Last edited on November 02, 2026. View history
Koauau Gourd
Koauau Gourd
A variety of gourd
A small New Zealand gourd with many fruit on cucumber-like vines. The dried fruit were traditionally carved into a koauau, a Māori nose flute. Sow in trays after frost danger, prick out at 6 cm and transplant at 1 m spacing once the soil reaches 15 to 16 °C.
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Koauau gourd facts
Lifespan
Crop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For koauau gourd, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 12°C and a shortest growing cycle of 60 days at its best temperature, about 660 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your koauau gourd will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
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Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Lagenaria siceraria (Molina)Standley
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Dilleniidae Violales Cucurbitaceae |
|---|---|
| Life form | herb, vine |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | climber/scrambler/scadent |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours) |
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