Last edited on November 29, 2025. View history
Winter Melon
Winter Melon
How to sow winter melon: Direct seed outside once soil is 19° C or seed in peat pots (and transplant pots directly into soil after hardening off), 30 cm apart
Sun requirement for winter melon: Plant in Full Sun
Winter Melon, or Wax Gourd, is a species of melon in the Cucurbit family that produces a very large, oblong or spherical fruit that can be stored for up to 12 months. Melons can be up to 80cm in length. Like other cucurbits, the fruit grow on vines that can be allowed to sprawl on the ground or trained to a very strong trellis. Winter Melon is native to South Asia and Southeast Asia and needs a warm, mild climate. It is not frost-tolerant. Fruit are fuzzy when young, but trade their hair for a waxy coating as they mature. Melons have thick, white, mildly sweet flesh and are used in a variety of dishes, to make tea, and Ayurvedic medicine. Germination is improved by pre-soaking seeds for 24 hours before planting.
- 0
- plantings
- 0
- harvests
- 0
- seed packets
Winter melon facts
Lifespan
Height × spread
45cm × 450cmRow Spacing
120cmCrop 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 winter melon, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 12°C and a shortest growing cycle of 80 days at its best temperature, about 1200 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 winter melon 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.
Photos
Photos
Winter melon crops
What people are saying about winter melons
Nobody has posted about winter melons yet.
Sign in or sign up to post your tips and experiences growing winter melons.
Who's planted winter melons
Nobody has planted this crop yet.
Sign in or sign up to track your winter melon plantings.Winter melon harvests
Nobody has harvested this crop yet.
Sign in or sign up to track your winter melon harvests.Find winter melon 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 Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Dilleniidae Violales Cucurbitaceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: 2 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual |
| Habit | climber/scrambler/scadent |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | light, organic |
| 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), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about winter melons
Resources outside Growstuff.
