Bottle gourd · Miass, Chelyabinsk, Russia
When to plant bottle gourds in Miass
Main outdoor window
31 May - 21 Jun
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
17 May
In Miass, 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 Miass
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
19 Apr - 10 May
Four weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
31 May - 21 Jun
Two weeks after your last frost.
Plant out
31 May - 21 Jun
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Aug - 31 Oct
Bottle gourds through the year
Against the frost risk in Miass
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 Miass.
The median frost-free season here is 130 days, against 90 to 120 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Nearby
Bottle gourds in places close by
Also in Miass
Other vegetables to time
Growing bottle gourds in Miass
When should I plant bottle gourds in Miass?
Aim for 31 May - 21 Jun in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 14 Jun - 5 Jul - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will bottle gourds be ready to harvest in Miass?
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.