Bottle gourd · Khemisset, Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, Morocco
When to plant bottle gourds in Khemisset
Main outdoor window
16 Feb - 9 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
2 February
In Khemisset, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Aug - 31 Oct
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Khemisset
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
5-26 Jan
Four weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
16 Feb - 9 Mar
Two weeks after your last frost.
Plant out
16 Feb - 9 Mar
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Aug - 31 Oct
Bottle gourds through the year
Against the frost risk in Khemisset
Why these dates
Sow two weeks after the last frost. Flowers open at night and are moth-pollinated, so in cool climates hand pollination in the evening improves the set considerably.
Killed at 0C. Gourds intended for drying need to stay on the vine until the stem browns, which a first frost cuts short.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Bottle gourds are timed from 4 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Khemisset.
Also in Khemisset
Other vegetables to time
Growing bottle gourds in Khemisset
When should I plant bottle gourds in Khemisset?
Aim for 16 Feb - 9 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 18 Feb - 11 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will bottle gourds be ready to harvest in Khemisset?
Expect to start picking around 1 Aug - 31 Oct, based on 90 to 120 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will bottle gourds tolerate?
Killed at 0C. Gourds intended for drying need to stay on the vine until the stem browns, which a first frost cuts short.