Type of Vegetable: Exotic – Asian, extensively grown in South India
Skill required: Minimal gardening skills – but you must have an exotic taste
Growing Season: May to September (In Zone 7)
Plant type: Climbing Vine
Other Names: Snake Groud, Trichosanthes cucumerina var. anguina, It is known as potlakaaya (in Telugu), pathola (in Sinhala), pudalankaai (in Tamil), dhunduli(in Assamese), paduvalakaayi (in Kannada) and padavalanga in Malayalam.
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Growing Structure: A 6ft tall trellis is essential

Snake Gourd is one my favorite vegetables. This delicious vegetable is extensively grown in South India and South Asia. In South India it is used to prepare a variety of mouth-watering dishes. When used in dishes, it has a mouthwatering buttery taste. As the name indicates, snake gourd produces long and curved fruits that appear like snakes hanging on the supports. It is ideal to grow this tender vine on a trellis for obtaining long straight fruits. Young fruits are harvested and cooked like Luffa.

tender snake gourd

We have been growing Snake Gourd in our backyard quite successfully for the last three years. In US where these are not native plants, pests of diseases do not generally affect them. We grow them from May to September quite successfully.

There are some similarities between Snake Gourd and Bitter Melons (Bitter Gourd). The plants may look similar in appearance especially from a distance. Both Bitter Melons and Snake Gourds are tender vines that require a trellis for them to climb. However taste wise, Snake Gourd and Bitter Melon are way off from each other. Snake Gourds are not at all bitter. Instead they taste somewhat like cucumbers.

Before you buy the seeds
When you buy the seeds please remember that there are two completely different snake gourd seeds sold in the US.

Hard Shell Snake Gourd
These are ornamental gourds that develop a hard shell when ripe. These plants belong to the group of plants which are called Hard shell Gourds (Lagenaria siceraria). These are uniformly cylindrical gourds, which can grow as much as 36-inches long and about 3 inches in diameter. These gourds are mostly used for drying, painting and displaying as snakes. These are not edible and are completely different from the edible oriental (asian) snake gourds discussed in this article

Oriental (Asian or Indian) Snake Gourd
These gourds don’t have the thick skin and are unsuitable for drying and painting. These gourds have a waxy skin. They make delicious vegetables when harvested as tender fruits. When ripe the fruits simply disintegrate and the seeds and the watery pulp will fall to the ground.

Growing Snake Gourds in your backyard
You can very easily grow this exotic vegetable on your backyard even if you know nothing about this plant. In this article I will show you everything you need to know about growing them.

From where can I get the seed?

There are several Internet based seed stores that sell Snake Gourd Seeds. You can even buy the seeds from eBay. Given below are some of the internet stores selling snake gourd seeds.
http://www.seedsofindia.com/
http://www.evergreenseeds.com
http://www.sandmountainherbs.com
http://www.banana-tree.com

What is the growing season? When should I transplant my Snake Gourd plants?

We grow them every year in zone 7 from May to September with great success. You can grow snake gourds from seed directly by sowing the seed in its final destination. In this case you will lose about a month or more of the growing season because you will have to wait until the last frost is over to plant your seeds outdoors. Alternatively you can start them indoors, by sowing the seeds indoors about a month and a half early (early April in Zone 7). You can then transplant them by the middle of May. This will save you time and will result in longer harvest season.

snake gourd tying the stone to prevent coiling

Selecting your planting location

They need a lot of sun. So find the sunniest spot in your garden. Also make sure you can provide a structure for them to climb on. These are vines, which like to climb up and spread around. Unlike watermelons, they won’t fruit well if they are allowed spread on the ground. Also the fruits will get dirty from the soil and they may get all kinds of insect attack if they are in contact with the soil. Additionally to get the long gourds they need to hang down from a tall trellis. More about this is discussed later in this article.

Preparing the ground

Snake gourds are very easy to grow. If you have good soil, then all you need to do is to make a planting pit by loosening up the soil for about two feet in diameter and about one and half feet depth. Mix a lot of compost or dried manure before you plant the seeds. If you can prepare the pit this way a month or so in advance then it would be still better. This way all the organic matter will get decomposed to make the soil very rich. This is the ideal scenario for growing snake gourd plants.

Planting the seed

If you are in a colder zone (like me who is in zone seven) please wait until it is warm enough to plant your seeds. Waiting until the beginning to the middle of May (in zone 7) is a good idea. If you plant them earlier, most probably your seeds may rot. If you want to save some time, and would like to start harvesting your fruits sooner, you can sow the seeds indoors by April and then transplant them to their actual location by the middle of May.

snake gourd with stone tied

On a single pit (2 ft diameter and soil loosened to 1.5 ft deep) you can plant about ten seeds, 6 inches apart. Ten seeds are recommended particularly because, the germination percentage of snake gourd seeds are very low compared to bitter gourd. By planting 10 seeds you can expect to get about two to three plants at the end.

Steps to make the snake gourd seeds germinate faster

Seed has hard coat and may take a long time to germinate. Since the germination percentage is very low (compared to bitter melons) you may need to use more seeds.

If directly seeded, the snake gourd seeds can take almost a month to germinate. There are things you can do to hasten the germination.

Moisture and temperature play a very important role in hastening the germinating of snake gourd seeds. To provide these ideal conditions, you can germinate your snake gourd seeds indoors using any of the following techniques.

1. Socking:
By early April, soak the seed for two hours in tap water. Then put a wet paper towel in a styrofoam plate, spread the seeds and cover it with another wet paper towel. Put the styrofoam plate on the top (not inside) of your refrigator (it’s warmer there). Keep the paper towel moist all the time. After about two weeks, the seeds will germinate.

At this time you can transfer them to your small containers. Let them grow for another 3 to 4 weeks in those containers. By that time they will develop a few new leaves. Now you can transplant them to the field. When you transplant, make sure to provide some artifical shade for a few days to protect the young plants from the sudden exposure to the harsh sun.

snake gourd sprouted using wet paper towel

2. Breaking the seed coat:
We also do a little trick to make them germinate faster by breaking their hard seed coat using pliers. To break the seed coat, you need to hold the seeds between your fingers by their thinnest side and then press them with the pliers on the ridge joining the two halves of the seed.

Be careful when you do this, if you damage the endosperm inside the hard shell, you will kill the seeds. So, before you use this approach, make sure you have plenty of seeds.

Building a trellis
This can be an easy weekend project for most people. If you build a good wood structure, you can re-use them for years to grow your bitter melons.

What you see on the picture is a trellis of size 12ft x 8ft built using the following:

Posts : 4 numbers (4 inch x 4 inch x 8 ft)
Horizontal support frame – long side: 4 numbers (2 inch x 4 inch x 12 ft)
Horizontal support frame – short side: 2 numbers (2 inch x 4 inch x 8 ft)
Horizontal runners: 11 numbers (1 inch x 2 inch x 8 ft)
All of these were bought from Lowes. You will be able to find them in the lumber section of Lowes or Home Depot.

building the snake gourd trellis - step 1

building the snake gourd trellis - step 2

building the snake gourd trellis - step 3

building the snake gourd trellis - step 4

the snake gourd trellis in action

trellis with bitter melon, snake gourd and others

melon trellis

Steps to build the trellis

This is very similar to building a trellis for Bitter Melon. In fact we use the same trellis for growing snake gourd and bitter melon.

Prebuild the structure (frame) that goes on the top of the posts. You can do it in any flat surface or on your garage and carry it to the location. You will need a helper to carry it as well as to raise it when you want to nail them to the posts.

Putting the Posts
The posts were put into holes dug 1.5 ft deep. To make the posts firmly affixed to the ground, dig a narrow hole using a crowbar. Also after putting the post, when you fill-in the hole, alternate between stones and soil and stamp them into the hole using the crowbar. Pour some water while you are doing this so that the soil will go in between the stones. Once everything is dried up, your posts will be as firm as you want them to be.

Some people use concrete to install the posts. Personally we prefer to use soil (dirt) to install the posts. The main reason behind this approach is that, it is very easy to remove and relocate the posts if we use mud instead of concrete.

Irrigation

If there is no rain you must irrigate your snake groud plants at least twice a week. If you can, setting up a drip irrigation system can save you a lot of time as well as water.

Pest and diseases

That’s the beauty of it: None.

We haven’t seen any major pests or diseases attacking these plants. Since they are not native to US, there aren’t major pests or diseases. Moreover, due to the harsh winter preceding and succeeding the growing season there is not much chance for a pest or disease to survive and spread season after season.

Harvesting:

For most early varieties, you should be able to start harvesting your snake gourd in about three months after germination. You should harvest the fruits before they are too mature and start ripening. If you are growing them for the first time, it may be harder to know if they are ready for picking. However it is OK to pick them young if you are not sure of their maturity. When they are young and edible the fruit will appear turgid and hard when pressed between your fingers.

If you wait longer, the fruits will ripen. Once it ripens, the fruits will appear soft when pressed between fingers. The internals of the fruit will become watery. At this stage the fruits are not good for cooking.

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