How to Grow and Cultivate Bitter Melon

Bitter melon, botanically known as Momordica charantia, is also referred to as bitter gourd, goya, karella, balsamino and ampalaya. It is a tropical climbing vine with delicate yellow flowers and tender, deeply lobed leaves. Its oval and long, textured green fruits are as crunchy as cucumber but strongly bitter in taste. A popular ingredient in Chinese, Indian, and Southeast Asian cooking and renowned for its medicinal properties, the bitter melon is easy to grow and cultivate, even in the backyard.

Things You'll Need

• Garden soil
• Compost or dried manure
• Water
• Pruning shears
• Trellis

Instructions

1. Prepare the location. Augment the garden soil with compost or dried manure. Bitter melon prefers soil that is rich but drains well. Make sure the location receives six to eight hours of sunlight every day.

2. Soak bitter melon seeds in water for 24 to 48 hours to initiate uniform sprouting.

3. Drop the seeds on the soil and cover with 1/2 inch of soil. Ideal spacing between plants is up to 2 feet apart along a row to allow sunlight to reach the lower branches.

4. Water the soil regularly. Make sure the ground remains moderately moist but not soggy.

5. Install a trellis 4 to 6 feet tall. Bitter melon is best grown on a trellis so that the fruits do not touch the ground. Also, hanging fruits grow straight and are easy to harvest.

6. Harvest fruits within two weeks after the flowers open. Young fruits ready for harvest are light green, firm, juicy and crunchy. Fruits become more bitter and spongy as they mature.

7. Allow some fruits to ripen. Harvest their seeds for the next crop.

8. Prune overreaching or wayward growths to control the shape of the plant and encourage development of new stems, which will bear more fruits.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure the trellis is strong enough to bear the weight of the mature bitter melon fruits. A fruit ready for harvest weighs approximately 4 oz.

• Instead of a trellis, construct a tall fence using a 6-inch wire mesh.

• Drip irrigation is recommended for large bitter melon gardens.

• Grow bitter melon during the warm months because cold retards its growth. The plant can be grown and cultivated year-round in temperate and tropical regions.

• Harvest young fruits promptly to encourage the development of new fruits.

References

• WSU Island County: Bitter Melon
• National Bitter Melon Council: Garden Growing Information