How To Grow Tinda At Home in Container [Step By Step]

Tinda plant also known as apple gourd, round gourd, tindora, or Indian squash is considered to be one of the healthiest vegetables because of its basic nature.

Its curry is savored all over India.

How to grow Tinda at Home In Pots?

To grow Tinda at home, you need to get quality seeds, prepare soil that is rich in nutrition as well as fast draining and fill it in a flat tray & sow the seeds, and water them gently to make the soil moist, within 2 weeks the seeds sprout and can be transplanted into their final container.

In this article, I will show you step by step, how you can grow Tinda in pots or grow bags at home easily.

How To Grow Tinda At Home – Step By Step

Growing Tinda Plant in Pot – (Quick Overview)

Things You Will Need to Grow Tinda Plant in Pots

Seeds & Seedling Tray

Good quality seeds are the first requirement for growing Tinda at home, if you already have Tinda at home you can simply slit it open and get seeds from it.

Make sure the Tinda vegetables have not matured too much otherwise the seeds will not germinate.

A seedling tray for the germination process.

Container

For containers, you can use pots, grow bags, or recycled buckets. 14-inch containers are good for growing Tinda.

Make 4-5 drainage holes at the bottom of the container.

As the Tinda plant is a creeper, so it requires big space to grow.

I will suggest you check this grow bag size chart for vegetables.

Potting Soil

For growing Tinda in pots, you need to prepare potting soil which is high in nutrition and also fast draining. Which it should be able to remove excess water from the pot easily.

Because tinda plant cannot tolerate standing water.

The best potting soil for Tinda consists of:

• Garden Soil – 20%
• Sand – 20%
• Coco peat – 30% (I recommend a good like this)
• Cow Dung or Vermicompost – 30%  (I recommend this one)

Mix them together and leave them under the sun for sterilization.

Or if you want to ditch the process of making potting soil at home by yourself, you can get this pre-made nutrition-rich soil.

Watering Can

Never use a normal water pipe for watering plants as its flow will disrupt the roots and your plant will ultimately die.

Invest in a good watering can (like this one).

Growing Tinda Plant in Pots – Step Involved

Sowing of Seeds

The first step is to sow the seeds of Tinda.

For this, you need to get either a seedling tray or flat tray and fill it with a mixture of coco peat & vermicompost.

Then, with the help of a watering can make the soil evenly moist.

Now, make small holes 1 inch deep & 3 cm apart and bury the seeds in these holes & then cover it lightly with the same mixture.

Keep this seedling tray in a warm location where it can receive indirect sunlight but make sure to protect it from direct sunlight.

Germination Time of Tinda

Tinda seeds take around 1-2 weeks for germination. And within this period, it will grow its first two leaves called cotyledons.

Once you see that the seeds have started to sprout, after a few days they will be big enough to be transplanted into their final container (pot or grow bag).

Transplantation of Saplings

Take a 14-inch (35 cm in depth) pot or grow bag, and fill it with potting soil mixture that I told you above & not the one used for germination.

Now, carefully take the saplings out of the seedling tray without hurting the root system.

And plant these saplings in their final container, only plant 2 saplings per container.

Once they have been transferred into their final container, you can now place them in full sun.

Fertilizing

Once the plant starts to grow big, provide it with vermicompost or cow dung every 25-30 days for a good yield.

As this plant has to bear fruit, it needs a good amount of nutrition and if kept deprived, it will not grow healthy and produce Tinda.

Harvesting of Tinda

How long does Tinda take to grow?

Tinda takes around 80-90 days to grow from seeds to harvesting.

After sowing of the seeds, it takes around 30-40 days for the flowers to appear.

Once tinda starts to grow you can harvest it within two weeks, make sure to not let it mature.

You should only harvest that tinda, which are smooth and tender and if you press your nails, it should penetrate.

If it’s not smooth and its shell has got harder, avoid using it for eating.

Tinda Plant Care

Sunlight

Tinda plant loves sunlight and requires at least 6 hours of sunlight every day, if the temperature goes beyond 35 degrees Celsius then you can consider keeping them under shade or if the leaves start to burn.

Otherwise, it will mostly do fine without shade.

Watering

Water directly over the soil and not on the plant, this is one mistake new gardeners tend to make.

Plants take their water from the roots and not from the leaves so avoid watering the plant as it will evaporate and your plant will remain thirsty and seize to grow. (that is why I always recommend a watering can like this one to water your plants)

During summers you will need to water it every day because obviously, the water will dry out quickly.

Before watering it make sure to insert your finger inside the soil if it’s dry or not.

If it feels dry and easily breaks then water it thoroughly.

If it feels moist you can avoid watering it.

Remember, overwatering and underwatering both can have an adverse effect on your plant.

Provide Support

Tinda is a creeper plant & requires some sort of support to grow.

For this, you should always provide it with trellis for its trail to grow over it.

Carefully insert it inside the soil and guide the plant along it.

How to Grow Tinda Faster

To grow Tinda faster you can speed up the germination process. For this, all you need is a paper towel and the seeds. Sprinkle the seeds in a plastic box. Make your paper towel wet. Place it over the seeds and keep it in indirect bright sunlight.

Within a few days earlier than its usual time, you will get your small saplings now you can grow and transplant them into the container.

The rest of the process will be the same.

Wrapping Up

This was the step-by-step guide for growing tinda at home.

I hope, you have now understood the whole process and will be able to grow it smoothly.

If you still have any doubts, make sure to comment down below.