Seeds are sown @ four to five per pit. Remove unhealthy and diseases plants and retain 2-3 healthy plants per pit after 2 weeks.

Apply the recommended second and third dose of fertilizers at the time of vining and at full blooming stage.

The fertilizers have to be applied around the plant after removing the weeds. While applying fertilizers, care should be taken to avoid fertilizer touching the vines. The fertilizer application should be followed with earthing up operations.

Mulching is also practiced in bottle gourd to control weeds. Use organic or plastic mulch depending on availability. Mulch can be laid down before or after trans­planting and after sowing.

Bottle gourd can be trailed either on pandals or on the ground. For this, pandals of 1.5 m height are erected using bamboo poles, wooden stakes, GI pipes or other sturdy materials, when the plants start vining. Nets of 8 x8 inch spacing can be used for making pandal.

Vines are supported by bamboo stakes, which help vines freely climb and reach the top. Alternatively, bottle gourd can also be trailed on the ground without erecting any pandal by spreading dried twigs on the ground.

Bottle gourd is a cross pollinated crop. Insects, especially bees, pollinate flowers. Intro­duction of bee-hives ensures good pollination.

To improve yield, remove lateral branches until the runner reaches the top of the trellis. Leave 4-6 laterals and cut the tip of the main runner to induce early cropping. Removal of lat­eral branches in the first 10 nodes has a positive effect on total yield.

Without pruning, most of the female flowers occur between the 10th and 40th nodes, or at a height of 0.5-2.0 m.

During the initial stages of growth, irrigate the crop at 3-4 days interval, and in alternate days during flowering/fruiting. During rainy season, drainage is essential for plant survival and growth.