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Mr. Leo Jone’s Mirliton Trellis — Harvey, Louisiana (chayote, “Sechium edule”) And side effects of Powdery Mildew Treatment with Milstop

Potassium nitrate damage to tendrils and leaf curl in vines. This may be an inevitable side-effect of the organic anti-fungal. The treatment is normally once a week for four weeks, and this should eradicate powdery mildew and the plant will recover.
Tendril coiling caused by potassium nitrate.
Powdery Mildew killing young flowers
More tendril damage from KNO2
Leaf curl
Powerly mildew eliminated with KNO2
Leo Jones, Marrero, Louisiana
Leo Jones is growing Mister Rock. His trellis is in Harvey, Louisiana. There is a pdf of a budget and instructions for building trellis on the FAQ page.
This is an urban garden though it is located in a section of Harvey, Louisiana (suburban New Orleans) that has many empty lots and is swampy. The trellis is 96 feet long and 16 feet wide, constructed of 4 x 4, and 2x 4 lumbers and 4-inch mesh flexible hog wire fencing.
Note the planting mounds approximately 5 feet x 4 feet and at least 18 inches tall. These will provide excellent drainage once the surrounding area is drained with open V-shaped trenches on a grade. The numerous plant sites allow him to permit some hills to go fallow in the summer so he can solarize barren mounds for root-knot nematodes.
"Mister Rock" variety growing on end of trellis. There is a vine in the back that he obtained from another source which is in its second year. He plans to add drainage the length of the trellis and plant on tall mounds. He has room for at least 20-30 plants and could produce several thousand mirlitons on this one trellis.
Mound system fully installed in December 2010. This mounds are about 4 feet in diameter and at least 18 inches high. The ground slopes slightly to the right, so he plans to did a shallow ditch system to drain water from the mounds to the side of the garden. He used soil that was brough in from another site--a very porous sandy loam that will provide a well-aereated growing medium for mirlitons.
April 2011
April 2011. Leo found that the original soil used for the hills was to porous of a sandy loam. He amended and expanded the hills with clay from his garden and manure, then topped the hills with more manure and composted wood chips. The plants are doing well and will have excellent drainage in this hill method.
Leo with second year Mister Rock variety. This plant was in a low area and got waterlogged last year, but he has added soil to the hill and dug some drainage around it. It is growing well now.
New plant, April 2011