The Organic
Revival
Vegetables · Vine

Growing bottle gourd

Lagenaria siceraria · also called lauki, al (Kashmiri)A fast, vigorous vine grown for its long or round pale green fruit, cooked young as a vegetable. It is sown straight into warm soil and cannot take frost.

Cold desert: Ladakh, Lahaul and Spiti

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Includes AI suggestions where no published guide covers a detail
A pale green bottle gourd growing on the vine among large leaves
Photo: Forest and Kim Starr · CC BY 3.0

At a glance

Bottle gourd in the Cold desert

  • Season

    Summer, under cover only

    No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

  • Sowing to last picking

    About 100 to 120 days in a greenhouse.

    No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

  • First harvest

    55 to 70 days after sowing

    No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Across India

When to sow it

Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.

Under cover only

Under cover, from Late April to May, in a greenhouse.

Sowing now in:North-east hills and valleysCentral plateauDeccan plateauWest coast
  • Sow
  • Harvest
  • Under cover
  • Today
Cold desertLadakh, Lahaul and Spiti · Under cover onlyTemperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, Dehradun
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, DehradunNorth-west plainsPunjab, Haryana, DelhiGangetic plainseastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal plainsNorth-east hills and valleysAssam, Meghalaya, SikkimArid westRajasthan, Kutch, north GujaratCentral plateauMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, VidarbhaDeccan plateauinterior Maharashtra, Telangana, north KarnatakaSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduWest coastKerala, Goa, KonkanEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
Cold desertUnder cover onlyUnder cover: Late April to May, in a greenhouseUnder cover: July to mid-September
Temperate HimalayaApril to MayJuly to mid-September
Sub-tropical foothillsMid-FebruaryJune to JulyMarchApril to MayUnder cover: First half of NovemberMid-April to JuneMid-August to October
North-west plainsFebruary to MarchJune to JulyUnder cover: November to DecemberMid-April to JuneMid-August to October
Gangetic plainsFebruary to MarchJune to JulyMid-April to JuneMid-August to October
North-east hills and valleysNovember to MarchMarch to AprilFebruary to June
Arid westFebruary to early MarchJuly, with the monsoonMid-April to JuneSeptember to mid-November
Central plateauFebruary to MarchJune to JulyNovemberMid-April to JuneMid-August to October
Deccan plateauJune to JulyNovemberJanuary to FebruaryMid-August to October
South interiorJulyJanuarySeptember to NovemberMarch to May
West coastJanuary to MarchSeptember to DecemberMay to June, after the first showersMarch to mid-JuneNovember to March
East coastJulyJanuarySeptember to NovemberMarch to May

From seed to harvest

One season, day by day

Days from sowing

  1. Before sowing

    Well-rotted farmyard manure or compostNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    2 to 3 kg per m² · Mix into the greenhouse bed before sowing · Bed preparation

  2. Day 0

    Sow

  3. Day 6 to 10

    Seeds come up1,2,3Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

  4. Day 55 to 70

    First pickingNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    Every 3 to 4 days in the peak season.

  5. Day 100 to 120

    Last pickingNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Water every 3 to 4 days, more at flowering and fruit set.No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

What it needs

Soil, sun and warmth

  • Soil pH1,2,6

    6 to 7

    Sandy loam to loam, well drained and rich in organic matter. It grows on most soils.

  • SunlightNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    At least 6 hours a day

    Full sun, at least 6 hours a day.

  • Temperature1

    Grows best at 24 to 27 °C

    Frost: none tolerated.

    Monthly temperatures for the Cold desert aren't in the library yet.

Water and feeding

WateringNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Water every 3 to 4 days inside the greenhouse, more often in July and August. Keep the soil evenly moist during flowering and fruit set.

WeedingNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Hand weed the beds until the vines cover them.

WhenWhatHow muchHow
Bed preparationWell-rotted farmyard manure or compost2 to 3 kg per m²Mix into the greenhouse bed before sowing

SourcesNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Varieties and yield

Typical rangeNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

2 to 3 kg a square metre

Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.

Good neighboursNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Keep it away from

Pests and diseasesNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Organic and cultural controls only.

  • Pest

    Aphids

    Signs

    Small soft insects under the leaves and on shoot tips; leaves curl.

    What to do

    • Hose them off with water.
    • Remove badly infested shoots.

  • Pest

    Red spider mite

    Signs

    Fine speckling and webbing on leaves in dry, hot greenhouse air.

    What to do

    • Raise the humidity by damping the paths.

  • Disease

    Powdery mildew

    Signs

    White, floury patches on the leaves.

    Prevention

    • Open the vents on sunny days so air moves.
    • Remove badly affected leaves.

Seed and the season's end

Saving seed1,2Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

Keep a seed crop at least 800 m from other bottle gourd varieties. Check it three times (early growth, flowering and fruiting, and before harvest) and pull out off-type and sick plants.

When the seed is ready

Seed fruit is ready when its skin turns a dull green.

Cleaning the seed

Dry the harvested fruit, then take out the seed, grade it and pack it.

Keep dry seed in a sealed container in a cool, dark place.

After the last pickingNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Pull out the vines after the last picking and compost them if they are healthy. Follow with a crop from another family, such as a leafy vegetable or a legume.

Destroy old cucurbit vines after the crop so downy mildew has nowhere to carry over.

Rotation

Where root knot nematode builds up, rotate with rice, oats, wheat or taramira.

Growing under coverNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Grow in a polyhouse or trench greenhouse from late April to September. Bottle gourd needs warm days and nights and does not set fruit in the open in Ladakh's short, cold-night summer. Open the vents on sunny days so it does not overheat.

Sources

Where this comes from

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.

These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.

  1. 3Production Technology of Vegetables and Flowers (VSF-231), Part I: Vegetable production (cucurbitaceous crops; protected cultivation)CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur (Department of Vegetable Science and Floriculture)Read the source
  2. 4Advisory for Kharif Season in Uttarakhand (2 May 2020)G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Directorate of Extension EducationRead the source
  3. 6Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria): crop production guide (Horticulture, vegetables)TNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source

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