Chayote/Choko/Mirliton/Christophene

[chrysanthemum]

Years ago our family found it necessary to undertake a very strict elimination diet that was developed by some Australian allergists.  In doing so we learned about a few foods new to us, one of which was called Chayote or Chayote squash (though it seems to have a large number of names).  We used to buy it at a Korean grocery store near our home.  It doesn’t have a lot of flavor on its own, but it takes on the flavor of foods with which it is cooked.  (Reading Macmex’s description of putting winter melon in soup is probably what reminded me of this squash.)  

Now that we live in south Texas, we thought we might try to grow some of these.  The seed needs to sprout inside the fruit.  We tried sprouting one inside last year, and it didn’t work, so we’re going to try planting one or two in the soil in a couple of weeks and see if we have better success.  We have a huge arched trellis that’s not part of our regular garden where we used to grow passion flowers and confederate jasmine, but it’s looking like those vines might not come back after February’s freeze.  One side of the arch would be protected from deer.  The other side would not be.  We figured we’d put one chayote in the ground on each side and see what happens.

Here’s one of the grocery store chayotes in my hand for perspective on size.




The pit is good-sized inside but is actually edible, too. The major drawback to these is that they leave a sticky, drying substance on your hands when you work with them. If I’m cutting a lot, I’ll use disposable gloves just as I would for hot peppers.  The plants need a long hot season, but they’re supposed to be prolific.  It will be interesting to see if we can even get them to come up.

[macmex]

Oh! We LOVE chayote! They are very popular in central Mexico, where we lived for some years. In fact, in the town where we passed our first five years they grew like semi domesticated weeds. They came in varying shades of green and white and anywhere from egg sized to larger than a softball. Some were smooth skinned and some had spines on their skin.


Taken from sinembargo.mx

Blog in Spanish on Chayotes (very well done)

Chayotes can be eaten like a summer squash (cut and cooked while green) or they can be left to mature. Mature, they have a more mealy texture. Our family always coveted the seed in the middle. It's a nice mouthful and delicious. Don't know why, but I always found the spined varieties to be most tasty.

I have seen them grown in Tahlequah. I've tried unsuccessfully, mainly because I fail to get them to last through the winter until time to plant. Traditionally, they are grown on trees. I've seen them climb over 20'.

[chrysanthemum]

That’s so fun that your family loves chayote, and you obviously have much more experience with them than I. I had no idea they could be spiny. The ones we have found here in Texas have been a slightly different shape and color from what we bought in Virginia, but overall they are very similar. We tend to use them the same way that we would use zucchini (sautéed with butter and onion) or in soup or sauce. I believe I have included them in muffins before, too.

I’m excited to see if I can get them to sprout this spring. I’m waiting till the ground is just a bit warmer near the arched trellis. It’s on the north side of the house, so it didn’t get as much sun in the winter. During the summer it gets lots. I can see how trees would make a great natural trellis for the plants.

[macmex]

Two more details:

1. Chayote come in two sexes. The male vines only produce male flowers (no fruit). It's important to plant a couple, to be sure you get both sexes.

2. The male vines do produce something, but it's a root, not a fruit. The root is starchy, and cooked like a potato. In Mexico it's called chayotextle (pronounced Chay-oo-tes-lay). This root does not keep well. So it's dug and consumed within a couple of days. Haven't eaten any in decades, but I remember that it was quite good.

[chrysanthemum]

Hmm.  I wrote a reply to this earlier, but I think I haven’t completely mastered posting, as it’s not showing up.  I’ll try again.

I just wanted to thank you for pointing out the two sexes of the plant.  I hadn’t recalled that, and it wasn’t mentioned in the article that I had reviewed.  I had also been unaware of an edible root, though I did read that the young branching side shoots are edible.

Right now I have two fruits on my counter waiting to go into the ground.  I sure hope they sprout.

[heavyhitterokra]

That was very interesting to read about. Before today, I had never even heard of Chayote.
Thanks, for posting that.

[chrysanthemum]

My chayote are beginning to sprout.  I’ve been waiting a bit to plant them as I was seeing some young shoots near the trellis I was going to use.  I think there are some passion flowers coming back.  I’m rethinking placement therefore.  If I put both on the side that’s not protected from deer, I think I’ll need to rig up some deer protection.  I just don’t trust those critters. 

Chayote seeds are viviparous; they germinate while still inside the fruit. You can see the sprouts starting to emerge from the bottom on these two.

[heavyhitterokra]

My County Agent says to use an electric fence wire, smeared with peanut butter to keep deer away. I haven't tried it yet, so I can't vouch for the effectiveness of that.

In years past, I've strung electric fence wires just above my cucumber vines to deter deer. That worked pretty well, except I'd forget it was there and raise my vines to pick the cucumbers and zap myself instead of the deer. 

[chrysanthemum]

Thanks for the suggestion. My mom used to use electric fence on her property, and I remember the shocks and having to search for whatever had grown up into it and shorted it out. This particular area is directly between our garage door and a gate to our backyard with close quarters and very high foot traffic, so I wouldn’t feel comfortable electrifying anything there.

I really thought we still had just a bit of welded wire from a roll that had been given to us by friends. We used some of it a couple years ago when we replaced trellis netting for some of our vertical supports, and more of it went into circles around some newly planted citrus and olives. (I found out the hard way that even though the deer don’t seem to want to eat the olive trees, they will rub them.). The problem is is that I can’t find my “leftovers.” I’ll have to see if it got buried under cardboard, shade cloth, or frost cloth in our shed, or see if my memory can recall that we actually used it up. I’ve been busy with other things, so I haven’t made it a priority.

We do use peanut butter as bait when we trap squirrels. The jar stays in my refrigerator with a big skull and crossbones drawn on the top so that my kids don’t take a spoonful. It’s just peanut butter, but I use the same spoon in between traps, so who knows what strange stuff I could have introduced. The squirrels sure love it, though.

[chrysanthemum]

I just thought I’d add a picture here of one of my young chayote plants.  We still need to protect these from deer now that they’re growing big enough to get attention.

Those strange ovals that look like eggs are inserts from a case of eggs.  This area is heavily mulched, but we still get some grassy weeds growing, and I wanted the chayote to get established before the weeds could grow back in.  

[heavyhitterokra]

The egg inserts are an Idea I'd have never thought of trying. I can see how they would work really well though, and that's a lot better thing to do with them than burning them or throwing them in the trash like I've been doing.

Have you tried chicken wire to keep the deer out? I know our 6x6 tomato cage wires don't work to keep them out. They just push their heads right through that and eat my stuff anyhow.  Whatever you use, just make sure to leave room under the skirt of the wire, so you can still weed your beds or retrieve your fruit.  I see people putting 2x4 wire around tomatoes in town and wonder how they'll be able to reach their tomatoes later?

I wire electric fence chargers to several different things around here. They only pulse once per second, so there is no danger of anyone getting seriously hurt by one.  Especially, if signs are posted.

We have a homemade table outside with an aluminum top and wooden legs. We feed our cats on top of the table, so the dogs won't steal their food, only the dogs just started rearing up on their back legs to steal it anyway. After wiring the aluminum tabletop to an electric fence charger, our dogs have stopped doing that. After only a few zaps, I removed the charger and the dogs don't know it, so the problem has been fixed for now. (The charger won't shock you unless you're grounded, so it doesn't shock the cats because they are not touching the ground and the tabletop at the same time). I just have to remind myself not to touch the tabletop while putting out food for them.

Now, if only I could figure out a way to keep the cats from pestering the birds on my bird feeders.

One year, I planted mammoth sunflowers in our backyard, just so I could watch the birds enjoying the seed heads.  Only, when the seed heads became heavy enough to lean over, I saw one of the cats jump up and snag one of my precious Indigo Buntings.  After that, I took a machete and chopped the sunflowers down.  

I can't stand cats, but my wife loves them, so I guess I'm stuck with having them around.  I sure would like to figure out a away to deter them from causing so much grief though.

[chrysanthemum]

Chayote sure is a good climber.  I planted two by a fence that goes up to an arched trellis, but I planted a third a bit later.  I’ve been impressed by the fact that it used its tendrils to climb on the stucco under our deck.  It even started to turn the corner and climb horizontally on the other (north) side, but I wanted to train it up onto the railing instead.   I detached the tendrils and fastened two pairs around the little post, and it’s staying put so far.  I’ll be very interested to see where it goes next.




This is part of our fenced back yard.  Most of the yard is covered in river rock, but this portion probably used to be grass.  It was overgrown with weeds when we moved in, however, and we cut them back, smothered them with cardboard and buried it with shredded leaves.  Most of the space is given to our “blueberry cube” (the netted structure in which we keep our potted blueberries), but there’s a little strip between the cube and the deck, and that’s where I put the chayote.  It seems to like the soil or the location or something because it’s outstripping the ones I planted earlier (though, to be fair, one of those did get chomped by a deer.). 

[heavyhitterokra]

I hate to even mention this in passing, as I might jinx myself, but this year has been the first year ever that I haven't had deer molest my garden plants. I took my County Agent friend's advice and strung one strand of that plastic netted electric fence wire around my garden, (the kind that looks like a white ribbon, so horses can see it). Then, I smeared it with creamy peanut butter.

The single wire is only about 30" inches off the ground, so it will be right at eye level to the deer. So I know it is not at all a jumping obstacle to them, as I can easily step over it 'live' every day to tend my garden. This morning, our Blue Healer stock dog just couldn't resist sniffing the peanut butter and got zapped on the end of the nose. I didn't know if he'd still try to pass under it to continue into the garden with me, but after a hard look at the fence, he just darted right under it and went on his way.

I've tried every other deterrent known to man, including K9 urine, barbershop clippings, spoiled milk, dried blood, hair from a dead deer, shiny aluminum flyers, electric fences (not smeared with peanut butter), Vicks smeared on cotton balls, mothballs, greenhouse hoops rigged with motion lights, and a deer stand with a .30-30 in hand. Nothing before has ever worked in the slightest that I could tell.

Maybe, it's just a coincidence that deer are staying away this year, but I don't think so. I saw 16 deer in two herds this winter when I had my cover crop of red clover planted, one herd of 12, another herd of 4. Not to mention, my wife has a yearling deer that she hand feeds every evening. So there is no end to the deer pressure around here.

[chrysanthemum]

I just wanted to update this thread to say that I have, unfortunately, given up on my chayote. Two of my three plants have died. The third is alive and climbing, but I’m doubting that it has time at this point to flower and mature fruit. I probably didn’t amend the soil enough in the areas where I planted them, and I couldn’t keep them watered enough over the summer, especially in August when my husband got and stayed sick for a while (not COVID but ended up as pneumonia—he’s better now). I had high hopes, but I’ll have to try again another time and another place.

[macmex]

For some reason mine died early on, in the summer. This has been my past experience with them, here, as well.
The one remaining plant you have may well survive the winter and come up strong in the spring. If in doubt, mulch.
Then, remember you need two plants of opposite sex to get fruit. So you'd need to get a few more chayote to plant next spring.