How to Plant a Luffa
While it may be difficult to imagine, your shower luffa was once a living plant. Luffa is actually a gourd and although you wouldn't eat it now, a young luffa growing on the vine is capable of harvesting and eating just like squash. Once the gourd matures and dries-out, the luffa fibers become the scrubbers that send dry skin packing. Whether you want to plant luffa for good eats or exfoliating, do so in the spring after the threat of winter frosts is over. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Pitchfork
- Soil test kit
- Lime or peat moss
- Garden hose or soaker hose
- Trellis
Instructions
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Prepare a planting location that contains at least six to eight hours of sun per day and well-drained soil. Break-up the soil with a pitchfork and test the pH using a soil testing kit, which is available for purchase in most garden centers and nurseries.
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Add an amendment to the soil if necessary. Luffa prefers to grow in soil with a pH between 6.0 and 6.8. If your soil does not fall within these parameters, you will need to add lime to the soil to raise a pH below 6.0 or peat moss to lower a pH above 6.8. Add the amendment according to the instructions on the package label.
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Dig holes that match the size of the luffa root-balls using a small hand shovel. Space each of the holes 12 inches apart. Remove each luffa plant from its pot and plant it in the center of each hole. Backfill the hole and pat the soil around each plant, removing air pockets.
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Water the soil around the luffa plants with a garden hose or soaker hose. Keep the soil moist to a depth of 1 inch at all times. Supplemental waterings at a rate of 1 inch per week, in lieu of rain, are ideal for luffa growth.
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Hammer in a 6 to 10-foot trellis directly behind the luffa plants. Tie the main stems of the luffa plants to the trellis with elastic cording or cotton strips. Luffa plants love to climb and a trellis will support the luffa plants as they grow and give them plenty of climbing room.
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Harvest luffa for eating when the gourd reaches 4 to 6 inches in length (approximately one week after blossoming). If harvesting for the luffa gourds to use as scrubbers, you must wait until the fruit matures, fully. The luffa gourd turns brown when fully mature. It also feels light and when you give it a shake, the seeds rattle against the inner skin.
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Tips & Warnings
If weeds are a problem in the luffa planting area, spread a 3 to 4 inch layer of mulch around the plants to suppress them.
If you live in planting zones 7 through 11, luffa will grow as perennials; dying-off in the fall and reemerging in spring. Outside of these planting zones luffa will only grow as an annual; requiring replanting every spring.
Avoid over-saturating the soil as the luffa plants grow. Sopping wet soil will rot the roots and kill the plants.
References
Resources
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