How to grow Sayote or Chayote

Chayote or Sayote in Filipino (Sechium edule), is also known as christophene, vegetable pear, mirliton, choko (in Australia and New Zealand), starprecianté, citrayota, citrayote (Ecuador and Colombia), chuchu (Brazil), chow chow (India), cho cho (Jamaica), is an edible plant that belongs to the gourd family Cucurbitaceae. It is a relative of the melons, cucumbers and squash. Chayote is a plant that can climb as high as 12 meters. Its leaves are heart-shaped, 10-25 cm wide and with tendrils on the stem. The flowers are cream-colored or greenish that comes out beneath a leaf or branch. Male flowers of chayote are in clusters; when female, the flowers come singly.

The young leaves and tips are eaten as vegetable salad, the roots grow like yam (ubi) and are also edible when cooked as sweets or fried like sweet potato (camote que). When abundant, it is cheaper to use it as food for pigs as alternative to commercial feeds. Chayote prefers a cool climate with rains that are even during the year. It grows well in loose soil with fertilizer and likes rich volcanic soil.

Planting

1. Plant the matured fruit. This is allowed to germinate, first in a nursery. Upon reaching about 30 cm, it can now be transferred to the field.

2. Make holes about 30 cm wide and 3-5 meters apart from one another. Mix the soil with compost and put it back into the hole.

3. One to three seedlings can be planted in each hole. Cover with soil. Always clear the surroundings of weeds – until about 2 meters away from the plants. When the plant spreads and fill the trellises, the growth of weeds will be controlled.

4. Put trellises on every plant when these are about 30 cm high. Compost is the best fertilizer, but at 7-8 weeks, apply complete fertilizer before and after every rain.

Harvesting

If the chayote plant is planted for its fruits, do not prune the plant to get shoots; allow the big vine to spread so as to get the most sunshine and dew. But if the purpose is for shoots only, the plant gets pruned while the young leaves are gathered.

1. Manually pick the fruits when the desired size is reached.

2. Place the container of the harvested chayote in shade to keep them fresh for a longer time.

Pests and Diseases

Chayote is not beset with enemies of diseases like other plants. All it needs is care from weeds and adequate watering.

Here is a video guide:

How to make liquid detergent and fabric conditioner

The main ingredient in a detergent product is a surfactant, a material containing in a single molecule, a hydrophobic (water-repelling) group on one end and a hydrophilic (water-attracting) group on the other end.

Surfactants are compounds that affect (usually reduce) surface tension when dissolved in water or water solutions. The HYDROPHOBIC group is a hydrocarbon containing 12 to 20 carbon atoms in a straight or slightly branched chain. The HYDROPHOLIC functional group may vary widely as a) an ANIONIC, b) CATIONIC and c) NON-IONIC. In general, the hydrophilic nature of those functional groups decreases from ionic to non-ionic groups. Soaps and detergents are ANIONIC while fabric conditioners are CATIONIC.

While soaps and detergents can be produced as bar, liquid or powder, the trend is in the use of liquid products due to economy in production and ease of application. A variety of organic molecules as a base material for detergents, either from mineral oil, crude oil resources or from natural products are used in practice.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENT

1. Weighing scale (top-loading, ordinary or digital), 10-kg capacity, 50 grams graduation
2. Plastic pail, 20-L capacity (2 pcs); 4-L capacity (3 pcs)
3. Electric hand mixer (portable), 1 unit
4. pH paper, 0-14 (Merck), 1 pack
5. Plastic bottle with cover, 250-mL capacity; 500-mL capacity 1-L capacity 1-gal capacity
6. Plastic water dispenser, 20-L capacity

PROCESSING PROCEDURES

Liquid Dishwashing Detergent

Raw Materials:

851 g Deionized water (51+800)
11.7 g Caustic soda (flakes)
93.7 g LABSA*
27 g CDEA*
4 drops Colorant (McCormick)
1 g Essence (green apple)
15.6 g Sodium chloride (technical grade)

*LABSA – Linear Alkyl Benzene Sulfonic Acid
**CDEA – Coco Diethanolamide

Procedure

1. Dissolve the caustic soda flakes in water (1).
2. Slowly add to the LABSA with slow agitation for 10-15 minutes.
3. Incorporate CDEA and water (2) and continue mixing until homogenous.
4. Check pH and adjust with 10% caustic soda solution if necessary to get pH = 9 to 10.
5. Add the ingredients with slow mixing.
6. Set aside to allow clearing of solution (bubbles to subside).
7. Pack into clear PET bottles or containers.

Liquid Laundry Detergent

Raw Materials:

774.7 g Deionized water (74.7+700)
15.4 g Caustic soda flakes
122.8 g LABSA*
48.9 g CFAS powder/needle
5 g Na4 EDTA* (Trilon B)
10 g Aquasol
10 g Essence (Ariel-like)
13.2 g Sodium chloride (technical grade)

* EDTA – Ethylenediamine Tetraacetic Acid

Procedure

1. Dissolve the caustic soda flakes in water (1).
2. Slowly add to the LABSA with slow agitation for 10-15 minutes.
3. Dissolve CFAS and EDTA in water (2) in separate containers.
4. Incorporate CFAS and EDTA solutions with mixing after each addition then add “Aquasol” until clear.
5. Add essence until uniform.
6. Thickener may be added as desired.
7. Set aside to allow clearing of solution (bubbles to subside).
8. Pack into bottles or containers.

Fabric Conditioner

Raw Materials:

863.2 g Deionized water (800+63.2)
100.0 g Fabric softener beads
5 g Na4 EDTA (Trilon B)
2 drops Colorant (H2O-Soluble); McCormick
12 g Essence (Downy-like)
19.8 g Sodium chloride (technical grade)

Procedure

1. Fabric softener beads (or flakes) is slowly dissolved in water (1). (If you use flakes, dissolve in hot water at 80°C.)
2. Dissolve EDTA in water (2) and add to the dissolved Fabric Softener solution.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until uniform.
4. Set aside and allow clearing of solution.
5. Pack into PET (plastic) bottles or containers.


Source: DOST, photo courtesy of www.openrussia.ru