Gadenin日本語Get the app
Momordica charantia
Growing calendar
Typical timing for central Japan (Kanto region). Shift it for your own climate, and record your actual dates.
Guides
- Growing Bitter Melon as a Living Shade Screen on a Sunny Wall
- How to Sow Bitter Melon Seed: Nicking the Hard Coat and Getting It Up
- Pruning Bitter Melon: Pinch the Main Shoot to Bring the Fruiting Laterals
- Bitter Melon Problems: Pests, Mildew and Flowers That Set No Fruit
- When to Pick Bitter Melon Before It Splits Open and Turns Orange
- Bitter Melon Growing Calendar: The Season From Sowing to Clearing
Common problems
Start from what you can see on the plant.
Pests and diseases (21)
Problems recorded for this plant, most serious first.
Bacterial Wilt
Disease
Leaves wilt while still green during the day and recover in the morning and evening; after a few days of this the plant dies. Cut the stem and stand it in water and a milky white bacterial ooze streams out in threads.
Fusarium Yellows
Disease
Yellowing starts on the lower leaves, the petioles twist and the plant leans to one side. Vascular tissue browns, growth stops, and heading vegetables may die without ever forming a head.
Powdery Mildew
Disease
White patches appear scattered on the upper leaf surface at first, then the whole leaf is coated in a white powder. Leaves later yellow, brown and die back, and reduced photosynthesis cuts growth and yield.
Late Blight
Disease
Dark green water-soaked lesions appear on the leaves and expand quickly into brown dead tissue. White mold forms on the underside and at the lesion edge, and dark brown lesions spread to stems and fruit.
Tomato Spotted Wilt
Disease
Brown necrotic spots and ring patterns appear on the leaves and the growing tips shrivel and darken. Fruit develops concentric yellow rings that make it unmarketable.
Brown Leaf Spot
Disease
Small light brown to gray-brown spots form on the leaves and enlarge into irregular lesions. When they merge the whole leaf dies and plant vigor drops sharply.
Cucumber Mosaic Virus
Disease
New leaves show a yellow-green mosaic, crinkle, and the whole plant becomes stunted. Fruit colors unevenly and grows misshapen.
Southern Blight
Disease
The stem rots at soil level and white silky mycelium spreads over the crown and the surrounding soil surface. Brown sclerotia the size of rapeseed then form and the plant wilts and dies rapidly.
Zucchini Yellow Mosaic
Disease
Strong yellow mottled mosaic appears on the leaves, which become narrow and shredded in shape. Fruit is knobbly and lumpy, twisted and bent.
Anthracnose
Disease
Light brown to dark brown round lesions with sharp margins form on leaves and fruit, slightly sunken in the center. In wet weather salmon-pink slimy spore masses ooze out on the lesions.
Gummy Stem Blight
Disease
Gray-brown lesions form at stem nodes and the crown, exuding brown gum and splitting lengthwise. Round to V-shaped brown lesions form on leaves, dotted with small black fruiting bodies.
Fusarium Wilt of Cucurbits
Disease
Part of the vine wilts during the day and eventually the whole plant dies. The stem splits lengthwise near the soil and exudes gum, and the vascular tissue is browned when cut.
Bacterial Soft Rot
Disease
The crown or the head becomes water-soaked and soft, then collapses into a slimy mush. The rotting tissue gives off a distinctive foul odor.
Root-knot Nematode
Pest
The plant wilts in the daytime and does not recover with feeding or watering. Pull it up and the roots carry beaded chains of galls of varying size with few fine roots.
Bacterial Spot
Disease
Small water-soaked spots appear on the leaves, later turning brown with yellowing around them. Fruit develops water-soaked or scabby spots from which rot spreads.
Leaf Spot
Disease
Small round brown to gray-white lesions appear on the lower leaves, the centers turning gray with tiny black specks. As they multiply the leaf yellows and drops early.
Downy Mildew
Disease
Pale yellow to yellow-brown angular lesions form on the upper leaf surface with a gray-purple mold in the matching spot underneath. Lesions merge, the leaves die back and the plant declines early.
