Sorry, Tomatillo again

[TonyF]

Been looking through the archive and still haven't got the answer to my possible problem.

I've been given one very mature plant - has anybody else grown one plant and had it fruit?

Also, the plant is throwing out the additional branchlets between the main stem and the leaves. Do I need to rub them out in the same way as tomato plants.

[Snadger]

Been looking through the archive and still haven't got the answer to my possible problem.

I've been given one very mature plant - has anybody else grown one plant and had it fruit?

Also, the plant is throwing out the additional branchlets between the main stem and the leaves. Do I need to rub them out in the same way as tomato plants.

Sorry I can't help you Tony but I've grown six plants from seed and was wondering the same thing myself. One has a flower on it and the plants only 6 inches high.
After seeing one of HFW's programmes was wondering whether it was worth trying a few outdoors as well?

[Serendipity]

I was given a tomatillo seedling last year which I grew in a pot until it was large enough to plant out and then stuck it in a flower bed in the garden and left it to it's own devices. It was my first time growing these and I didn't know what to expect but it grew huge and was a beautiful plant and gave a reasonable crop of fruit. It was worth it just for the lovely flowers and the "lanterns" as the fruit inside grew. The children were quite fascinated by it.

This year I have grown five of them myself from seed, they are now about 12" tall and I will be planting them out in the next week or two.

[Serendipity]

Sorry I can't help you Tony but I've grown six plants from seed and was wondering the same thing myself. One has a flower on it and the plants only 6 inches high.
After seeing one of HFW's programmes was wondering whether it was worth trying a few outdoors as well?

Well the one I had last year was grown outdoors and this years are currently in pots outdoors waiting to be planted in the ground. If they can survive the cold weather oop north then they are farily hardy plants.

[SarzWix]

I was always under the impression that you needed 2 for pollination, but I'm quite happy to be wrong
The side shoots don't need to removed Tony, I just left mine to bush out. And I stuck them outside as soon as the frost risk was past, because they got rather mahoosive..

[selfraising]

Hi
I only had one the year before last and it produced fruit.

[Snadger]

Well the one I had last year was grown outdoors and this years are currently in pots outdoors waiting to be planted in the ground. If they can survive the cold weather oop north then they are farily hardy plants.

Think I'll split the difference and put three outdoors and 3 indoors! I'm rather partial to a nice salsa and chutney! How tall do they grow?

[TonyF]

Excellent info, thanks folks.

[blackkitty]

I've always thought you need two but last year I somehow managed to kill all but one and it fruited quite happily. I'm keeping mine in the greenhouse at the moment, I found last year that they struggled to crop outside before the end of season.

[HotStuff]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but I'm trying to grow Tomatillos for the first time this year. Seeds germinated OK, but now I have some verry thin leggy seedlings which don't seem to be doing anything. Any advice?

[womble]

I grew them for the first time last year as well. I was also under the impression that you needed two plants, certainly I know I gave one plant to a friend and he got no fruit, maybe there are different types which have different rules? Mine certainly needs two plants anyway. Its the green tomatillos from realseeds.

Hotstuff, yours sound like mine did last year and this year, mine always go leggy, just pot on to and lower plant to the bottom leaves. They will grow.

Now you see I always understood that they did much better outside rather than inside, probably because they need insect pollination. Mine survived quite a windy spot last year, but they do tend to be a bit delicate until they really get going and need some protection.
I got loads from two plants last year and I would say that is enough for anyone but the biggest tomatillo fan.

Oh yes and I let all the sideshoots grow. One interesting thing was that one plant grew slower than the other, so the big one had loads of fruit and the slow had about half the amount. The one with half the amount, the fruit grew on average twice as big as the fruit from the other bush. So if you want bigger fruit, remove some of the flowers, because they do tend to go a bit ballistic with flowers.
I'm guessing that they would benefit from a good feed often when they are fruiting, I didn't bother that much, but looking back it would have helped alot I think.

[Alison]

I've grown them outiside for the past two years. They need insects to pollinate them and they get big (very big) so there's no way they're stopping in the greenhouse! I don't do much with them apart from provide a few canes to help them stand up otherwise they can get flattened in the wind. Even in a rubbish summer like last year when I also planted them rather late I still got a few salsas off them and they look very pretty. I planted mine about 18" apart and even then they were a bit crowded and they probably grew about 4' tall but can't remember for sure.