What can be made from bottle gourd lagenaria. Pumpkin crafts
Did you know that dishes made from pumpkin are much older than clay and wooden ones? I think they probably guessed it. After all, this is made by nature itself. Making dishes from pumpkin is a long, painstaking work and skill that requires perseverance. In ancient times, people noticed that food served in pumpkin dishes was much more flavorful, and also helped to cure certain diseases. That food and water in the pumpkin dishes were imbued with the life-giving power of the gourd, the strength and juices of nature.
There are several varieties of hard-bark pumpkins. When dried, eaglet or lagenaria pumpkins have a particularly strong rind and a beautiful brown color. Lagenaria is a climbing vine with a creeping stem up to 15 meters. In order for the pumpkin fruits to dry completely, they are left on the vines themselves until frost. Frost kills the leaves, but the fruits do not freeze. The largest pumpkins are dried indoors for a long time. When they dry completely, they become very light and rattle with dry seeds inside. Now is the time to start processing the pumpkin. Use a jigsaw to cut out the top and lid and shake out the seeds. The outside of the lid and pumpkin are coated with linseed oil. This pumpkin lends itself to various procedures, it becomes like a wooden one. It can be drilled with a drill, cut with a chisel, burned, fired, stained, covered with drying oil, varnished, etc. Pumpkin dishes made in this way are unusually light, strong and durable. Food is stored in it, wine and drinks are infused. These bowls, pots, dishes give their energy, are environmentally friendly and pleasant to the touch. Hot food in it does not burn your fingers. Instead of dishes, you can make musical instruments: calabash, or wind and strings.
There is another option for pumpkin dishes. After the first frost, ripe pumpkins are harvested. The peel is quite hard at this time. Cut out the lid and pour pebbles inside and shake them for a long time. After this, pour it out and fall asleep again, and shake it again. And so, several times in a row. Thus, using pebbles with sharp corners, the inner layer, film and walls of the pumpkin are cut and compacted. Until completely clean, pour hot ash inside the pumpkin and shake it several times. At the same time, the ash burns and polishes the walls of the future dishes from the inside. Then they are washed with juniper broth. And only after all the procedures, the pumpkin is dried well. Then they smoke with juniper smoke and pour in vegetable oil. The pumpkin absorbs the oil and turns a shiny red color. ready. This could be a bottle for kumys. It can absorb up to fifteen liters.
Lagenaria is a representative of decorative pumpkins, having the appearance of vines more than 10 meters long with amazing - long, pear-shaped, maracas or matryoshka-shaped fruits. In our area, this pumpkin is also known by the names gourd, calabash, “goose in apples,” bottle gourd, and snake pumpkin, depending on the variety and shape. Planting and caring for lagenaria are practically no different from ordinary pumpkins, so why not grow such an exotic plant in your garden?
Lagenaria: biological features
Lagenaria belongs to the pumpkin family, but is classified as a separate genus Lagenaria. That is, for (nutmeg, hard-barked, large-fruited), for cucumbers, melons and watermelons - this is a cousin. Its homeland is tropical regions. This is an annual plant with beautiful fluffy leaves and small white-yellow flowers (which, by the way, smell great). From one vine you can collect 10-15 pumpkins weighing on average 1-1.5 kg and about half a meter long. Although some varieties of lagenaria can grow up to two meters in length and weigh about 8 kg!
There are at least seven species of Lagenaria:
- Lagenaria siceraria - Lagenaria vulgaris. It is this type of Lagenaria pumpkin that is most widely represented in garden plots in our country. Lagenaria vulgaris includes snake-like forms, “goose in apples”, and nesting dolls, and maracas, and pears, and other intricate pumpkins.
- Lagenaria breviflora
- Lagenaria guineensis
Not all varieties of lagenaria are suitable for consumption even at a young age. The flesh of some is similar to pumpkin, with a slight spicy aftertaste; the flesh of others is more reminiscent of bitter cotton wool. Indeed, the decorative pumpkin lagenaria contains cucurbitacin - the same one that causes... But cucumbers contain relatively little of this toxin, but the juice of lagenaria, not intended for human consumption, can become real poison.
Therefore, pay attention to the information about the possibility of using a specific variety of Lagenaria pumpkin for food, which the breeder indicates on the packaging. Better yet, grow lagenaria for beauty, not for food))
Germinating lagenaria seeds
If you are using for growing lagenaria your own seeds, do not forget: pumpkin seeds should be sown 2-4 years after collection. If the seeds are too fresh, you won’t get any fruit.
Many amateur gardeners complain that a lagenaria seed stuck into dry soil does not germinate. To avoid such an unpleasant start to growing exotics, lagenaria seeds should be prepared for planting.
1) Place the seeds in a fabric envelope, place the envelope in a saucer and thoroughly moisten it with warm, preferably melted water, and place it in a warm place. If desired, you can add germination stimulants to the water.
2) After 3-4 days, remove the seeds with the swollen seed coat. Now you need to help the sprout get out of the relatively strong seed. To do this, the top of the seed should be cut off or sawed off, or even easier, bite it with your teeth, slightly cracking it, as if you were eating regular pumpkin seeds. The cracked lagenaria seeds are again placed in a damp cloth envelope and kept warm for several days until sprouts appear from the seed. After this, they are transplanted into cups with soil - one in each.
Growing Lagenaria seedlings
In the southern regions, lagenaria seeds can be planted directly into the ground, but in the middle zone this plant is best grown through seedlings. The fact is that lagenaria fruits reach maturity no earlier than three months after planting. But, since this fruit is grown mainly for decorative purposes, lagenaria must spend some time on the vine so that the pumpkin skin hardens well. If the pumpkin does not have time to harden before frost, it will either be damaged by frost, or it will begin to rot when stored at home, picked unripe.
Thus, at the end of April we begin germinating lagenaria seeds, at the beginning of May we plant sprouts in cups with soil, deepening them 1.5-2 cm into the ground. For lagenaria, the most common nutritious, loose one is suitable. Wet the soil thoroughly from time to time. After about a month, the lagenaria seedlings are transferred to open ground. The main thing is that at this time - the end of May, the beginning of June - there is no longer a threat of night frosts.
Caring for lagenaria
Planting and caring for lagenaria grown through seedlings is very simple. Seedlings or seeds are planted at least a meter apart. This is a heat-loving plant, so give preference to the south side. Lagenaria does not like acidic soils.
This pumpkin, like , is planted not in the middle of the garden, but near fences, gazebos, walls, otherwise the plant, as it grows, will deprive its neighbors in the garden of light (one plant can cover an area of 6 “squares”). In any case, decorative lagenaria needs strong support.
Feeding for lagenaria on good soil is not required, but with weak growth before flowering, you can feed it with organic matter - mullein, grass fertilizer, etc. Watering - as necessary, but only with warm water. This plant is relatively resistant to traditional and other pumpkin plants, but with a sharp change in temperature (including soil), rot, anthracnose or powdery mildew may appear on the lagenaria.
When the plant reaches two meters in length, the stem and side shoots are pinched. You can also remove some of the ovaries so that the remaining fruits are better formed. Lagenaria flowers bloom in the evening and close in the morning. Some gardeners recommend pollinating plants by picking the male flower and fanning the female flower with it.
Lagenaria fruits ripen in September-October. They can be removed from the vine as it ripens, always with the stalk attached. In the article we talked about the best drying for any decorative pumpkin - directly on the vine, or simply in the fresh air. For a well-ripened fruit with a hard shell, frost and rain do not pose any threat.
Vaccination of cucumbers, melons, watermelons against Lagenaria
Another feature of bottle gourd is its rapid growth and powerful root system. Using these, experimental gardeners graft its close relatives onto Lagenaria - cucumbers, melons, watermelons. Why is this being done? The scion develops more intensively, begins to bear fruit earlier and more abundantly, and lagenaria is less prone to diseases than other pumpkins.
As an example, we’ll tell you how to graft a cucumber onto lagenaria using the reed method:
1) We plant cucumber seeds in a separate cup, after three days we plant lagenaria seeds in another cup (lagenaria grows much faster). After another four days, when the plants are almost the same height (5-10 cm) and the stem thickness reaches approximately 0.5 cm, we begin grafting.
2) We pinch the growth point of lagenaria seedlings.
3) Prepare a container with soil. The size of the container should be such that it can easily accommodate lagenaria and cucumber seedlings with a lump of earth. We put some soil at the bottom of the container, carefully remove the seedlings of both plants from the glass and place them side by side in a new container. Try to bring the plants closer to each other and make sure they are at the same level.
4) Using a blade, cut the stem of the lagenaria from top to bottom. The length of the cut is up to 1 cm, the depth is half the stem. We cut the cucumber stem in the same way, but only from the bottom up. We insert the tongue of the cucumber to the tongue of the lagenaria and fix it using special mini-clips. If not available, the latter can be replaced with thin strips of adhesive tape or electrical tape. After this, the plants are watered, shaded for several hours, and then exposed to the sun.
5) After five days, we help the cucumber switch to nutrition from lagenaria. To do this, crush the cucumber stem a little below the grafting site, and after another five days, cut it off completely.
If the grafting is successful, the cucumber will begin to develop rapidly and you will get a bountiful, earlier harvest.
Application of lagenaria
As already mentioned, when young, some varieties of lagenaria are suitable for consumption. In addition, this type of pumpkin is used in folk medicine to combat diseases of the cardiovascular system, kidneys, liver, bladder, and stomach.
But the main use of lagenaria pumpkin is decorative. Dried lagenaria is used to make amazing dishes, musical instruments, toys, smoking pipes, candlesticks and everything your imagination allows.
It’s not for nothing that lagenaria is called “dish gourd” or “bottle gourd.” Tatyana Kuzmenko, member of the editorial board, correspondent of the online publication "AtmAgro. Agro-industrial Bulletin"
Chinese cucumber, Indian zucchini, Bottle gourd, Dish gourd, Dry gourd, Gourd - this is all of it, still little known, but already settled in our beds - lagenaria. Its fruits, of a bizarre exotic shape, have a very diverse use.
On my site I grow plants mainly for decorative purposes. But, you see, it’s great when you can combine business with pleasure. Representatives from the pumpkin family allow us to do this. For example, multi-colored zucchini, orange squash that looks like the sun, unusual pumpkins - they not only decorate the garden and vegetable garden, diversify our menu, but even in cold winter, reminding us of the warm summer, they save us gardeners from depression.
This spring I found Lagenaria (Bottle Gourd) seeds at the garden center. Since there was still a lot of time before planting, I began to study information about this exotic plant.
Every spring I look for seeds of new varieties in stores so that I can experiment and, if I’m lucky, get wonderful fruits. Last year I managed to grow several varieties of hard-barked decorative small pumpkins.
Lagenaria has been known since ancient times. This pumpkin was found during excavations of Egyptian tombs. In ancient Chinese manuscripts she was referred to as the “queen of vegetables.” In the imperial garden, lagenaria was grown as an ornamental plant, from the fruits of which craftsmen made vases and dishes of extraordinary beauty. Bottle gourd grows wild in India and Africa.
Depending on the variety, lagenaria has pear-shaped, round, club-shaped and fruits up to 2 m long. Moreover, they grow continuously, even if you cut off a large piece from an unusual zucchini, the cut site quickly tightens, and lagenaria continues to grow. Young, long-fruited bottle gourds are suitable for eating. They are used to make pancakes, salads, stuffed like regular zucchini, make caviar, pickle and salt. Nutritionists believe that eating lagenaria improves metabolism, strengthens immunity, removes salts and radionuclides, and lowers blood pressure.
Lagenaria flowers are amazingly beautiful: very large, glass-shaped, in the morning they are light cream in color, and in the evening they are pure white.
Growing lagenaria. Experts recommend growing lagenaria in seedlings, a month before planting in open ground. Lagenaria seeds have a hard shell, so some gardeners soak them in hot water (45 degrees) before sowing and leave them for 2 days. Then they are germinated in a damp dense tissue at room temperature. After the lagenaria seeds sprout, they are placed in a container with the sprout down. Planted in open ground when the threat of frost has passed. After all, lagenaria is a southern, heat-loving plant. But, despite this, it easily tolerates the autumn cold snap and bears fruit abundantly until frost.
Lagenaria is not picky about soil; any loose, fertile garden soil with the addition of humus is suitable for growing lagenaria.
When landing, I did everything strictly following the recommendations. Lagenaria seeds sprouted quite quickly and began to grow very actively. This is where the problems started. The lashes became longer and longer every day and began to cause me a lot of trouble, and there was less and less space left on the windowsill. After my husband transported the seedlings to the dacha, I completely despaired. The lashes broke, and the picture became completely depressing. I planted “my grief” on a compost heap near the fence. And just in case, I decided to play it safe - I sowed two more dry seeds in the damp soil and covered everything with covering material. After a couple of weeks, the seedlings completely withered, but to great joy, two sprouts appeared from the ground! The weather was warm and favorable, and my lagenaria was gaining strength every day. She moved from the compost heap to the fence. Its shoots are quite powerful and reach a length of 3 to 15 m.
The daily growth of leaves and shoots of lagenaria is up to 50 cm, it blooms continuously. One plant can have both flowers and fruits. Therefore, lagenaria has always looked decorative and attractive.
Some varieties (bottle form) have a bitter taste, so they are not used for food. All kinds of dishes and souvenirs are made from them. Fully ripened and dried lagenaria fruits can be processed like wood: sawed, sanded, drilled, burned, jigsawed, cut, and then primed, painted, varnished and done with everything that your rich imagination can tell you. This lagenaria craft was given to my neighbor.
Growing lagenaria is not difficult. Caring for it is similar to caring for a pumpkin. Throughout the summer, I regularly loosened the soil and watered it if necessary. It was very interesting to watch the growth of lagenaria fruits. They grew and gained strength, literally, “by leaps and bounds.” By the way, they can be given any shape by placing the ovaries in wooden forms, which will be filled with growing fruits.
In the fall, before frost, I cut off the fruits of lagenaria with the stalk and moved them into the house and then left them on a warm windowsill to reach condition. I dream of making some crafts out of them. But that's a completely different story...
Lyubov Smirnova, amateur gardener
“Garden Affairs” No. 3 (47), 2011
Pumpkin dishes
Cherie Long
Cultivation of gourds (pot or bottle gourd) has been practiced for a long time: young pumpkins are eaten, and mature ones are dried, processed and made into light and durable vessels for liquids, other kitchen utensils, bird houses and feeders, Christmas tree decorations - and this is far from a complete list of necessary and useful things that you can make with your own hands from pumpkins grown in your garden.
There are several varieties of hard-bark pumpkins, and many gardeners are probably familiar with the bright, small fruits of decorative pumpkins, but we want to introduce you to the gourd or lagenaria, the fruits of which, when dried, have an unusually durable brown rind.
How to grow gourd
The common gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) is a vigorous annual plant of the gourd family, a vine with a climbing or creeping stem up to 15 meters long, so if you have little space on your site, we advise you to direct the vines along the path or driveway, or even better, to let them fly on a fence, trellis or tree trunk. This is especially important for the correct formation of the fruits of the Dipper variety, which means “dipper”. In order for the “handle” to grow long and even, the fruits must hang freely. The fruits of the gourd ripen for quite a long time, so it is preferable to grow it in the southern regions, where the summers are long and hot. Simply plant the seeds 1 inch deep in the soil in the spring, just after the last frost. However, if certain rules are followed, gourd can be successfully grown in the north. So, we offer ten tips for growing gourds in northern latitudes:
1) Sprout seeds indoors a month to a month and a half before the end of frost, in 10-15 cm diameter pots. Kern Ackerman, an expert on hard-bark pumpkins from Ohio, recommends starting to germinate seeds even earlier, but keep in mind that plants grow quickly and their long whips can cause you a lot of trouble.
2) To start, choose a variety with small or medium fruits, such as Dipper or Martin House. Varieties with larger teapot-shaped fruits take a very long time to ripen, so growing them in northern climates is quite difficult, warns Kern, who nevertheless managed to grow a pumpkin measuring 50 cm in diameter.
3) Fertilize the soil with compost or complex fertilizer “Just don’t overdo it with nitrogen, otherwise everything will go to waste,” advises Kern.
4) Never overcool plants when planting in the ground! Wait until the frosts end and only then take the seedlings outside, but do not plant them right away, but gradually, over the course of a week, accustom the plants to new conditions: on the first day, leave them outside for fifteen minutes, on the second - for twenty minutes, and so on. Kern puts his seedlings in the back of his truck, walks them, and backs the truck into the garage at night.
5) Cover the seedlings with film or place them in a microgreenhouse. “The gourd does not like the cold spring wind, so cover the plants and they will quickly grow,” says Kern.
6) When the main lash reaches 3 m in length, it should be pinched. This will lead to the formation of side shoots with female flowers, from which fruits are set.
7) To get a good result, we recommend pollinating the flowers by hand. The flowers of hard-barked pumpkins open at night, so in the evening pick two or three male flowers (they stand above the leaves, they have a thin stalk and, unlike female ones, there is no ovary under the flower). Then apply pollen from the anther of the male flower to the stigma in the center of the female flower (generally, female flowers are located at the bottom of the plant, they have a short stalk, and under the flower there is a round seal - the ovary). Hand pollination will provide you with more large fruits, says Kern. The more pollen that gets into the female flower, the larger the fruit will be.
8) Water the plants thoroughly until the end of August, and then stop watering. Dry soil promotes fruit ripening, says Kern.
9) Leave the fruits on the vines until the lashes dry completely. To grow a large hard-bark pumpkin in the north, where there are hot days, you have to leave the fruits on the vines even after the first frost. Don't worry if the leaves are caught by frost - the vines will not be damaged, and fruit development will continue.
10) Dry the pumpkins properly in the fresh air on pallets or boards. Don't worry if you notice mold on the outside of the pumpkin's rind. This is completely natural, and the mold creates a peculiar spotted pattern on the crust. Be patient: large pumpkins take months to dry. Check the condition of the fruits during the drying process: wrinkled and soft ones are not suitable for work.
Attention! Frost will not damage the fruits themselves, but frost is destructive for the seeds. So if you want to save the seeds, dry your pumpkins indoors!
How to clean and process fruits
When the pumpkins are completely dry, they will become very light and, if you shake them, you can hear the seeds rattling inside. Now it's time to start cleaning. Let's start by removing the dried outer skin. Soak the fruits in water for an hour, advise the authors of the Encyclopedia of Pumpkin Crafts (Lark Books, 1996), and then put the pumpkins in a plastic bag or wrap them in an old damp towel and leave them in the sun for several hours. After this, remove the softened skin with a copper washcloth. You cannot use sandpaper - it will scratch the smooth surface of the peel. After removing the skin, rinse the pumpkin and let it dry.
Now you need to decide what exactly you will make from the pumpkin. I will share my experience. From a Bushel pumpkin, in just an hour I created a simple but rather elegant vase with a lid (a tureen, if you will). I cut out the top with a jigsaw - the lid is ready, coated the outside with linseed oil - that's all! Pumpkin can be processed like wood: sawed with a saw, cut with a chisel, drilled with a drill, processed with a file, burned, sawed out with a jigsaw, carved (both manually and with a power tool), and then stained, painted, covered with drying oil, varnish, and so on.
Attention! When you open the pumpkin (to remove the seeds and dried pulp), be sure to pour water into it and then pour it out - so that the caustic dust does not get into your nose!
Lagenaria is a well-known plant from the pumpkin family, which is cultivated in tropical and subtropical climates. India, Africa and Central Asia are considered the homeland of lagenaria. This pumpkin has been known to man since ancient times. Due to the fact that pumpkin was used to make dishes, it received its second name - dish pumpkin. It is also known as gourd, bottle gourd, Vietnamese squash, Indian cucumber and sauce squash.
However, lagenaria is not only suitable for making dishes; it is also a very tasty vegetable. Green pumpkin fruits, as well as apical shoots and young leaves are eaten. Lagenaria fruits contain large quantities of magnesium, iron, carbohydrates, calcium and vitamins of groups B, PP, A and C. In addition to everything else, the vegetable contains an impressive amount of pectin. It is recommended to eat it for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and cardiovascular system. In addition, the fruits contain substances that have a pronounced antitumor effect. 
Lagenaria is a hypoallergenic dietary product that is the basis of nutrition for children susceptible to allergic reactions. Also, its systematic use has a positive effect on the course of diseases of the cardiovascular system, liver, kidneys, and bladder. Pumpkin pulp helps normalize metabolism and helps cleanse the body of cholesterol.
Which pumpkin is suitable for making crafts?
Not all lagenaria fruits can be used for making crafts. The choice of vegetable should be approached responsibly. Before you start making your design dream come true, the pumpkin needs to be prepared in a special way. To make crafts, varieties are grown that have uniform color and expressive shapes.
For crafts, choose lagenaria without damage or signs of rot. Specimens that have even the slightest traces of mold or rot should not be used for drying. In addition, only vegetables that have a stalk should be used, since its absence will affect the quality of drying and will become the main reason for a violation of the technology, which will not allow obtaining the desired product.
When choosing a pumpkin, preference should be given to firm, not too large fruits. The thing is that no matter how hard you try, you cannot dry a giant-sized vegetable at home.
How to dry lagenaria
Those who are planning to start making pumpkin figures often ask the question: “How to quickly dry lagenaria for crafts?” The main difference between an ordinary pumpkin and lagenaria is the thickness of the rind, and therefore the speed of drying. Drying a regular pumpkin will take from several months to six months, while drying lagenaria will take you at least a year.
Did you know?The fact is that in nature there are processes that simply cannot be accelerated: drying of the pumpkin will continue until all the moisture comes out of it through the pores located on the stalk. This is the most effective way.
You can find many options for drying vegetables. Some people tell you how to dry pumpkin for crafts in the oven, air fryer or microwave. However, this will already be a baked vegetable, and it is much wiser to simply eat it, since it will not be stored for long. From all of the above, it is clear that the only possible option for drying lagenaria for making crafts is to leave the vegetable alone, but only in the right place.
How to dry pumpkin directly on the plant
Crafts are made only from well-dried lagenaria. To dry your pumpkin, simply leave it on the vine it grew on. Mature fruits can survive frost and even two or more cycles of thawing and freezing. When the vine turns brown and dies, the fruits growing on it will dry out and fall off.
If the pumpkin does not have time to dry before the end of the season, it can be left on the vine throughout the winter. And in the spring, after the snow has melted, the fruit drying process will continue. However, when drying lagenaria on the vine in winter, there is a high probability that the fruit will be affected by rot.
Important!If you decide not to leave the pumpkin outside, then under no circumstances tear it off the vine, but carefully cut it off: the secret is that moisture will evaporate much more slowly through the torn stalk.
Determining the degree of drying of a pumpkin is very simple: dry fruits are empty inside. Just shake the fruit and listen: if you hear the seed hitting the inside of the pumpkin, it means it is dry. Sometimes it is impossible to check the degree of drying of lagenaria in this way due to the fact that during drying the seeds stick to its walls. After the fruits are completely dry, carefully cut them and bring them indoors.
How to dry collected fruits
Bottle lagenaria can be used to make crafts only when it is completely dry. If the leaves and vine of the pumpkin turn brown, this is a sure signal to harvest the fruit. To cut a pumpkin, you must use a sharp pruning shears, which will allow you to form an even, neat cut. For each vegetable, leave a piece of stem at least 5 centimeters long. The pumpkin will need the stalk to drain moisture, since it has a dense and virtually poreless skin.
If there are unripe soft fruits on the vine, it is better to remove them immediately and use them as temporary decoration, since you will still not be able to dry them properly. Sometimes such specimens are left to overwinter on the vine. And if the master is lucky, freezing will do them good and help them dry completely.
After you bring the fruits into the house, wash them thoroughly with soap, this will kill bacteria and prevent rotting of the fruits.
Also, before drying, you can soak the pumpkin for 20 minutes in a solution of bleach and water in a ratio of 1 to 9. At the next stage, the fruits are placed for drying on a wooden platform so that they do not touch each other, which will help improve air circulation between them.
Did you know? If you choose an unheated room for drying, remember that repeated freezing and thawing can damage the seeds and make them unsuitable for planting.
Pumpkins can be dried in the garage, house or shed, but only an open space with good air circulation will provide optimal drying conditions. If drying pumpkins takes place in a residential building, this may create some discomfort for its inhabitants, since the drying fruits emit an unpleasant odor.During drying, you will have to systematically inspect the vegetables for the appearance of rot; all spoiled fruits must be mercilessly removed. On average, you will throw away about 5 or even 10% of your pumpkins.
Important!When drying pumpkins, it is necessary to distinguish mold from rot. In the first case, the fruits remain hard and are only covered with a gray-green coating, which can be removed by wiping them with a cloth or simply washing them with water. It is impossible to remove rot from a pumpkin, since its appearance is indicated by the formation of soft spots that are easily pressed through.
During drying, the fruits are turned over once every two weeks, which ensures they dry evenly.
How to dry lagenaria (decorative pumpkin) at home
If you only need to dry a few pumpkins, you can tie a rope around their stem and hang the fruit on a tree. You can also hang your pumpkin on your hedge to give your yard a unique look. Some craftsmen make holes at the end of the pumpkin and pass strings through them. However, injury to the skin of the fruit can lead to infection of the lagenaria pulp with mold or rot. If the integrity of the fruit is not important to you, then making holes in them will significantly speed up the drying process.
Slow way
You can make pumpkin crafts with your own hands only if you dry the fruit correctly. However, drying lagenaria is a very long process that will repeatedly test your nerves. There are many ways to dry pumpkin. However, the most effective is a natural method based on the gradual removal of moisture from the lagenaria through the pores of the stalk.
After harvesting, the fruits selected for drying must be thoroughly washed with laundry soap, then wiped dry and wait until the moisture from their surface has completely evaporated. Then we place the pumpkin in a bright, but inaccessible to direct sunlight and well-ventilated room, balcony or loggia. We leave the fruits to dry for one week, periodically checking them for rot. After the outer layer of the peel has dried well, remove the fruit to a dark place (at least under the bed). The drying process can be considered complete when the fruits become light and the sound of rolling seeds can be heard inside them.
Fast way
After removing the pumpkins from the garden, wash and dry it thoroughly. Then place it in a well-ventilated place for two, or better yet, three weeks. After the lagenaria peel has dried thoroughly, carefully scrape off the top layer with the blunt side of a knife. This procedure will help open the pores, which will help it dry as quickly as possible. After scraping, it is necessary to place the lagenaria in a warm (but not hot!), well-ventilated room. During drying, do not forget to turn the pumpkin over every 3 days, which will help it dry evenly and quickly.
What happens if you dry lagenaria incorrectly?
Failure to follow the basic rules for drying lagenaria will result in the fruits losing their decorative qualities. If the pumpkin is dried too quickly, this may cause it to shrink, and slowing down the process, on the contrary, will cause rot infection. Deformation of the fruit is also very often observed if the pumpkin is not systematically turned over. Damaged fruits are susceptible to infection with rot; in this case, they become soft and are simply thrown away.
How to decorate lagenaria, exploring options
The variety of shapes and wide range of colors allow pumpkins to be used for making a wide variety of crafts. There are a huge variety of options for how to make a craft from a pumpkin, ranging from the simplest, for example, painting a lagenaria with a marker, and ending with decorating a pumpkin with the most complex openwork carvings.
Let's start with the simplest. You can paint the even and smooth surface of the pumpkin with markers without much effort, turning it into an owl, bun, or even an alien. As a more complex option, you can paint the surface of the pumpkin with auto paint from a can, and then simply transfer the design from a napkin onto it using the decoupage technique.
In addition, you can make any animal from lagenaria and other natural materials by cutting out the missing elements on the body of the pumpkin with a sharp and thin knife.
Mastering the carving technique will help you turn lagenaria into a real work of art, thanks to which the fruits can become original decorative items, for example, carved garden lanterns.
An interesting option is to make a goose in apples from lagenaria: the craft will not take much time, since the shape of the fruit is very similar to this bird.
Use of paints or varnishes
If you look carefully at the fruit, then even its very shape and color can tell you what kind of craft to make from a pumpkin. Processing dried lagenaria is no different from processing wood. The fruit can be planed, sawed, cut patterns on it with a chisel, processed with a file, drilled with a drill, and then stained, painted or varnished. However, there is no consensus among craftsmen regarding the application of paint and varnish coatings to the surface of the pumpkin. Many are categorically against covering lagenaria with paint or varnish. And there are those who believe that this is a mandatory operation, since it prolongs the life of the product and increases its aesthetic appeal. Whether or not to coat a pumpkin with varnish is a personal matter for each master, since there is no prohibition on carrying out this manipulation.