How to propagate a bitter gourd (ampalaya)? If you grow fewer plants you will get fewer fruits, but if you grow a lot of plants you will also get more fruits from them. That is why some gardeners are finding ways how to propagate their plants. There are plants that only grow from seeds, but there are also other plants that can be grown through grafting, budding, or even cutting. Most of the vegetables are grown through seeds. They cannot be grown through other methods. But how about bitter gourds, how can they be propagated?
How To Propagate A Bitter Gourd?
Just like other plants, bitter gourds can only propagate true seeds. Most gardeners buy bitter gourd seeds at the nursery or agriculture store and they use those seeds in making bitter gourd gardens. You can get high-quality seeds from the nurseries and they are capable of germinating.
The bitter gourd seed germination rate will be high if you are going to buy high-quality seeds. You can also use seeds from the ripe bitter gourd from your garden and use them to regrow another bitter gourd plant. It is easy to grow bitter gourds from seeds. Once you sow the seeds in the soil, they will germinate for around 5 to 10 days. After that, a few roots will grow and a few tiny leaves will appear.
Some gardeners grow the seedlings in the seed tray first before they do transplanting. While other gardeners directly grow them in the soil. The best way is to use a seed tray in germinating bitter gourd seeds to make sure they are germinating. And you can pick which healthy seedlings you are going to transplant into the garden.
Propagating bitter gourd through seeds is most commonly used by gardeners around the world. It is the best way to grow more bitter gourd plants in the garden. It is better to have more plants so that you will have more fruits to harvest. Once the fruits mature, you can use those fruits to cook or if you have a big garden and have a bountiful harvest, you can sell those other fruits and make some profit. It is great to know how to propagate a bitter gourd.
Can You Propagate Bitter Gourd From Seeds?
Yes, you can absolutely propagate bitter gourds from seeds. Growing bitter gourds from seeds is easy to do. You can buy seeds at the nurseries, agriculture stores, or even online. Or if you save some seeds from your garden you can also use them.
Growing bitter gourd from a store bought bitter gourd is not possible. Most bitter gourds sold at the market are harvested green. They are already mature yet the seeds are still immature. The seeds coming from those fruits are mostly still soft, white, and are not capable of germinating.
When you start germinating your bitter gourd seeds, it will take them around 5 to 10 days to sprout. It is better to germinate them first in a seed tray and do transplanting once they have enough height. Once you transplant them you need to water them so that they will grow well. You need to water bitter gourds more often, especially when the weather is hot.
The bitter gourd sunlight requirement is around 4 hours for young plants and at least 6 hours for mature plants. Plant them in a spot where sunlight is available.
Can You Propagate Bitter Gourd Through Cuttings?
Growing bitter gourd from cutting is not possible. Their vines of them are very soft and they are not capable of growing roots just like the branches of a tree or some plants. For example, the stems of a rose can be propagated through cutting, but you still need some rooting hormone to have a high chance of growing a new plant. Also, citruses can be grown from cuttings but still, a help of rooting hormone is needed to grow roots on the cuttings.
It is not possible to propagate bitter gourd (ampalaya) through cutting. If you cut some vines from the plant and plant them in the ground, they will not grow and even a single root will not appear.
The lifespan of bitter gourd ranges from 5 to 6 months (150 to 180 days) and it would be nice if you can propagate them through cutting but they cannot be.
Can You Propagate Bitter Gourd Through Grafting Or Budding?
No, you cannot propagate bitter gourd through grafting or budding. The grafting and budding method is only applicable mostly to trees and some kinds of plants. The trees have hard skin and stem while the bitter gourd has soft and thin vines.
The bitter gourds have many seeds inside and you can propagate more plants using them. You can also know how fast bitter gourds grow by observing them when you start a vegetable garden. It will take a few months before you can start harvesting fruits from the plant.
You need to take care of bitter gourd plants to grow them fast and produce excellent fruits. They need water and sunlight regularly to make them healthy. Also applying fertilizer to bitter gourds is needed when the soil is lacking nutrients to help them grow bigger and encourage them to flower and fruits.
It is great to know the ways how to propagate a bitter gourd (ampalaya). Propagation is made to a plant to make them more. A single plant can be doubled, tripled, or even grown multiple times when a plant is capable of propagation. They can be propagated through seeds, cuttings, buddings, graftings, etc. In this case, bitter gourds can only be propagated through seeds.