They layer readily, and Ive often taken a few rooted stems to overwinter. I also just dig the whole crown and pot it up. You can be really brutal, they don’t mind. At the same time, I would typically cut all of the stems about 8-12” above the crown and hang them up to ripen the (often abundant) late flush of still green fruit. As you point out, Winn, they ripen well just left on the stems. They’re not as tasty as sun ripened ones, but nearly so. They keep all winter too, just hanging there.
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Sure thing. I’ll send you a couple of Malinalco branch segments this fall. My experience last fall with peruviana cuttings was that they all immediately sprang to life in ghouse but only one cutting eventually developed roots. The others rotted by late winter. I may have removed humidity tent too soon and will try again this fall.
The Malinalco variety I grew was from https://www.rareseeds.com/tomatillo-chupon-de-malinalco
My fruit were on the small size- maybe my growing conditions. I’m going to try a few other Malinalco vendors to see if there’s a difference in fruit size.
Re: the ongoing discussion of pest pressure, I’ve noticed these tip chews on my seed-started Malinalco. It’s on about 20% of the fruit and since the plant is so productive, it’s not really a problem.As with peruviana, the damage occurs on fruit still in husk on plant. I wonder if this is where others have noticed damage on Malinalco?
Malinalco
Lucie’s Goldenberry (peruviana)
As for preventatives, remay was my first thought, too, but I see it doesn’t work.
hobilus
“I put remay over the native Physalis for a few weeks in spring and found out they wont fruit w/o pollination”
If remay prevents pollination and the culprit is a moth, I wonder if a bug zapper set to come on in evening hours might work? …I need to stop myself - this is probably too much intervention!
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That’s interesting, my community pot of cuttings had nearly 100% success and in the photo above the cutting grown portion of that patch is twice the size of the plant that’s got the original root ball. I don’t think I used any humidity protection at all, but it was kind of tucked under some avocado branches that got sprayed pretty regularly. I planted it out in late spring.
We have been picking these goldenberries for several weeks now. We saved the seeds from some that we had bought in the store last winter. We have had quite a few that were damaged by insects but we are still getting quite a few.
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I’ve had these before from the supermarket and thought they were terrible- BUT I just had them from china and boy are they delicious! They had a nice sweet peach/cantelope flavor with a slight tomato finish. Even the green ones were pleasantly sour and flavorful.
Can someone help me identify what variety it may be? Further, is it possible to grow in 7a by starting in doors and growing as an annual? Also, will they grow true-ish to seed?
Yellow color with some green. Shape is almost like a little rounded bell pepper.
In the husk (if it helps!)
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Physalis are my new favorite fruit!
Here’s a September pic of Lucie’s Big Goldenberry (left), Schoenbrunn’s Goldenberry (right), and Malinalco de Chupon (bottom). All were grown from seed started last year in late February.
Your pic seemed to show faint ribbing which is also noticeable on my Schoenbrunn. Schoenbrunn was the latest maturing in my cool maritime 8a.
Both Lucie’s Goldenberry and Schoenbrunn taste much sweeter and more citrusy than my local grocery store variety. Chupon de Malinalco Physalis philadelphica subs. ixocarpa is my earliest Physalis with a sweet pepper/citrus taste.
Definitely plant your seeds indoors and give us a report . You can also dig up plants in October and overwinter for a jump start next year. All sections of the plant seem to root easily.
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