How to grow Chayote

Sechium edule · mirliton, vegetable pear, choko

Chayote (Sechium edule) — a vigorous climbing squash from Central America, grown for its pear-shaped fruit; the young shoots are edible too. It is perennial, but frost kills the vine and temperatures below about 13 °C damage young fruit. Flowers appear only from late summer, so in cool climates it needs a head start in a pot and a long warm season — at least six months.

Checked against sources: October 3, 2026

Quick facts

Type	Vegetable
Family	Cucurbitaceae
Light	Full sun
Soil pH	6–6.8
Frost	does not tolerate frost
Soil for sowing	from 12 °C
Germination	28 days
Seedlings ready	60 days
Sowing to harvest	150 days
Where it grows	Greenhouse, Open ground

When to plant

Sow for seedlings about 13 weeks before planting out.

Plant out in open ground about a week after your last spring frost, once the soil is warm.

In an unheated greenhouse everything moves about three weeks earlier.

The first harvest comes about 150 days after the shoots appear.

Frost dates · When to plant

Care

Greenhouse

Stage	Watering	Temperature	Feeding
Seedlings	every 7 days	19…30 °C	phosphorus and potassium, at the start of the stage
Growth	every 7 days	19…30 °C	phosphorus and potassium, at the start of the stage; phosphorus and potassium, 60 days into the stage
Flowering	every 7 days	19…30 °C	—
Fruiting	every 7 days	19…30 °C	—
Harvest	every 7 days	19…30 °C	—

Open ground

Stage	Watering	Temperature	Feeding
Growth	every 7 days	19…30 °C	phosphorus and potassium, at the start of the stage; phosphorus and potassium, 60 days into the stage
Flowering	every 7 days	19…30 °C	—
Fruiting	every 7 days	19…30 °C	—
Harvest	every 7 days	19…30 °C	—

Growing notes

Light

Full sun, at least 6 hours a day; plenty of sun and air also keep leaf diseases down.

Soil

Well-drained, fertile sandy loam rich in organic matter, pH 6.0–6.8. Waterlogging kills it, so on wet ground plant on a mound or in a raised bed. The roots are shallow — mulch instead of digging around the plant.

Care

The whole fruit is planted — its single seed sprouts inside it. Keep a mature fruit in a warm place until a shoot appears from the broad end, usually within about four weeks. Set it in a pot of about 8–12 litres at a 45° angle, sprouted end down, burying two-thirds and leaving the narrow end exposed. Keep the mix only slightly moist, as the fruit feeds the young plant. After the last frost move it to full sun or plant it out, next to a strong trellis or fence; the vine can reach 12 m. Water weekly, checking that the soil is moist but never soggy, and feed a low-nitrogen fertiliser rich in phosphorus and potassium every two months until flowering — too much nitrogen gives leaves instead of fruit. Fruit is ready about 30 days after pollination; pick it while the skin is firm and does not dent under a thumbnail. Do not refrigerate it. Where winters are frosty, keep a few fruits to plant next spring.

Pests and diseases of Chayote

Anthracnose

Sources

Figures checked against these sources.