It looks great! How long do the vines get? Do you trim them to control the size? I grow them in the ground and train them up the trees. Mine go up 25' and spread through the trees.
Thanks for sharing.
Happy gardening.

dirt_dew,

It's better to prune the vines so that more energy goes into fruit production than it does vine production unless you grow to eat the vines which some do.

Wow, you have some monster plants, dirt_dew!!! Last year, I let them grow across the two fence panels before I trained the vines to grow back the other way...

Thanks for that tip, Violet. I didn't know that you could prune the vines like that to get more fruit. I will definitely try it this year if they grow out of control!

Barb

I am brand new to this site, just registered a few minutes ago. I planted over 100 seeds of bitter melon around early June, none grew until 2 weeks ago. There are approximately 15 plants about 15inches tall. I am considering potting and placing in my living room. Any ideas or suggestions highly welcome. Bye the way I live in North Carolina.

Bitter melon requires a long, moderately warm growing season with consistent watering. I doubt that bringing them in will produce a high yield of large or even medium fruit without the investment in proper grow lights. You need to start your seeds in April or the first week in May so that the fruit gets a chance to start producing on the vine while the weather is still warm.

Drram... 100 seeds??? Wow, you must want a lot of bitter melon! The vines grow quite large; I plant mine 2-3 feet apart along a trellis, and they cover it densely.

Bitter melon seeds have a very tough seed coat, and germinate much better if you nick the seed before planting. Using the corner of a file, a jeweler's saw blade, or a sharp knife (carefully!) gently nick the _side edge_ of the seed; you want to just barely break through the seed coat.

Germination is erratic (as with many gourds) even with the broken seed coat; so plant 2-3 seeds where you want a plant & thin to the strongest one. Since higher temps promote better germination, starting seeds in pots (at around 80 degrees F.) is helpful.

Wish I had an idea to help you this year, but I agree with Violet; the vines will not have time to mature fruit, and cucurbits require an intense light source - normal flourescents or grow lights would be inadequate for the task. Plus, if the plants are not already in pots, they would suffer severe (probably fatal) root damage during transplanting.