Gardening
Related: About this forumtomatillas anybody..
this is my second attempt trying to gow them... last year i learned teh hard way that one plant is rarely self fertile...i have fairly decent fruit set this year,right now i can feel marble sized fruits inside the husks.. they seem to love this hot dry wheather, which i suppose they would being natives of the baja.. doing well in Albuquerque NM
this year i have 3 plants ... would love any advise..
Denninmi
(6,581 posts)Sound like you have all of the bases covered. I guess all I would add is water enough to make sure they don't wilt -- a severe wilt, even a one-time event, can make them drop all of the developing fruit.
oldhippydude
(2,514 posts)today we had 100 degree plus day, single digit humidity.. soaked them twice today they are veracious water hogs.. have been feeding once a week with miracle grow, used lots of compost in the planting holes..
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)They get HUGE!
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)I had a terrible time with them the first year and I remember being frustrated when I read that in Mexico small farmers don't plant them, they just let a few volunteers grow.
Every year since our first successful crop we've had volunteers the next year not only near where we had plants before but in other beds -- probably because a seed survived composting.
When the plants have about six leaves we transplant a couple to the right spot and dig out the rest.
I have a moderate to hot dry summer climate and once the plants are established they produce like crazy. Don't let them dry out but don't give them a lot of water either -- they don't seem to need much. I think that more water will make the fruit bigger though.
Denninmi
(6,581 posts)Both have fruit larger than golf balls approaching the size of a ... what's bigger than a golf ball and smaller than a baseball/tennis ball ...
Cisneros is available from a number of seed companies.
NeedleCast
(8,827 posts)Planted tomatillas - mostly for use in salsa - two years and never got anything from them. Both years I had two plants and they both produced lots of flowers, but never a single fruit. Gave up on them after two years of nothing.