Ever incline into chayote at the food market store and wondered what the heck it was ? Botanically it ’s a yield , but it ’s treated and prepared like a veg . It has a wonderfully mild flavor and is intensely prolific . Next time you see one at the store , snap up it , and try grow chayotes in your house garden .
Whether you ’re a novice or an experient nurseryman , chayote is the flora that keeps on give because you may also eat up the leafage , shoot , roots , and seminal fluid !
quick to learn about this exciting plant , also known as choco , mirliton , veg Pyrus communis , and sayote ? entrust me , once you turn chayote , you ’ll wonder why you did n’t do it sooner .
Varieties of Chayote
Chayote is well - love by some mass and a complete unknown to others . colligate to pumpkins , Cucumis sativus , and squelch , this cucurbit is a must - have for any adventurous gardener .
There are two type of chayote . Common chayote is the type you find in the supermarket and in people ’s garden . Wild chayotes get by stream and rivers . You often regain them in ravines . Most wild sort are more vigorous and the yield is large . idle fruits sometimes have minuscule thorn .
If you purchase a chayote fruit from the computer storage , it ’s likely to be a common smorgasbord and can be either quiet - skinned or prickly .
Chayote de Caballo
tight related to the common chayote , the hide is usually prickly , but can be placid as well . This variety entrepot for a long time .
Chayotillo
This is a rare variety that has some disease resistance . It looks similar to the common sort and can be tranquil or prickly .
Cabeza de Chango
More common to Mexico , this form survives high humidness .
Perulero
Perulero is light yellow to white in people of color . in the beginning rise in Guatemala , it is now grown across North America , as well .
How to Grow Chayote
Chayote is a prolific fruiter and tenacious vine . Because of the amount of fruit you get off of one works , it ’s a good option for a survival garden . One chayote vine is sufficient for a family of four .
Chayote is such an soft works to grow , and you do n’t need to find it at your local baby’s room . You just need to buy one single fruit from the memory and you could have an ongoing bounty .
Environmental Requirements
Chayote grows well in USDA zone 7 to 10 . It require between 120 to 150 frost - free day to bring forth fruit , so you’re able to raise it as an annual even in cooler regions so long as you’re able to give it that much grow time . you’re able to jump plants indoors or utilize protective covers to extend your growing season .
Plant in full sunlight . Chayote will turn a good vine in shaded conditions , but the yield harvest will be reduced dramatically .
Put the plant in well - drain ground that is copious in organic subject . Aim for a pH of 6.0 to 6.8 . Chayote wo n’t stand for pooling water system so if you survive in a high rain region , plant in a mound or hill to permit the water to run out off .
When to Plant
Plant in spring when soil temperatures hit a uniform 65 ° F . This is normally about 4 workweek after the last frost . Chayotes farm course in tropic or sub - tropic surroundings but will do okay in cooler position as well with some aegis during the cool weather .
Container Planting
you may grow chayotes in a container , but the yield wo n’t be about as much as when establish in the ground . works in a container when you live in a short summer orbit where you may need to move the container to follow the sun or to move it indoors .
Choose a container that is a lower limit of 24 inches mysterious and can deem 5 gallons of dirt . If you go this route , be sure to keep a close center on the amount of water in the soil and feed monthly with liquid fertiliser .
Planting the Seed
Chayotes do n’t have a ejaculate , as such . There is an ’ embryo ’ inside the fruit which sprouts and a raw plant grows from that . This means you institute the whole fruit to get a new plant .
grease one’s palms a few chayotes from the computer memory , farmers market place , or nab a few from a friend . old chayotes with problematic skin oeuvre best .
Place the fruit on top of the parry and wait for it to sprout , kind of like a potato does if you allow for it unattended for a while .
When the sprout is about four inches marvelous and the last hoar are over , implant the total yield in the ground . There is a danger of the fruit rotting if you bury it too deep , so plant it at a 45 ° angle with the sprout exposed out of the ground .
water supply well and make trusted you have something sturdy for it to start climbing up . think , chayote is an extremely with child vine .
Spacing
One chayote is normally enough for a family of four with some left over , but if you detect you want to plant more than one , space them out 10 feet asunder .
Keep in mind that a chayote plant , over prison term , can take over an entire surface area . It has been roll in the hay to crawl over fences and into the neighbor ’s cubic yard , or smother gazebos and garages .
Trellis
Chayotes produce immobile and big , so you ask to allow something for it to acquire up . The vine can be as retentive as 50 feet so program for big increase .
Chayotes will grow up other trees , over sheds , along fencing line , and up solid treillage . render to get the vine to a height where the maturing fruit wo n’t impact the priming . If it does , the fruit will bourgeon and rise another vine .
Caring for Chayote
Chayotes need some intellectual nourishment , water , and mulch to be happy . Here are the details :
Fertilizer
verify you travail in well - rotted manure before planting . Then , utilise an all - purpose liquified plant food every six weeks . Add proficient quality compost as a side dress halfway through the growing time of year .
Water
Do n’t let the soil around chayotes dry out . give even moisture , but verify not to leave the base pooled in H2O .
Pruning
Chayote will grow back each yr and it pays to give it a hand by crop the vine back to protect it from the cold .
In temperate climates , tailor the vine back , leave five shoot about six in in duration .
If you live in an country where Frost go on , cut the shoot back so they barely come out of the earth . bestow a bit of mulch as protection . Do n’t worry , the chayote will develop back .
Mulch
In cool clime , mulch your chayote plant with a stratum of 10 to 12 inches of mulch . Being a perennial , you require to mulch the chayote plant after the harvest and before the freeze temperatures arrive .
Companion Planting for Growing Chayote
While there ’s a debate about how well fellow planting actually works , studies show that some plant can assist deter pestilence . For representative , corn and broccoli deter cucumber mallet , which course on chayotes . Here are some smart plants to try growing chayote with :
Do n’t embed with :
Common Problems and Solutions for Growing Chayote
Chayotes can be affected by some of the diseases that touch the squash menage , but the legal age of the time , the works will maturate season after season without any way out .
Of the pests and disease listed , I ’ve had a few of them only once or twice in ten long time of raise chayote . It ’s a fairly hardy flora .
Aphids
Sap suck aphid will assail chayote and , because the vine is so big , the number can be high . utilize a knockdown liquid spray like organic Tanacetum cinerariifolium . After that , utilise neem oil once every five weeks .
Striped Cucumber Beetle
The stripy cucumber beetle attacks all plants in the Cucurbitaceae family , include chayotes . Not only does it damage plant by deplete them , but it spread disease like bacterial wilting that can take down an entire plant life in a matter of days .
The beetle have yellow and black bodies , either with stripe or spots .
you may control them by putting row covers over your chayotes through early summer , though you ’ll need to hand pollinate your plants or remove the cover during the blossoming time if you do this .
You should also encouragebatsand parasitical flies in your garden , which are natural marauder . You should also practice effective crop revolution .
Fusarium Crown and Foot Rot
This is from a soil - bear fungus that attacks squash plants , so do n’t embed your chayote in an area where you have had other squash varieties for the last two years , specially if they have been diseased in any direction .
This fungus will induce wilting of leafage and then the entire plant fleetly dies because the taproot and crown have decompose in the dirt .
Remove the entire plant and throw in the garbage . Do n’t compost a plant with this disease .
Bacterial Leaf Spot
little spots will formulate into with child dark-brown scabs on both the leaves and fruit . Avoid overhead watering , especially in juiceless , humid environment .
habituate a atomic number 29 fungicide as soon as you notice the originate lesions .
Harvesting Chayote
One chayote plant can give you up to 80 fruits , but the bounty does n’t quit there . you could run through all character of the flora , from root to steer . untested leaves can be cooked up like asparagus , while the shoots can be used in soup .
you may eat the seeded player as you would pumpkin or mash seeds , either roasted or fried . The plant ’s tuberous root is delicious boil or fried like a Solanum tuberosum , though they take two yr to break .
Harvest chayotes for eating when the fruit is 4 to 6 in in diam . It should have a petty give when squeezed gently .
reap for pickling when the fruit is about 2 inches in diam .
Harvest for slice into salad and eat up raw when fruit is about 3 to 4 inch in diameter .
In zones 7 to 10 , you ’ll see the fruits appear and develop chop-chop around October . The vine will keep provide right up to the first frosts .
Using Chayote
Chayotes are full of potassium , fiber , calcium , and vitamin C.
The declamatory chayote yield in the shop that are stone heavily are ordinarily bland and tasteless , so if you ’ve tried those and hated them , please have a go at growing your own .
The deviation in flavor will amaze you . Chayote is popular in South America and when you eat them fresh off the vine , you ’ll see why .
Boil and mash them like murphy . utilize table salt , pepper , and butter . lug them with centre or your favorite filling and roast them in the oven . If you want to make orchard apple tree Proto-Indo European , but do n’t have enough orchard apple tree , use a picayune chayote anatomy to fill it out .
Chayotes absorb the savour they ’re cooked in , so they go well in productive winter stews and casseroles . Try it cooked withsweet onion and Baron Verulam .
Ca n’t apply up all the tasty fruit ? Cover them in plastic and stick them in the icebox and they can hive away up to a calendar month .
Note that some people incur their skin is irritated by the gelatinlike succus that come out of the skin when you cut into the fruit , so flake them under bleed urine if that ’s the eccentric for you .
Storing Chayote
Place your chayote yield on paper and shop in a single layer in a coolheaded store , garage or cupboard .
If your winters are n’t too cold-blooded , you could leave the fruit on the vine until you eat them . Just ensure to check them regularly for cold damage . Pick them if they start to degenerate .
Make Chayote a Big Part of Your Garden
Chayote is the most wonderfully interesting flora to rise for food for thought . I do n’t sleep with of any other plant where you imbed one fruit and end up with up to a hundred each time of year .
The taste of freshly grown chayote is nothing like the over - size of it store corrupt ones . Try growing your own and allow us know how you go .
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