Plant documentary started February 2026 and ended October 2026 in Oviedo, Florida, USA, Zone 10A. I tested out the growth progress for three seedling batches in March, April, and May.

• Vegetable: Bitter Melon
• Variety: Jyunpaku Okinawan Pure White
• Seed source: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Documentary Outline:

1. When To Harvest
2. Seedling 1: Seeds sown 3/1/26, transplanted 3/21/26, raised bed, vertical trellis
3. Seedling 2: Seeds sown 3/1/26, transplanted 4/17/26, in ground, vertical trellis
4. Seedling 3: Seed sown 5/27/26, transplanted 6/7/26, in ground, arched trellis
5. Culinary uses
6. Conclusion

1. When to Harvest Jyunpaku Okinawan Pure White Bitter Melon

Harvest for cooking cook with when you see the bitter melon is all. White with no green.

Harvest for seeds when the butter melon starts to show a tinge of orange. The shell around the seed has turned soft red. The edible red shell is creamy and sweet! Do not harvest seeds when the seed shell has not turn red yet because the seeds may not be vial. Saved seeds must be hard, not soft, flimsy, or hollow.

2. Seedling #1: Seedling sown on 3/1/26

Seedling sown in March and planted in a 17-inch high Vego Garden raised bed with potting soil and vertical trellis near my back fence where it gets some shade by mid day performed the best. The fruits are big and can be as long as 15-inches. March seedling produced more than 25 bitter melons.

Seedling #2 sown on 3/1/26 and transplanted in ground

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4. Seedling #3 sown on 5/27/26 and transplanted in ground

Seedling #3 performed the worst. I planted seedling #3 directly into the ground in June near my arched trellis and left for a month of vacation. I came back and it started to cover the arched trellis nicely. I noticed many flowering. Many fruits fell off. Some fruits rot near the tip. Fruit size are much smaller and somewhat stunted. Random side shoots were yellowing and even shows die back. I aborted the vine in late September. I let the vine dried and pulled out the plant in early October and noticed the root system was heavily infested with root knot nematodes.

Many Bitter Melon Varieties

There are more than fifty varieties of bitte melon. The large green bitter melon is commonly sold at every single southeast Asian markets I have been to in the United States. Bitter melon is a vegetable that grows on a vibe that requires a trellis. The color of the bitter melons ranges from dark green to light green and pure white. The white bittermelon melon varieties are less bitter compared to the green varieties. The vibe covered the whole trellis with minimal mature fruits to harvest.

Culinary Purposes:

For soups: Large green bitter melon varieties are often used to stuff pork and shrimp paste and then cooked in a soup with cilantro.

For grilling: The white bitter melons are great for grilling with Korean BBQ. My friend let me try it once when I came to eat at her house. I liked it a lot.

For stir-frying:

For claypot style : Bitter melons can also be braised in a clay pot as a vegetarian dish with other vegetables in a Vietnamese vegetarian dish.

For smoothie: Jyunpaku Okinawan Pure White bitter melon is often used to make white bitter melon smoothie.