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Freeze Protection For Mirlitons–That Works!

by | Dec 6, 2019 |

The following blog was submitted by David Hubbell from Mobile. I asked him to explain how he saved his family heirloom mirliton from the recent early freeze, the worse one in 112 years. Every year we are losing locally grown varieties because of climate changes; droughts, early frosts, intensive precipitation events and flooding. If we are going to preserve out heirloom varieties, we need to plan for these challenges. David started from the beginning with a trellis he could easily and quickly protect from the frost or freeze. The old saying was that mirlitons take care of themselves; they use to, but not anymore.

Lance

Freeze Protection for Mirlitons

By David Hubbell

To say I was a bit concerned when I received an email titled “Frost Alert…” from mirliton.org on November 8th is a bit of an understatement. In Mobile, Alabama the typical first frost dates are November 21st-30th, which is what I have typically experienced over the past 10 years of growing mirlitons here. However, to get down below freezing for more than 6 hours and nearly two weeks early was almost unprecedented. Of course, we have had similar predictions in the past that would change as the forecast got closer to the predicted date, however, the local experts were telling us this one was serious.

On the following Sunday, I tuned in to the Plain Gardening with Bill Finch, our local gardening guru on the radio, to get his take on the forecast. Just like mirliton.org, Bill was extremely concerned on what was going to happen to the fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants of the area should we see the predicted 12 hours of 25-29 oF temperatures. Bill is also a great supporter of the mirliton effort and we have spoken frequently over the last several years on the subject. In fact, he even lamented on the air “what was David Hubbell going to do with his mirliton?”

 

So, what was I going to do? Well, evaluating the situation and looking over my experience of the last 10 years I figured I had at least three possible options:

  1. Cut the vine back to 2” above the surface and cover with mulch
  2. Try the sprinkler method suggested by Lance Hill at mirliton.org or
  3. Try to provide enough cover and heat

 

Since I had only picked two mirliton and had a lot of blooms with plenty of growing time left, I decided against option 1. While option 2 made logical sense to me, the area of my structure and the types of sprinklers I had didn’t lend themselves to this method; plus, due to the proximity to my driveway I may actually be creating a slipping hazard with the water. Therefore, I decided by default to go for option 3. I had some previous attempts at this over the years with mixed success and I had somewhat designed my mirliton support structure for such an enhancement.

 

Preliminary Steps

 

Before even considering protecting against a freeze, I had planted my vine in a well-drained location about 25 feet away from a big water oak with a decent canopy. This location is also heavily shaded by some of the neighboring trees and even three navel orange trees I planted nearby around the same time. Unbeknownst to me at that time, this probably has provided a bit of an infrastructure needed to help keep heat released from the ground trapped beneath the canopy and warm the mirliton vine. The first few years of growing mirliton was basically trying to mimic visions I had of old T-pole clothes lines I thought I remembered seeing mirliton grow on as a kid. I did this with a nice, but inadequate trellis and a long rope tied to the water oak. After the massive amount of plant growth during the first few years I realized I needed a “beefier” structure. Seeing pictures of similar structures created from folks in the New Orleans area I choose to create a system with six 4×4 posts separated by 1×4-12 planks lengthwise and 1×4-8 widthwise, and using reinforcing wire and small 1×2 railing pieces on top (see Figure 1.) The main advantages of this structure for me was a place for the vines to grow across the top while allowing the fruit to hang down so I could easily walk under it and inspect and pick. Plus I know had a structure that could now be easily reinforced with coverings and heater/heat lights if needed.

FIGURE 1. Mirliton Structure

Materials Used for Freeze Protection

  1. 20 ft. x 25 ft. Clear 4 mil Plastic Sheeting – quantity 2
  2. Old flannel King Size Bedsheets -quantity 4 (more preferable)
  3. Heavy Black Yard Bags full of leaves – quantity 5 (more preferable)
  4. Incandescent Heat Lamp – quantity 1 (2 or 3 may be preferable)
  5. Halogen Lamp – quantity 1
  6. 360 Surround Indoor Heater Black 1500W – quantity 1
  7. Swimming Pool Cover – 15 foot diameter – quantity 1 (3 or more preferable)
  8. ½” thick plywood -enough to cover top
  9. Clamps of various size

Freeze Protection Steps

 

Two Days before predicted frost:

  1. Rake all of the leaves and loose material away from the mirliton structure. This will allow as much heat to absorb into the ground, which will in turn be released back at night during the freeze.
  2. Fill as many black plastic yard bags as possible and allow them to absorb the heat from the sun.
  3. If your vine has grown beyond the structure, pick any mirliton that are of a useable size on that part of the vine, then pull all of the vines up under the structure. In my case this basically killed this portion of the vine, but the plan is to protect the main plant as much as possible, so for me this turned out to be somewhat of a sacrificial act.

Day before predicted frost:

  1. Place black plastic bags around the base of the vine to form an insulating barrier from the cold.
  2. Cover leaves and vines with as much flannel or thick cloth as possible. NOTE: You don’t want the plastic material to directly touch the leaves. There will still be damage without the cloth and only the plastic.
  3. With assistance, take one of the 20 ft. x 25 ft. clear plastic sheeting and cover the cloth allowing about a 2 foot over lay onto the ground to prevent a way for the cold air to “short circuit” the protective barrier. Use as many clamps as possible to secure to the wooden structure.

    1. Repeat with other roll of plastic in a similar manner. NOTE: If your structure is bigger, you may need more rolls.
  4. Once again with an assistant’s help, cover the structure with the pool cover(s) especially if you didn’t have enough sheets to cover the plants.
  5. Position heat lamp(s), light(s), and heater. NOTE: Do not place them directly against and cloth, plastic, vegetation, or dried vegetation. This could cause a fire to the structure or heat damage to the plant.
  6. Place plywood on top of the structure. This serves three purposes:

    1. Added insulation
    2. Traps in heat from lamps/heater.
    3. Protection from rain. In my case, rain was predicted with the incoming cold front. In years past I learned that the rain will collect on the plastic and cause the barrier to be breached thus thwarting all of your efforts.
  7. Finally, place heavy objects such as pots full of dirt, bricks, cinder blocks, etc. around the over hanging plastic to ensure the winds doesn’t gust up underneath. Also secure any openings where the cords going to the lights or plastics overlap with smaller clamps. Try to make the covering as secure and tight to prevent any breaches of cold air.

Day after predicted frost:

  1. Once freezing temperatures have passed and outside conditions get in the mid-30s oF, unplug heat sources.
  2. Remove as much as covering as possible so as not to damage the plant now that danger of frost and freezing has passed. At a minimum open up enough to allow ventilation of the mirliton vine.
  3. Inspect the plant for damage.
  4. Water the vine and apply a gallon of a water-soluble vegetable fertilizer.

Final Thoughts

 

The previously describe method was based off of my 10 years of mirliton growing experience. I feel I was quite fortunate to have escaped any significant damage. I would like to add that if the freezing temperatures would have been predicated for more than 12 hours, I would have been hard pressed to try either methods 2 or 3. While it is nice to extend the growing season for the mirliton, I feel it is more important to preserve the Louisiana heirloom varieties as best as possible. In the case of prolonged freezing weather or after the typical fruiting season has passed (mid December) that means method 1. While it is always a sad day at the Hubbell Household when I have to cut the mirliton vine back, I know that by March I will start to see sprouts returning and if I am lucky will be treated to a small springtime crop.

Thanks for taking to time to read my thoughts and please feel free to contact me at rpcajun2r@gmail.com.

Early frost coming this Week

by | Nov 8, 2019 |

Frost Alert for Next several Nights
by Lance Hill

The forecast calls for temperatures below 40 f. for the next several nights and in the high 20s on Tuesday night. If you have a vine, you can save it using an overhead rotary sprinkler as show on the “Photos” page under “Frost Protection Sprinkler Systems.” Simply turn the sprinkler on at sunset and then off in the morning. It can protect a mirliton vine down to about 29 degrees. If you don’t choose to use a sprinkler, than cut the vine back to the base and place some carpet and heavy mulch over the crown. About once a month you need to replace the carpet and mulch to prevent disease and pests until next spring.
I don’t get any reports of a good crop this year because the drought has disturbed normal flowering and now we have the early frost. But that’s what makes mirliton growing so rewarding; only the careful, attentive, and knowledgeable gardener succeeds. The tribulations are many but the rewards a great.
We have just added several hundred recipes to our “Mirliton Recipes” page, which is the largest collection of international mirliton/chayote recipes in the world. Yes, the world! Go to the page and scroll down to “Recipes added September 23, 2019” to see the new recipes.

Divinely yours,
Lance Hill

Now is the Summer of My Discontent

by | Aug 15, 2019 |

As we head into the final month before the beginning of fall flowering, it’s a good time to pause and prepare. Our method of gardening is the “worse-case event” technique; the old saying that “mirlitons take care of themselves” is no longer true. Due to changing climate, mirlitons need an attentive caregiver. The best way to nurture mirlitons is to plan for all predictable events even if they are improbable. The summer heavy rains and intense heat have stressed plants, but here are some tips to anticipate the possible problems and ensure a good harvest.

Monitor your vines daily. Nothing is better than spending some quality time with your mirliton scouting for pests, disease, and watering problems. As my friend and mirliton expert grower Paul D’Anna says, get your morning cup of coffee and visit your vine daily.

Diseases. This is the time for the plant disease anthracnose which thrives on high heat and moisture. Colletotrichum lagenerium, the fungus that causes anthracnose, is a global problem and there is no effective organic treatment for it. But generally plants that suffer some die-off in August normally recover in September and fruit. Remove the yellowed and dead leaves and place in a plastic bag and dispose. Here are some photos and FAQs on the disease:

How to Diagnose Anthracnose

Anthracnose infected leaves

Wilting Anthracnose

Not all wilting is caused by anthracnose. Mirlitons will naturally wilt during the day in July and August yet they recuperate at night when they normally uptake water. Drying out actually toughens the leaves and protects them from disease. To diagnose soil moisture problems, look for traces of guttation and use a bamboo stake to test soil moisture daily.

Insects. Leaffooted stink bugs tend to show up for mirliton buffet once flowering starts. See examples of juvenile and adult bugs here. They are tough critters and mature bugs are impervious to insecticides, but they can easily be picked off with a butterfly net or a hand vacuum. I use a portable 20 volt vacuum with a PVC pipe extension (grandkids love to suck up pesky bugs), but a cheap butterfly net will suffice. Again, remove the bugs to a bag and dispose. We are experimenting with a “trap crop” strategy to divert stink bugs and will report out soon.

Pollinators. Mirlitons need honey bees to fruit but bees are scarce these days, especially in cities that experienced flooding and hurricanes that ruined bee habitat. A bee keeper told me he removed hundreds of hives while re-roofing houses damaged by hurricane Katrina. That was their favorite home in the city. If you don’t see bees visiting your mirliton flowers about midmorning when bees normally forage, you have two options. One is to hand-pollinate which is easy and fun. See the technique here. Second is to apply a bee pheromone like Beescent in September-October to attract bees. There are no studies on mirlitons and bee attractants, though some research shows they are effective with specific crops. I will offer you the worst kind advice gardening advice on the subject; I tried it and it works for me.

Weave your vine. High winds can traumatize vines and disturb flowering. The solution is simple; as the vine grows, weave the tips of vines through your trellis so that it secures itself to the wire trellis. Best to do this throughout the whole growing season, but it’s never too late to start.

Install a sprinkler system now while it is hot and fun to get wet while setting it up. A cheap rotary sprinkler activated when temperatures are forecast to drop below 40 degrees f. at night will protect your vine from early frost. The method works, saving mirlitons through September to November cold snaps. See a simple rotary sprinkler mounted above a trellis here and a ground-mounted sprinkler here.

Mirlitons Make a Comeback in Their Centuries-Old Treme Neighborhood

by | Aug 2, 2019 |

Renee Lapeyrolerie, proud grower in Treme neighbor of New Orleans

As a young girl in St. John Parish, Louisiana, Renee Lapeyrolerie lived in a community in which mirlitons were a common site in back yards. When she moved to New Orleans to attend Loyola University, she soon began to yearn for the lush growth of the vine. 20 years ago she bought a home in the centuries-old African American neighborhood of Treme (pronounced, Tra-May), a famous community of free people of color, many of them migrants from Haiti, and including a maternal ancestor who bought property in 1795. Haitians brought mirlitons with them from their new nation, an integral part of Haitian cuisine.

Parts of the Treme flooded during hurricane Katrina, but only a few feet. The community was part of the slim alluvial ridge along the Mississippi river and was home to mirliton gardeners for decades.

About five years ago Lapeyrolerie (pronounced Lap-a-rol-er-y) purchased a mirliton sprout from a garden center and planted it in her back yard. The vine soon spread about 20 feet along her fence and began to charge up her neighbor’s tree. Its origins as a variety are uncertain, but it is definitely part of the Louisiana landrace because it fits the phenotype (large but uniquely without furrows) and it has proven it can flourish in our climate. In the early years she had some problems with the vine flowering but not fruiting. This was not unusual for New Orleans post-Katrina because the flooding and re-roofing destroyed the habitat for bees (many hives were in attics that were disturbed by roofing). She is considering using a synthetic bee pheromone to attract bees this fall, though she can hand pollinate using instructions on our photo site.

In recent years, her five year old plant produced a good fall crop and she even got a modest spring crop in 2019. For advice on the culture of the plant, Renee had only go to her Aunt Helen and neighbors back in St. John Parish. Renee hopes to inspire fellow Treme residents to take up the mirliton and renew a tradition that is two centuries old and has donated several sprouts and plants to Mirliton.Org.

We have named the variety the “Lapeyrolerie Mirliton Variety” in honor of Renee. C:\Users\lance\Documents\Pictures\renee mirlitons 2.jpg Lapeyrolerie Mirlitons

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Lapeyrolerie Mirlitons

C:\Users\lance\Documents\Pictures\mirliton stamp Revised by tim.jpg

1 Haitian postage stamp, circa 1966

Renee Lapeyrolerie, proud grower in Treme neighbor of New Orleans

As a young girl in St. John Parish, Louisiana, Renee Lapeyrolerie lived in a community in which mirlitons were a common site in back yards. When she moved to New Orleans to attend Loyola University, she soon began to yearn for the lush growth of the vine. 20 years ago she bought a home in the centuries-old African American neighborhood of Treme (pronounced, Tra-May), a famous community of free people of color, many of them migrants from Haiti, and including a maternal ancestor who bought property in 1795. Haitians brought mirlitons with them from their new nation, an integral part of Haitian cuisine.

Parts of the Treme flooded during hurricane Katrina, but only a few feet. The community was part of the slim alluvial ridge along the Mississippi river and was home to mirliton gardeners for decades.

About five years ago Lapeyrolerie (pronounced Lap-a-rol-er-y) purchased a mirliton sprout from a garden center and planted it in her back yard. The vine soon spread about 20 feet along her fence and began to charge up her neighbor’s tree. Its origins as a variety are uncertain, but it is definitely part of the Louisiana landrace because it fits the phenotype (large but uniquely without furrows) and it has proven it can flourish in our climate. In the early years she had some problems with the vine flowering but not fruiting. This was not unusual for New Orleans post-Katrina because the flooding and re-roofing destroyed the habitat for bees (many hives were in attics that were disturbed by roofing). She is considering using a synthetic bee pheromone to attract bees this fall, though she can hand pollinate using instructions on our photo site.

In recent years, her five year old plant produced a good fall crop and she even got a modest spring crop in 2019. For advice on the culture of the plant, Renee had only go to her Aunt Helen and neighbors back in St. John Parish. Renee hopes to inspire fellow Treme residents to take up the mirliton and renew a tradition that is two centuries old and has donated several sprouts and plants to Mirliton.Org.

We have named the variety the “Lapeyrolerie Mirliton Variety” in honor of Renee. C:\Users\lance\Documents\Pictures\renee mirlitons 2.jpg Lapeyrolerie Mirlitons

C:\Users\lance\Documents\Pictures\renee mirlitons 3.jpg

Lapeyrolerie Mirlitons

C:\Users\lance\Documents\Pictures\mirliton stamp Revised by tim.jpg

1 Haitian postage stamp, circa 1966

Jason Fricke Saves an Endangered Louisiana Mirliton Variety in Texas

by | May 4, 2019 |

Jason Fricke Saves An Endangered Heirloom Mirliton Variety in Texas

By Lance Hill

I had a long friendship with Jason Fricke of Pearland, Texas, a city within the Houston metropolitan area, in starting his project to be the first person to grow Louisiana heirloom mirlitons in Texas. Our email correspondence dates back nine years. Fricke was raised in New Orleans and moved to Houston, where he longed to expand mirliton growing to Texas. And there was a large demand for Mirlitons in Texas, do to the large migration of mirliton-loving Louisianans that occurred after the 2005 Hurricane Katrina.

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Figure 1 Jason Fricke’s mirliton site in Pearland, Texas in 2014

Fricke is a persistent and thorough gardener. He read all Mirliton.Org research and listened to our recommendations. We started out encouraging him to grow mirlitons that matched his home’s climate and altitude. South Texas is similar to hot and humid coastal Louisiana; Houston is at 43 feet altitude, nearly sea-level like coastal Louisiana, and has 53 inches of annual rainfall, also comparable to Louisiana.

The first step was to provide a Louisiana heirloom mirlitons to Fricke. The most certain way to determine if a mirliton is indeed an heirloom variety is to ask the question: was the variety locally-grown or was it purchased from a store and of unknown origin? We started by giving Fricke the “James Boutte” variety from New Iberia, Louisiana that had been grown for decades by James Boutte and his son Kevin. After a few site visits to the Boutte garden in New Iberia, the elder Boutte donated several sprouts for us to place with new growers. (see the massive Boutte vine here)

We gave some of these sprouts to Fricke and after a few years of false-starts, finally in November 2014 Fricke had success, proving that mirlitons could be grown in Texas with the right variety and proper techniques. Fricke harvested 44 mirlitons of which twenty were good seed-size and were given to fellow Texans who wanted to grow them. A few were huge and reserved to expand Fricke’s garden. The smaller ones were used for Thanksgiving dinner, as is an old Louisiana tradition. The harvest was produced by four vines located in three planting spots.  The diameter of the stems at the ground were 4.5”, 4.5”, 5” and 6”.

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Figure 2 Fall harvest for Houston, Texas, November 2014, James Boutte heirloom mirliton variety

Originally, Fricke built a raised bed, 12″ deep and 4’x 20′ in dimensions. The problem was that the beds were not deep enough. Mirlitons don’t tolerate wide fluctuations in soil moisture content. The damping and drying-out stresses the plant and contributes to plant diseases like anthracnose. It is important that the raised bed sits on ground soil that is also well-drained. If the ground soil is soaked, the bed cannot drain properly and the raised-bed soil will also be water-logged also (bed drainage can easily be ensured by adding a perforated drain pipe to the bed, see link),

Fricke solved that problem by deepening the bed to 24”, evening out soil moisture fluctuations. He worked in sphagnum moss and used a good grade of potting soil. He placed the bed on the highest 25% of the yard, sitting on the ground soil which was a loamy clay.  There was about a half-inch gap between the cedar boards and the ground soil so the whole bed was slightly raised above ground level. The bed was covered by a horizontal goat-fence trellis about 5′ above the bed.

When Fricke began growing mirlitons in 2011 he also planted cucuzza in the same bed. We advised him against growing any other cucurbit is the same garden. Cucuzza, cucumbers and other garden cucurbits are hybridized for resistance to plant fungi; that means that they can host the anthracnose fungi and while the fungus won’t kill the hybridized plants, the plants act as a sporelator spreading spores that can infect the mirliton. I have observed that successful mirliton growers grow only mirlitons and no other cucurbits to avoid this problem. Fricke removed the cucuzza and cleared the way for a healthier environment.

Fricke also began to increase his odds of success by planting multiple sprouts. It is very hard to get one or two mirlitons to grow in the first year. Multiple plantings can always be thinned out later.

In 2013, Fricke obtained 15 sprouts from James Boutte’s son, son Kevin who had taken over the vine. He learned a great deal by experimenting with different planting methods. Interestingly, out of 15 vines that Fricke started, only six made it through the summer heat of Houston.  Of those original 15 vines, the three that thrived the most were planted directly in the raised beds the previous November. So starting the plants six months before in the fall was more effective than direct planting in the spring. This makes sense since a fall planting gave mirlitons several months to develop a root structure before the summer heat and rains.

Fricke had filled the beds with “Living Earth Rose Soil”, a high-quality container soil available throughout Texas, which is basically a very porous sandy soil, high in compost and organic matter.  He then top-dressed the beds with his own compost and mulched a few times per year.  He worked in a lot of sphagnum peat moss so that the top half of the bed was 1/3 peat.  For fertilizer, Fricke added a small amount of Microlife 8-4-6 in April and some liquid 10-8-8 foliar feeding in June.

He also adjusted the watering schedule and used a drip system to try to keep the moisture levels more even.  The beds drained quickly due to the sandiness, even during heavy rains.   The peat moss also made a very apparent difference in moisture retention.

Now, several years into his successful mirliton project, Fricke is eager to provide “James Boutte” mirliton variety to other Texas growers.

It was none too soon. James Boutte, the scion of the variety that bore his name, died in 2015 at the age of 97. His family lost the land to the bank, so the entire mirliton farm died off.

But thanks to Jason Fricke’s determined and creative work, the “James Boutte” variety survives in its new home in Texas. C:\Users\lance\Desktop\boutte.jpg

Figure James Boutte. New Iberia, Louisiana, 2010. Boutte died in 2017.

Eat Your Mirlitons!

by | Mar 18, 2019 |

Update on the Latest Research on Nutritional and Pharmaceutical Research on Mirlitons (Chayote)

By Lance Hill (lance@mirliton.org)

Many a child grew up in Louisiana hearing the imperative, “Eat your mirlitons” back when the vegetable was a backyard staple like fig and pecan trees. As we discovered that we had use to our own long-lost Louisiana heirloom variety to have success, home-grown mirlitons have become more a part of our diet. But modern science is discovering that mirlitons are not only a natural and inexpensive food: they also have miraculous pharmaceutical and nutritional qualities. They are heart-healthy, help resist cancer, and cure hypertension.

The ancient Mayans long understood the medicinal qualities of chayote (the original name for Mirlitons). They used concoctions of it as a diuretic and to treat toxemia. Elsewhere in the world, natural healers found other uses for the squash. An Italian researcher one told me that in Italy the fresh fruit is sliced in half and applied to cuts because of the numbing effect of mirliton sap. New science is rapidly building on these insights. (Keep in mind that all these experiments use extracts of raw leaves, shoots, and fruit, so they may not apply to cooked fruit.)

Here are some links to popular and technical research. All these links have been tested and though you may get a virus warning for some of the pdfs, they sites are safe for your computer. Some of these technical articles are complex, but I think people like seeing the way scientists are testing exciting ideas in this field.

Article on Mirliton/Chayote juice as good for high-blood pressure.

New varieties of Chayote had “anti-proliferative” effect on cervical cancer

Varieties of Chayote have possible anti-cancer qualities

Raw extract of a sechium edule hybrid, method for extracting same and use thereof for formulations having an anti-cancer effects

Chayote Juice has curative effects

Chayote shrinks certain skin cancers (melanomas)

Scientist use micro-cuttings to preserve genetic lines of chayote

Labu Siam Berpotensi Untuk Obati Kanker Kulit
Students preparing chayote for cancer experiment in Indonesia

Lafayette Mirlitons Thriving

by | Mar 6, 2019 |

Gary Elvis Dugas’ Mirliton Vine in Lafayette, Louisiana

By Lance Hill

Gary Elvis Dugas has this beautiful mirliton vine growing in Lafayette. He purchased the seeds for Marcus Descant, The Urban Naturalist in the same town.

He kept the seed in paper bags and, when sprouted, planted them in 2-gallon containers February. He kept them and in a greenhouse then slowly brought into sun to avoid sun burn. They were transplanted into raised beds that are about 8 years old, and composted with chicken manure, leaves, and grass clippings. There is a nine-foot hog wire fence surrounding the raised beds to keep out critter. He then covered the beds with an overhead trellis made from 6” X 8” mesh fencing. He uses Miracle Grow Regular in April, June, and August.

Notice that the vine grows on chicken coops, so there is abundant natural fertilizer. Many growers have great success using chicken or rabbit manure mixed into planting holes and then applied to top once a year. That would make it a slow-release fertilizer that mirlitons need. Gary plans to cut back the plant for the winter and then hopes for a larger crop next year. He has picked several hundred this year.
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Lafayette Variety Mirlitons sprouting

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About 24 ounces each

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Root base of one-year plant

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Vine on Trellis over chicken coop

Mobile Alabama’s Mirliton Man

by | Nov 10, 2018 |

The Mirliton Man of Mobile Alabama

This blog entry is by David Hubbell. It tells the story of his efforts to grow mirlitons in the Gulf coast South. We welcome other growers to send in their stories, growing methods, and photos of the varieties they are growing. You can reach him by sending me an email at Lance@mirliton.org)

David Hubbell with his Boudreaux-Robert heirloom mirliton variety.

My Mirliton Story by David J. Hubbell

Part I – Initial Attempts

Since my early teens I have been fascinated with my Louisiana ancestry. I learned early on that I am descended from the Germans and French that arrived in the early 1700s, as well as the Acadians that settled in St James Parish in 1765. Despite this long pedigree, I have never actually lived in Louisiana for any appreciable amount of time. After marrying and settling down in Mobile, it became one of my goals to create a Louisiana garden at my home in south Alabama. One of the items I started trying to grow back in 2006/2007 was mirliton (AKA chayote squash or vegetable pears).

I scoured the internet for where to acquire the seeds and how to grow it. Well, I learned in short order from the LSU AgCenter site that one doesn’t extract the seed, but simply set the fruit or seed mirliton in a cool, dark place wrapped in a paper bag and within a few weeks, you should get roots and a vine will start. Now the question was “where to get it?” According to some folks who grew it in California, I simply needed to find a grocery store that sold them and plant those. So now I had a mission. Where to find one? Well, I really had to go no further than my Mom (don’t they always have the answers?) She mentioned that she had seen them at several of the local grocery stores, in particular a large one stop megastore. Now I should add at this point that as a kid growing up in Texas we rarely ate these. Similarly, on visits to Metairie, Louisiana at Christmas, I never was interested in trying mirliton. Therefore, I had a twofold challenge: 1) figuring out how to grow them and 2) how to eventually cook them. So off I went and lo and behold, I found them for about $1.29 apiece. Well, even though I rarely had seen them, my memories from my childhood and the images from my research didn’t quite match the ones I had found. Most of what I saw looked pretty close, but it was more of a “snubbed nose” version. The sticker on them indicated they were a product from either Mexico or Costa Rica. I found 3 that closely resembled the images in my head, purchased them, and then brought them home.  I then promptly followed the directions from the good folks at LSU and within a few weeks’ time, I was delighted to see that two of the seed mirliton had roots and vines were emerging. This was around December and by late February; I planted the two into the ground next to a very ornate trellis I bought for them to grow up. I had some conversations with my Pepere (grandfather in Louisiana French) who had grown them a while back and he mentioned to be careful where you plant them.  I believe he mentioned having them too close to a tall oak and having to use a ladder to get the fruit. As a result, I tied a rope between my trellis and a large oak in my back yard, which was around 30 feet away. Well the first year, the vines emerged and started to grow. They grew all spring and summer and while they didn’t get quite as long as the information from LSU indicated, I figured it was due to them being young (FYI these vines will come back year after year if protected from the freezing weather). Well in addition, I finally started to see some male and female flowers on the same vine; however, it was now early September and I had read that one should be harvesting them from late September until late November (or until freezing weather hits). Eventually some small fruit did appear, but they never seemed to get much larger than a raisin and by then, freezing weather arrived in south Alabama.  So, my first attempt turned out not to be a fruitful one.

Store bought Mirliton

Despite not producing any fruit, I had actually gained quite a bit of knowledge on how to start these plants and what to look for. So as December of 2007 approached I cut back the vines and covered up the root system in preparations for them to come back. In addition, I also bought 3 more seed mirliton to propagate. Well, these fruit also successfully started to root and produce a vine. In the meantime, spring finally arrived back in south Alabama and I was pleased to see the mirliton vines from the previous season were coming back. This time the vine grew and grew and grew, reaching the 50+ feet I had read about. In fact, it climbed the trellis, the rope, and up the tree, about 20 feet above my head. Surely with such phenomenal growth, this vine would flower earlier this year and I would succeed in getting fruit. Well, it did start to flower early in September and had a lot of small fruit on the vines, but for some reason, they still never grew beyond the size of a large raisin. Well, the freeze came and I had to cut the vine back. I now was questioning the location I had chosen to plant my mirliton vine.  Since my yard is partially shaded, I figured it might have something to do with that. Thus, in December of 2008, I repeated the same ritual of the past two years and started some more vines. The following February, it turned that the original vines I planted weren’t going to come back. One appeared to have a fungus and rotted the root structure, the other just never emerged. So, into the ground went two new plants. Same growing pattern as the year before, however this time with a lot of flowering earlier and one mirliton on its way to full maturity (as opposed to 50-100 reported each vine should bear). I had also noticed the squirrels in the yard had developed a taste for the vine and apparently the small fruit. To remedy this, I put up a lot of bird netting to tangle them up. On Thanksgiving Day, this mirliton was now up to the size of a walnut and I was ecstatic. I woke up on Black Friday morning to go somewhere and as I was pulling out of the driveway, I spied something light green on the ground. No! It couldn’t be! It was!!! My one chance at a mirliton lay on the ground with… teeth marks from a blasted squirrel. So here it was 3 years of trying and not a single mirliton.

Part II – The Mirliton Man and Mr. Boudreaux

I was about ready to give up when I came across a Times-Picayune article discussing someone in New Orleans they called the Mirliton Man (Dr. Lance Hill) and his Adopt-a-Mirliton program. Upon reading his interview it turned out that he discovered that the mirliton vines that had once been a common fixture in backyards in the New Orleans area had all but disappeared due to Hurricane Katrina and the effects of the salt water as well as perhaps a lack of interest in growing them.

The article about the Mirliton Man also revealed that those local farmers in the area who grew mirliton for a living were also greatly affected by Katrina. Since they didn’t have any surviving vines or fruit, they started to plant the ones from Costa Rica and Mexico, but weren’t having too much success. It appeared that these varieties needed a lot more chemical fertilizers to keep them going in Louisiana. That is when he started his Adopt-a-Mirliton program to try to see if he could get some seed mirliton from those surviving south Louisiana vines and help jump start the mirliton production. That is when the light bulb went off in my head. I bet all of my issues had to do with variety and not necessarily the technique or partial shade.  I tried to contact him to find out where I might try to find some of these types of mirliton, but was unsuccessful in getting up with him.  In the meantime, my Mom mentioned that my late Pepere’s good friend had been growing these in Metairie for years. Well, she asked my uncle to see if he could get in touch with him and find out if he had any mirlitons during the Fall of 2009. Turns out he did and was able to give us 10 seed mirlitons.

These mirlitons definitely had a different shape than those I had been trying to grow. They were more pear shaped, had some deep creases, and a few tiny spikes on the bottom. The goal had now become to try to grow and propagate these to see if we could start a new crop in south Alabama. Of the 10, only 4 developed a vine. I then suggested that my Dad plant 2 in his yard in Fairhope and I plant 2 in Mobile. His yard had a lot more room and sunlight, so if that had been a factor, surely this will eliminate it. Well since these 4 had well developed vines by Valentine’s Day, we decided to replant them in pots until we could get them into the ground. As it turned out, by March only one vine survived. We planted that into my Dad’s yard and hoped for the best. Then throughout the course of the year, I would ask my Dad several times a month (if not weekly) how the vine was doing. In addition, I would go check it out whenever we would visit. As the Fall 2010 approached I started inquiring about the flowers. Around late August, he mentioned it appeared to have some small buds starting and upon a subsequent visit, I confirmed they were both male and female flowers on the vine. With a few weeks he started to see a dozen mirliton growing. To say I was pleased would be a bit of an understatement. It finally looked like we would get some mirliton after 4 years of trying. After Thanksgiving Day, I took a few days off and my Dad and I were debating on going fishing. A cold front was moving in and between the wind and rain we decided it would be better to just prepare the mirliton vine for the freeze. He and I went into the back and started to pick the mirliton. Well, the more we worked our way through the leaves and vines, the more mirliton we found. In no time at all, we had surpassed the dozen Dad had seen. In fact, the 5-gallon bucket he brought out started to overflow. After about an hour, we counted up what we had 65!

https://web.archive.org/web/20160324121558im_/http:/riverparishcajunreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/mirlitons-enhanced-265x300.jpg

65 Mirlitons Harvested from a single plant.

We were in disbelief. I had read how these vines can produce between 50-100 and here we were within that range. In addition, there were still another dozen or so smaller ones we left to continue growing until a freeze came. After we brought them in and cleaned them up, we set them on the counter. Now we had an even bigger dilemma. How were we going to possibly cook so many?

Anyway, it has been close 10 years since that first successful harvest. I am happy to report that I was able to start some seed mirlitons in pots the following January and in the Fall of 2011 had my first fruitful harvest of mirliton in my yard in Mobile. I planted three of these Louisiana Heirloom Mirliton in my yard and today one of these is still alive and thriving. Since that time, I am happy to report that I have been fortunate enough to get in contact with Dr. Hill and we have established that the variety I have been growing were similar to some he had studied but didn’t quite match any of them exactly. From our initial correspondence and subsequent conversation, he indicated I could name it mine as I saw fit, so in honor of my Pepere’s friend whom I received the initial seed mirliton I have named it the Boudreaux-Robert mirliton (the origins on where Mr. Boudreaux got it will have to be told in another post). Since 2010, I have tried over a dozen different mirliton recipes, shared close to 25 mirliton seedlings with family and friends, and created lots of great memories sharing the story of the miriton with folks here in south Alabama. Growing mirliton represent more to me than just growing something to eat. Doing so helps to keep me connected to my Father and Pepere, who have both passed since I started this adventure in 2006, my Louisiana heritage as well as learning, sharing, and helping preserve one of south Louisiana and the Gulf Coast’s most iconic and endangered vegetables.

H

 

Shade Cloth to Protect First-Year Plants from Summer Heat

by | Jul 30, 2016 |

First-year plants can sometimes succumb to intensive heat in the summer, especially in July and August. Mirlitons are vigorous vegetative growers but sometimes get ahead of root-growth necessary to uptake moisture. Keep in mind that most garden vegetables do not have the exposure to heat and water-loss that mirlitons have: one vine, even at this early stage of growth, can have hundreds of square feet of leaf space. Roots have to supply the these leaves with a tremendous amount of water since water evaporation, called transpiration, is an integral part of photosynthesis and leaf helps regulate plant temperature reduce internal heat. Most mirliton water uptake occurs at night, so watering the leaves directly–giving them a “good bath”–does not provide much water to the plant.

A plant that exhibits leaf wilting and drooping in the last afternoon heat can be a sign of dehydration. First-year plants tend to wilt occasionally during the heat of the day and then regain leaf shape in the evening. As long as the plant has adequate moisture (test the soil around the base of the plant) and is not waterlogged (too much water), then a little wilting is not a problem, especially if it rapidly regains shape as temperatures cool. But if your plant is properly watered and is wilting extensively during the day, consider protecting it with a standard garden shade cloth. You can but these by the roll or by the yard at most big-box stores: for gardening purposes, these will be rated at blocking out from 60% to 70% of the sun, while allowing water to pass through and air to circulate.

Some of our growers have experimented with shade systems. Bernardez Marcus, a member of the Capital Area Technical College in Baton Rouge, directs our heirloom mirliton project at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Marcus reports that they were losing plants to the heat this summer, but when they covered their horizontal trellis with shade cloth, the plants quickly began to flourish. How long you need to cover the plant depends on how well it responds to the shade covering–in the long run the plant will need more sun than the shade cloth permits during long-term use. But it is safe to say that the plant will no longer need the protection in September. Shade cloths absorb heat so keep the cloth a few inches above the plant if possible. In this post, I have included a photo of a vertical shade that I used one year on a young plant.
So if you are planting in full sun, consider shade cloth for first-year plants. ( A special thanks to Marcus and the inmates at Angola who developed and tested this technique).

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