Decorative plant loofah came to us from the hot and humid Asian tropics. It belongs to the family of pumpkin, with its help it is possible to decorate the arbor or columns in a very original way, but from it there is also another sense. Many fans of decorative unusual plants practice the cultivation of loofah from seeds and because of its interesting and unusual fruits, which seem to resemble a vegetable marrow. In our latitudes, two varieties grow well: Luffa acutangula and Luffa cylindrica. This material contains very useful recommendations that will prompt how to properly grow lyuf from seeds at home.
General information
As already mentioned above, many people are engaged in the planting of loofah solely for the sake of its fruits, but they are completely inedible. The thing is that when they mature, their shell bursts, and inside there are plant seeds and an excellent sponge of plant origin. The sponge is perfect even for bathing babies, because it is absolutely natural and very soft, but at the same time it removes remarkably the scales of dead skin. Before growing lyufu, you should take care of the stock of cups. Buy them from the calculation that in a single pack of seeds there are only 5 of them. Of these, as practice shows, sprout more often 2-3, rarely 3-4. Also consider that this plant is extremely negative transfer transplants and even the slightest concern of the root system. For this reason, it is best to plant seeds one piece each in separate 200 gram peat cups . Thus, lyufa practically painlessly tolerates transplantation and very quickly enters the active spring vegetative growth phase. After a brief information about this plant, we propose to go to the section that will devote the reader to all the subtleties of agrotechnics of cultivation of loofah at home.
Planting and care
Since this plant comes from the edges, where the soil is rich in nutrients, it is better to buy a special ready-made substrate or to prepare it yourself for seeding. In the second case, a three-component planting soil mixture will be required from the upper peat, deciduous soil and sand. Before landing in the ground, loofah seeds should be awakened. For this, it is required to stand them for one week in a wet napkin at a temperature of 35-40 degrees. It's just great if, by coincidence, aloe is growing in your house. If you soak the seeds of loofah in juice , squeezed from the leaves of this plant, the term of their germination will be shortened by two or three days. Deepen the seeds when planting in a substrate at 1.5-2 centimeters, do not go deeper. If everything is done correctly, then after a week young shoots can be pierced. After the emergence of sprouting plants should be placed in a room with a temperature lower, approximately in the range of 20-25 degrees. The best time for sowing seeds is the first day of April, if you sow this lianocoen plant in a given period, then transplant the grown seedlings
To "washcloths" succeeded in glory, it is recommended to break off the extra side shoots of this creeper. This will help to form a large number of inflorescences, and hence "loofers" of loofah will be more. That's how cultivators cultivate the gardeners in our latitudes, and very successfully!