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Digging deeper on the Boyce Thompson blog, this 2019 post about the relative growing seasons of peruviana and pruinosa may be of interest to others here:
Being that it was our first time growing groundcherry and goldenberry outside in a field setting, we didn’t know what to expect. One thing we were interested in was the length of the growing season for both species.
We found that the groundcherries (Physalis pruinosa) began to produce ripe fruit in early July and started to slow down by the end of August. The plants started producing fewer flowers and the leaves began to yellow by mid-August. The fruit that was produced at the end of August was much smaller compared to the fruit produced at the beginning of the season in July. By mid-September the plants had all stopped flowering and the vegetation became brown and brittle.
For goldenberry (Physalis peruviana) we had our first ripe fruit at the end of June. It is important to note that these plants were started in March in the greenhouse and were mature when they were transplanted into the field. We found that the goldenberry plants kept on producing fruit and flowering well into the fall, however, we were unsure how they would hold up in the cooler temperatures.
On October 5th we had our first frost, with the temperatures at our field site dipping below freezing for a couple of hours in the morning. We found that the plants had frost damage (see picture below), but were still alive. Another interesting thing we noticed was that the plants from Colombia (“Goldenberry”) were able to withstand the cooler temperatures and continued to flower and produce fruit well into October, after the first frost. Comparatively, the plants from South Africa and India had flowering shut down after the freezing temperatures, and displayed less vigorous growth than Goldenberry, becoming brittle and yellow.
We did our last goldenberry fruit harvest on October 15th, before the consistent cold weather set in for the season.
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mine must have been the Colombian as it preformed similarly.
I love all the contributed research on this site! I checked the summer temps in Ithaca, NY.
5-10 degrees warmer than here but probably close to Seattle/Portland …with a lot more rain.
Even though plants are monoecious, I remember reading in several places that you do better with 2 or more plants of 1 variety … as is true of other monoecious plants.
Ithaca summer H/L temps:
June 79° / 58°, 9 days rain
July. 83° / 62°, 9 days rain
August 81° / 61°, 8 days rain
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Another trial in New Jersey. Final report for LNE18-362 - SARE Grant Management System
My take-away from this trial is that you need to get plants to near flowering stage before you plant out.
Hypothesis:
Given accurate production guidelines and correctly identified germplasm, growers in the Northeast will adopt
goldenberries as a fruit crop. In addition genetic improvement can be attained by identifying plant characteristics
which enhance productivity and developing superior cultivars utilizing traditional breeding methods.
(long list of trials in report)
Research conclusions:
In general, most growers had difficulty in bringing the crop to harvest. Goldenberries are a very long season crop that must be field planted (as seedlings from the greenhouse) as early as possible in the spring. Since that is often not an option in the Northeast due to cold, wet weather in the spring, alternative production methods must be evaluated for Northeastern growers. The most feasible option is high tunnel production.
Several growers have planted up to 1000 plants, however, most growers who adopt goldenberries generally plant 50 to 100 plants.
Based on general observations over the three year test period, we recommend growing goldenberries on black plastic mulch, with a simple trellis and pruning plants until the first bifurcation of the main stem.
Participation Summary
406 Farmers participating in research
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Tomatillo & Ground Cherry Archives · Turtle Tree Seed Initiative
Schoenbrunn Gold Physalis Seeds 348 · Turtle Tree Seed Initiative
order placed. Going to have to start some seeds soon.
Goldenberries - Pictures! - Growing Fruit
I have not had a harvest that good in years.
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please let me know if the fruit of Physalis alkekengi is good.
i wonder if it has potential to breed as a fruit plant, most grow it as ornamental.
To have a cold hardy tasty Physalis would be great, even it is not that good as P. edulis…
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I will make sure to post an update. I just hope its fully self fertile because I only have one plant. Its very young but it should fruit within a few months. It would be wonderful to have a truly perennial fruity tasting physalis. Only downside to some of its cousins is that it only fruits once per season instead of continually throughout the season, at least according to some online sources.
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It shouldn’t be the heat. They flower just fine in the California Central Valley which is hotter than you.
I don’t know about humidity.
My first physalis Peruvian, “Lucie’s Big Goldenberry”, from a plant I dug up last fall, wintered over in ghouse, and planted out (under cover) in May. Plant started flowering in ghouse - that may be reason first few fruits are small.
Brix 15. Great orange creamsicle taste!
I also wintered over Schoenbrunn Gold, which has not yet ripened its fruit.
Also started both varieties from seed In March and planted out uncovered in June. Will see if I can get by with early seeding and not need to winter over. Re: cuttings …they all all looked great at the start, but none put out roots.
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I forgot to take photos, but we got our first couple ripe ones yesterday on the plant that spent the winter in the greenhouse, but was transplanted back outside this spring. I wasn’t sure how the fruit would be that had set pre-transplant, but they are pretty good. Still no new flowers since going outside, though.
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How are everyone’s peruviana plants doing?
I planted out both a cutting-grown clump and the original root ball in spring. The root ball plant had set fruit in early spring in the greenhouse but took a break from flowering for a couple months after transplanting.
Now, they are both huge and vigorous, covered in immature fruit and still continually flowering, but it’s been more than a month since the last ripe one from the early spring flowers, and no sign of the second wave ripening yet:
My current plan is to wait until they either start looking sad or a frost is in the forecast, and then I’ll cut the stalks just below the lowest unripe fruit, hang them indoors to see if they finish ripening. The branch tips with really immature fruit and flowers will be cut off to root in the greenhouse for planting out next year if the outdoor roots don’t survive.
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Hi. Yes you can wait untill they finnish to flower of give good fruits. We love them!
Mine, planted in late spring, grew alright, but only set and ripened a few fruit. It’s been looking kind of sad, perked up in the last few weeks though.
Tasty. Some bitterness to it, but not much.
Somebody else likes it.
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The Lucie’sGoldenberry and Schoenbrunn Gold that I dug up last fall and planted out this spring (under a polycarbonate cover ) are over 6’ and have outgrown their tomato cages. The problem I is that mice or some critters are feeding on the ripe fruit just as they start to turn yellow. The innards of all those husks have been eaten. Grrr !
In another location I have spring-started plants that are about 5’ tall. They are behind but at least have no critter damage. Fruit on left is Lucie’s Goldenberry, on right Schoenberg Gold - not ripe yet. At bottom is Chupon de Malinalco (P. ixocarpa) - my new favorite. It’s way earlier than the peruvianas and has a sweet citrus/green pepper taste. This one is seedless, perhaps because I planted only one. I have canned a lot of peach/chupon chutney. Have frozen the rest for winter use.
Even though the Chupon were also planted under a polycarbonate cover, their early ripening means they’re probably good for open planting even in cooler parts of PNW.
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I’m not sure if he’s on this forum, but Mulberry0126 over on TFF put out an interesting video on Physalis. He’s in central NC. I’m real curious how his perennial hardy Physalis will do.
His update video.
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This grower’s grafting of a peruviana onto a native ground cherry in order to develop a locally adaptive golden berry strain is fascinating. Most parts of the country probably have poor-tasting, vigorous, native ground cherries onto which peruviana could be grafted. New project!
The insect damage he noted to fruit inside the husk is similar to what I see on my peruviana growing under cover. I might have inadvertently created a warm and humid microclimate similar to N.C.
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I also had a problem with a bug digging into the husk, but usually it was just the ones that had fallen. I was growing Physalis grisea (Sierrs Leone groundcherry) and angulata (mullaca) not goldenberry though. They were both doing really well when I pulled them out mid-August, even with the heat and rain. The only reason I took them out was to help mitigate my hornworm issue.
Have you tried rooting cuttings of that one yet? I’d love try a clone for spring!
With how easily peruviana has rooted for me, I’m thinking it may work best for most Physalis in our climate to take cuttings before the first frost and start them rooting over the winter, rather than starting from seed each year.
Worth noting for those who haven’t read the other thread, Hobilus had some good info on insects eating Physalis fruits.
Lots of good discussion of hybridization on that thread too.
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