Canteen Gourd seeds

[Sean Gadhar]

Canteen Gourd seeds, I didn't find any last year so I went with a bottle gourd (still drying on the vine).

This year I found Canteen Gourd seeds at Quarry Farm Gourds
http://quarryfarmgourds.com/seeds/

I have 5 or 6 good bottle gourd to play with (my 1st attempts with gourd crafting) while I watch the canteens grow :grin:

I thought I would post that for others who might need seeds.

 

[Tinker2]

Thanks, looks like fun.






Tinker2

 

[jamesthomas]

I have a lot of sparrows and red winged blackbirds around that might like a bird house gourd, and the canteen an bottle gourds would be good for doing a woods walk( ie. recon mission for hunting next year) while doing some stump, an target shooting this summer. Making a order today if the seeds stores around me don't have them. Hmmm, also looks like I'll be building a trellis.
After looking it over you might be getting around 4 or 5 gourds per plant right? might just need 2 or 3 plants for my needs. I've never grown gourds before so we will see how I do.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

I had 2 plants last year & got 5 or 6 + 3 more under size ones. But part of the low yield was do to pests!

I'm not saying who I saw eating the vines. But....

 

[Wes/Tex]

Why if it ain't Pete & Repete! :wink: :rotf:

We had a pretty good gourd-o-rama going across a trellis at the back porch till the neighborhood cat herd decided the big pot full of dirt was a good potty! I din't even realize what was happening till I decided to move the soil around and feed them to try to keep them from mysteriously dying! Surprise-surprise-surprise...I found a 50 pound pile of kittylitter and a picture of the kitty that did it! :rotf:

 

[Patocazador]

Thanks for the link. I ordered a small Chinese bottle and a ladle packet.

Now I have to research how to grow the boogers.

 

[localfiend]

Thanks for the link. I ordered a small Chinese bottle and a ladle packet.

Now I have to research how to grow the boogers.

Put seeds in ground, add water. At least it's that easy in my climate. Around here, you put a few seeds in the ground and most gourd varieties go nuts, you'll be growing them for years in the same place unless you actively try to kill them.

 

[Patocazador]

We don't have dirt; we have sand. Nothing grows here without fertilizer except palmettos and sand spurs. :shake:

 

[necchi]

If you want a nice canteen,
The gourds need to be "planked" and forced to grow in a proper shape.
Small plywood boards staked about 3" or so apart will make the gourd flat on the sides,,
There's tricks to making the nice ones ya see, they usually don't grow into a perfect shape without a little coaxing.

 

[Sean Gadhar]

Wood will work? I was thinking Plexiglas to let the sun through. I thought it would add a danger of rot if water got in-between :idunno:

If wood works that will save me $ :grin:

 

[localfiend]

We don't have dirt; we have sand. Nothing grows here without fertilizer except palmettos and sand spurs. :shake:

I wouldn't worry about the dirt part of it, all we've got is sand as well. We call planting a garden out here hydroponics... :grin:

I think they're just easy to grow.

 

[BillinOregon]

Growing gourds is one of the things I will miss now that we live in the high desert. Frost-free season is just too short, as far as I know.

 

[necchi]

I was going to do this once years ago, and I had found some instructions somewhere on the net and it was wood.
It's kinda like making the big pumpkins the vine isn't left to grow 10-12 gourds, all but a few select gourds are cut off/trimmed from the vine, so all the vine has to feed an grow are those few,, and they're tended weekly,, ya gotta bother over'm.
Another part of it was drying over winter, harvest in fall and make the canteen next spring.

 

[Woodyrock]

If you can not grow good gourds, try the Welburn Gourd Farm near Fallbrook, California. They are online. Gourds from Welburn are noted for the thick shells. My wife gets gourds from the place, and has always received good quality ones.
Woody BTW, those beggers are a B to clean out.

 

[leonard5054]

:thumbsup: +1

 

[jferguson]

do we have any pictures of these gourds, or the flatened canteens that can be made from them, anybody?

 

[Canute Rex]

"BTW, those beggers are a B to clean out."

The thing that worked for me was a handful of 1/4" nuts and bolts. After poking and pulling out what I could with a piece of coathanger wire with a little hook on the end I dumped in some 1/4" x 3/4" bolts and some nuts. Then I shook it for five minutes or so. Scoured it right out.

 

[Patocazador]

I got some seeds from Quarry Farms and almost all of them sprouted (good germination). However, I can't seem to keep the small plants alive long enough to get big enough to transplant.
First, it was too much water which caused root rot, then it was not enough. They are difficult to get to transplant stage.

Any tips?

 

[Rick Son]

Do you coat the insides with beeswax??