Ground Cherries, anyone?

[SEAMSFASTER]

Four plants for two people should be plenty for snacking. By mid summer, mine were producing roughly a dozen per plant per day. What's nice is that - unless you have serious bug problems - the ground cherries can sit on the ground for several days and still be very tasty. So you could collect a few dozen over a 2 week period and have enough for a pint or two of preserves. I'm hoping to get enough to try that this year as well!

I treated everything a couple of days ago with Gnatrol WDG, an OMRI listed product. The only way I'll be able to tell if it had an effect is to see root-damaged plants start to recover and adult populations diminishing. It requires several treatments, so I'm going to have to learn some discipline!

[tgplp]

Alright, here are my ground cherry seedlings!






Not very big yet, but certainly growing.

How are everyone's ground cherries doing?

Taryn

[Tracydr]

Mine never came up. Seed was fine last year so I don't know what happened.
The purple tomatillos look great!

[tgplp]

I'm sorry to hear that, Tracydr. Do you want me to send you more seeds? Mine germinated great. Or is it too late to start them?


Taryn

[jennifer28]

My ground cherries are germinating. It took about 3 and a half weeks. I used a heat mat and a cover and that helped.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by tgplp

I'm sorry to hear that, Tracydr. Do you want me to send you more seeds? Mine germinated great. Or is it too late to start them?


Taryn

Thanks. Looks like I got two ground cherries going. I also found some more seed and have a couple more babies going.
Can tomatillos pollinate ground cherries? I planted them in the same bed, just in case I loose a ground cherry, in hopes the tomatillos could pollinate the ground cherry.

[tgplp]

Hey guys! How are everyones ground cherries growin'? Pics anyone?

Guess what?! One of my four plants set a ground cherry! It's so cute! It looks like a little green latern. What should I do with it? I don't know if I have the heart to clip it off... but if you guys think that would be the best thing, maybe I can muster the strength to do so.

I'll post pics of the cute little guy tomorrow.

Taryn

[Medbury Gardens]

Originally Posted by tgplp

Hey guys! How are everyones ground cherries growin'? Pics anyone?



Taryn

End of the season is close so not long before it will have to be pulled,was a very cool summer so it didn't do as well as i would have liked,still managed to pick a hand most days.

[Tracydr]

Originally Posted by Tracydr

Mine never came up. Seed was fine last year so I don't know what happened.
The purple tomatillos look great!

Forgot I’d even tried these back in 2012. I’m just now trying again with pineapple ground cherries. They germinated beautifully and look amazing in a little raised bed. I also have some green tomatillos looking good.
I may start some purple tomatillos. I have plenty of room and probably plenty of time for a later crop of them. I liked them a lot but when I grew them before we were in AZ and it got too hot that year before I got many fruits.

[SEAMSFASTER]

I've got seeds as well. It's not too late for Aunt Molly's, might be pushing it a bit for Inca Berry unless you can give them plenty of warmth, light and good nutrition.

Here are pics of my two best looking plants.







I am getting some recovery from the fungus gnats. Lesson for next year: Under no conditions and not for any reason bring plants into the house to overwinter. Likewise, garden soil is poison indoors. That's how I need to think anyway. At least I've managed to avoid aphids indoors this year (so far...) - those are even worse!

[tgplp]

Nice plants. What type of soil is the ground cherry in in that first picture?

I'll post pictures of my plants soon.

Taryn

[livinonfaith]

Mine were planted two weeks ago and are just getting their first true leaves.

From your pictures, they look like they will be very pretty plants. Is that true?

I really enjoyed my first tomatillo plants last year, as much for the looks of them as the fruits. These remind me of those a bit.

Hoping these will be just as enjoyable. Can't wait to taste them! You guys have really gotten me excited about these.

[stonysoilseeds]

i am going to try ground cherries aain this year i tried them 3 years ago but they never germinated but i like how delicious they are so i hope i have kuck this year

[SEAMSFASTER]

I think they are both attractive plants, especially the Inca Berry. But my judgment is admittedly biased!

The Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry plant in the 6" pot is planted in Sunshine Natural & Organic Professional Growing Mix to which I added Sustane 4-6-4, bone meal and Azomite. I put a 1" layer of clean "Play Sand" on the top surface to discourage fungus gnats, so it's only the sand that shows in the picture.

On 2-20-2012 I planted my third and largest planting of Aunt Molly's - 288 seeds. Here's what they looked like three days ago at 22 days along - note the variation in size resulting from extended germination time:



Today, 25 days from seed sowing, I finished transplanting these up to 3.5" pots, using the blend mentioned. I got a surprising 88% germination and 14 trays full.



Guess I better start honing my marketing skills - and where am I going to put my tomato plants?!

[tgplp]

Wow! Those seedlings look great! And you are growing so many.

Here are my two best seedlings:





3/4 of my ground cherry seedlings have teensy tiny buds on them. Should I prune off the flower buds until the ground cherry plants get bigger? What do you think? Pros and cons?

Thanks!
Taryn