Mirliton How-To Tips
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Grow Your Mirliton Anywhere Using a Grow Bag
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.
Become a Cool-Season Mirliton Grower!
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 have a solution. We have the perfect six-month season free of heat and hurricanes: November through April. Why not take advantage of it? It’s possible for you to get three crops in those six cool months: fall, winter, and spring!
You can plant your sprouts in the fall and let them grow on a small trellis throughout the winter. You can easily protect it from those few frost/freeze nights by temporarily tenting it with a tarp or plastic and adding a heating element. It’s additional work, but you will get a spring crop and head into the summer with a healthy vine with a good root structure. A strong, mature vine like that can make it through summer heat domes and you may even get a second fall crop.
Cool, ain’t it?
You don’t need anything fancy to cool-season grow mirlitons. Just a tarp or plastic to throw over the vine and a small space heater to keep the temperature inside the enclosure above 32℉. I use an inexpensive remote thermometer to monitor the temperature. If you use clear plastic, you can leave the enclosure up all winter and open up the sides on warm days to allow pollinators to access the vine.
As always, you will need a certified Louisiana heirloom mirliton to ensure success.
Of course, if you don’t want to become a cool-season grower, you can simply plant in the fall, which is much better than spring planting. Then, you can cut the vine back in November and heavily mulch it throughout winter.
That will give you a much stronger vine going into the summer and you might even get a small spring crop.
Here are the tools I use for cool-season planting:
Tarp or 6-mil plastic sheeting
Portable Heater (electric, propane, or heat lamp)
Wireless Remote Thermometer (click to view)
How to Plant a Spring Sprout to Prepare for a Fall Planting
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 winter and it comes back and produces a spring crop. Here’s what Homer writes:
“I have successfully done this many times, including last year after losing my 6-year-old vines in the heat dome. You should plant the sprouts in two-gallon pots and let them root and grow in the pots throughout the summer (they can be pruned back if necessary). After the 1st of September when the worst of the summer heat is over, plant them into a prepared raised bed garden or your garden. After they get over the transplant shock (1 to 2 weeks), they will start growing.
Feed them weekly with water-soluble miracle grow. Let them grow and vine wherever they will (you can use a tomato cage if necessary). They should show prolific growth. You will not get a fall crop but may see flowering. This allows the plants to establish a good root system. Before the first predicted fall frost, cut them back to 4 to 6 inches and cover them with 12-14 inches of leaves. ( I put an inverted plastic flower pot over them so I can find them later without damaging them).
In January when we start getting warm days, uncover them and expose them to the sun and warm weather. Water them and feed them with Miracle-Gro. Be prepared to cover them back up in the event of frost or freeze but leave them exposed as long as no frost or freeze. You should see growth very soon. Let them vine and grow, caring for them as normal with regular feedings and adequate water. Stop feeding the plant in April and you see them flowering and setting fruit by May.
I have never missed getting some spring crop when I follow this procedure!”
Why Are My Mirliton Leaves Turning Yellow?
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 help and may hinder.
Yellowing of the bottom leaves on mature plants is another matter. It can happen because fungus splashes up from the soil and causes anthracnose disease. If the yellowing begins to move up the vine, it’s probably anthracnose. But there is nothing you can do to prevent that. There is no known preventative or cure for anthracnose. The fungus that causes it is in your soil all the time. The disease tends to flare up in hot, wet months, like August, but the vines usually recover by the fall. The good news is that each time your vine gets anthracnose, it will also develop increased immunity to the disease. So, an old plant is a healthy plant.
The main thing you can do to prevent disease is not over-water or under-water the vine—and the best way to avoid this is to test soil moisture with a soil sampler. Of course, you can grow a healthy mirliton without testing and knowing your soil moisture. But knowing your soil moisturel increase the odds of success in your favor.
Finally, should you remove the yellow leaves? Some people do and some don’t. I know of no scientific study about the benefits of removing the leaves. But if you think it helps, then prune off the dead leaves.
Mirliton Water Uptake Root Diagram
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 uptake a small percentage of moisture and nutrients.
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How To Grow a Mirliton in a Container on the Gulf Coast
Many people don’t have access to yard space, so they are attempting to grow mirlitons in containers. That’s difficult to do along the Gulf Coast–but not impossible. In 2020, James Cobb in Houma, Louisiana, was the first person I knew of who grew a mirliton to fruition in the state. In 2023, Bonnie Landry Palumbo and her husband Butch also successfully got mirlitons to set fruit in pictured 22 ½ -gallon containers in Jeanerette, Louisiana. I don’t know anyone else in Louisiana who has grown one in a container, though it’s a common way to grow them in drier climates like the West Coast.
The difficulty in our region is that intensive rains saturate containers, and droughts dehydrate them, and this stress disrupts flowering and fruiting. The solution is to use a large enough container to moderate the wide fluctuations in soil moisture. Bonnie and Butch did that by dividing 55-gallon containers into two 22 ½ -gallon ones. (If you don’t have a 55-gallon container handy, I would recommend the 40-gallon oval Tuff Stuff tub at Tractor Supply.)
The Palumbos used the “Miss Clara” certified mirliton variety. They proved that you don’t need a yard to grow mirlitons; it will be difficult–but not impossible. You can grow them on a patio, driveway, or balcony. You can use a vertical trellis if you don’t have space for a horizontal. The container has to be at least 22 ½ gallons, relatively shallow and raised a few inches off the ground to ensure drainage. You will need a soil sampler to closely monitor soil moisture.
Corking: Another way to Verify You are Getting An Authentic Heirloom Mirliton
Did you ever notice the brown lines on some mature mirlitons? They’re a fairly reliable way of knowing if the mirliton is a locally grown Louisiana heirloom. Dr. Jorge Cadena Iñiguez, a leading world expert on chayote (mirlitons), recommends we use the term Corking or Cork lines for the brown, cork-like lines that sometimes appear on the skin surface of mirlitons.
Corking in mirlitons is a form of “lignification” and is composed of lignin, the same substance that comprises bark cell walls. It probably develops to protect the fruit from pests and disease. What is important for us is that only mature mirlitons develop cork. So, if someone is selling or gifting a mirliton with cork lines, it was probably locally grown. (Imported chayote is never left on the vine long enough to develop cork lines.)
Not all locally grown mirlitons will have cork lines; they may have been picked fresh off the vine. But if you see corking, it’s another reason to believe it’s an authentic Louisiana Heirloom mirliton.
Made In the Shade
In 2023, we learned that mirlitons need partial shade when there is prolonged, intensive heat above 95 degrees. That, along with substantial ground irrigation, can get us through another Heat Dome.
If you are not lucky enough to have natural shade, a good shade cloth is the answer. It can be thrown over the vine or mounted over it. Shade cloths come in different shading percentages, and we recommend 40% cloth with grommets so it does not blow away. They are available at Amazon and most big box stores. Shop around online to find one that will last for years. An Amazon link is here.
How to Use a Soil Sampler to Prevent Watering Problems in Mirlitons
The soil sampler is the simplest way to see how much moisture your mirliton roots are getting. It’s the only quick, inexpensive way to see if you have over-watered or under-watered your vine. The “second knuckle” method of sticking your finger into the soil only tells you what the soil moisture is near the surface; that method does not work with mirlitons because the roots extend downward 8″. Electric meters are also ineffective because they measure electrical conductivity–not soil moisture. The only way to know the available soil moisture beneath your mirliton is to see and touch it, and that’s exactly what a soil sampler allows you to do. Mirliton growers in Brazil have used this method for years. James Leblanc shows you how to take a sample and check the moisture levels at root zone levels.
See the video here
Buy a soil sampler here.
Mirliton rootzone:
Preventing Cross-Pollination in Mirliton Varieties
There are no scientific studies on cross-pollination in mirlliton varieties, so we can’t speak with any certainty about the chances of cross-pollination. Mirlitons are self-pollinating plants and are primarily pollinated by bees. Honey bees are systematic foragers; they will focus on one plant until they have collected all the nectar. That means they are less likely to carry pollen from another plant, thus reducing the risk of cross-pollination.
Because of this, generally, you can grow two different varieties with little risk of cross-pollination. If you grow only one variety at a time, you will have even less risk. But if you want to ensure that the offspring of a plant will be true-to-type, there is a simple way to do that: controlled pollination.
Using controlled pollination will guarantee that the specific fruit you picked from your vine will grow the same variety. Click here to see how to do it.