The following is my humble opinion on the maintenance of gourd.
1. Common gourd
Plain gourds are unprocessed gourds, which are used as toys or decorations. When the gourd is ripe, it must be peeled first and then thoroughly dried. At this time, the gourd skin turns white, and it will turn red after drying for a year or two before it can be played. Just wipe the dust with a wet cotton cloth at ordinary times, without any oil at all! Never leave water droplets on the surface of the gourd during the drying process, because after the water droplets evaporate, the surface of the gourd will leave a watermark!
2. Wine (medicine) gourd
Gourd can be processed into wine gourd to hold wine. The inside of the wine gourd must be impermeable, and the more mature method is to use beeswax or big paint. In order to prevent odor, it can be soaked in wine or strong tea water for 24 hours before use. It should be noted that the anti-seepage wine gourd with beeswax cannot contain hot water and hot wine, which is easy to burn the beeswax and make the anti-seepage ineffective!
3. Worm pot
Insect pot is an important branch of cucurbitaceae. Wang has a book called Chinese Gourd, which specifically introduces the structure of the insect pot. As an insect pot, gourd needs its lining, that is, the pulp hanging on the inner wall of gourd, so it is easy to get insects after a long time! So when the insect pot is not used, you need to put pepper aniseed or soak it in strong tea water to dry it to prevent insects from eating it?