MIRLITON.ORG
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 do it before using the compost or manure, or after you have already planted:
Spider mite.
Mealybug and nest.
Spider mites and mealybugs tend to plague mirlitons that are planted in containers, especially if kept indoors as you overwinter the plant. You can manage mealybugs by soaking a cotton swab with 70% isopropyl rubbing alcohol and dabbing it directly on the bugs. Or you can dilute the alcohol with water at a 1:10 ratio (one part alcohol, 10 parts water) and spray it on the leaves, top and bottom.
Mites can be controlled with the same alcohol spray or with neem oil or insecticidal soap (follow the instructions on the label).
Sprays will only kill the living mites, so you may have to repeat weekly spraying for a few weeks.
Click here for a short fact sheet on how to identify signs of mites.
Click here for a fact sheet on mealybugs.
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 them between two layers of netting and secures it to the trellis on both sides with clips. She pushes the tips of the clips through both sides so they hold the vine snuggly but not so tight that it breaks the stems.
To protect her large, mature vine, she wraps the vine with netting on both sides and secures it with velcro and or plastic tape.
Both vines survived gusts of 20 mph, and the large vine should have sustained gusts up to 70 mph.
The netting comes in many sizes at Tractor Supply and other stores, including this large roll for big vines.
New plant sandwiched in with netting clipped to trellis.
Netting wrapped around large vine.
Garden netting.
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. It’s a self-pollinating climbing vine that makes both male and female flowers on the same vine.
How to Grow It:
1. Choose the right seed
Mirliton seeds can’t be dried and saved, like tomatoes and grains. The entire fruit must be planted. We recommend that you use only certified Louisiana Heirlooms for two reasons. First, Louisiana heirlooms grow and produce well in our climate and are naturally resistant to most diseases. Second, imported chayote–sold at grocery stores and online–are not screened for diseases and can introduce new diseases that could eventually destroy our heirloom variety. Avoid uncertified seeds and plants sold at nurseries, farmers markets, and roadside stands.
Read about imported chayote here.
Find a list of Certified Mirlitons here.
2. Sprout It.
Place the seed in a warm place such as on top of the refrigerator until it sprouts a stem. If it does not sprout within a few weeks, here is an easy way to speed up the process.
3. Container-Plant it:
Once the seed sprouts, we recommend overwintering it in a 3-gallon container. This will help it develop a good rootball for transplanting and help you get an additional crop in the spring. Mirlitons need 110 days after planting to set fruit, and by container planting it in December, it may set fruit in May. Find everything about sprouting, container-planting, and watering a new seed here.
4. Choose a Plant Site:
Select a well-drained area away from roofs for your plant site. Mirlitons don’t grow well in saturated soil–it can even kill a new plant. Till up a 4’ x 4’ patch to plant in. If you have poor or clay soil, dig a pit 2’x2’x18” and fill it with a mix of garden soil, compost, and manure to give the vine a good start. Mound up a hill with soil over the pit and to plant the mirliton. The planting site does not have full-sun because mirlitons are “sun seekers” and will grow along the trellis until they find sunlight. Here’s how to prepare the planting site.
If you don’t have a well-drained area, you will need to build a large, deep, raised bed.
Here’s how to build a bed that drains quickly and keeps the correct soil moisture.
5. Build a Trellis:
Build an overhead trellis that allows you to both shade and frost-protect the vine. The trellis material must be the correct gauge and mesh. Mirlitons will climb almost anything, but a proper trellis makes protecting and harvesting easy. Read here how to select the appropriate trellis material. Make sure the trellis has a structure that will support a shade cloth or tarp when needed (pvc hoop or wooden frame).
6. Shade it:
Buy a shade cloth before you even plant. The last several summers have taught us that mirlitons can die in intense heat waves without a shade cloth–especially with a first-year vine. You may need a shade cloth starting as early as July. They are inexpensive and last for years. Read about them here.
7. Transplant it:
Transplant your container plant into your ground site or raised bed after the last frost in March. Be prepared to cover it with a bucket or tarp in case of a late frost.
8. Fertilize It:
Any balanced (8-8-8) chemical fertilizer will work, but slow-release fertilizers such as manure work best. Fertilize with a couple of tablespoons when you first plant and then once a month as needed. As long as the vine is green and growing, it’s fine. Don’t fertilize after July, or it will disrupt flowering. Read about fertilizing here.
9. Water It:
Water it at the ground level–overhead watering spreads plant diseases downwards. Mirlitons don’t need much watering in the spring, and that’s the time most people are likely to over-water. The simplest way to prevent over-watering is a soil sampler. The inexpensive device will also tell you if your soil is too dry during a heatwave or drought.. Set up a regular watering schedule throughout the summer. Once the vine gets going, the mirliton leaves will tell you if it has adequate moisture. This process is called guttation, and you can learn how to read the leaves here.
10. Scout It Daily:
The summer months should be a steady routine. Scout the vine daily for pests and disease.
11. Protect it from winds and Hurricanes:
Strong winds can batter a vine and disrupt flowering and fruiting. You can minimize wind damage with netting like here or by weaving the vine into the trellis like here.
12. Protect it from diseases:
Two primary diseases affect mirlitons: powdery mildew (PM) and anthracnose. Powdery mildew is usually seen in the spring. It’s easy to identify and can be eradicated by spraying the vine with potassium bicarbonate, an organic fungicide. Read how here. The main summer disease is anthracnose. Fungicides are ineffective against anthracnose. But the good news is that anthracnose usually occurs in August, and the vine normally recovers by the fall. In addition, each time the vine gets anthracnose, it acquires more natural immunity to the disease. Read about how to identify it here. You can also submit photographs of plant symptoms to the Facebook group for help identifying and managing the diseases.
13. Protect it from Pests:
There are three main insect and animal pests. Read about how to manage them at these links: Vine borers. Stink bugs. Squirrels.
You can submit photographs of insects to the Facebook group for help identifying them.
14. Protect it from Frost and Freezes:
Mirlitons are “cold-sensitive” plants that can get damaged and frostbitten if the temperature drops below 42°. Sprinklers can protect against most frosts and extend the growing season into December. Read how here. Simply covering the vine with a tarp will also protect against most cold weather. But, the most reliable and effective protection against cold damage is temporarily tenting and heating the vine when needed. Growers who did this during the 6° freeze in 2025 saved their vines and harvested mirlitons all through the winter. All it takes is a tarp and a small heater. Read how to do it here.
15. Flowering and Fruiting:
Mirlitons are photoperiodic, which means the length of the day stimulates flowering. That occurs during the spring and fall equinoxes in March and September. It may take a few weeks after the equinox for flowering to start, and a cold snap will help. Once the female flowers are pollinated, the fruit will mature within two to three weeks. If you don’t see bees pollinating, you may have to hand-pollinate–see how to do it here.
16. Cut back or Not Cut back the Vine?
In the past, the tradition was to cut back the vines at the end of the fall harvest. We don’t recommend doing that now because the weather patterns—increased summer waves and fall hurricanes—have often ruined the fall crop. Instead, we recommend extending the growing season for several months by temporarily tenting and heating the vine after the fall. If you temporarily tent your vine, you can grow mirlitons through January before having to cut it back. Read how here.
Additional “How-To” Links:
Growing mirlitons in a cloth gro-bag
How to grow Mirlitons in a large container.
How to water a new seed in a 3-gallon container
Getting your Mirliton to Sprout Quickly
Sprinklers for Quick and Easy Frost Protection
Protect Vine From Winds and Hurricanes
How Mirliton Leaves will tell you they have enough water
How to plant Mirliton Sprouts in May or June
Managing Spider Mites and Mealybugs on Container-Planted Mirlitons
How to test compost or manure for pesticide residue
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 popularize it. Miss Vivian decided on the name “Papa Sylvest” in honor of her father, Sylvester Antoine Danos, Sr (1901-1998), who planted the first seed at their farm.
Miss Vivian is a mirliton grower extraordinaire. She had grown mirlitons for more than 60 years and had hundreds of feet of trellis and an advanced drainage system. She willingly shared her vast knowledge of the art of mirliton growing with me and donated several dozen Papa Sylvest sprouts to Mirliton.Org for other growers.
Miss Vivian retired from farming but is still alive and active in 2024 at the age of 97 years old in Lafourche Parish. Her nephew, Alvin “Butch” Orgeron, has kept the variety going with his enormous trellis in Thibodaux and is responsible for almost all the Papa Sylvest vines you see today in Louisiana.
Miss Vivian on her porch on the farm, 2010
Papa Sylvest Trellis
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 mirlitons even if you don’t have a yard: on patios, driveways, and balconies!
If you have drainage problems or no garden space–or need to relocate your vine to some shade, grow bags may be a solution.
If you want to learn how go to the Mirliton.Org Facebook group and post a question.
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