A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 What is it {a gord plant, no pic}

My mystery plant continues to grow. It is now a 14 foot long vine, with giant green leaves and big orange flowers. It hasn't gone to fruit yet but one looks like it is just starting. Does anyone have a link to pictures of various melons actually growing on the vine? I need to see the leaves. I don't have any idea what it is. A search on this sight and on the web keeps showing me the actual melons, which don't do me any good since I already know what melons look like! I need to see the leaves. Any ideas anyone? I don't have the heart to cut the thing, it's been growing for 6 weeks. If it doesn't produce fruit soon, it'll take over my yard!

--Bunny T.

Bunny,
Does it have some things at the end of the flowers looking like they are swelling up???
If you have a number of them in the process of begining fruit, some times, especially in the SHORT growing season, if you pinch the "growing end" off the very end of the vining vine, that will trigger something to the vine saying to it's self, "I've been pinched and I need to start setting fruit", and produce what's starting to swell under or beneath those flowers.
Because, if it continues to put it's energy into growing the vine, it'll be slow to produce.
I pinch my tomatoes tops right about now too, to say "Hey, get your butt in gear and ripen fruit cause you got nothing else to do now."
I'll look tonight on the internet for some pictures.
Weezie

sounds like it might be acorn squash i planted some of that this year and it is taking over my garden. it is just now starting to grow fruit.

Hi Weezie and Iowa Dahlia,

I have one thing swelling up under one flower. It is about size of a golf ball and light green. Weezie are you saying I should pinch the end of the vine to stop the vine from growing any longer? I'll gladly do that! Especially if it would help it produce fruit. The problem is that it has shoots growing out all along the 14 foot main vine. Should I also pinch the ends of those vines? Ugh!

Iowa Dahlia, what does your acorn squash plant look like? Can you describe the lenght, size of leaves and color of flowers?
All of my friends and family think this is very funny. I do too, kind of, but just want to identify this crook that has broken into my yard and taken over my day lillies! If it can do some good (fruit) then great, if not....Whack! I don't want to whack it though quit laughing everybody and get your minds out of the gutter!

Thanks everyone, I'll keep you up to date on it's progress or lack of progress.

--Bunny T.

Yes, pinch the top end of the long running vine.
I'm not sure about the other that you speak of... Does it have tendrils that are curling around to keep hold of the ground??
Or actually other growing branches off the main branch...??

Got a picture you can send Bill?!?!!?

Weezie

By pinching the tip, you stop the vine putting it's energy into growing longer to produce more flowers and never finishing the product.
If you think about it, there's how many *weeks* left in the growing season???
7 or 8 (ish).

Your quick Weezie!

The side shoots are growing off the main vine and have long, very thin curly things that curl about 4-5 times around the day lillies. They are also producing flowers. When I go home from work (yeah right, like I'm working!) I'll pinch the main vine and see how that works. I still don't have battery's for my digital camera, so I can't take a picture. Battery's just aren't high on my priority list, maybe they should go higher! Anyway, growing season around here has about 8 weeks, maybe 9 if we're lucky. I'll try to speed it up and see what we get!

Thanks Weezie!
-Bunny T.

O.K. everyone, I found out what my mystery plant is....it is a gord. That's right a gord plant. I visited a woman's garden next to a friends house and they had some growing in the garden. So, the mystery has been solved...case closed.

--Bunny T.

You think some little birdie flew over and planted a couple seeds????? or maybe a bunny deposited some gourd seed with fertilizer????????
Catlover :p

Okay Bunny,
What kind of gourd, did they say??
Don't split a gut if they didn't say??
My mom use to grow luffa gourd's.
(the sponges) It was so cool, pick it, let it dry and then peel the hard skin off and
inside was a luffa sponge.
But there is the one's that you can make birdhouses out of/ That's a fun project. That like boyscouts do, grow them, harvest them and make the houses out of them.
And then there is the ornamental ones, like you'd see at halloween time with the orange, green colors, striped and half colored. Tiny things, the size of baseballs like.
A few others I can't think of right now.

Thanks for the update!!!
How long is it now???
And how many fruits have started???

Weezie

Oh, dipper gourds, that's another one, they make laddles like out of them.

do you suppose bird did drop it? i have plants growing in weird places too. or i guess it could have hitched a ride in a seed packet. gourds are kind of fun i would like to know what kind too, there are lots of different kinds. if you are crafty at all you should have fun with them, heck its been fun already just trying to figure out what it is and how it got there.