Gourd Pollination: The Nighttime Pollination Process

Gourd pollination differs from the typical flowering plant in that the flowers are white and open in the late afternoon and close in the early morning hours. The reason for this is because they are pollinated by nocturnal insects instead of bees and butterflies like most flowers. The flowers of the lagenaria gourd are white and in the night time moonlight, they light up the field with glowing white spots everywhere. In the same way a porch light attracts moths because of their attraction to the white, the white flowers glowing in the field also attract moths. The rest is pretty much the same process as the typical flower pollination. The moths going from flower to flower transfer pollin from the male to the female thus fertilizing the fruit.

The male flower has a ribbon like stamin that is covered with pollin which is picked up by the moth and carried to the female pistil. Each gourd vine hosts both male and female flowers. Male flowers populate the main runner of the vine, and from each leaf knuckle a lateral vine will grow. The female flowers grow at each of the first four knuckles of the laterals, after the fourth knuckle the lateral will again begin producing male flowers to insure knew laterals on the vine growing females will have ample males to insure their pollination.

Identification of the flowers sex can be determined in a few different ways, the easiest way of course is the baby fruit at the base of the female flower. Once the gourd pollination occurs, the baby fruit will begin to grow and will be filled with seeds. A single gourd can contain between 50 and 500 seeds, some larger varieties may contain even more.

Another method of identification is inside the flower itself. The male stamin has a yellowish satin like finish, this is due to the massive amount of fine pollin. The female pistil has a somewhat shiny surface.

Gourd pollination requires nocturnal pollinators such as moths, unlike some flowers, air and wind will not pollinate gourds, and contrary to popular beliefs, biting insects like Cucumber Beetles provide no pollination whatsoever.

Gourds can also be pollinated manually by hand, and this is often a method used to preserve the purity of a gourd variety. Hand methods of pollination can be done with a paint brush or by causinga release of the pollin from the male flower immediately over the center of the female flower. Hand pollination is a little more detailed, and I will discuss this process in detail in an article on hand pollination.

If you would like to learn more about growing gourds, please visit The Gourd Reserve, with over 800 pages of gourd related information and artwork. You can also find more short articles on gourds and growing gourds here on my AC producer page.