Chayote · Renca, Santiago Metropolitan, Chile
When to plant chayotes in Renca
Main outdoor window
28 Sep - 19 Oct
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
14 September
In Renca, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Mar - 30 May
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Renca
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Plant the fruit
28 Sep - 19 Oct
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Mar - 30 May
Chayotes through the year
Against the frost risk in Renca
Why these dates
Plant the whole fruit on its side, sprout end up, two weeks after the last frost. Fruit sets only as days shorten in autumn, so the season has to be long at the far end rather than the near one.
Top growth is killed at 0C. Where winters stay above about -3C the root survives and resprouts, making it effectively perennial in mild climates.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Chayotes are timed with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Renca.
The median frost-free season here is 265 days, against 120 to 150 days to maturity for this crop counted from planting out. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Renca
Other vegetables to time
Growing chayotes in Renca
When should I plant chayotes in Renca?
Aim for 28 Sep - 19 Oct in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 19 Oct - 9 Nov - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will chayotes be ready to harvest in Renca?
Expect to start picking around 1 Mar - 30 May, based on 120 to 150 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will chayotes tolerate?
Top growth is killed at 0C. Where winters stay above about -3C the root survives and resprouts, making it effectively perennial in mild climates.