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MIRLITON.ORG

How to determine root damage in seed mirlitons (chayote, “Sechium edule”)

Experiment explanation: Joe Boudreaux of New Iberia gifted me several mirlitons damaged in a hard freeze. Some were badly bruised and some had really sprouted by the roots were killed. This is part of an experiment on damaged roots on seed mirlitons. If conditions are humid, seed mirlitons will, in addition to sending out a shoot, also send out root initials from the radial section of the seed found at the outermost section of the seed as it pushes out of the fruit. Here you see the roots have emerged and although the shoot is healthy, the roots have been damaged by fungus, cold, or dehydration. A seed planted with a damaged root system will continue to grow a shoot until the water and nutrients in the outer fruit (mesocarp) are consumed. This means the plant might look healthy after seed-planting, but might die within a few weeks since it had no root structure. We tested these root-damaged seedlings to see if new roots would emerge despite the damage. This and the next eight photos show the root damage. In the test, we placed each seedling in a one-gallon zip-lock bag with a few drops of water and placed in a room kept at 78-80 degrees F. This created a warm, humid microclimate and within seven days, all the damaged seedlings grew new roots. Most of the new root growth was on the periphery of the old rooting area (radial), so clearly there was ample root cells in the area to produce a second round of roots. Most of the root cells are dead in the middle but new roots are emerging on the periphery. One root-damaged seedling was planted in a clear container and set out very strong roots within one week. After seven days, this seedling was taken out of the zip-lock bag. It displays vigorous root growth sufficient for successful planting. All the following photos taken on numbered cards are the post-test pictures of the first nine seedlings in this set. It displays vigorous root growth sufficient for successful planting. All the following photos taken on numbered cards are the post-test pictures of the first nine seedlings in this set. Based on this experiment, I recommend that if the mirliton is freeze-damaged, immediately plant it in a 3-gallon container because it will likely root and sprout.
Damaged roots.
Damaged roots.
Damaged roots.
Damaged roots.
Damaged roots.
Damaged roots.
Damaged roots.
Damaged roots.
Damaged roots.
Mirliton roots have recuperated.
These are the damaged-root mirlitons that I temporarily placed in zip-lock bags to recover. I numbered each bag and the corresponding bag number appears on the paper below the mirliton. As you can see, all nine recovered and were successfully planted into a growing medium. This means that they would probably would have done well if I had directly planted them despite the freeze damage.
So most seed that was damaged by frost recovered. Recovered seed transplanted into temporary media.