100% Michigan Grown Staple Crop Seeds that Empower Your Plant-based Lifestyle Goals

Utility Crops

Bule Gourd

Great Lakes Staple Seeds


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Distinctively warty, a volleyball-sized dry Bule Gourd
Three wonderfully warty, dried Bule Gourds - one intended as a natural birdhouse with its hole cut into its side

(Lagenaria siceraria); Minimum 20 seeds

Pronounced "Boo-lay", this French heirloom gourd is grown for its thick, notably strong, and distinctively warty shell. Volleyball-sized fruits when cured make unique containers, though a strong saw is needed to cut through the shell. Yes, perhaps more ornamental than staple crop, like most Lagenaria, Bule's fragrant white blossoms open at dusk, attracting the night pollinating moths which in turn helps feed our bat population, beneficial in our opinion!

Vines are very vigorous climbers and do well trained horizontally on a cattle panel. Fruits mature in ~110 days though I leave them until the vines die, covering the plants if a September light frost comes, harvesting mid-October. An interesting production note - when you remove the growing tip of a main vine it forces the plant to send out more secondary vines which seems to improve the concurrent set of male and female blossoms resulting in more fruit production. I aim to pinch the tips after main vines reach at least 15 feet.

To save fruits for container use, lightly wash them after harvest. Store in a well-ventilated warm location but not out-of-sight-out-of-mind as you want to monitor their dry-down progress, removing any that develop soft spots - fuzzy mold is okay! Depending on the gourd and the storage conditions, it can take up to 60 days for the shell to dry.

 

 

You can grow bule gourd plants just like most gourds. They take about 110 days to mature, so they may need to be started indoors before the last frost of spring if your growing season isn’t especially long. The vines tend to grow between 15 and 30 feet, but you can help the gourd-making process along by pinching of the main vine once it reaches about 12 feet. This will encourage the plant to put out more secondary vines, meaning more male and female flowers will bloom at the same time. You can pick the gourds when they’re still green, but it’s best to let the vine brown or die back from fall frost naturally. When this happens, pick your gourds, scrub them with soap and water, and leave them out in a cool place to dry. It may take a while, and the gourds may get a little moldy, but don’t be afraid! As long as the gourd is hard to the touch, it’s fine. Just wipe off that mold and let the process continue. If the gourd gets squishy, however, it’s a lost cause. Cut it open and save the seeds as a consolation prize before throwing it on the compost heap.

Read more at Gardening Know How: Information On Bule Gourd Plants https://blog.gardeningknowhow.com/tbt/information-bule-gourd-plan


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