Did you know loofahs grow on a vine and not in the ocean? I didn't. I have a passion for always wanting a new challenge when it comes to growing plants. I've grown and propagated African Violets since I was about 10. I've grown a small avocado tree from an avocado pit and a wide variety of other house plants. Growing up we always had a large vegetable garden. So when I learned that loofahs grow on a vine and that they can be a challenge to grow, I just had to try it. Problem number one about growing loofahs is that they need a long growing season. Here in snowy Minnesota we have anything but a long growing season. So my solution to this problem was to start them indoors. Photo Source: https://www.reneesgarden.com/products/gourd-bath-loofah Step one was to soak the seeds in water. I did this by placing 4 seeds into a glass jar with a small amount of water. Every day or so I would change the water in the jar, rinsing the seeds before adding fresh water. I left them like this for over a week. I expected to start to see the seeds sprout but that never happened. I finally decided to just plant them and see what happened. The biggest problem I ran into is that I tried to start these while it was -33 F here in Minnesota at the end of January and our house was anything but warm. Averaging 60 F in our kitchen where the seeds were sitting in the jar it was just too cold for them to want to sprout. My normal plant shelf that holds the repurposed fish tank I was going to use as a green house is next to a large glass door that also happens to be very drafty. I looked into getting a seed starting heating pad, but being the thrifty person I am, didn't want to spend the $20 on one. So I took a plastic shoebox, the kind you can get at Walmart or the Dollar Store for $1, set the seed pots inside and set the box next to our wood stove. This helped incredibly fast! Within 2 weeks 3 of the 4 seeds I started had sprouted and are growing fast! And not long after the others the 4th and final one did pop up. Seeds I bought: https://www.burpee.com/vegetables/gourds/squash-gourd-ornamental-luffa-prod000721.html These are heirloom seeds, so I plan to save seeds this fall from the loofahs I harvest to plant next year. After shipping my total for 25 seeds was just over $6.
The seed starting pot I am using I found at our local Goodwill for $0.99
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Tri DouglasAnimal lover, flower enthusiast, nature lover, 4-H leader and Young Living Distributor. Archives
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