Physalis peruviana blooming, whoopee!

[Epicatt2]

Got a couple Physalis peruviana (Goldenberry) from a TFF member about six weeks ago.  They were planted out immediately into a five gallon pot with a 4 ft tall tomato cage.  That seemed too tall so I replaced it two weeks later with a three ft cage, since these plantlets were only about 8 inches tall then.

Now six weeks later the plants are six inches above the tomato age, which surprises me more than I thought it would since the original plantlets were comparatively so short.

They have never been fertilized (I was warned not to or they'd just grow and grow and never flower) but the pot finally had to have a large saucer placed under it since these plants are truly water-pumps and will drink up the water in the dish in a mere two-day's time and then they'll last for one more day before going into a major wilt.  (Adding the saucer and not allowing it to remain empty for more then one day has kept the sulky wilt from reocurring.)

And most amazing to me is that there are sudenly now flower buds all over these plants.  (It is also amazing that the little flower bus look so much like tomato flower buds.)  I was told that these were precocious but I'm still surprised at their rampant growth!  I hope that this fruit's flavor holds up to expectations.

Plants are sitting on the edge of my front porch where they get morning sun up 'til about 10 a.m.  Is that enough or do they want more hours of sun?

Anyway, I'm hoping that they'll set some fruit soon.

Foingers X-ed!

Paul M.
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[Galatians522]

Sounds like they are doing great where you have them. My Ayacucho Peruviana got 6' tall the first year I grew them. They got to 4.5' this year with no fertilizer and very little water. Mine have done fine in ground because they are resistant to nematodes (unlike peruinosa). My one piece of advice is to start spraying them every 1-2 weeks with Thuricide BT (or another BT product). I made the mistake of not doing that this year and basically lost my entire crop (hundreds if not a thousand fruits on 6 plants) to caterpillars that bore into the husk and the eat the fruit. They seem to show up right about the time they start blooming. Oddly enough, my New Hanover Peruinosa which is only 3' away was mostly unaffected by the caterpillars. So, one resists nematodes, the other resists caterpillars. Both taste good, but so far the Ayacucho Peruviana is my favorite solanum fruit.

[K-Rimes]

Goldenberry are very strong growers. I discarded some pruned bits in places around my yard being lazy and lo and behold, I now have new plants growing. They overwintered well last year and continued dosing me with fruit all winter, and are flowering again. They are in some deep shade spots of my yard and doing fabulous, just the same as doing well in full sun.

I have one that I discarded behind my greenhouse that has MONSTER "lanterns" on it, almost 3" across. I hope the fruit inside grows to match the size of the exterior.

[nullzero]

Oh wow save the seeds on that monster latern. My largest golden berries get about medium to large grape size. It's a great fruit that produces +80% of the year. I only have a gap of fruit into January and February, it sometimes produces a little fruit during this gap as well.

[drymifolia]

In the fall I brought a root ball from a peruviana seedling that came up in a garden bed last year into my greenhouse and planted it in the ground. (I had failed to germinate some seeds and reused the soil, hence the surprise seedling). It flowered too late for fruit last year, but is looking good now in the greenhouse after continuing to grow all winter and spring:

[K-Rimes]

I don't have small hands, these are just really big.


I would have never thought to cultivate this uh.... Rock wall debris?


It's just hanging out!

[canito 17]

Mine