How to grow organic bittergourd?

How to grow healthy Karelas organically and get a good yield?

1) Good sunny location. At least 3 to 4 hours of bright sunlight every day.

2) Since I don't dig or till, I just take a seedling or seed and plant it at a chosen location after scooping out little soil and I cover it with 2 handfuls old Vermi compost.
Also seedlings can be raised in a pot and replanted same way.
You should go on adding Vermicompost in gradually increasing quantities as the plants grow. Like growing children, they have a voracious appetite when they are at a growing stage.
The the earth worm castings or droppings contain beneficial bacteria, minerals, nutrients, important micro life forms, and most Importantly, some mysterious energy which makes the earth to rejoice and welcome the new tender roots to penetrate inwards and spread out beautifully. Normally in today's degraded garden or farmland, the earth is tight, hard, angry and resentful because it has been stripped of green cover: her clothes, the multitudes of little creatures, worms, ants, etc.
And all nutrients have been leached out using harsh synthetic chemicals which also simultaneously kills off all beneficial microorganisms which normally live in the forest floor and soil. Over and above all this abuse and indignity heaped on soil life, many people bring heavy machines which can easily even crush a human (imagine the fate of little delicate ants and worms) into the farm and run them all around. This heavy tractors, weighing tons and tons, completely compacts the earth.

Its like ironing a dress. It becomes stiff and flat. This encourages soil erosion!!! That is the final straw.
All this ruinous damage can be reversed by simple old vermi-compost.

3) Plenty of water. Bitter gourd cant tolerate dryness even for a day. Check for droopy leaves, an indication of thirsty plant. Also you can touch the earth around the root area to see if its wet or not. More water as the plant grows particularly in dry areas and when fruits start appearing. Otherwise, the depressed plant will drop the flowers and tender gourds..

4) Climb it on to a bush or shrub to decrease insect attack. And try to climb others like string bean, basella, sword bean or ash gourd also. At the base, add a few beans and greens strategically if you like. Your imagination is the limit. But they must be compatible and not get into too much competition with each other. Also they help hide fruits and confuse pests.

5) Feed Vermi-compost every week, as long as new flowers keep appearing. After the plant is reasonably big, diluted vermi-wash and a little wood ash also can be added at watering time. If red biter ants nest at the base and attack roots, its a sign of insufficient watering. If big red stinky ants are there on the plant, its ok, they scare off fruit flies and eat up caterpillars. A few exposed fruit may get an attack of fruit flies, which puncture the skin of the Karela and lay tiny eggs, which eventually eat up the seed kernel. Here we don't wait for such fruit to grow fully. We pluck off and cook it for a meal. Its very minor damage, but it is no longer good for seeds. The ripe fruit bursts open and birds eat up the bright red pulp coated seeds and propagate the plant.

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[destroyahdes]

That's a great gourd. I water my gourds and cucumbers everyday too. The cucumbres especially if they don't get water everyday they can die.

[vidaripollen]

@destroyahdes i ve not done cucumbers,yet to learn. cucumbers.u must give all the tips when i start.i got some rare heirloom seeds recently.

[destroyahdes]

@vidaripollen Sure, I'll do my best, but I haven't done as well as I would like with them so I'm not an expert on cucumbers.