Symbiosis of Ridge Gourd and Plantain!

Symbiosis of Ridge Gourd and Plantain!

You may wonder why I called it symbiosis rather than commensalism. Of course it is a commensalism and neither parasitism or symbiosis as far as I know. But the word symbiosis is better known for the general public, or that is what I think. Secondly, I will be caring the plantain a little more when I have the ridge gourd also planted at its root. In fact I used to water this plantain more than the others with the limited quota of water brought from home in containers, during the last summer. So the plantain is benefited in a different way and may be you can call it a symbiosis!

For the ridge gourd it is quite useful as there is no other place where it can climb in this compound and I do not have access to material which can be used as supports for it in this location, which would be cost effective. The ridge gourd has already started having flower buds, though at present they are not fruit bearing buds. I have noted that when ridge gourd and many other similar plants like bitter gourd and pumpkin starts flowering, initially they have non-fruit bearing flowers. Later fruit bearing flowers or female flowers come up. I have noted a similar phenomenon in papaya plants as well, with only male flowers coming up initially and female flowers appearing later. Sometimes in both cases I have also seen that only male flowers come up, without any female flowers and then there is no other option but to wait and see. If there is no improvement we remove those plants!