Who else is growing bitter melons this year? I have a generic smooth bumped variety, white Jyunpaku Okinawa and my favorite, Ganjyu, racing up the trellis. Ganjyu is the first to set fruit.
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Unfortunately, my seeds were duds. It was my first attempt at growing them.
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Sorry to hear that. If you happen to be traveling to the DC area anytime soon I do have a couple extra starts still in pots. If anyone else is in the area the offer is open since these are homeless right now.
Bitter melon, and really a lot of the Asian gourds, can be tough to start from seed. I’ve always used a nail clipper to make a little nick in the side to help them get plumped up in a good soak and have a start of cracking the shell. But after dealing with a particularly challenging variety to germinate I’ve gone to removing the entire outer shell. I do that by clipping a bit along the outer sides and then wedging the edge of the clipper or my finger nail under the edge of the shell and prying it off. By doing that I get almost 100% germination. I have found any of the white varieties seem to be less vigorous and particularly benefit from being out of the hard outer shell.
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My seeds were duds too. I’ve had good luck with Bitter Melon in the past but tried seeds from Baker Creek this year. Probably won’t use them again.
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Thanks for the tips on germination, as well as the offer for the starts! I did soak the seed for 24-36 hours before planting them. I assumed that they would germinate easily. I will put a little more effort into germinating next year.
I got my seeds from Sandhill Preservation Center. Where did you purchase your successful seeds from in years past? I have had very good germination success from Baker Creek seeds in the past (never tried bitter melon seeds, however).
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I’ve always just bought packets from the local Asian market. Bitter melon and water spinach. I don’t know why I tried to get fancy this year.
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First year growing bitter melon. Just one plant, doing well so far. I got my seeds from @mamuang so whatever it is she’s growing.
@belowtheterrace I don’t often buy from Baker Creek. They have some unique stuff, but the seed quality is real hit or miss.
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I agree with the inconsistent seed quality. I’ve also seen more off types of things like peppers than I have from any of the other larger vendors. I expect they buy in a lot of seed from a bunch of different growers which leads to the inconsistency and off types.
But when they have something that is hard to find I still buy form them occasionally. I got my original python snake beans (a type of snake gourd) form them and was lucky to get one seedling out of the 5 sad seeds they sent Luckily I got one of the gourds to maturity and now have a bunch for a few years.
@belowtheterrace the one I called a generic smooth type was from a packet at the local Asian stores. That is where I first got my fuzzy melon seeds as well and the germination has been great for anything I’ve picked up there.
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Beautiful picture. My wife is growing them. but we are zone 6a and way behind. Do you do long beans too? They do really well here.
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Yes, I grow long beans, although I haven’t planted any yet this year. I particularly like that they set beans no matter how hot it gets, whereas my other beans start dropping flowers without setting beans in the heat.
There are a number of Bangladeshi gardeners at the community garden where I have a plot and early on I noticed many of the things they were growing loved our heat and humidity here just outside DC. I’ve tried many of the things they grow and done great with them, although I’m not always as confident cooking with them. I grow long beans, fuzzy melon, bottle gourd, snake gourd and malabar spinach based on what I’ve learned from them.
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I am in zone 6a and just put them in ground two weeks ago.
Originally, I got seeds from @IL847 Annie about 3 years ago. Once I have the melons, I let one ripened and collected seeds. I did not know what I did with the white variety. I think I am left with a green variety.
I found sprouting seeds of bitter melons are easy. I put them in water overnight to soak them before planting them in potting mix and put those pot under light. They sprouted in a week.
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The white bitter melon is less bitter . I use it raw, like in salad. Also can be used in stuffed with meat
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I could not find where I kept the seeds. They are so pretty, too. I never eat bitter melons raw 
My plan was to try them lactofermented. Perhaps next year if I can get them to germinate.
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Interesting. Does that remove the bitterness at all? I had thought about pickling some to try them that way. Any links, recipes or other info you can share?
I think it can cut the bitterness. The effect sounds variable, maybe due to how small you cut the pieces. I have nothing specific to share. I just got some easy canner lids last year and thought that this would be a good year to try some new things. Zucchini tastes so much like standard cucumber pickles when lactofermented. That is a good thing since the cucumber beetles kill my vines (earlier than the vine borers kill my zucchini).
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Nice. I’ll definitely give it a try and report back. I’ve Lacto-fermented bottle gourd and it was very good. I’ve been spraying surround on my cukes and so far they are still alive. It seems to be helping to keep the beetles off them, but they are merciless here.
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Have you tried Little Leaf H-19? I’m trying it again for the first time in a while, but I remember in Kansas they would keep trucking long after everything else succumbed to bacterial wilt. It still got them in the end, but it took a while and they produced quite a bit before then.
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@zendog You’ve inspired me to try one more time. I’ll use this method on the baker creek seeds. July 1 is probably the latest I can plant them and still get a harvest here but I’ll give it a go. Thanks for the tip on the nail clippers.
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