my luffa gourds are finally going to seed...

[Jay Blair]

...and will be ready for seed and fiber harvesting. I am going to try to harvest the fiber as a corr alternative for bedding. My only concern is the amount of fiber harvest-able from each gourd as they are approximately 15 inches long and 5 inches in diameter at the bloom end.

Last year I added some fiber and gourd husk to a working bin and it took about the same amount of time for the worms to consume the fiber as the leaf mold and paper bedding.

An advantage in my opinion is that as young pods, luffa contain nutritional value similar to okra and can be consumed by human and worm alike as foodi item in addition to being a source of ex-foliate sponge bath care products.

Luffa could possibly rate as a three market home produced product for those capable of producing sufficient quantities.

Fresh young pods as vegetable produce, young non productive pods as bath care products and finally fiber for use in worm bin assemblies.


As i harvest and prep the dried gourds , I will upload thumbnail pictures to the site also. Sure wish I had thought to photo document the luffa crop as I went this year, but I couldn't find my camera at planting time.

I guess we can do it s the star wars movies and go backward to the start.

I'm off to take pictures now of the luffa and the last picture of the bottle bin.

[Jay Blair]

As a bedding alternative, I have found that the dried fiber from the seed gourds is too tough to work with.

I am now washing the fiber out of the squash like gourds and dehydrating the green fiber which is also used as ex-foliate pads.

The washed out "meat" of the gourd and seeds I am pureeing with the skins as feed additive for the predigesters.

[theinfamousj]

If you have any extra seeds, I'd be happy to take those off of your hands ... ^_^. Ever since I found out that loofahs weren't sea creatures, I've been dying to grow one of my own just because.

[redhen]

If you have no luck getting seeds shared, this is a really good site: onaleeseeds.com I found apple gourd seeds there. When she sends you seed, you get complete planting/growing/harvesting instructions and lots of good information.

[Jay Blair]

Jenn,
More than happy to share some seeds. Private Message me a mailing address.

[theinfamousj]

Right, Jay, PM. Let me know if it didn't work. I'm attempting this.