Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
← Explore Plants
Plant · P-212
Winter Melon
Benincasa hispida
Winter melon's most useful trait isn't its own fruit but its roots: grafted onto its rootstock, more disease-prone melons and squash gain real resistance to the soilborne wilts that threaten most of this group, a technique used commercially across Asia. Its own fruit is also the best keeper of any vegetable in this collection - a waxy coating lets it store for months, up to a year, with no refrigeration, and a single fruit can run anywhere from 2 to 50 kilograms. The scraped-off wax from the rind is traditionally made into candles, a genuine household product grown rather than bought. Left to sprawl rather than trellised, the plant also spreads low and wide across the ground, shading soil the way squash does, though trellising for cleaner fruit gives that up.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 9–11
- Soil
- Loam
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Vine- Soil pH
- 5.8–6.8
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 9–18 in
- Mature spread
- 10–15 ft
- Plant spacing
- 5–6 ft
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Achocha
Cyclanthera pedata
Achocha is a fast climbing vine that gives three edible parts off one plant - young fruit eaten raw or cooked with a cucumber flavor, mature…
Vine · USDA 9–11
African Walnut
Plukenetia conophora
African Walnut is a fast-growing evergreen vine of humid tropical rainforest, grown for an oil-rich seed usually boiled or roasted and served…
Vine · USDA 10–12
Air Potato
Dioscorea bulbifera
Air Potato is a true perennial vine that produces edible bulbils in its leaf axils along with an underground tuber - unlike frost-killed…
Vine · USDA 7–11
Banana Passionfruit
Passiflora tarminiana
Banana Passionfruit is a fast-climbing vine that produces a deep yellow to orange fruit with sweet aromatic pulp, eaten raw or turned into…
Vine · USDA 10–12
Bitter Melon
Momordica charantia
Bitter melon is a fast-growing tropical vine grown for its young green fruit, cooked the way cucumber is used across the tropics. Left to…
Vine · USDA 9–11
Bottle Gourd
Lagenaria siceraria
Bottle gourd's real value here is not food but craft: the mature shell dries hard enough to become a bottle, bowl, dipper or birdhouse…
Vine · USDA 2–11
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference