Alcayota, Fig Leaf Squash, Chilacayote

Positives: Nice plants, hardy plants. Long, tough vines that crossed a very heavily walked (or bounced, if you mean the dog) path. Easy e...Read Morenough to grow. Even when mature fruit holds tightly to the vine. The soil is well-mulched, but a sandy adobe clay. They came very highly recommended by family south of the border.

They only just began to fruit at the end of the monsoon storms, and I'll have to prune the honey mesquite to get all of them.

Disappointment: Not a lot of production but this is a tough area, a canyon/wind tunnel with winds up to 40 MPH, averaging 14 MPH thru much of summer, humidity 4%, and temps over 100 F. Heavy wilting in summer sun. Calabacita squash does much better.

This ornamental fruit was given to me by my neighbourfriend . It is rather beautiful , and that is about all information to share . I w...Read Moreould like to thank my precedent for the ample description . When I succeeded in doing sth interesting or tasteful with the C f , I will gladly share it .

This is also known as Shark Fin Melon, Fig Leaf Gourd, Seven Year Melon, and Malabar Gourd, among probably other things. You can also fin...Read Mored Cucurbita ficifolia called Pastella (from Sand Hill Preservation Center under their gourds section), but I'm not sure if that's the same variety as this.

I don't know why anyone calls these gourds, though. They're not gourds or melons. They're squash (granted, a very unique species of squash). So, I'm glad whoever made the article here decided to call them Fig Leaf Squash (instead of Gourd), although I don't know if that's an official name. They're very edible. Even the leaves, shoots and stems are edible, with the exception of the seed leaves (cotyledons); they go well in soup; they taste like a mix between spinach and green beans.

You can eat the immature fruits like a summer squash. They're sweeter and softer than zucchini. To me, they have an exotic taste/smell when eaten. They're kind of milky, actually (not with latex or anything). They have a slight cucumber taste. They felt pretty healthy, too; I felt invigorated after eating some. I haven't eaten a larger or ripe one, yet, but I have some large ones stored away.

The mature fruits are supposed to be able to keep for years. So, this is like the winter squash of all winter squash. I don't imagine that I would actually keep them stored away for years, though, since they seem quite desirable to eat (at least when used as a summer squash; again, I haven't tried them when larger, yet).

They say you can use the mature fruits instead of shark fins in shark fin soup (hence the name Shark Fin Melon). I'm not sure what part of the fruit they use for that, but I'm guessing it's the skin that comes off (it doesn't come off of the immature fruits, by the way). The skin has a smooth, delicate feel to it unlike anything I've felt in a squash before.

They say the flesh contains something that is good for diabetics, notwithstanding the mature fruits are said to be high in carbohydrates (which may not be good for diabetics).

The seeds are black and very edible. They look a lot like those commercial pumpkin seeds that are sold specifically for eating.

I bought some seeds (sold under the name Chilacayote), and I grew them, this year (2015). I found that the vegetation grows very quickly in cool, wet, low light conditions. However, when the extreme heat and drought came on, the plants slowed down considerably. They didn't even flower until after the heat wave left and it was getting colder and wet (nearing the frost). Then, they grew some fruits. They didn't have time to ripen all the way, but some of them did have time to get to full size.

They grow fast indoors, too. You can start them early if you want, but they grow fast until the heat comes on, anyway. You can take cuttings of them, easily. You can also propagate via layering.

My plants got smaller leaves, once, near the end of the heat wave, but I gave them some phosphorus and that seemed to help them get bigger again. Phosphorus helps plants get bigger leaves.

The plants grow far, but they don't seem to branch out a lot. You know, how one pumpkin plant can make a thick patch covering the entirety of an area? Well, they don't do that (at least, mine didn't). It let out a number of vines, but they all went off far in different directions.

I've heard these can climb. I put a vine up in a pine tree and it promptly grew down to the ground again, without climbing. However, later on in the season, it decided to climb around a bit up there. From this experience, I haven't learned that they are particular climbers.

Anyway, because they don't flower or set fruit in hot weather during long days, they're probably best suited to the south where the days are shorter and the frosts are less. I would like to get these adapted to my area, though. I sure hope some of the seeds in my fruits are viable.