You might be wondering why you’re bitter gourd doesn’t give any fruit or you had some fruits but they don’t grow and just died out. Well I myself experience that a couple of times, until recently I found out that the reason is that there are not enough bees to pollinate my ampalaya especially when i’m growing it inside the house. Since I learned how to hand pollinate, my plant just gives so much fruits that I couldn’t even consume everything cuz I’m the only one who it it at home:) But luckily I have some collegues who I shared them with so they don’t go to waste. But yes you can also freeze them of course.
Here in Denmark, I normally sow the seeds around the month of march and replant them at the beginning of May. The seeds come from my previous plant I save from last year. They were then place at the conservatory where it gets enough sunlight during the summer. And take note that they need a lot of water.
So here’s what to do to hand pollinate your ampalaya. When your plant started giving flowers, you will notice that you get two different types. One is male flower and the other is female. Normally the male flowers come first. Below you can see the difference between male and female flowers:
Video below shows how you can hand pollinate your bitter gourd (bitter agurk på dansk) or amplaya.
