Luffa flowers - Ask Extension
My luffa plant has clusters of buds.
Which flower in this cluster is the male flower I am to pollinate with? Or are they all the same?
I also have a...
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Luffa flowers #671465
Asked August 01, 2020, 10:43 AM EDT
My luffa plant has clusters of buds.
Which flower in this cluster is the male flower I am to pollinate with? Or are they all the same?
I also have a couple flowers the appear on their own stem with no cluster.
Ive read many articles on internet and have conflicting information.
Can you tell me which is the male flower I am to remove and use to polinate the female? If the single flower is female, I don't want to remove it to pollinate the cluster based flower.
Plz CLEARLY identify the male and female flowers on the luffa plant for me. Thanks.
Out of 14 plants I only have 2 luffa fruit forming. ...
Jefferson County Kentucky
Expert Response
I've included a picture of a female flower. You'll see there is a mini-luffa subtending the base of the flower. It's the ovary of the female flower that will become the luffa gourd.
The male flowers seem to be in a cluster with one female flower among or fairly close to them. Bees will do the pollinating -- don't use insecticides.
Here's more info from NC State: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/commercial-luffa-sponge-gourd-production
Hope this helps.
The male flowers seem to be in a cluster with one female flower among or fairly close to them. Bees will do the pollinating -- don't use insecticides.
Here's more info from NC State: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/commercial-luffa-sponge-gourd-production
Hope this helps.
