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Post by glen on Feb 25, 2015 9:56:37 GMT -6
I grew only 6 plants last year. They are tired and petered out now and I haven't been able to pick enough fruits to make bittermelon juice lately. At any rate, I have saved seed. I have a bag just chock full of em. I would share them if I lived in the US. About 10 days ago I planted 6 more. The sedes germinated in only 4 days and they are growing like hell and are about 6 inches tall already. To sabe sedes just let the fruits turn orange before harvesting. You will see the sedes inside that are red. I wash the red seed covering off them and then dry them on a dinner plate on top of my fridge. The ripe fruits can be eaten and they are sweeter. If you make juice out of the ripe fruits you have to drink it quickly as it will ferment on ya pretty quickly and have to be thrown away. Juice made out of the Green fruits will stay fresh for several days in the fridge. The leaves can be harvested and dried and stored for later use also. Bittermelon is super easy to grow and use.
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Post by glen on Feb 25, 2015 10:14:58 GMT -6
Some people use bittermelon as a veggy in the kitchen. I would say that would be rare for Americans to do this because the taste is just not on our programmed list of flavors. To get medicinal effects, bittermelon needs to be used regularly also. The easiest way to consume it is to make tea out of the leaves, or juice out of the fruits. The first time you drink the juice its going to take you back a Little. The more you drink it the less the taste will bother you. Then, when you start feeling the nutricional boost it gives ya, you will not want to stop drinking this stuff. Addictive. I mix lemon juice with it to temper the bitterness. It is a miracle veggy. I am convinced of this.
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Post by glen on Feb 28, 2015 20:27:08 GMT -6
I plan to try and dry leaves. I have tired, old vines that have quit paying the rent. However, I am still getting leaves. The leaves are just as useful as the fruits. I plan to start cutting and drying the leaves. To use the leaves, just throw a handful, dried or fresh in some boiling wáter. Strain out the leaves after about 4 or 5 minutes. Drink this tea hot or cold. I mix lemon juice with it and drink it on ice. I have 6 new seedlings that are ready to plant but it will take 2 months to begin fruiting. The tea is less bitter than the juice made out of the fruits. You have to acclimate yourself to the taste of both. Once you are used to it it doesn't bother you a bit. Once my moringa tree's get big enough, I will mix moringa leaves with the bittermelon leaves. Moringa, although not bitter, tastes worse to me than the bittermelon tea. Hard to believe, I know. Moringa on the other hand, has 4 times the calcium of milk, definitely more than bittermelon and a myriad of nutrients and vitamins that will compliment bittermelon in a tea.
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ross
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by ross on Jun 17, 2015 13:46:23 GMT -6
New to the group, but if anyone has seeds they'd be willing to share I'd appreciate. Kind of like to give it a try.
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Post by glen on Jun 17, 2015 15:46:24 GMT -6
Ross, George might be able to help you locate some seed. I live in Panama so I can't share seed with you. Another idea is to go the local asian veggy market. I have heard that where you live there is a farmers market and they have some asian vendors. You should be able to find bittermelon there. Look for fruits that have lost its shine. You know, older fruits. You can cut them open long ways and you will see the seed. Now, the best seed comes from mature ripe fruits but sometimes you can get some of this seed to germinate when the fruit is just dull in color. These will be fruits that are a little larger than the others. You can still consume this dull in color bittermelon but it is not as bitter as the nice shiny in color fruits that have less mature seeds inside. At any rate, cut them open and scoop out the seeds and dry them. Then, when you want to plant them, soak them in water over night to speed up germination. Over plant since some of these seeds may not germinate. Once you have your own plants, let the fruits ripen if you want to save seeds. They will get soft and turn yellow and split open on their own. You will see the seeds in red seed coverings. Scoop them out and clean them off in water and dry them. You can eat the seed coverings. You can also eat the ripe fruits. They are good at any stage of development depending on your culture and your taste. I happen to eat em when they are bitter and shiny green in color. Bitter fruits are the most medicinal but that is just an opinion. You have to use this fruit, experiment with it. And, make your own decisions about how best to use it.
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Post by glen on Jun 17, 2015 17:36:59 GMT -6
I just checked my notes. I planted 9 bittermelon plants that germinated on April 22. The vines are over 6 feet tall now and some are growing over the trellis. I alternated the planting with Chinese yard long beans and common long beans. My vines have been bearing fruits for about a week. They are a little smaller than my first planting due to all the overcast weather but they are nice and shiny and green and extremely bitter. I had an attack of white fly's in the beginning that I thought would be catastrophic but it wasn't. White flys were attacking the vines some but not nearly as much as the bean vines that are growing with the bittermelon. I have a feeling that if I grew the bittermelon by itself that it wouldn't have been bothered much. Today they are nice and clean looking. Nothing much bothers bittermelon. Later I will probably see a black bug bother it. I call this bug a bucketloader bug. They come later. They don't cause a lot of damage. They are hard to catch also if you try and remove them by hand. So far, I have harvested about 6 nice bittermelons. I am not sure how long the harvest period will be. A few months at least before the vines start getting tired. Harvest should increase every week for awhile. Every week there should be a few more than the previous week. Eventually there will be more than I can use. The fruits can be dried although I have never done it myself. I have frozen the fruit and that works as well. Any excess would be bought by the Chino's if I chose to sell it as well.
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Post by glen on Jul 10, 2015 18:22:58 GMT -6
My bittermelon vines are producing like there is no tomorrow now. They are survivors. The white fly invasion has not bothered them. On the other hand, I alternated my bittermelon vines with climbing beans. The beans are dying and not producing now. The white flys attacked the beans terribly and now virus or other issues have just weakened the vines to such an extent that they have given up the ship. I have cut away some of the dead bean vines and now you can really see the bittermelon vines. Plenty of blooms and bittermelon at all stages of growth all over the vines. I am cutting 4 or 5 bittermelons per day and I am cutting them up and storing them in the freezer now. I can only use 2 or 3 each day. Bittermelon does not seem to be bothered by many pests or deseases and in fact, were not bothered by the white fly invasion which was pretty serious. Tomorrow I will plant more seeds in a large pot. I have never tried growing them in a 5 gallon pot before but I am pretty confident that 3 plants will grow nicely together in one pot. I already have trellis space reserved for this new planting. If you are growing bittermelon, please let me know how they are doing and if you are eating the fruits and if you like them etc. I would appreciate any feed back. I cannot say enough about how nutricious they are if you juice them and take this tonic on a daily basis. It works.
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Post by macmex on Jul 11, 2015 5:12:57 GMT -6
I planted some about a month ago and they never came up. But I planted some again last week, and yesterday I saw one coming up. Hopeing there is still time, not only to get a harvest, but some more seed.
George
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Post by glen on Jul 11, 2015 8:08:13 GMT -6
George, bittermelon has a reputation for difficult germination. I don't know why, but mine germinates fairly well. Some folks suggest soaking them in wáter over night before sewing or nicking the seed to help them break the coating which can be pretty hard, depending on how long the seed has been stored. I have 2 bags of seed. One is in a paper envelope, the other is in a plastic bag. The sedes in the envelope look the freshest. The sedes in the plastic bag have some mold. I plan to throw away the sedes in the plastic bag. I believe the sedes need to be frozen. At any rate, seed saving is easy once you have some fruits growing. It took about 8 or 9 days for my last planting to germinate and almost all came up.
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Post by glen on Jul 16, 2015 15:32:43 GMT -6
I planted 6 seeds in a large pot 5 days ago. Today I noticed 2 have germinated and they are 2 inches tall. Not a very good germination rate but at least they germinated faster than normal. I soaked these seeds over night. This morning 10 beautiful bittermelons were picked. Three were over 1 lb each. I am not sure how long my harvest period will be but I appear to be in peak season for them now. I am cutting them up and freezing them for later use. Bittermelon starts to get soft in the fridge after about 4 or 5 days. Best to just freeze em.
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Post by glen on Jul 23, 2015 11:14:07 GMT -6
Today I picked about 8 to 10 lbs of bittermelon. Extremely large and beautiful fruits. I am picking large quantity's of bittermelon every 3 or 4 days. I am slicing them up and freezing them. Best crop ever for bittermelon. I am also not getting bored of drinking the juice. Its just a daily regimen. I mix it with fresh lemon juice if I having and pour it on ice. Down the hatch! For whatever reason, bittermelon just loves this overcast weather and occasional rain. Can't stop it it seems like.
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Post by glen on Jul 26, 2015 19:30:56 GMT -6
I am still picking large qauntity's of bittermelon. Every other day, Maty slices em in half length wize, scoops out the seeds, chops em into chunks, throws em in the blender with some water and puree's. You can use frozen chopped up bittermelon also. She pours it thru a sieve or colander. You don't want to strain out all the fibre. Put it in a pitcher and cool in the fridge. I like it with some lemon juice mixed in. I drink it on ice. I drink it fast. I drink this several times each day. There are no side affects like are mentioned online. Its just a fruit like cucumber. I read today that you cannot use the ripe fruits. Thats BS. Ripe fruits are less bitter. Sweeter. Yellow or orange in color. You have to use it quicker if you are going to juice it or use it in the kitchen. Just like a real ripe tomato. You gotta get rid of it quick when it gets to that stage. I don't use em when they are ripe but I have eaten plenty of real ripe bittermelon. I don't like the taste though. Today I picked a large ripe fruit. I sliced it and inside was about 20 seeds. There is a red seed covering on the seeds which many people eat. They just pop the seeds in their mouth and spit out the seeds. I put the seeds into a collander and run water on them to wash off the seed coverings. I save the seeds. mature seeds are tan in color. Dry them on a plate for a week or so then store them in a paper envelope. They store nicely that way unrefridgerated for at least a year. Probably longer. I am going to experiment with putting them in the freezer as well. I am not aware of a more healthful and easy nutricional juice than bittermelon juice. Easy and practically free.
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Post by glen on Jul 27, 2015 21:11:00 GMT -6
Since I live in a tropical climate I can grow bittermelon all year. Its easier to grow them in the rainy season though since they require less care. Tomorrow I plan to plant some more seeds in an unused area in the yard. I have the seeds soaking now. They will grow on the fence. I also have some young plants in a 4 gallon bucket. I will thin to 2 plants in a week or so when I see which ones are the strongest. And of course I have my vines that are currently producing like there is no tomorrow. I want to ensure that I have a continuous supply of this valueable crop growing. Currently I only use this plant to juice. That is actually a wasteful way to consume this veggy. Eating it whole in recipes is actually the best way to use this veggy. If I needed to I would use it that way.
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Post by fourteenmilecreek on Aug 19, 2015 18:31:51 GMT -6
Glen,
I really enjoy reading about your gardening experiences and experiments in Panama. It gets me through the day when I'm laid up on the couch out here in the rain.
Keep up the great work!
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Post by glen on Aug 19, 2015 19:39:28 GMT -6
Ron, please visit often and feel free to make comments. The middle of July planting of bittermelon is growing like heck. It was planted in a 4 gallon bucket and is growing on plastic mesh trellis. There are 2 cucumber planting on either side and they are already putting on cukes(in only a month). Bittermelon takes longer. Try growing bittermelon. Juice it. Easy. Keeps you healthy. I am still picking armloads of the darn things from the first planting. Some are over a lb. I know. They are bitter. Thats why they call em bittermelon. Once you acclimate to the taste you won't want to miss a single day of drinking it.
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