my big “goldenberry” physalis are 2 years or 3 years old? i clip and root them and keep them up in the warm height in the greenhouse all winter, they grow, in spring they go in the ground when it gets warm out.
the ground cherries take care of themselves and reseed, but this year i planted them from starts from seed. last year the fruit were very small and i would like them a lil bigger. so a restart i guess.
a handful in the middle here.
Lucky you’re in a zone where that variation can reseed, here in 4b only the nasty kind that I accidentally bought self-seed and act like weeds 
This way I’ll be able to get a super start even way up here 
Also bit of an issue, I stepped on glass n got a nasty cut in my foot a couple days ago, it’s getting a lot better now
Also in expanding this reply, I’m a bit sad to see this massive leafy structure knowing I’ll likely only get a little bit more of the berries which further justifies my determination to clone them… not exactly sure which ones are which but whatever 
Maybe I can grow more from seed and label them for cloning snother year. Supposedly if I root these and put them into a 5 gallon container and prune them aggressively, I’ll be able to take unlimited clones from that plant at the time to systematically eliminate the whole purpose of starting them from seed to begin with… and get hopefully more than enough fruit super early. But here’s what I got
That’s a seriously impressive plant, though I totally understand why it’s frustrating to look at that much foliage and realize the fruit may be the limiting factor. I’d definitely keep a few of the best-looking ones labeled for next year and experiment with rooting cuttings from the strongest plants. Having a vigorous plant in a container that you can prune and use as a clone source sounds like a pretty good way to get around the whole “start from seed and wait” cycle. I’ve also been using Botan when I’m not sure what plant I’m looking at, and it has helped me figure out a few of them. And ouch on the glass, glad to hear your foot is already getting better- definitely take it easy with that while you’re doing all this gardening.
i grew 4 types of groundcherry last summer. everyone of them reseeded. now i have a 15’ x 25’ patch of self propagating groundcherries. when they were only 6in. high i went through there with a weed wacker and cut rows in there then thinned the rows to 1 plant every 4ft. been picking / eating them for a month and a half now.
Huh… I dunno, the main issue is the short growing season, the nasty weak tomato tasting ones aren’t the ones I want. Maybe… quite possibly… there are ones I haven’t tried yet xD
Yea it seems my misfortune before that drove me far away from trusting certain types may have made my lose out on some fast growing ones xD
No worries, these are Physalis longifolia var. longifolia because the small hairs on the plant all point in 1 direction + the yellow anthers. You have a unique P. longifolia because the flower spots are more spread out.
This means the species is perennial & probably taste like maple syrup or lemon flavored groundcherry when ripe. These will ripen off the plant but of course it’s still better to harvest at peak ripeness if you have the chance to.
Amber bronze=delicious.
i read they are mildly poisonous when green. when my husks thin like that mine are fully ripened and bright yellow.
do they ripen after falling when green?
normally they are all ready yellow/ ripe when they fall off. not sure why yours isnt.
Those look like Physalis longifolia to me, I would eat them when they’ve become yellow or orange bronze (altho some gardeners who grew them enjoyed the green). It’s not deadly poisonous but probably won’t taste good green. Physalis are known to drop fruits unripe sometimes, just pick them up store them indoors and let them ripen like you would with unripe green tomatoes. I’ve picked green fruits before & they eventually did ripen.
But… based on the seed photo, the seed already look mature enough
