Thursday, September 23, 2010

Pitting method of Cultivating Bitter Gourd

Pitting method of Cultivating Bitter Gourd by Pritham Denzil Dsouza aka 'Metal Farmer'
i have already discussed how to cultivate Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia) in my previous post in continuous pits . here i would like to show you how one can grow Bitter Gourds in individual pits.




  • the size of every pit is around 60 cms X 60 cms and height is about 30 cms
  • in every pit around 6 seeds are sowed
  • after germination, 3 seeds are retained per pit
  • this is done to prevent over crowding

  • support in the form of sticks has to be given during vegetative phase
  • the vines tend to fall to the ground and care has to be taken to see the vines are trained on top of the support so as to move upwards

  • during flowering phase, thousands of bright yellow flowers are seen, however only one tenth of them will pollinate and yield fruit







  • once the vines reach a desired height as shown above, they will need to start growing vertically and a proper trellis needs to be built as seen in the pic below



  • results can be seen in 21 days as the pic shows above
  • retaining just 3 seeds per pit has resulted in lush growth of the vines in every pit
  • watering the pits is easy and there is no wastage
  • application of manures can also easily be done per pit



  • there is a tendency for the vines to produce excessive lateral shoots and they too are given support so they move upwards as shown in the pic above






Advantages of growing in pits
  • plant density and plant population can be maintained
  • no over crowding
  • application of manure and fertilizer is much easy
  • no wastage due to excessive drainage
  • spraying with neem using back pack sprayer is convenient and can be done from a distance
  • harvesting is easy
  • the resultant shade increases pollination by attracting a large number of pollinators
all images and data by Pritham 'Metal Farmer' D'Souza

2 comments:

  1. you have an awesome blog. I live US,it is time for us to start growing Indian veggies, as we live in midwest. I just have a veggie patch but I get many tips from your blog..Happy Gardening..

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  2. Pritham 'MetalFarmer' D'SouzaMay 19, 2011 at 1:14 AM

    thank u Lizzy.... glad u liked my blog. i am so busy farming these days i have no time to maintain my blog :(

    hopefully i will get some free time next week... coz i have so many more photos and data to post... cheers

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