Managing Spider Mites and Mealybugs

How to test compost and manure for herbicide residue

Mar 27, 2025

Many gardeners attribute plant failure to manure or compost that may have been contaminated with Grazon or other herbicides. A professional laboratory test is too expensive for the average gardener, but there is a simple, inexpensive test you can do at home. You can...

Secure Your Vine From Winds and Hurricanes

Mar 17, 2025

Strong winds and hurricanes can shred a mirliton vine and stress it enough to delay or even stop flowering. Michelle Inmpastato Glore discovered an ingenious way to inexpensively and quickly protect the vine from winds: netting. With her young plants, she sandwiches...

Quick Guide for Growing Mirlitons

Mar 8, 2025

Mirliton is the Haitian-French word for the Louisiana chayote (Sechium edule) vine that originated in Mexico and Central America. Haitians brought it to Louisiana in the 19th century, and it evolved over 200 years, adapting to the climate, altitude, and diseases....

The Ideal Raised Bed: Deep and Wide

Feb 14, 2025

Many people's yards have poor soil or soil with inadequate drainage which makes mirliton growing difficult. Either their soil gets overly saturated or has a high clay content and does not drain well. Raised beds are the solution. But growing mirlitons in a raised bed...

The Papa Sylvest Mirliton Variety Background

Dec 29, 2024

I learned of a large mirliton farm in Cut Off, Louisiana, in 2009 and traveled there to meet its owner, Vivian Danos Arceneaux. I learned it had been grown for decades and after examining the variety, I told her I wanted to give it a name to help preserve and...

Grow Your Mirliton Anywhere Using a Grow Bag

Nov 11, 2024

Mitchell Thomas had poor soil that does not drain well--and that’s bad news for mirlitons whose roots need to breathe. So, he developed a method of growing them in fabric “grow bags.” He and others have gotten small crops with this technique. It enables you to grow...

Cool-Season Mirliton Growing

Oct 20, 2024

We have a problem. Anyone growing mirlitons for the past few years knows that if the heat waves don’t get your vines, the hurricanes will. The weather has changed, and the forecast is that it will only get worse- more heat waves and hurricanes. But we...

How to Plant a Spring Sprout to Prepare for a Fall Planting

Jul 1, 2024

Here’s a proven method of planting a spring sprout that you got too late for ground planting. Homer Baham told us about this simple method of container planting the mirliton for the summer and transplanting it into the ground in the fall. Then he mulches it for the...

Why Are My Mirliton Leaves Turning Yellow?

Jun 9, 2024

Yellowing of a few leaves on a mirliton vine is normal and not necessarily caused by anything the grower did wriong. It’s usually caused by the stress of widely fluctuating soil moisture--intensive rains and droughts. You can’t control rain. Adding fertilizers won’t...

Mirliton Water Uptake Root Diagram

Apr 17, 2024

Mirliton Root Structure: The roots extend about 12” deep. This diagram shows water uptake in increments of 4" and you can see that 70% of the water uptake occurs in the top 8". There are shallow, superficial roots that extend laterally for up to 6 feet, but they only...