Q&A for How to Grow a Choko Vine

No. This plant is perennial hardy in zones 8-11. This plant needs a warm climate to survive as a perennial.

Blossoms must be pollinated to produce fruit. Either wind or insects will cause pollination.

It should be producing more than just one fruit. Make sure it gets plenty of sun, and consider transplanting it to a sunnier spot. Also, they have a long growing season - 120 to 150 days. If you live somewhere with a short summer, you might have better luck growing it inside. However, it probably won't have a huge harvest if it's container-grown, either.

After fruiting season, cut back the vines by 80 to 90 percent. During the growing season, try not to trim too much at one time to avoid stressing the plant and killing your harvest. Trimming during cooler times of the day and watering after pruning are helpful. To keep it under control and encourage flowering, you can regularly pinch the growing tips off (from about 200 mm to the end of the vine's tip). These are edible and delicious steamed.

Choko doesn't have many pest problems. You might have issues with aphids, but ladybugs and a good spray with the hose can handle them.

Temperature might be the issue - if nights are too hot the yield could be affected. However, if temperatures drop below 65 you could also see harvest issues. And, of course, any frosts or unusually cold temperatures will kill your yield altogether. If you have temperature issues, you might have to wait to see how your yield is next year.

If you are watering it enough already, and it’s still drying out, try and see if the soil around it is holding water, if the weather is constantly warm, try putting a nice thick mulch on the ground around the vine, leaving a small area between 2 - 6 inches or clear soil around the vines base to let the soil breathe if it needs to. If watering or soil moisture isn’t the issue, try blocking / semi blocking the after midday sun from directly landing on the plant. It could be heat stressed.

Plants usually turn yellow when they have water stress, usually from over watering and having soggy feet, or under watering and being to dry too often. Try adjusting your watering accordingly.

Plant choko at end of winter, They only start to flower in the following autumn. The vines like a trellis or fence to climb on. I trained mine over a hot house frame which it did not like and I got no flowers or fruit there but heaps of flowers bloomed once it climbed onto the house's support ropes, fence and lime tree. Some liquid fertilizer will help.

Chokos start to fruit in autumn. In a mild winter, it can survive. I grow it in a mild winter climate and I have picked over a 100 large fruit so far and many more are coming. I planted my shooting fruit at end of the previous winter in a fertilised, good draining soil once it had sprouted 30 inches. I sprout the fruit by leaving the fruit in a well lit, warm spot on a table. I plant the fruit laying horizontally, half covered, to stop water from being trapped on top and rotting the shoot. Besides trying to keep the vines on trellis and fences I have ignored it and only watered near the roots during the worst of summer.

For me (living at high altitude, in the tropics) I can't miss seeing the flowers, and soon thereafter, tiny fruits. At first, most of the baby fruits drop off. But before long, some (and soon, a lot) of fruits become mature. The biggest problem is picking them before they get over-mature. My vines grow happily up into a medium-sized, not-important tree, where the fruits can be hidden by the foliage of their own plus the tree's foliage. They grow quickly; so check often for mature fruits. Younger is definitely better.