Growing Choko/Chayote, also Chayote squash, christophene, chouchou, mirliton

Sechium edule : Cucurbitaceae / the gourd family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec

Not recommended for growing in New Zealand - cool/mountain regions

  • Easy to grow. Plant whole mature fruit when one produces a shoot at one end.. Best planted at soil temperatures between 59°F and 86°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 39 inches apart
  • Harvest in 17-25 weeks. Best when fruit is light green and not more than 6 cm long.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Cucumbers

Your comments and tips

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05 Apr 14, jeanette (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate)
what is the food value of this plant?
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11 Jun 13, Orlando (New Zealand - temperate climate)
Where can I get choko seeds or plant?
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09 May 13, mary irvin (Australia - temperate climate)
when the vine is finished fruiting do we cut the vine bach
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29 Nov 14, Andrew (Australia - temperate climate)
Depends, if it is cool and the plant seems to be dormant, and it is going into winter, the leaves are getting old and dying, in other words, the vines are dying, yes, strip them back, the plant will go into dormancy for the winter, but only cut back carefully to the stump, or failing that about 5cm from the ground.
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19 Apr 13, LAVERNE (South Africa - Humid sub-tropical climate)
Does choko need lots of sun and does the seed go right under the soil with the sprout above the soil?
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03 May 13, Kym (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
You can plant the whole thing except for the sprout but also just leave the fruit on the surface and it will still grow. I think they do best left to their own devices as far as fertiliser etc though I do water mine if its dry
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21 Jan 13, Barb (Australia - tropical climate)
How do I get my choko vine to flower?
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17 Jan 13, wendy (Australia - temperate climate)
Greek-Australian Salad! Feta cheese, diced, lots of chopped tomatoes, olives, and (instead od cucumbers, they don't grow for me) lightly cooked cubes of choko - olive oil & lemon dressing!
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05 Jan 13, sadie (Australia - arid climate)
Each time I've grown chokos from fruit they grow well but then before flowering die off Any advice???? Mind you I did try to move them from pot to soil...is that it?
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29 Nov 14, Andrew (Australia - temperate climate)
Yes, all plants know when their environment has been changed, and they know when they've left the confines of a pot and given "free-range" in the soil, if the choko didn't flower/fruit after transplanting, that is probably because
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Showing 191 - 200 of 270 comments
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my wife brought home a couple of Chayote that had started sprouting tiny roots out the bottom, so I researched and found that you can carefully split the fruit in half and retrieve the seed, you do not need to plant the entire fruit, but you must be very careful splitting the chayote because the seed is soft, not hard like an avocado or mango, and easily damaged when splitting the fruit. Then I planted them in small starter containers in the kitchen window, and after a few weeks when the shoots had gotten about 2 inches tall, I transplanted them outside into a 5-gallon bucket with a heavy-duty tomato cage as a trellis. A few weeks later one had been eaten by pests and died, but the other is growing and about 6 inches tall. I know this is the wrong timing for growing chayote, but since the seeds had already sprouted roots, I wanted to see what I could do with them. If the one remaining vine survives the winter here in Zone 10A, like my tomatoes and eggplants usually do, maybe it will flower and fruit next year. If a seed package or even a very reputable web site like Gardenate posts a recommended panting time, and your circumstances don't match that recommended timing, try it anyway, you never know what the results might be unless you try. I'll plant potatoes year-round whenever I have any potatoes sprouting slips. I may only get a few baby potatoes when panted "out of season", but it was either try to grow the sprouts or add them to the compost bin. I also grow garlic in Zone 10A even though it is recommended not to. They are smaller than if grown in better climates, but small garlic is better than no garlic, it still tastes great, just use two cloves instead of one.

- dz

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