Growing Bitter Melon Or Bitter Gourd (Karela) - Terrace Garden
Tips, Tricks
In this video we show you how to grow Bitter Melon in Terrace Garden. How to identify bitter melon leaves, male and female flowers and some tips to grow and protect your fruits in your terrace. I have been doing terrace gardening from past two years in Bangalore, India. We made this video of Bitter Melon in our terrace garden to share our experience of the same. Bitter Melon/Bitter Gourd which is called Karela in Hindi is a tropical/subtropical vine which belongs to Cucurbitaceae (pumpkin and watermelon) family. It mainly used in Asia and Africa, and originated in Indian Subcontinent. Bitter melon is used for culinary purpose around Asia and also used for medical purpose around the word and in Ayurveda. Growing bitter melon in your terrace is very easy and one of the best thing about this plant is they don’t need one complete pot. You can grow flowering plant like Rose, Marigold or other Vegetable plants like Okra, Eggplant with bitter melon sharing space in the same container. In fact these plant provide support for bitter melon and you need not worry about other plant too because Bitter Melon is very light weighted. But it is essential that you provide some support for the bitter melon (climber) to hang on grow either vertically or horizontally. Just like other melons Bitter Melon/Bitter Gourd flowers bloom for a single day. And a single plant will bear both male and female flower. If you have a big garden with lot of flowering plants then you need not hand pollinate Bitter Melon as bees and other insects will take care of it. If it’s NOT the case then you may have to HAND POLLINATE. In a healthy plant plenty male and female flowers bloom in a day and the male to female ratio will usually be 4:1. Which means every female flower gets 4 male flowers for pollination. You can use just a regular compost which is rich in nitrogen and carbon. Bitter melon thrive in a variety of soils and also it should have good drainage. Bitter melons grow very well in summer as most of vegetables does, they require less attention and care. Only thing is make sure that the vine is finding its support currently and all the curls are firmly grasping to something especially new ones. I sow the seeds in winter (India, Bangalore) usually first week of November and In February arrange for sticks for its support, from March till June I get regular 6-7 bitter melons per week from one plant. I remove the plant when it stops blooming flower somewhere in July where heavy rain fall occur in India and continue the cycle based on weather conditions. Also I have grown Papaya, Coriander, Mint (Pudina), Okra, Musk Melon, Cucumber, Tomatoes, Spinach (Palak), Egg Plant (Brinjal), Amaranthus, Hyacinth (Lablab), Spring Onions, Ash Gourd (Winter Melon), Sugar Apples and different type of flowers in our Terrace Garden. -- TABLE OF CONTENTS -- [00:05] - Introduction [00:10] - About Bitter Melon/ Bitter Gourd [00:34] - Bitter Melon's support on Terrace [00:56] - Leaves and Male Flowers [01:30] - Female Flowers and Fruits [03:16] - Ripe Bitter Melon [04:17] - Bees Pollinating Flowers [05:21] - Thank You Note
Comments
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Wow! I am from the Bahamas and this is one of our medicinal plants. We boil the plant in water, add lemon to cure cold, flu, and other health ailments. As far as the seed is concerned, this grows wild in every backyard or bush in the Bahamas. It just appears. I just found some growing in my backyard in two different locations. We also break the fruit and suck on the sweet seeds. In our country, it is called Serisee. The tea is bitter when boiled but we add lemon to calm it down a bit and drink it down. The kids would usually run like mad when it's time to take it because it is used for worming as well.
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Greetings Laal Garden. Ive been following your videos and also grew bitter guard. I let it ripe so i could use the seeds for future plants. I do however have a question.. Do you add vermiculite to your soil? Im also in Bangalore (indiranagar) and would like to know the soil mix (i dont get vermicompost) so ive started making compost at home. Would you also be able to recommend the fertiliser you use and suggestions to purchase soil from... Ive tried soil from many places but feel they arent that great....
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Hi, what does it taste like? do you eat all the fruit?
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Hi. What you do with this fruits, I have seen them around when I live, but I don't know for what them?
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please can i tell me where i can buy some bitter melon seed for planting
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Why did mine turn orange and open?
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Hi there, very informative video. I grew Bitter melon in northern part of North America this summer. We have one the coldest winters in the world. But our summer is about 80 days long and decently warm. From one plant I got about 50 fruits (not bad at all!). There are quite a few more on the plant but it is getting cold and may snow anytime soon. So the fruits are now growing very slowly.. I wonder if I can dig out the vine and bring it indoors and keep it alive over the winter and take it outdoor next summer? In your area, does the vine keep growing for several years (perennial) or it has to be started every year from a new seed (annual)? Any insight would be very helpful. I have searched on internet, many say it is an annual but some say it can be grown as a perennial. I might bring it in just to try it for myself, anyways. Thanks for a good video.
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how long do bitter melon plant live?
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can we grow this in UK?I really liked them and thy very expensive here...plz let me know thnx x
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thanks a lot for very informative video.
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Oooohh wow!! Look @ those tiny bitter melons. I've never seen them before. I love it and great video how to grow in containers. I learn a lot from you....thanks.
I sure would try these little ones but cannot find seeds @ stores. They only have the long or middle long ones. Do they sell packages seeds where you live? So yes, how can I get some?....:-). -
What variety are these? I never saw orange melons. Thanks.
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Thank-you for the video. I found it very informative. I have planted bitter melons for the first time and my vines are doing very well. I live in South Carolina in the USA where it is very hot and humid in the summers. I could tell that these plants liked it that way, but your saying it confirmed it to me.
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Thanks
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being inspired by ur videos, I planted a mango seed and it became plant of 3weeks. plz advice me what fertilizers to be used for fast grow.
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Hi,i love ur vidoes. may i know about the container?which type of cintainer i will use?i mean smaller one or bigger ine
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inspired
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Thank you very much
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Love ur video
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I haitian and I remember drinking the tea made from the leaf of this plant. Good for so many ailments.
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