Growing Your Own Sponges

Garden Highlight-Luffa (Loofah)

I am sure y’all have bought the luffa (loofah) sponges at the store, but did you know that they actually can be grown?

 

No, you don’t get bright pink and blue puff balls on a vine in your garden–sorry to disappoint you there, but this could be a fun project for the kids.  My daughter was super excited to be growing something she could use in the shower.

 

Luffa is part of the gourd family and is pretty easy to grow.  The young fruit is edible (I have not tried it yet, supposedly it tastes like a cross between a cucumber and zucchini.  Maybe next year I will dish some up), but usually it is allowed to grow and mature on the vine so that it can be used as a natural sponge.  They like full sun (although ours did great in partial shade) and well-drained soil.  The vines are vigorous, reaching 30 feet or more.  Ours went crazy and I even looked up the other day to find the fruit hanging from a tree.  Not sure how I am going to get them down.

 

The bad part about this plant is that is needs a long season if you want to use the fruit for sponges.  It will take about 200 days and must be harvested before the first frost.  Ours are just now ripening and drying out (it is early late August/early September).

 

Luffa sponges are mature and ready to pick when the green skin has turned dark yellow or brown and starts to separate from the fiber inside, and the fruit feels lightweight. Leave fruit hanging on the vine as long as possible for maximum sponge fiber development, but be sure to pick and peel the fruit immediately if they get hit by frost. Fruit that aren’t fully mature don’t have enough tough fiber to make a good sponge and are best tossed in the compost.

 

Now, if this sounds like something you might like to do, you should know that this is a subtropical plant.  We live in zone 9 and may not have a frost until December, so those of you living in cooler zones where frosts occur as early as October or November, you are going to have to adjust your growing schedule accordingly.

 

The luffa isn’t just for bathing, 8 ways to use natural luffas

 

1. You can enjoy luffa sponges in place of a washcloth

2. scrub dishes

3. scour surfaces

4. clean your car

5. add an exfoliating layer to homemade soaps (I will be making some of these)

6. make a DIY back scratcher,

7.  apply textured patterns to a freshly painted wall,

8. Gardeners can also use luffa fibers in water to hold a rooting plant, or mix them into potting soil as a sustainable peat moss replacement.

Here are some things to know about using natural sponges:

1. Natural sponges don’t last forever, and should be replaced in three-four weeks. You can also soak it in diluted bleach once a week.  Allow sponges to dry out between uses.

2. A new, unused sponge can be stored for years if it is kept dry. It needs to be covered where dust won’t settle on the surface.

3. Do not use the same sponge for different purposes.  Other uses include washing dishes, painting, exfoliating…really the possibilities are endless.

I am pretty excited about this new plant we have growing.

 

You can even purchase them when you by soaps.

 

So tell me, have you ever used a natural luffa before? Reply below

 

What other uses can you think of for the luffa?