Hi Sheila,
I am less experienced with luffa gourds, but would recommend you leave them on the vine a while longer, at least until the stems are brown and dry.

Jan

I left mine on the vine until they were lightweight and you could easily tell they'd dried. At that point, you can remove them from the vine and peel off the dried skin. Here's one I grew, partially peeled so you can see it's still green, however it will become lightweight as the water inside dries up:

{{gwi:861339}}

Wow, that's cool! I must go pick mine NOW! They are much browner/yellower then your fruit is. Thx for the pic. The old saying, "a pic is worth a thousand words" really rings true. Thx for posting. Sheila :-)

Your're welcome! Good luck with them Sheila. I made luffa soaps and luffa sponges with mine!
Robin

Wow, it was incredibly easy to peel. Mine is not as white as your's, but a nice creamy beige color. Robin, are you my seed benefactor??? Sheila

Gosh-I don't know Sheila. I've traded with lots of people on GW over the years. ;-)
I have read that some people will soak their peeled luffa sponge in a bleach water solution. I don't do that due to an allergy to chlorine bleach though.

Am trying luffas this year for the first time. What is the process recomended for turning these into sponges ? Any special steps or proceedures ? Think I heard or read somewhere they have to be scraped or something. Any help greatly appreciated.

Hi Packrat. You'll want a trellis/fence something for the vines to climb on. The vine and blooms are very pretty. I let my luffas really dry o the vine and peeled them immediately after I picked them. If there is still some moisture left on the gourd they peel easier. If you pick them green they peel easily but there will be somewhat of a slime under the peelings. No biggie though. I picked them as it fitted into my schedule. After I peeled, if they were still moist I simply put them where they could dry out on their own. Once dry the seeds shake out very easily. No scraping.....as soon as they're dry you can make soaps or just sponges. I keep cutting them into crosswise pieces and keep these small slices in a holder next to the kitchen sink. They make wonderful scrapers for kitchen clean-ups. I swap them out every few days depending on what I'm using them for. Of course I have the soaps in the bathroom. Also have sponges in the bath to clean the tub/sinks. There is absolutely very little time/work in picking/peeling/drying. At Christmas I made baskets of plain sponges and soaps for gifts. Happy growing. Sheila :-)

I pick mine at the green/yellowing stage too. Iv'e never gotten one to turn completely brown before! Get tons of sponges.

A friend gave me a luffa gourd for the seeds. It was very brown. They had picked some and put them in a shed. Unfortunately, we had a bit of a drought this year in NE Georgia, so mine just didn't make it. I have more seeds that I just planted in pots today. Hopefully, they will grow better next year. I am going to try growing them in more shade this time. By the way, the gourd I was given had an almost tan color inside. They are great for exfoliating the dead skin on the face as well as scrubbing bathtubs and sinks. Good luck!
Cookie

I'v done the bleach and water thing. i picked mine before they had dried out completely and they were full of pulp and this soapy foamy juice. i lay them aside to dry and they started to mold. I dug as many seeds out of them as i could and soaked them in bleach and water. The remaining pulp and other stuff left inside were easy to squish out then.

Be sure to check this article;
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1981-03-01/For-Luffa-or-Money.aspx

I planted luffa gourds this year for the first time. This is ONE plant! It has even taken over my Pineapple Pear tree, lol.
Happy Gardening!

Here is a link that might be useful: