Luffa · Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan
When to plant luffa in Sialkot
Main outdoor window
not outdoors here
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
no spring frost
In Sialkot, on your chosen risk.
First autumn frost
no autumn frost
The far end of the outdoor season.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Sialkot
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.
Luffa through the year
Against the frost risk in Sialkot
Why these dates
Start indoors six weeks before the last frost, which is unusually early for a cucurbit, and plant out once nights hold above 15C. Sponges need around 150 frost-free days.
Killed at 0C. Fruit left to mature for sponges must dry on the vine, so a late frost ends the crop before the fibre has set.
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. Luffa are timed from 6 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 Sialkot.
Also in Sialkot
Other vegetables to time
Growing luffa in Sialkot
How much frost will luffa tolerate?
Killed at 0C. Fruit left to mature for sponges must dry on the vine, so a late frost ends the crop before the fibre has set.