GardenAnnual Vegetable · 8 varieties
Wax gourd
Benincasa hispida
Cucurbitaceae — the same plant family as winter squash, cucumber, summer squash, melon and 7 more here. Relatives share pests and diseases, which is why rotation plans group by family.
Wax gourd (Benincasa hispida) is an annual vegetable. It wants full sun and pH 6–6.8 soil, with about 1–2 in of water weekly. It matures in about 90–150 days from sowing, or 75–130 days from setting out a transplant. Watch for spider mites and fusarium wilt. Below: its full sourced profile from 5 extension sources, plus a planting calendar timed to your frost dates.
Typical dates for zone 6b — set your zone or ZIP for yours. This calendar assumes the crop is started indoors. Timing is a guide from the crop's sourced growth stages; confirm with your local frost dates and extension before you sow.
What we will not put a number on
We do not give a feeding rate for this crop, and that is deliberate rather than a gap. The figures published by extension services are pounds of nitrogen per acre for a production field — they do not convert safely to a raised bed or a pot without knowing your soil test and your fertilizer's analysis, and guessing errs toward burning roots. It is also why every chart you find online disagrees with the next one.
We give watering as a depth per week rather than gallons per plant, because that is how it is actually measured and how the published figures are written. A gallons-per-plant number depends on your spacing, your soil and whether the plant is in a pot — so it would look more precise than it is.
Site & soil
- Sun
- Full sun
- Soil pH
- 6–6.8est
- Soil texture
- Loam, Well drained
- Frost tolerance
- Tender
No published figure for the temperature frost starts to hurt it, the temperature that would kill it and a heat limit. We looked — where a number is missing here it is missing from the research, not skipped. The crop’s frost and heat tolerance above still applies.
The plant
- Mature height
- 9–18 in
- Mature spread
- 10–15 ft
- Growth rate
- Fastest
- Spacing in row
- 36–72 in
- Between rows
- 72–108 in
- Planting depth
- 1.5–2 in
- Container size
- 10–15 gal — low end is the minimum, high end is betterest
- Support
- Self-supporting
- Grown from
- Direct sow, Transplant
Water & feeding
- Water needs
- Moderate
- Water per week
- 1–2 in/wkest
- Critical water
- Flowering, Fruit setest
- Feeding
- Moderate
Timing & fruiting
- Days to maturity
- 90–150 days from seed · 75–130 days from transplantest
- Harvest cues
- Skin set, Fruit sizing
Planted again for autumn
- Set plants out by
- early Aug typical · zone 6b
75 days to maturity from setting a plant out — that is what our sources measure for this crop, so this is a date for planting out and not a sowing date, counted back from the first frost above. Not published for anywhere in particular: it is your own frost date and this crop's own figure, which is why it works wherever you are. A days-to-maturity figure is a catalog number for a good season rather than a promise, and a cold month moves it.
Edible parts per source: fruit.
Compiled from the extensions cited below. Which ones actually show up depends on your region — your extension's local list is the last word.
| Variety | Type | Habit | Days | Color | Size | What it is known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese Fuzzy Melon | Fuzzy Melon | 55–60 | White | Medium | ||
| Chinese Preserving Melon Heirloom | Winter Melon | 75–130 | White | Large | ||
| Giant Bullet Head Heirloom | Winter Melon | 75–130 | White | Very Large | Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds describes this askeeps a long time after picking | |
| Giant Round Winter Melon | Winter Melon | 90 | White | Very Large | ||
| Lai Jud Hybrid F1 | Winter Melon | Vining | 60–65 | White | Small | True Leaf Market (Kitazawa brand) describes this askeeps a long time after picking |
| Oblong | Winter Melon | 75–130 | White | Large | ||
| Small Round Heirloom | Winter Melon | Vining | 75–80 | White | Small | The Amazing Seeds describes this askeeps a long time after picking · gives a heavy crop |
| Tong Qwa | Winter Melon | 75–130 | White | Large | NC State University Cucurbit Breeding Program records this asgives a heavy crop |
- Michigan State University Extension
- Missouri Botanical Garden
- University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC Small Farms)
- University of Florida IFAS Extension
We compile bare facts from these university-extension and horticultural sources, never copied prose. 13 of the 19 values on this page carry a citation. The rest are marked est; hover one and it says why — either nobody publishes a figure we could point at, or a person set it and attached no source. Figures vary with climate and seed source; confirm with your local extension before you buy.
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