STEP 5: Prep seedbed and plant seedlings

Luffas require full sunlight and lots of water. We used 6 t-posts and 3 cattle panels from Tractor Supply (around $85) to make the growing trellis for our luffa vines. I also ran a soaker hose through the top row of the cattle panel so that we could water the loofa vines when there wasn't rain.

To prepare the soil we put down a layer of alpaca manure and covered with fertilized garden soil before tilling the combination into the seedbed. We cut the bottom off the fiber grow pots and planted the pots, every few feet, directly into the seedbed so that the top of the pot was level with the ground. We then filled in the pot with surrounding soil so that the seedlings were sticking up from the ground and the pots were buried.

Be careful not to plant the luffa seedlings until ANY threat of frost has passed. After the seedlings grew for a week, we kept the strongest of the seedlings from each pot and snipped off the others at the ground.

