I did try & tell you that last year!!!!

I can be so pig-headed sometimes. The choko reached about 80ft up a gum and it was raining chokoes for weeks before I took to it with the adze.

My Dad gave me some off his vine (he only has a few hundred spares he's trying to foist on neighbours and friends) and I refuse to eat or plant them because of reasons already given. But my wife sat them on our sunny kitchen windowsill and they have intertwined and grown into a pretty little lattice of bines. I will however mash and compost them before they take over like that scene out of Jumanji.

Anyone still have the more cold hardy spikey ones? so I can grow one in Victoria? the smooth from the supermarket is a bit of trouble, it needs more heat than my climate has

I feel so impotent. My chokoes failed miserabley last year - - the grasshopper plagues from the bush block down the back ate them. I can send you some hoppers if you want to get rid of yours?? ;-)

Note sure where to get the spikey variety, Nicefrog, but I do know they exist. Paradise, if you have chicken plant the chokoes around their run and coop and stand back. :)

Why?
Do the chooks throw the chokos back at you?

They're called chokos coz you eat 'em 'til ya choke, right??.

i wish i'd known you wanted spiky ones earlier-- i had heaps, and left the excess to rot or possums. I also noted that this years spikys were lighter coloured-probably cross pollinated with a white one i had-- anyway, i prefer them for taste, but they must be picked and consumed when small, as they mature and toughen very quickly.We love chokos as well as choko and pineapple or choko and passionfruit jam!not to forget the choko chutney!

That's ok, but if anyone comes across the spikies in the future let me know before they are extinct : ), I'll try the smooth ones this year but no one around here has had success with them yet, aparently the spikies were really easy to grow back in the day.....

Oh well : )

I have been lately substituting for cucumbers. Chokos are 20 cents each and cucumbers are 2 dollars. When i make Raita to go with the curries, they're really nice grated with the yoghurt and tomato. very refreshing.

Spatzbear
Why?
Do the chooks throw the chokos back at you?

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've seen it before and it's the only one I can't work out, but what does ROFL stand for. I tried using the usual for F as in RTFM but no luck.

I hope it's not a d'oh on my behalf when I find out.

Rolling on the floor laughing!

*grins*

I've never had a choko in my life. Should I feel deprived? Should I grow one?

Thanks Spatz.

Some people live by the theory that you have to try everything at least once in your life.

I don't necessarily subscribe to that theory.

Go ahead...knock yourself out!

Most things are worth trying twice, just in case an amateur was involved the first time.
Oh come on, keep it nice!!

I'll bite this time - what does RTFM mean?

nah - chokoes are OK - as long as they are in an apple pie with LOTS of apples! It's just the peeling them that's a problem - that waxy stuff that gets all over your hands and wont come off unless you rub potato peels all over them - too much effort

Hmm...as I don't swear (well, extremely rarely, and pretty tamely)...I'll have a hard time with this one...

Read the Fxxxx Manual.

Sorry. You asked.

And why do I know all this?! I must be a nerd. Oh no!

Hello all!
Sorry I joined this thread so late. I grew the spiky chokos back in 1977. It was at a time when they were a staple in my diet i.e. not much else to eat accept chokos and tomatoes. Even used them in relish with tomatoes to try to get rid of them. That all happened in the NE Victoria and the hot summers ensured the chokos (well, one plant actually) consumed the next door's plum tree and covered one side of the garage. We even made up a patented choko picker on a long stake to pick them. Wonder if I could of made some money on that?
Decided to try the smooth skinned type down here in Melbourne about 4 years ago. Grew like crazy. Grew so well, that they strangled the next door neighbour, didn't find him for for week! But did not set fruit until March. Since chokos are sensitive to long days they will not initate flowers until daylength gets to 12 hours-longer than this and they remain vegetative. Just another set of useless facts.
Cheers
Craig

LMFAO! ...Don't ask.

the smooth ones take too long for me before they start setting fruit (like May).. anyway, these posts prompted me to look around and i found an old wizened one with shoots so i planted it so it would survive..pricked my fingers doing it too, so it's definately a prickly one. therefore, i'm a source for any hardy member who prefers the original hardy choko..

PMPLMFAO

peed my pants laughing my FAT a(oops)$$ off.

that's what you meant, wasn't it wicky?

florial, you may get inundated with requests. I haven't seen a prickly one since I was a kid. Too cold for them here. I think I'm grateful!

Excellent : ) look after them and I'll put my hand up when they are ready, but if they were cross pollinated with another one will they still flower early and be more cold hardy?, hope so because it seems these spikey choko are a rare thing

Wishful, Fat........er yeah that's what I meant :)

nicefrog--- yes, the suspected-crossbreed pricklys were also early and prolific. Dont know about cold tolerance, being in subtropic climes. Have located a couple more growing where they were chucked, and have put some chicken mesh around them to disuade that vagrant scrub turkey scratching up everything that's not nailed down. I tried a white one because they were once used as a substitute for apple (that would take a lot of imagination, methinks), but it sort of died out with little performance.

for the prickly choko stalwarts-- just advising that the prickly one scrawling thru the old mango tree is full of flowers, nice and early-- rocks beat the scrub turkey scratching them up. It's also an expert finding old underground sweet potatoes, and spuds i didnt know i had; they dont use scent like truffle pigs or dogs so how do they know? It also found a chinese yam I couldnt locate after the vine died down??

You trained it well (the scrub turkey), it seems. Just try to teach it not to eat the produce and deliver it to your doorstep. :)

My choko had a heap fruit on it a couple cms long a couple of weeks ago but the neighbours cows managed to reach one bit of it and pulled nearly the whole vine over the fence and ate it. The vine is now about half metre high :(

This is a nostalgic thread. I cannot remember seeing a prickly choko for probably 45 years. My grandfather used to grow them when I was a younger kid. I think most chokos do not taste like anything...they are mass but not much else...however my lovely bride of 30+ years loves them so I procure them for her. I have recently planted a couple of smooth skin ones around the chook pen...hopefully I will see what happens...perhaps the chooks and ducks will throw them at me??? I would love to grow a prickly skinned one or two as well, when they are available. Warmly...Daniel

Can anyone supply me with a mature prickly choko from which I can propogate a vine? I had one many years ago until someone who shall remain nameless, sprayed it with Roundup.
Here's hoping.

g'day rod,

have you checked at your local fresh vege' shop? buy a piece of fruit where the embryo is protruding. they do need a lot of watering to produce well. for me far too much for what they are worth on the shelf.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

Anybody know where I can get a white choko in Sydney Australia? Curios if the flavour is any better than the green smooth skinned choko