56 Tamarillos. Will I miss the relish?

[Heinrich]

Seeds of a store bought Tamarillo were germinated in February 2014. In spring, eight plantlets were planted in ground in the garden. In autumn, after the first frost damaged the leaves, the plants were pulled out of the soil and the defoliated stems with a few roots only, were placed close together in a single pot with peat. During the winter in a frost free greenhouse, one of the plants developed some stem rot and the lesion was cut out. This top cutting was easy to root in spring and resulted a ninth plant. End of March, the stems were planted in individual pots and fertilized. Again in May, the plants were planted in ground in the garden. First flowering plants could be observed in August 2015. After the frost destroyed leaves and flowers in autumn, the stems were overwintered again. In March, this year, stems were potted and fertilized and new leaves and flowers appeared in April. Soon after, the plants were planted in the garden. Due to the cold weather in spring, it took until June for fruits to develop. Since August, all new shoots and flowers were removed to focus the plants on fruit ripening. Two of the nine plants stayed fruitless. Now, seven Tamarillo plants (including the two clonal plants) bear together fifty-six well developed fruits.
What shall I do? Ice and snow are only a few days ahead and the fruits would need four more weeks of nice and warm weather to ripen. I am not prepared, to singly pot the plants and grow them in the greenhouse. That would give me greenhouse grown Tamarillos. That´s not what I want. I would prefer Tamarillos grown in my own garden. The final goal is to be independent of a greenhouse. It should be possible to overwinter the stems even behind a windowsill in a cool room, or similar. Potting and fertilizing in spring, doesn´t need a greenhouse either.
Tamarillos are subtropical plants of higher altitudes and like to grow in mild and warm weather. The leaves are fairly frost tender, but stems not so much. A second important feature is the shallow root system. Stems can be pulled out of the soil, without much roots, and handled like cuttings during the winter. Without leaves, the plants are not prone to pests. In spring, soon new leaves and a root system develop. With summers a while longer and frost a little later, Tamarillos can be successfully grown in a temperate garden. To breed for a more precocious variety, would be a further goal.

Tamarillos in my garden. Some exposed leaves are already frost burned.



Ripening would need a little more nice and warm weather.

[Solko]

Hi Heinrich,

Thank you for posting this, it is a pleasure to see another grower from the temperate regions post his experiences on growing subtropicals and the difficulties that arise in doing so.
I'm afraid I can't help you with a solution, but it is enlightening to hear of your experience with Tamarillo. I believe, probably like yourself, that for a fair number of subtropical plants enough experience with them can yield a 'trick' or practice that will enable them to fruit or live in 1 or 2 climate zones more north than where they came from.

I am still in the phase where I try to figure out survival for most of my plants and seedlings, and fruiting is a different story, but it seems that for Tamarillo the best option is to try to take an 'advance' early in the season, maybe by rooting the stems inside, a month earlier than last year, or covering them in plastic when you plant them out. It seems to me that the earlier you will get them to flower the better your chances of ripening a fruit. I'm not sure what you can do about them now - the plants are already large and in the ground... Maybe the fruit will ripe on the counter after picking?

In any case, good luck!

[fyliu]

Create something like the fruit walls in lowtechmagazine? It may be too late for this year's tamarillos.
Straw and frost cloth will help but probably not against snow.

How high are the fruits? Seedlings fruit up high and plants from cuttings fruit low, like fruits starting at 1-2 ft. Maybe you can grow some cuttings for next year.

[SocalKoop]

Solko probably has the right idea here, but instead of picking,  I'd take the whole darn branch with fruits still attached, put the branches in a pail of water and take indoors to ripen naturally on the branch. Branches should survive a month or two, especially if you remove leaves. It's not ideal, and I've never had to do it, but it might work.

[nullzero]

Here is what I would do, buy some LED grow lights, uproot the plants place in 5 gal buckets in water then place the grow lights within a 1' of the fruiting bunches and surround the area with mylar.

Get the following

(3) 5 gal buckets

(1) Mylar roll, $24
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apollo-Horticulture-2-Mil-Reflective-Mylar-Roll-4-x-25-50-100-/171893939142?var=&hash=item2805ad5bc6:m:mWf-KSKYRkl4f8xcIGY7Nvg

(1) active aqua air pump 8 outlet and about 50ft airline aquarium tubing $60 for both
https://www.amazon.com/Active-Aqua-Air-Pump-Outlets/dp/B002JPD76I/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1478215735&sr=1-1&keywords=active+aqua+air+pump+8+outlet
https://www.amazon.com/Standard-Airline-Tubing-Accessories-25-Feet/dp/B0002563MW/ref=pd_bxgy_86_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WJ3WDY19MMH68DFYVBAT

(3) Mars Hydro 140 true Watt LED grow light $70 each,
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mars-300W-LED-Grow-Light-Full-Spectrum-Hydro-Veg-Flower-Indoor-Plant-Lamp-140W-/291666162702?hash=item43e8a8740e:g:ZmIAAOSwTA9X6kg4

(1) air stones, $5
https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Mineral-Release-Aquarium-Airstone/dp/B00CQGXBJ8/ref=sr_1_5?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1478215659&sr=1-5&keywords=air+stone

Power surge protector and an area that stays above 2C were you can hang LED lights from above. A basement or garage that is semi heated. Timer for powering lights is optional. In total you will spend about $350.

You would setup 3 5 gal buckets, split the plants in each bucket. Fill with rain, RO, or distilled water. Add a diluted amount of comprehensive hydroponic fertilizer. Put 2-3 gal of water in each 5 gal bucket, until it covers most of the rootball (trim roots if it does not fit in bucket). Place 2-3 airstones in each bucket. Place 1 grow light over each bucket and about 1 ft above the canopy of plant. Surround each plant with mylar. Place surge protector on raised area away from water hook up lights and aerator.

Then wait for harvest. You will be able to sustain plants in this environment, as long as the aerator is working and the water is changed once a month.

[huertasurbanas]

Hi, they dont like frosts but they doesnt hate cold weater, so I would just protect them from frosts and wait till the fruits are ok to pick...

[Heinrich]

Thank you for your encouraging comments. They give me hope, there is still a change, for at least a small harvest.  I will try to ripe some on the counter. Are Tamarillos climacteric, just as Tomatoes?

Nullzero, your instruction for ripening Tamarillo in the garage is very convincing. Thank you, I may set up such a system in the future. That should give a decent crop. For the moment, I prefer a simpler handling, even though it fails.

Because I have no experience about the hardiness of the Tamarillo fruit, I decided to defoliate the plants, before the frost does likewise. In case the fruits are as frost tender as the leaves, the fruits soon may be lost. I uprooted the plants and placed in 2 containers (roughly 7 gal). Now, I can bring the branches inside a frost free greenhouse. There is no change to protect them outside, because our winters can be very cold. I know, stems and branches will survive inside, without roots and leaves. However, it is the first time they bear fruits.



Tamarillos, lost during uprooting.

[huertasurbanas]

Hi "Are Tamarillos climacteric, just as Tomatoes?", no, they should ripen from the plant. I think the snow would not kill the plants, but protect them

[Heinrich]

Certainly, frost hardiness of Tamarillo was already determined, elsewhere. Also, there may be some variation between different varieties. This estimation is based on my plants.

- 1℃ (30℉) frostbite on exposed leaves only.
- 2℃ (28℉) leaves and fruit stalk die of exposure.
- 3℃ (27℉) stem and branches are seriously harmed. Fruits show cold damage.

One fruit was exposed outside, during a frosty night. The temperature went down to - 3℃ (26.6℉). Left fruit exposed to frost, compared to an unexposed fruit. The peduncle was soft in the morning. The fruit skin slowly became brown not until days later.

[King]

Here are my tamarillos in Northern California.  Are the orange ones ripe yet?  Both the orange and reddish tamarillos come from the same tree, the reddish ones are the ones that fruited later and are more shaded, while the orange ones are in the sun.  I planted this tree from seed in August 2013, and planted it in the ground in February 2014.  I bought the seed from Baker's Creek Heirloom seeds.  This is the first year they have stayed on the tree until autumn.





Here's the thread I made before about this tree.

http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=19929.msg248047

[Heinrich]

Marcos, tamarillos do behave similar to tomatoes.
The 5 fruits, which fall off the tree during uprooting, turned soft and orange, after laying 5 to 6 weeks in the kitchen, on the counter. The taste was surprisingly good. Aromatic with some fine acidity. To compare, I bought one fruit at the store and was disappointed. This fruit was bland with no acidity at all. However, not all of my fruits were so good, either. The fruits didn´t turn orange and soft, all at the same time. The largest fruit ripened at last and was acidic and not very aromatic when eaten. Possibly, it still was too early for consumption. Certainly, the fruits have to have a certain degree of ripeness when harvested. Well, I am very pleased with my tamarillos. The best of all.  My wife didn´t know tamarillo and now she likes these fruits very much.

King, your tamarillos look delicious.
By now, you have probably eaten quite a few and know about the best time of picking. On my trees, most of the fruits are still green. A few turned red, but are still very firm when touched. How is the taste? There are few taste reports of tamarillo. Oscar likes them. I mean, with his experience and knowledge about so many fruits, tamarillo must be a very delicious fruit, when fully ripened. Tamarillo is not readily available here, but can be found sometimes in the delicatessen store, imported from Colombia.

Ripened on the counter and surprisingly good.





The largest fruit. Not so good and too acidic.

[King]

Here are my tamarillos this winter. The tree always loses all its leaves through frost burn in Northern California whenever it gets below -2 degrees C.  Then all the fruit falls off once it gets frost burned.





My tamarillos came out as orange, with a few reddish purple ones.  The seeds are orange instead of black. I haven't tried the reddish purple ones yet.  Its interesting how random the colors of tamarillos are.  Every poster on this forum seems to have a different color of tamarillo. They taste like a combination of a sour orange with tomato.  It had a violin resin smell to it.  They are good winter time fruits.  I don't think it needed anything like sugar, whipped cream, or cheese to improve the taste, it was already sweet and fruity.  The skin wasn't really overly bitter either. I could even eat the inside flesh of the skin, it wasn't bitter.

[Heinrich]

Today, I enjoyed the last Tamarillo fruit. My fruits didn´t ripen during the winter. With temperatures in the green house below 10°C (50° F), most of the time from November until mid-February, the fruits stayed green and ripened only in March and April, as the temperatures rose.  Compared to autumn fruits, ripened on the counter, the spring fruit were sweeter and more aromatic. Also, they offered more to eat. Now, one could eat the inside of the flesh, but not in the autumn fruits.



Last week, I have potted the plants. However, the trees are slow to recover. There are still not many roots and new leaves and flower buds are just emerging. In May, after the last frosts, the Tamarillos will be planted in the garden again.
If I missed most of the fruits, then only because my wife likes them so much. For me, it is good to know, she appreciates what I am doing.