Last edited on November 02, 2026. View history
Smooth Skinned Luffa
Smooth Skinned Luffa
A variety of luffa
How to sow smooth skinned luffa: Direct seed. If planting indoors, harden off before transplanting seedlings outside.
Sun requirement for smooth skinned luffa: Plant in Full Sun
A smooth-skinned luffa (loofah) that grows like a cucumber with upright flowers. It is frost tender but grows across a wide climate range, at least down to Hamilton. Picked in autumn and dried, then peeled and shaken to release the seeds, the fibre is used as a scrubber. Stains can be soaked out in hydrogen peroxide.
- 0
- plantings
- 0
- harvests
- 0
- seed packets
Smooth skinned luffa 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 smooth skinned luffa, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 10°C and a shortest growing cycle of 70 days at its best temperature, about 1050 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 smooth skinned luffa 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.
Video
What people are saying about smooth skinned luffa
Nobody has posted about smooth skinned luffa yet.
Sign in or sign up to post your tips and experiences growing smooth skinned luffa.
Who's planted smooth skinned luffa
Nobody has planted this crop yet.
Sign in or sign up to track your smooth skinned luffa plantings.Smooth skinned luffa harvests
Nobody has harvested this crop yet.
Sign in or sign up to track your smooth skinned luffa harvests.Find smooth skinned luffa seeds
There are no seeds available to trade on Growstuff right now.
- Purchase seeds via Ebay
- Sign in or sign up to list your seeds to trade.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Luffa cylindrica (L)M.Roemd.
| 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, organic |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours) |
Learn more about smooth skinned luffa
Resources outside Growstuff.
