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Rethinking The Mirliton Planting Schedule: Winter Vines and Summer Shade

Rethinking The Mirliton Planting Schedule: Winter Vines and Summer Shade

by | Oct 17, 2023 | ,


The Louisiana Mirliton Two-Step
Because of increased extreme weather events like Heat Domes and frequent hurricanes, we need to think entirely differently about when and how to grow mirlitons. We have two chances at a mirliton crop: Spring and Fall. We need to especially take advantage of our cool months, October through May.

Step One
Plant your mirliton seed or container plant in the fall and build a trellis for the vine to grow on all winter. When necessary, temporarily cover it with 4-mil plastic and warm it with a portable heater to protect it on frost/freeze days. By the following spring, the vine will have a large canopy to support flowering–and you will get a spring crop.

Step Two
To help your vine get through the summer, use the same trellis to support a 30% shade cloth to shade the vine from June through August, if necessary. That will give you a a good chance at another crop in the Fall

10’ X 25’ 4-mil plastic sheets

Space Heater

Shade Cloth

Remote Thermometer for Enclosure

How to Hand-Pollinate Mirlitons

How to Hand-Pollinate Mirlitons

by | Apr 30, 2023 | ,

Sometimes bees and other pollinators are not doing their job, and you want to ensure that your female flowers are pollinated. Gardeners are often advised to remove male flowers and apply them to the females. But this destroys the male nectar, which attracts pollinators. Instead, the simplest way is to hand-pollinate with a slender artist’s brush with dark bristles. The bristles make it clear that you have collected yellow pollen from the males. Using a brush means you do not destroy the males and can return to them for additional pollen.

Click here to see how to do it.

Identifying and Managing Anthracnose in Mirlitons (Chayote)

by | Apr 23, 2023 |

Mirliton leaf infected with anthracnose. Unlike powdery mildew which yellows uniformly and wilts the leaves, anthracnose starts as yellow wedges between the leaf veins. It then turns the leaf tissue brown and leaves with a distinctive “shot hole.”

Anthracnose is a summer disease caused by many fungi, but the pathogen that affects mirlitons is Colletotrichum lagenarium. For the purposes of this article, I will call Colletotrichum lagenarium the “anthracnose fungus. It is a chronic problem with mirlitons and it’s the main reason plants die the first year. There is no known synthetic or biological fungicide that can prevent or eradicate anthracnose in mirlitons. But anthracnose is like a sprained ankle; you can’t prevent it or take a pill to cure it, but you can minimize the risk of getting it and speed up the healing process.

Anthracnose and powdery mildew (PM) are fungal diseases that start with a common sign; leaf yellowing (chlorosis). It’s important to recognize the difference because powdery mildew can be treated, while anthracnose can’t. The PM fungus spreads on the surface of leaves, initially as faded yellow dots and then yellowing the whole leaf until it wilts and dies. Anthracnose, in contrast, grows inside the leaf cells and spreads cell-to-cell (intercellularly)l, so it tends to spread between the leaf veins and form sharp wedges. It kills the tissue within the wedge spreading across to the whole leaf, so you will see both yellow and brown tissue in the same wedge photo.

Mirlitons tend to experience anthracnose epidemics in July and August because of rain patterns. Intensive rains splash up anthracnose fungi from the ground onto the plant stem. The fungus incubates during warm nights and produces thousands of spores that are contained in a sticky base. Rainstorms dissolve the sticky film which releases the spores. Then, raindrops splash the spores to adjacent leaves–and that’s why anthracnose epidemics occur during the hot rainy season.

Anthracnose infects every part of the vine, including leaves, petioles, and stems. It will eventually split the stem, preventing the flow of nutrients to the ends of the stem, so suddenly a whole section of the vine will wilt and die. The good news is that for every stem lost, a healthy vine will send up a new shoot. It is a tug-of-war with the disease through the summer, but generally, the disease will disappear by September in time for flowering and fruiting.

The key to surviving an anthracnose epidemic is to have a healthy vine in place before the epidemic. That means a well-drained and aerated vine. When the soil is water-saturated and no oxygen is available in the root zone, plants go through dramatic changes to survive. They are literally in “anoxic” soil like the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico. They shift from aerobic metabolism to anaerobic metabolism: they have only 5% of the energy efficiency they have in healthy aerated soil; they produce toxic organic and inorganic compounds, and they deprive leaves of potassium crucial to maintaining leaf functions. After 24-48 hours, the roots have been damaged making it more difficult for them to uptake water and nutrients. Leaf functions are weakened and the whole plant is vulnerable to disease.

The good news is that a mirliton will acquire increased resistance to anthracnose every time it gets the disease. If your vine gets anthracnose this year, it is less likely to get it next year.

The solutions are simple.

Ground Planting:
Make sure the soil is well-drained and aerated. Plant on your highest area available, use planting hills, and stay away from roofs. Plant near a tree if you have one; trees are natural sponges and tend to stabilize soil moisture. If you already have the vine planted, you can dig shallow drainage trenches to remove excess rainfall away from the vine or add a corrugated drain pipe or a French drain.

Raised-bed Planting:
Remember that a raised bed can’t drain into a saturated yard, so you need to construct a bed that will permit excess rainfall to escape the bed via the sides. Add a lateral route for excess water to exit above ground level by drilling 1/4 “ holes along the side panels.

Summary:
For now, the best protection against anthracnose is (1) to use only locally grown heirloom mirlitons for seed since they are likely to have some resistance to anthracnose; (2) plant in well-drained, aerated sites; (3) provide plenty of trellis space so leaves on top can spread out and get maximum exposure to the sun (a natural fungicide) and air circulation; (4) minimize leaf/soil contact by using an overhead horizontal trellis at least 4 feet above the soil and (5) always irrigate gently with a hose set on low on the surface or drip irrigation to prevent splash-up of soil-borne fungi. Do not water mirlitons from the top down. Once leaves and stems are brown and dead, remove them and dispose of them away from the vine.

Click here to see photos of anthracnose infection signs on leaves and stem at different stages (click on each photo for descriptions)
Click here for how to identify and manage powdery mildew.

What is a Certified Louisiana Heirloom Mirliton?

by | Apr 9, 2023 | ,

Mirliton is the name people gave the chayote (Sechuim edule) when it first arrived in Louisiana.  Chayote is the main species and there are many subspecies (subvarieties) around the world with different names. They are what botanists call a “landrace.” Landraces are domesticated plants that developed over time and adapted to their natural environment and are not the product of human manipulation–such as plant breeding or modern genetic science. Haitians brought the first mirlitons to Louisiana over two centuries ago and that landrace thrived because it was adapted to our altitude, climate, pests, and diseases. 

 

Since the Louisiana variety has never been analyzed genetically, we have had to use the fruit appearance to classify it and its subvarieties. The Louisiana mirliton landrace has distinctive fruit traits (morphology); they are large, slightly pear or egg-shaped, with smooth skin, longitudinal furrows (though a few may be unfurrowed), and either green or white. Over the years other varieties were probably introduced from Mexico and Central America and interbred with the Louisiana landrace.  The resulting landrace was what generations of Lousianians simply called “mirlitons.” And for most of the last two centuries, there was only one variety. 

 

Then things changed. Hurricane Katrina wiped out almost all the mirlitons in New Orleans, so I began to search for growers of our Louisiana landrace to replace the New Orleans ones. I eventually found many growers in rural areas and when I did, I would name the mirliton after the grower so that we could track and preserve it. 

 

I soon noticed differences within Louisiana mirlitons–there were clearly different subvarieties in the landrace. Mirlitons were more complex than we thought. I decided to classify the subvarieties by fruit morphology and then interview the growers to determine the strain’s history.  If it were a unique variety, we would name the variety so we could track and preserve it. That’s how “named varieties” came to be. 

 

We have reached the point in 2024 where we have identified most of the Louisiana subspecies. To simplify matters, from this point forward, we will classify mirlitons into three categories for purposes of discussion on our Mirliton.Org Facebook group:

 

  1. Certified Heirloom Mirliton: A variety that was submitted to Mirliton.Org for visual review and met all the heirloom criteria. Anyone can submit photographs of their variety for review at no cost. If we certify it, you can say on the Mirliton.Org Facebook group that you are growing a “certified heirloom mirliton.” Submit photos to lance@mirliton.org or at the Mirliton.Org Facebook group. We maintain a public list of all certified heirlooms that you can refer people to verify that you are growing a certified variety.
  2. Certified Named Heirloom Mirliton: These are varieties that were submitted to Mirliton.org in the past that met all the requirements and were sufficiently unique that Mirliton.Org named them for tracking and preservation purposes.
  3. Louisiana Heirloom Mirliton: These are the varieties grown along the Gulf Coast south that were obtained from an unknown source (a local farmer, a seed store, etc.), and the grower sincerely believes they are Louisiana heirlooms.  If you are growing one of these uncertified varieties, you can simply say it’s an “heirloom mirliton” or  “Louisiana heirloom.” 

There are currently 14 Certified Named Heirloom Varieties: 

Ervin Crawford

Ishreal Thibodeaux

Boudreaux-Robert

Blacklege

Papa Sylvest

Bogalusa whites

Chauvin-Rister

Miss Clara

Remondet-Perque

Joseph Boudreaux

Bebe Leblanc

Maurin

Jody Coyne

Dupuy-Prejean

Why is it important to continue tracking heirlooms? Beginning in 2020, several large grocery store chains began importing chayote (mirlitons) that looked exactly like our heirloom varieties. People began buying them, using them as seeds, and growing mirlitons indistinguishable from our heirloom varieties. The problem is that imported chayote may carry a seed-transmissible virus that can destroy our heirlooms. It’s called Chayote Mosaic Virus (ChMv), which devastated crops in other countries.  Recent research has also discovered new strains of anthracnose in Brazilian chayote that can be transmitted inside the fruit.

We created the certification process to help preserve and popularize the Louisiana heirloom variety. We recommend that the best way to accomplish this is to use only certified heirloom seeds.  

 

How to get Mirlitons to Sprout Quickly: Incubate Them!

by | Apr 1, 2023 | ,

Angela Joan incubated her mirlitons in a 5-gallon bucket with a 125w heat lamp above. They sprouted in 11 days.

Growers typically attempt to delay mirliton sprouting by placing new fruit in paper bags and storing them in a cool part of the house. Cool temperatures promote dormancy and prevent sprouting. But you may want to promote quick sprouting so you can plant them immediately in the ground or container, especially if you want to plant them in the fall.  Normally, you would place the mirliton in the warmest part of your house — on top of the refrigerator. But if it hasn’t sprouted within a week or two, here’s an “incubation” trick that Joseph Boudreaux of Broussard taught me that speeds up sprouting.

You can incubate them inside your home in the fall or winter using a small plastic trash can and a heat lamp. Put the mirlitons in a 5-gallon bucket and place a thermometer on top.  You can cover the bucket with cardboard, as shown in the photo below, but it’s not necessary.

You want to maintain a temperature of 80°-85°F.   You may have to experiment with the distance between the lamp and the bucket. When kept warm in this manner, the fruit will typically begin to sprout within 7-14 days. Sprouting is defined as when the internal seed pushes its way to the large end of the seed (“sticks its tongue out) and a small green shoot emerges. Alternatively, you can place a heating pad underneath the container.

Angela covered the bucket with cardboard and used a remote thermometer and kept it at 85 degrees. 

If the outside temperatures are in the 90s, you can do this outside in a cardboard box without a heating pad.   Once you pick the fruit, place it in a shaded warm area with a constant temperature of at least 75-80°F to encourage sprouting.  If storing them outside, use chicken wire or netting to protect the seed from pests that enjoy eating the new sprouts. 

Once a mirliton sprouts, it means the seed is viable and can be planted. It’s important not to distribute or sell the seed until it has sprouted because sometimes—especially with Spring mirlitons—the seed can look healthy but have no internal inner seed and will not sprout and grow a new vine (it’s called parthenocarpy). 

 

 

 

Fertilizing Mirlitons

by | Mar 28, 2023 | ,

 

There has never been a scientific study for home gardeners on how to best fertilize mirlitons,  so we get to invent the science ourselves.  Any balanced fertilizer like 8-8-8 or Miracle-Gro is a good choice. A couple of tablespoons at planting and again in July is sufficient, as long as the vine is vigorously growing and green.  

 

 But there are two important fertilizing principles I have learned from experienced growers:

 

(1) Use a slow-release fertilizer such as manure. A mirliton’s nitrogen needs vary throughout the growing season. You don’t want to jolt their tender young roots when you first plant them. They like a buffet where they can eat light but return for more help when they need it. Manure provides that. Ideally, work into your soil or planting pit before you plant, but you can side-dress throughout the season. Rabbit manure is the best choice, but any manure will do the job. 

 

(2) If you are using fast-release fertilizers, stop fertilizing in July before the flowering season. A dose of fertilizer can delay and disrupt flowering.   

 

I asked our home gardener mirliton scientists last year to tell us how they fertilized mirlitons.  What were the signs it was helping or hurting? Did the experiment with different techniques?  I got these thoughtful responses. Click here to read them.

 

No More Guesswork In Watering Mirlitons: The Soil Sampler

by | Mar 6, 2023 | ,

 

 

 

Excessive rains and prolonged droughts make it nearly impossible to know if we have the right soil moisture for mirlitons.  Extremes in soil moisture–too much or too little–can stress the plant and cause diseases. Mirliton growers in Brazil long ago took the guesswork out of determining exactly how much available moisture lies below the surface. They use an inexpensive “soil sampler” which allows them to take a core sample of their gardens/fields and see and touch the soil at all levels. You can’t beat that.

.

You can buy a small soil sampler for less than $20, or if you are like me and have an old worn-out back, you can get a 36” one with a footstep. Once you pull up a core, you can pop it out onto a table touch the soil at each level and to feel for moisture levels. A mirliton’s primary root zone is in the top 7” of soil, so no more drowning or dehydrating your plants. Watch this clip on how easy it is to use.

Buy the 12” one here

Buy the 36″ one here

Here’s a short video on how to use the “sight and touch” method for the core sample you take.

Preparing Your Mirliton Planting Site

by | Feb 25, 2023 | ,

  1. Select a plant site. The most important thing to keep in mind is that water-saturated soil can drown a young mirliton. Even if your plant survives intense rains, excessive soil moisture later in the summer will stress the plant leading to anthracnose. Choose the best well-drained site on your property–away from roof run-off and preferably near a tree drip line. The vine does not have to initially be in full sun because mirlitons are sun-seekers and will follow a trellis to available sunlight. Make sure you have room for an overhead or vertical trellis.
  2. Make a bed or a pit.   Mirlitons thrive in loamy, well-drained soil. If you have that, prepare a bed at least 10′ x 10′ which will allow for an overhead trellis that can double as an enclosure for frost protection. Till the soil and add amendments if necessary (if you are using a raised bed, tilling the soil beneath is imperative to ensure bed drainage).  But most growers are not fortunate to have good soil and certainly don’t want to waste a $10 seed on a $1 hole.  In that case, I recommend a planting technique taught to me by Ishreal Thibodeaux of Opelousas: the pit method.  It has been successfully used around the world wherever gardeners have clay or any poor soils. With this pit method, you are essentially building a container below ground and filling it with your preferred soil mixture, just as you would with house plants. First, dig a pit 2′ x 2’ x 18” deep.  Then fill it with a mix of equal parts: (1) the topsoil you removed from the hole, (2) commercial potting soil, (3) compost, and (4) manure (rabbit, if available).  The wider the pit, the better the vine will do. Make enough mixture to also build the hill on top (below).
  3. Build a hill.  Make a 2’ x 2’ hill on top of the pit using the same mix.  Transplant your mirliton into that in late March after the normal last frost date and add a wire cylinder trellis so the vine can climb to the overhead trellis.
  4. Harden off the transplant: If you are planting a container plant that you have had inside or in a shaded area, make sure you place it in full sun a few hours a day for five days before transplanting it into the ground. Sudden exposure to a whole day of full sun can burn the plant.
  5. Planting a Sprout? If you decide to directly plant the sprout instead of a containerized plant, skirt the surface and initial trellis with wire cloth to protect it from squirrels:

    Steel wire squirrel protection. Wire mesh can also be used with ground plantings to prevent rodents from digging up the vine.

  6. Assemble your defense force. Prepare now for rain, pests, and diseases. We suggest you buy a: (1) rain gauge, (2) a soil sampler for testing soil moisture (3) potassium bicarbonate for powdery mildew, (4) BT for preventative management of vine borers, (5) sevin for preventative management of stink bugs, and (6) a shade cloth for the first two months of the plant.

Links:

Soil Sampler for Testing Soil Moisture
Potassium bicarbonate

BT Concentrate

Sevin

 

 

 

 

How To Water A New Mirliton Seed

How To Water A New Mirliton Seed

by | Jan 25, 2023 | ,

 

The video at the bottom of this post explains in 60 seconds the simple bamboo skewer stick soil moisture technique that will prevent you from drowning your young mirliton. 

If you get a mirliton sprout and it’s too early to ground-plant it,  we recommend that you plant it in a 3-5 gallon container or grow bag filled with potting soil.  It can remain in the container for more than a year and can be pruned back if necessary. Watering is the main problem you may encounter. The mirliton needs very little water the first several weeks because it comes with its own water source–the fruit. You should initially thoroughly water it and leave it alone for a few weeks so you don’t drown the roots. The only way the container will lose water is through evapotranspiration—by natural evaporation of the soil and loss of small amounts of water through the leaves (transpiration). 

 

The best way to check the soil moisture in a 3-gallon container is the bamboo skewer stick test. It works better than any expensive electronic tester. Insert and withdraw the skewer quickly and visually examine it. It will provide you with a graduated reading–each particle of soil represents the available moisture at that specific level. The bottom of the stake will show the moisture at the deepest level. If a few soil particles adhere to the skewer, that means they are moist, which means you have good soil moisture.  If it comes out clean and dry, it needs water.  If it comes out smeared and muddy, that’s too much moisture.  After visually examining it, run the skewer between two fingers to feel the moisture at the different levels. You will develop a good sense of when it’s not drenched or dehydrated.

Then, leave the stick out to dry for the next test. 

Using this “sight and feel” method is similar to the one that soil labs use to assess clay content for a soil sample–they roll the soil between their fingers and use their senses to judge the clay content. We don’t advise that people use the knuckle method, where you insert a finger into the soil.  That will tell you if the top inch of soil is moist but not if the rest of the container is drenched.

 

When you move the plant outside, it may lose moisture and need to me monitored more regularly. Here’s the quick and simple video: bit.ly/3w6vJ8o

In addition, you can use the skewers to help peel the mirliton! View the 60-second tutorial here.

How To Grow A New Mirliton Seed

How To Grow A New Mirliton Seed

by | Oct 14, 2022 | ,

Sprouted Mirliton

You can ground-plant a fall mirliton sprout as late as October, and a spring sprout as late as June. The June planting will have to be initially shaded. See here.  Outside these two windows of opportunity, you will have to plant the sprout in a 3-gallon container until you transplant it into the ground. (see below how to container and trellis it). Get the plant growing in a container as soon as possible–it will create a strong root ball for transplanting and it may even produce a spring crop! 

1. Mirlitons should be sprouted (germinated) before planting. If your mirliton has not sprouted, (fig. 1) place it horizontally on top of the refrigerator– the warmest part of your house. If it does not sprout within two weeks, you should speed up the process by “incubating” the sprout (explained here)

Fig. 1. Unsprouted mirlitons.

2. If your mirliton has already begun to sprout (tongue sticking out) (fig. 2), you are ready to overwinter it to help it develop a root ball.

Fig. 2. Sprout first emerges (above) and shoots extending (below). These are ready to plant.

3. Over-wintering: Once your mirliton is sprouted, you plant the whole fruit at a 45-degree angle about 2/3 of the way down with the sprouting end down in a 3-gallon container filled with good potting soil (fig. 3). Water thoroughly the first time. Mirlitons don’t need much water during the overwintering. Here’s how to use a bamboo skewer to test soil moisture. Or you lift the container slightly every few days to gauge if the soil is drying out, and only water if it is noticeably light. David Hubbell has an excellent video on overwintering a mirliton here.

Fig. 3. Sprout planted “sprouting end down” at 45-degree angle with about 2/3 underground in a 3-gallon container.

4. Trellising: Use a 24” – 36″ tomato cage as a trellis. Let it climb the cage, but you can prune to keep it compact—a plant in a 3-gallon container can last for up to a year.  When the weather permits, keep it outside in full sun and bring it in when there is the potential for a frost or freeze. The goal is to develop a good root ball.  When you transplant it into the ground in the spring, the vine can be unwound from the tomato cage, and the canopy can be attached to your garden trellis (see below images).

Mirlitons trellised on tomato cages.

5. Give the container plant as much sun as possible, preferably outside, and bring it in when temperatures drop below 42 °. If you have rodent problems, protect it with a wire cage:

Steel wire squirrel protection. Make the mesh guard at least 3′ high to protect new growth. Wire mesh can also be used with ground plantings to prevent rodents from digging up the vine.

6.  Transplanting: When the possibility of a spring frost passes, you can transplant it into the ground. Harden it off for a few days before transplanting into full sun.  If your container plant is well-developed, you can even get a small spring crop! See the Quick Guide for instructions on building a grow site and general procedures for watering, fertilization, shading, and plant pests and diseases.  Join the national mirliton gardeners Facebook Group to post questions and follow the progress of other Mirliton gardeners here.

 

 

Well-developed root ball on a 3-gallon plant ready to transplant into the ground.

Click here to see all posts in Mirliton’s Blog

Recent Posts

How to Hand-Pollinate Mirlitons

Apr 30, 2023

Sometimes bees and other pollinators are not doing their job, and you want to ensure that your female flowers are pollinated. Gardeners are often advised to remove male flowers and apply them to the females. But this destroys the male nectar, which attracts...

Identifying and Managing Anthracnose in Mirlitons (Chayote)

Apr 23, 2023

Anthracnose is a summer disease caused by many fungi, but the pathogen that affects mirlitons is Colletotrichum lagenarium. For the purposes of this article, I will call Colletotrichum lagenarium the “anthracnose fungus. It is a chronic problem with mirlitons and it’s...

What is a Certified Louisiana Heirloom Mirliton?

Apr 9, 2023

Mirliton is the name people gave the chayote (Sechuim edule) when it first arrived in Louisiana.  Chayote is the main species and there are many subspecies (subvarieties) around the world with different names. They are what botanists call a “landrace.” Landraces are...

How to get Mirlitons to Sprout Quickly: Incubate Them!

Apr 1, 2023

Growers typically attempt to delay mirliton sprouting by placing new fruit in paper bags and storing them in a cool part of the house. Cool temperatures promote dormancy and prevent sprouting. But you may want to promote quick sprouting so you can plant them...

Fertilizing Mirlitons

Mar 28, 2023

  There has never been a scientific study for home gardeners on how to best fertilize mirlitons,  so we get to invent the science ourselves.  Any balanced fertilizer like 8-8-8 or Miracle-Gro is a good choice. A couple of tablespoons at planting and again in July...

No More Guesswork In Watering Mirlitons: The Soil Sampler

Mar 6, 2023

      Excessive rains and prolonged droughts make it nearly impossible to know if we have the right soil moisture for mirlitons.  Extremes in soil moisture--too much or too little--can stress the plant and cause diseases. Mirliton growers in Brazil...

Preparing Your Mirliton Planting Site

Feb 25, 2023

Select a plant site. The most important thing to keep in mind is that water-saturated soil can drown a young mirliton. Even if your plant survives intense rains, excessive soil moisture later in the summer will stress the plant leading to anthracnose. Choose the best...

How To Water A New Mirliton Seed

Jan 25, 2023

  The video at the bottom of this post explains in 60 seconds the simple bamboo skewer stick soil moisture technique that will prevent you from drowning your young mirliton.  If you get a mirliton sprout and it's too early to ground-plant it,  we recommend that...

How To Grow A New Mirliton Seed

Oct 14, 2022

You can ground-plant a fall mirliton sprout as late as October, and a spring sprout as late as June. The June planting will have to be initially shaded. See here.  Outside these two windows of opportunity, you will have to plant the sprout in a 3-gallon container...