Ground Cherries, anyone?

[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.

[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

[SEAMSFASTER]

Those seedlings are coming along great - I like the pots too!

Just my opinion - ignore the buds and blossoms. They are not likely to set fruit without some extra effort on your part. The risk of damaging the plant while pruning likely outweighs the very slight increased plant growth you might get from pruning.

If they do set fruit, maybe then prune them off. I'm thinking flower production is a minor drain of plant resources, while fruit production would be much more significant.

[Elizabeth]

I have 6 Aunt Molly seedlings, but sadly my Golden Berry Pineapple seeds may be dead, there are no signs of life at all. I still have some left, I think it's time to see if I can wake up a new batch. At 14 years I know it's iffy, but I have to at least try Even here in southern CA if I don't get them going soon it will be too late for this year. At least I'll have Aunt Molly's - I'm looking forward to trying them, they sure sound yummy!

[tgplp]

Originally Posted by SEAMSFASTER

Those seedlings are coming along great - I like the pots too!

Just my opinion - ignore the buds and blossoms. They are not likely to set fruit without some extra effort on your part. The risk of damaging the plant while pruning likely outweighs the very slight increased plant growth you might get from pruning.

If they do set fruit, maybe then prune them off. I'm thinking flower production is a minor drain of plant resources, while fruit production would be much more significant.

Thanks for the help! The pots are made out of biodegradable coconut coir. It's neat that they put the furry stuff on coconuts to use somehow!



Elizabeth- sorry to hear about the golden berry pineapple seeds. I'm excited for the Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry, too! Should be good. Post pictures of your plants?

Taryn

[Elizabeth]

My ground cherries are still in their dense planting cell since all of my light space is taken up by just potted up baby tomatoes. I'm giving the toms a chance to get acclimated to their new pots for a few days, and letting the wind die down a bit before I let them hang out outside under a tree. Once I get them outside I can pot up the tomatillos, ground cherries and herbs. The lanky ones in the first photo hiding their label are El Rey tomatillos.

I got started a good 3-4 weeks later than I intended this year so they are not as far along as I wanted to be at this point....sigh. Although, maybe it's kinda good I am behind. If I had planted on time I would have possibly already planted some out in the garden and we had dreadful wind and a freak hail storm a couple of days ago - they probably would have all been toast.

[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