Luffa update
14d 2h ago by piefed.social/u/dkppunk in gardening from media.piefed.social
This was the little guy from last week:
Update on the luffas I posted about: https://piefed.social/post/2094148
These plants grow fast. This is about a week’s worth of growth on two fruits. The luffas have gotten significantly larger.
I’m not going to update these frequently, just wanted to show the growth rate in case anyone is thinking of growing a luffa plant. They are so much fun!
Interesting, they're actually much slower than zucchini or summer squash, I guess they have all that extra structure to build inside!
Yeah, they grow faster than tomatoes and slower than cucumbers or zucchini in my experience. They get large pretty quick then stay the same size until they start drying out.
They look so good! I have wanted to grow a luffa plant for so long but I'm determined to do it this year. (The season is not right yet here). Glad to hear their fun to grow. Are you planning on eating them or leaving them to become sponge?
I’m probably going to let the 2 plants I have go to sponge. I learned about luffas because my friend gave me packs of seeds from her job that were all going to be thrown away and this was one. So far, I’ve just been throwing them in dirt and watching them grow. Last year I had one inside in an aerogarden and it was very unruly.
This is my 2nd year growing luffas and I live in a climate where I can grow them year round. This year, I am paying more attention to soil acidity and nutrients in my garden spaces so I’d like to get 4-5 pots of properly balanced soil going for them. I’ll have some to eat and some to sponge.
I love shaking all the seeds inside and crinkling the skin when it’s all dried out. It’s also fun to poke out the seeds that get stuck with a chopstick. I really like giving out the sponges to people to see what they do with them. I just find this plant really satisfying.