lufa???

[Fowl97]

i am planting some lufa this spring and was wondering if it was poisionous

 

[Iheartchicks<3:)]

Like the thing you take a bath with

just kidding

 

[elizabethbinary]

^ Yes, that. It's a vegetable first that you can eat and it's not poisonous.

I was surprised to find out it was a vine that liked to choke everything around it, though.

 

[HHandbasket]

Yes, the thing you take a bath with. It comes from a squash. I am not sure if this is spelled correctly, but the Chinese call it "si gwa". When picked young, it is a squash that is popular in many parts of the world. Allowed to get overgrown on the vine and then dried, the network of inner fibers of the squash fruit becomes what we use as a loofah (lufa, loofa, many spellings for the same thing).

I am growing some this year, too. I am not sure whether the leaves are poisonous, but if the squash is used to make soup (and I have eaten said soup), I am sure it's pretty similar to other squashes. It kind of looks like a zucchini when it's growing, and make sure you have a STRONG ladder or trellis or "teepee" to hold it up.

 

[elizabethbinary]

Quote:
Yep! Mine took a liking to the nearest tree... and up she went!!! Grows like a weed.. or, well.. a squash. I think she grew a foot a day for a week before she stopped and died on me (summer heat).

 

[Fowl97]

yea i am planning on planting it around the yard and letting it go up th trees as it pleases. i just butter not be under it when one falls. they weigh near 5 pounds...

 

[Fowl97]

i went to flordia this week and bought like 20 pods. ( after he showed me how many seeds are inside

but more the merrier. i can see it now a big sign saying eggs forsale and then spraypainted under it (and loofa) haha