped out some luffas since the last picture was taken...
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 30, 2022 20:19:22 GMT -6
Chrysanthemum, That looks like a 'happy-making' project in the works hanging on that luffa trellis.
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Post by macmex on Nov 2, 2022 13:21:25 GMT -6
I tossed two more loofah into the back of my pickup before heading to work today. It's easier for me to just peal a couple at a time, when on break. Some are starting to lighten up in color.
These seem easier to peel. I cut off both ends, where the fruit is turning dark, and then make a slice down the length of the fruit, just under the skin. It's pretty easy, at this point, to peel the skin back and remove it almost in one piece.
Here's a picture of a freshly peeled loofah. It's wet when first peeled but within a few hours they dry off considerably. I expect I'll be able to remove the seeds in a few weeks.
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