I want to make Chayote (Sicyos edulis) Cold Hardy so i can grow Reliably in a Temperate Climate. I came up with 2 ways to make it happen
Grow Chayote from the Grocery Store. Cover it with SUPER THICK mulch & hope it survives frost. Plus Chayote Roots are edible, along with Greens, Flowers & Seeds.
This Youtube Video gives me confidance it could be done
Hybridize Chayote (Sicyos angulatus) with it’s more cold Hardy Relative Bur Cucumber (Sicyos angulatus).
Recent Phylogenic Trees have now Placed Chayote (Old Scientific name is Sechium edule), into the Sicyos genus, making it’s new name Sicyos edulis.
This means that there is a good chance Bur Cucumber & Chayote can Cross & pass on more winter hardiness into Chayote! If not Mentor Grafting & Pollination can help. Maybe we take Chayote scion & graft it onto Bur Cucumber so that way Bur Cucumber genetics are transfered into chayote with the hopes of Cold Hardiness is transferred via Horizontal gene flow.
Here’s a HUGE Phylogenic tree of Cucurbitaceae, pay attention to the top where Sicyos species are.
I think there is good potential to use both Methods to Make Chayote Cold Hardy! Trying to bend both methods towards achieving cold hardy Chayote! As far as I know, there aren’t any Cold Hardy Chayote Cultivars yet.
Another question, what does a Seed Ripe Chayote look like? Can I save a Chayote Seed without the fruit from Grocery Store? Cuz the seed kind of looked unripe when I cut it open, hence why I assume people plant the entire fruit as a seed.
Yea, every plant finds a way to adapt! We grow so many tropical plants like Tomatoes, Melons, Watermelons, Cucumbers in our growing season!
Altho I’m pretty sure Chayote is already perennial (At least for 3-5 years if roots protected), just if S. angulatus isn’t perennial, what do you think will happen by crossing them?
Also did I waste my money on buying Chayote if I can’t save the seed from it in a dormant state? I don’t have land to garden, how do I store the seeds?
The Seed literally germinates out of the fruit without extraction, which means I can’t store the fruit without it rotting & germinating hence why I want to extract the seed & Dry it so it can be stored with my squash seeds. Does drying out the seed kill the embyro or no? Is that what the ripe fruit is suppose to look like, green? What is the indication of ripe fruit?
this is the way you plant chayote : you put the entire fruit on the ground (oustide or a pot) and let is grow roots and stem . To my knowledge there is no way to extract and save the seeds only. You only keep it alive.
this one seems ready to start the cycle.
I agree with @isabelle . I don’t think there is any way to dry and store chayote seeds. As the fruit deteriorates it stimulates the seed to germinate. This strategy works fine in its tropical homelands but not in temperate climes. Having said that, there’s no harm in experimenting. Extract the seed before it germinates and see what happens.
Darn… That means it will die before I can get a place to plant it. I need to figure out how to extract the seed to save because the wild species Sicyos angulatus actually has fully ripe extractable seed from it’s fruits. It doesn’t pre-germinate inside the fruit.
This is what the Dried fruit & seeds look like of Sicyos angulatus.
Seeing how the Wild species is fully capable of drying & having a store-able seed, what makes Chayote so special that it can’t? Has it simply been bred to not allow dried seeds by Pre-Germinating inside the fruit?
From what I’ve read, unlike Bur Cucumber, Chayote doesn’t even have a seedcoat for it’s embyro but I’m not sure if this is true or not. I do know hulluss Pumpkin seeds exist, perhaps that trait is more common in Cucurbitaceae than previously thought.
Yes, it already has. This just a photo I found online. The ones I bought from grocery store are completely spineless & haven’t sprouted their seeds yet. Please Correct me if I’m wrong but a Seed Ripe Chayote is determined by Spines going brown (If present on Cultivar) & by subtle brown spots forming on skin.
I noticed brown spots on my spineless Chayote from grocery store, is it mature enough for seed extraction?
I see, so that’s the strategy for chayote, Bur Cucumber has a totally different strategy. Perhaps Chayote has lost it’s seed drying ability from domestication or did Chayote’s wild ancestors also had no seed drying ability too? Cuz they Wild Relative Bur Cucumber can fully dry their seeds.
I’ll test it out, from what I’ve seen it’s very hard to tell where the seed begins & ends due to their being no “seedcoat” & flesh same color as embyro most times.
Can you tell me where the seeds starts & ends? Do you see a Seedcoat? or is the seed just a fleshy embyro that can’t be dired?
There are day neutral chayote cultivars you’ll want to get. In my experience the store ones don’t flower in our climate till end of October. This dude grows them in your state, you may have seen him. He’s working on a day neutral chayote landrace.
FWIW, I’ve read in an article that its possible to take out and store the seed, but not easy.
In zone 7 it may already be possible to have overwintering chayote, with some mulch over the roots. Or so I’ve heard I haven’t tried it.
Nevertheless, its super interesting chayote is in Sicyos. There are many other species it probably crossed with in Central America already. I hope you try with angulatus. That would be pretty cool if it worked.
That’s AWESOME! This the first time I’ve seen him, I hope to meet him someday. Very epic info, thank you! His chayote probably would that better, super curious if he considered crossing them with Sicyos angulatus.
Since Grocery Store ones won’t flower till the end of October probably because they are Short Day. If I’m growing it in a Greenhouse set up like how he is, I’d invest in some in some cloth to shade out the sun for a day or 2 to trigger the short day flowering! Of course breeding Day Neutral varieties are the way to go! Is Sicyos angulatus day neutral?
AWESOME! Please send me the link, I’d love to read it! Taking out the seed to store it is my only option to grow Chayote. I have no land therefore I can only save seeds & learn.
I’m gonna Cross pollinate greenhouse method with Over winter method. Having the 2 populations exchanging genetics would be SUPER Valuable!
I wonder which species Chayote crossed with that made it get so big? I hope I can try with Sicyos angulatus, I have the will & the Knowledge just not the resources to make it happen. I Hope can get Sicyos angulatus seeds but I’ve never seen them while foraging. I think it will work but only 1 way to find out!
I’ve tried them! 1 plant was Nasty bitter (Which means it’s poisonous), won’t be saving seeds from that one. However all the other ones were non bitter (Which means it’s fully edible & not poisonous), very delicious tasting much like Squash leaves. These Wild Non bitter Sicyos angulatus has now became my favorite Greens to Forager for, I litterally had to stop myself from eating all the leaves because I want to save seeds from them!
The flowers (Male) were also delicious, with a nice pleasant pollen taste & a hint of sweetness (probably via the nectar).
Even if the fruits taste bad or are throny, the plant is worth growing for the greens alone! I just hope to get a chance for seeds! These plants grow well!
As for Chayote (Sicyos edulis), I found out what’s going on with their seed problem.
1 Fruit already had it’s seed germinating. I place it somewhere & forgot where.
However the 2nd fruit’s seed looked more promising. I have already extracted the seed & I’m trying to get it to dry fully. I think it still needs more time (It’s been about 9 days).
Note the burs on the actual fruits, they are like little spines. They do get stuck in skin sometimes, but not very often. Doesn’t hurt too bad, no where near like Opuntia Pear Cactus Glocids. Up close, you can see the spikes of the Bur needles.
I have tried the green fruits (Despite the burs which I tried my best to scratch off). It tasted like the leaves/shoots, nothing too special. Wild Chayote is better for it’s leaves/Tender Shoots & Flowers.
But now knowing that Wild Chayote has a seedcoat, there’s a good chance that trait can be transferred into Domesticated Chayote & thus allow easily seed savable Chayote. Altho you could just plant the entire fruit of the wild chayote as it’s about the size of a small pumpkin seed.
