Tropical and subtropical vegetables (2+1)

Propagation

• In order to plant one hectare area of pointed gourd, about 2,000-2,500 cuttings are required. Pointed gourd is vegetatively propagated through vine cuttings and root suckers. Seed propagation is avoided in pointed gourd because of poor seed germination and since it is dioecious in nature produces male and female plants in equal proportion if they are planted from the seeds.
• In other words, 50% plants are non-fruiting (i.e. male plants). In order to ensure maximum fruit set and yield only 10-12% male plants are maintained in the garden to ensure the source of pollinizer and remaining plants must be female ones.