All About the Fascinating Gourd Growing Cycle

Watching the gourd growing cycle and helping it along is truly a fascinating experience. Many people have planted a few gourd seeds in their back yard just to try it out, and growing gourds for some reason seems to get a hold on you, and many people then become addicted, as we like to say, to them.

If you have already read and accomplished the previous articles of Germinating Gourd Seeds and Planting Gourd Seeds, then you are ready for the next stage in Gourdiculture. Keeping the surface damp until the seedling emerges will help it to more easily break the surface, but do not drench it. If you forget to dampen the surface a day or two, no real harm done, gourds are very strong and will break through some pretty tough crust.

Once they break through, you will watch them slowly grow until they have a few decent sized leaves, and they will be standing pretty much straight up. You might even think they are going to turn into a bush, or maybe you could make them turn into a bush, but don't let this appearance fool you.

Suddenly, just when you think it is going good, a gourd vine just seems to stop, like it is going to remain a bush. Gourd plants will remain in this state for anywhere from 2 weeks to a month, and you might begin to wonder if they are going to grow at all. Then suddenly, from the center of that little bush will grow a shoot straight up into the air, and each day you will notice it getting taller and taller, until it can stand no more, then it will lay over and start growing along the ground. I believe this dormant stage when the plant seems to be doing nothing is a stage where it is putting its energy into the rooting system so it will be able to feed the almost unbelievable vegetative growth cycle.

Once the vine starts growing, it will grow faster and faster each day until it begins to grow about a foot a day, and the leaves will grow large, especially with the bigger gourds, the leaves will be like umbrellas. There will be a leaf about every foot along the vine, (for average sized gourds), and where each leaf knuckle is, and lateral vine will grow. These two will start growing at a rapid speed.