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Everything you always wanted to know about luffa, but were afraid to ask.
Luffa cylindrica, also known as the" Dishrag Gourd". The tightly grown inner fibers make long wearing, useful sponges! Luffa brings a healthy glow to the skin, invigorating. In Japan, luffas are used for making slippers, table mats, and pillow stuffings. Young fruits (less than 12" long) known as vine okra, are cooked like squash.
The photo above is what your luffa will look like when the growing, cleaning, and washing process is complete!
Luffa is very easy to grow. Collect the seeds from your previous seasons crop, or order seed from a catalog, like Nichol's Garden Nursery. They have a web site, www.gardennursery.com, or call, (541) 928-9280. Plant the seed in peat pots or in the ground when all danger of frost is gone. They should be about 1/2"-3/4" deep in good rich soil. You may add a little composted cow manure to the bottom of the hole if you wish. You will see signs of life in about 1-3 weeks. Luffa like lots of water and fertilizer at the beginning of the season, and regular summer water as the plant continues to grow. Luffa is slow at first, but be patient, as the weather gets warmer, the vine will take off!!! After a few weeks to a month you will notice some flowers, some borne singly, others in clusters. The female flowers are solitary, while the male are in clusters. The photos below illustrate this point.
As the vine gets bigger and more mature, more and more flowers will be blooming. I have found that the male flowers are more plentiful at first, and you will have lots of female buds, but they will never seem to open. Be patient, they will open. When they do they need to get pollinated by bees, or by hand. Below are pictures of bees pollinating the male flowers. The female flowers need to get pollinated for the fruit to set! When the female flowers get pollinated you will notice them getting bigger, and swollen, as noted in the two pictures below.
The luffa will continue to get bigger and bigger, so be patient, as it takes a long time for the fruit to set, grow, and dry out on the vine. This may take several months to occur. If you plant your seeds in the early spring, (March 21st. or later), the actual luffa may not be ready to pick until October or November. Typically you will need to take them off when it starts getting cold, (your first frost). The skin of the luffa will get black when they are ready to pick. Mine are still green, but it is early still.
As of August 6th, my luffa are quite large and green. They are not real firm, but starting to get a little spongy. The luffa in my hand is 16" long and 9" in circumference. Wish me luck!
Another luffa is: Luffa sepium. The flowers of this luffa are half the size of cylindrica. The moderate sized vines produce 1-2" spherical luffas. Use this South American native as an ornamental everlasting, in floral arrangements, or as a hand scrubber.
This other type of luffa is pollinated in the same way, by bees primarily. Other flying insects may visit the flowers, as seen below.
The round-shaped spiked fruit is very odd as you can see below. The fruit if allowed to dry on the vine will produce luffa sponges that will fit in the palm of your hand!
The fruit will mature on the vine, as seen below. When the whole fruit turns brown, it is dry inside and ready to harvest
Here I am with the mature fruit. Once picked, it is ready peel the skin off. To facilitate peeling, soak the fruit in water for an hour or two.
After the luffa is peeled, cleaned, and bleached, it looks like these next pictures. I bleached mine with a 10% bleach and 90% water solution for about 20 minutes. The texture of the luffa is very coarse, but does wonders to invigorating your skin.
The difference in size of the two luffas is significant. One can be used as back scrubber, while the other can be used to exfoliate your face!
About Me
- Fred
- Maryville, Tennessee, United States
- I am a Ornamental Horticulturist and I have been growing luffa for over 10 years. I hope you enjoy this blog.
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7 comments:
Yes I agree with Fred. This is a great site.
Very good site. Very helpful and informative
I love your site! It is very informative - I might trying growing some loofah in my garden this year (i had no idea it came from a plant!) - will let you know how they turn out.
Just looking at the pictures makes me feel smoother!!
Wow who'd a thunked it....that they come in all sizes and not from the sea, but a VINE!!
Great pictures, lotsa of info. Everything you ever wanted to know, but were afraid to ask.
nice post
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