How to Grow Momordica Cochinchinensis

Germination

• 1

  Calculate if you have the necessary growing season to be able to plant the sweet gourd outdoors to reach maturity. Add the eight-month ripening period once the fruit is formed to the two-month time between germination and flowering, and compare the time to the period between last spring frost and earliest fall frost for your growing area. Plan to germinate the seeds indoors far enough in advance to finish out the growing season outdoors, or raise the vines indoors in a greenhouse.

• 2

  Fill a 5-gallon nursery container with moist soilless potting mix at least two months in advance of when any frost danger is past, or the time you determined for your area.

• 3

  Plant each large black seed in its own container, with the single hole in the seed facing down. Barely cover it with soil. Put the container in bright light in a warm spot and keep it watered so the soil is moist but not soggy. Seeds germinate in one or two weeks. Plant at least 10 seeds so you have a good chance of getting both a male and female plant.

Growing the Vines

• 4

  Transfer the plant outdoors when frost danger is past, gradually giving the plant more sun each day over a period of about a week so it gets used to outdoor conditions before you plant it in the ground.

• 5

  Choose a sunny spot and dig a hole with a shovel as deep as the container and four inches wider. Remove the vine from the pot, center it in the hole and backfill around the root ball. Water the plant thoroughly and keep plants well-watered since they prefer warm, humid conditions.

• 6

  Give the plants a trellis to grow on, since in nature they can grow high into trees. Hand-pollinate the female flowers with pollen from the male flowers if you don't have pollinators to do the job. Pick a pollen-bearing stamen from the male flower with tweezers and rub the pollen on the female stigma.

• 7

  Harvest the ripe fruit when they are bright orange; a female vine is able to produce 30 to 60 sweet gourds. Allow the plants to stay in the ground after they go dormant since a tuberous root forms, which will regrow the next season. Protect the tuber from cold temperatures with mulch or by lifting it from the ground and storing it.