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.

Sub-tropical foothills: Jammu, Kangra, Dehradun

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 Sub-tropical foothills

  • Season

    Spring-summer (sown mid-February) and rainy season (June to July); March in the lower intermediate belt and April to May in the upper1

  • Sowing to last picking

    About 100 to 130 days from sowing to the last picking.

    No published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

  • Sow

    Mid-February1

    Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

Across India

When to sow it

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

Wait until February

The next sowing here is Mid-February.

Under cover, from First half of November.

Sowing now in:North-east hills and valleysCentral plateauDeccan plateauWest coast
  • Sow
  • Harvest
  • Under cover
  • Today
Sub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, DehradunTemperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluNorth-west plainsPunjab, Haryana, Delhi
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluCold desertLadakh, Lahaul and Spiti · Under cover onlyNorth-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
Sub-tropical foothillsMid-FebruaryJune to JulyMarchApril to MayUnder cover: First half of NovemberMid-April to JuneMid-August to October
Temperate HimalayaApril to MayJuly to mid-September
Cold desertUnder cover onlyUnder cover: Late April to May, in a greenhouseUnder cover: July to mid-September
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

    Farmyard manure (FYM)

    10 t per acre · Apply the full amount at sowing · At sowing

    Well-rotted farmyard manure (FYM)1

    250 kg per trench · Mix into the trench a few weeks before sowing · River bed trench crop

  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 100 to 130

    Last pickingNo published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, 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.1

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 Sub-tropical foothills, 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 Sub-tropical foothills aren't in the library yet.

Water and feeding

Watering1

Water every 3 to 4 days in summer. In the rainy season one watering a week is enough, depending on the rain. Do not let it go dry at flowering and fruit set. Too much water early on gives a leafy vine with more male flowers.

Weeding1

Weeds compete hard while the plants are young. Hoe and weed often until the vines spread too far to work between them.

WhenWhatHow muchHow
At sowingFarmyard manure (FYM)10 t per acreApply the full amount at sowing
River bed trench cropWell-rotted farmyard manure (FYM)250 kg per trenchMix into the trench a few weeks before sowing

Sources1

Varieties and yield

Typical range1

80 to 100 quintals an acre

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

Varieties grown here1

  • Pusa Summer Prolific Long

    SKUAST-Jammu. Long fruit, 40 to 50 cm, yellowish green; spring and summer.

  • Pusa Summer Prolific Round

    SKUAST-Jammu. Round green fruit; spring and summer.

  • Punjab Long

    SKUAST-Jammu. Tolerant to cucumber mosaic virus; first picking 70 to 80 days after sowing.

  • Punjab Komal

    SKUAST-Jammu. Early; tolerant to cucumber mosaic virus; first picking about 70 days after sowing.

  • Punjab Round

    SKUAST-Jammu. Small round fruit on side branches.

  • Pant Lauki 4

    SKUAST-Jammu (printed "Pant Loki 4"). Medium duration; striped, hairy fruit about 40 cm long.

  • Pusa Hybrid-1

    Hybrid listed by SKUAST-Jammu

  • Pusa Hybrid-3

    Hybrid listed by SKUAST-Jammu

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

Keep it away from

Pests and diseases1Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

Organic and cultural controls only.

  • Pest

    Fruit fly

    Signs

    Lays eggs in young fruit, which then rots.

    What to do

    • Hang methyl eugenol traps, 2 to 4 an acre, and add more as needed.

  • Pest

    Red pumpkin beetle

    Signs

    Orange beetles chew the seed leaves and young leaves soon after the seed comes up.

    What to do

    • Pick the beetles off by hand in the early morning.
    • Dust young plants with wood ash.

  • Pest

    Jassids and aphids

    Signs

    Small sap-sucking insects under the leaves; leaves curl and pale.

  • Disease

    Anthracnose

    Signs

    Dark brown spots on leaves, stems and fruit; SKUAST-Jammu names bottle gourd among the crops it hits.

    What to do

    • Keep the field clean.

    Prevention

    • Sow early.

  • Disease

    Powdery mildew

    Signs

    Small white patches that spread into a floury coat over leaves, stems, tendrils and fruit.

  • Disease

    Downy mildew

    Signs

    Yellow spots on the upper leaf, purple to brown below with white down.

    Prevention

    • Collect seed only from healthy fruit.

  • Disease

    Fruit rot

    Signs

    Fruit lying on wet soil goes soft and rots.

    What to do

    • Keep the fruit off the soil.
    • Pick the first fruit on time.
    • Water in trenches round the root zone only.

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 picking1

In SKUAST-Jammu's sub-tropical cropping systems, a gourd crop is followed by okra and then potato.

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 cover1,3

River bed or trench growing gives an off-season crop. Dig east-west trenches 1 to 1.25 m wide and 1.75 to 2 m deep (0.75 to 1 m where there is irrigation), 2 to 3 m apart. Fill them with soil, sand and rotted manure. Sow two pre-sprouted seeds a hill, 3 to 4 cm deep and 60 cm apart, in the first half of November, and cover the trench with polythene at once. CSK HPKV also grows an off-season crop in walk-in tunnels from December to mid-February.

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. 1Package of Practices for Vegetable Crops 2020 (chapter 10, Bottle gourd; cucurbit pest and disease management; hybrids; cropping systems; river bed cultivation)Directorate of Extension, SKUAST-JammuRead the source
  2. 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
  3. 4Advisory for Kharif Season in Uttarakhand (2 May 2020)G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Directorate of Extension EducationRead the source
  4. 6Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria): crop production guide (Horticulture, vegetables)TNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source

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