Growing Luffa's

Good morning:)  I've been outside taking pictures of my Luffa plants.  I decided this year I was going to try my hand at it.  Luffa's are the rough sponges we shower with?  I always thought they came from the sea so imagine my surprise to find out they came from a plant.  They grown much like a cucumber does, on a long plant that gets about ten feet tall or so.  They bloom like a cucumber and then the luffas starts from there.  I had one blossom and was really excited until yesterday when I checked on it I saw i'd gotten ants and they pretty well demolished that poor flower.  There are several more getting ready to bloom though so maybe, just maybe I'll get at least a few luffa's. 

This is what the Luffa plant looks like, I have them in containers with large tomato tenders.  They've gotten quite large in the last couple of weeks, even with our cool summer.  Which I'm afraid is going to be a problem for the lufffa's growth.

That little pointy thing (a little on the blury side is going to be a blossom if all goes well.  The luffa's look like a cucumber when they first start growing but get quite thick and resemble a zucchini more as they get larger.  You don't pick them from the plant until fall when the plant begins to wilt with the fall weather.  So since i have them in containers i'm hoping if they need more time to grow I'll be able to move them into the garage and give the plant a little extra growing time.    I HOPE! lol  I had these high hopes of having luffa sponges for everyone at Christmas time.  Putting together baskets with Gails soaps and lotions, all handmade items. Or homegrown.   It can still happen, so time will tell.

Later with any luck I'll be able to show how you clean them and have sponges:)  Have a great day!