I have "lanterns" on one of my tomatillo plants. Do those lanterns form only if the flower pollenated? They seem too heavy to be empty inside but it's hard to tell since they are attached to the plant.
Hunt- I read conflicting information about whether or not you need 2 plants to pollinate. Dr Carolyn posted a link somewhere to a university website with a scholarly paper about tomatillos that indicated that 2 were required so I planted 2 to be on the safe side. I think if there is another physalis in the area you'll get pollination. That might be worth investigating. You could see if a nursery nearby has Chinese Lanterns or ground cherries. I saw some for sale at our local farmer's market yesterday. I'll try to find the link and repost it here.
I found the link:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/1492/tomatillo.html