Birdhouse gourds are gourds that are shaped like enormous pears. After they are dried, you can cut a hole in the lower portion, stick a perch under it, and hang it in a tree.
Some birds, if they squint their eyes and lower their expectations a little, find that they make good homes.
I plant these gourds every year. Some years are successful; other years, the gourds all succumb to mildew and die.
One thing I consistently notice, even though I have read gardening articles that try to say otherwise, is that if several gourds set on a vine, the one that starts to develop first goes on to be a big strong gourd, while all the other gourds on the vine wither and die.
It’s kind of like the baby spiders that eat each other until there is only one left. I think that happens, doesn’t it?
So I have learned that if I want more than one gourd, I have to grow more than one vine.
As for the baby spiders, they’re on their own.
I too am just getting only one larger birdhouse gourd/plant (3) with all the other small ones eventually withering. Perhaps one should pick them off early, hoping to yield more than one large gourd. Have also considered lack of pollenating.
Posted by: Sharon Tissue | October 10, 2013 at 03:55 PM