Another question is what you plan to do with your gourd. Young gourds are soft and pliable. Grown on the ground, the increasing weight of the gourd causes the shape to settle so the gourd has a flat side to sit on. A trellis-grown gourd will roll around on a round bottom. On the ground, gourd vines root at the joints, providing extra nutrition and insurance against vine borers.
Growers have widely, make that wildly, different ideas about fertilizing hardshells.
Some think none is best, other fertilize daily with manure tea. Everybody agrees that fertilizing after August encourages leaf growth when the gourd should be hardening. Few pests bother hardshells. Snails and cucumber beetle larvae can kill seedlings. Adult cucumber beetles chew holes in leaves, but more important, carry bacterial wilt.