Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

General information and discussion about cultivating tomatillos.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old September 11, 2011   #16
Direct Sunlight
Tomatovillian™
 
Direct Sunlight's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: N. Texas, Zone 8A
Posts: 79
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by SEAMSFASTER View Post
My understanding is that tomatillos are very dependent upon insect pollinators, especially bees - more so than tomatoes. They also tend to drop most of their blossoms early in the season then produce like gang busters later. At least that's been my experience.

I'm raising Toma Verde and Purple. The purples are hardly producing anything, while I can hardly keep up with the Toma Verdes. I have a fair number of pollinators buzzing around, so I'm not sure why the purple is so much less productive.
Ok, I've seen bees all around the pumpkins and wasps around the tomatoes, but haven't seen too many around the tomatillos. If you're right I should expect a sudden surge of production at some point.
__________________
"Sure it grows where you are, but..."
Direct Sunlight is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 11, 2011   #17
Direct Sunlight
Tomatovillian™
 
Direct Sunlight's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: N. Texas, Zone 8A
Posts: 79
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by ireilly View Post
I have 4 purples, and only one is flowering and setting fruit. It didn't start flowering until maybe a month ago. But this has been a remarkable season for many crops.
Remarkable is right. I was foolish enough to think that okra always grew well here. This year it's been just about a waste. We're breaking the record for hottest summer ever. I've uprooted some of the plants, trying to save water & didn't want to see them wither and die. I may pull the pumpkins if they don't set more fruit by next week, otherwise will feel obligated to water them.
__________________
"Sure it grows where you are, but..."
Direct Sunlight is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 11, 2011   #18
carolyn137
Moderator Emeritus
 
carolyn137's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by SEAMSFASTER View Post
My understanding is that tomatillos are very dependent upon insect pollinators, especially bees - more so than tomatoes. They also tend to drop most of their blossoms early in the season then produce like gang busters later. At least that's been my experience.

I'm raising Toma Verde and Purple. The purples are hardly producing anything, while I can hardly keep up with the Toma Verdes. I have a fair number of pollinators buzzing around, so I'm not sure why the purple is so much less productive.
Tomatillos are not just more dependent on insect pollinators and more so than tomatoes, they must be cross pollinated b'c they are self infertile.

Somewhere at the top of the initial thread here on tomatoillos I linked to the excellent article from Purdue on all things tomatillo and it was also mentioned that almost any member of the Physalis genus can also be a source of pollen if within so many feet, which I've forgotten now, but it's in that article, and that's good to know for the persons who grow just one plant and say they get berries and then pooh pooh the info about two plants minimum being needed to get X pollination and berries.
__________________
Carolyn
carolyn137 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 1, 2011   #19
Direct Sunlight
Tomatovillian™
 
Direct Sunlight's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: N. Texas, Zone 8A
Posts: 79
Default

They've taken off now. Do anyone else's plants yellow in September, or just mine? One plant died, the other two are literally covered up with blooms and starting to set plenty of tomatillos. Just had to wait from the beginning of May until now, that's all.
__________________
"Sure it grows where you are, but..."
Direct Sunlight is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 11, 2012   #20
CatSJB
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Texas
Posts: 3
Default

We have a lot of plants that are blossoming right now that I assume are Tomatillos. I assume this after seeing some Tomatillo fruit for sale in the grocery store. The only problem is that the blossoms on my plants are light purple and are shaped like a five point star. The center of the blossom is yellow. The leaves look somewhat like an oak leave with pointed ends, the underside of the leaves have a thorn on them.

I've found some pictures of Tomatillo blooms that are exactly the same shape as the flowers on my plants but the pictures all show yellow flowers.

Is this a different variety of the Tomatillo? If so, are they safe to eat?
CatSJB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 11, 2012   #21
CatSJB
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Texas
Posts: 3
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by CatSJB View Post
We have a lot of plants that are blossoming right now that I assume are Tomatillos. I assume this after seeing some Tomatillo fruit for sale in the grocery store. The only problem is that the blossoms on my plants are light purple and are shaped like a five point star. The center of the blossom is yellow. The leaves look somewhat like an oak leave with pointed ends, the underside of the leaves have a thorn on them.

I've found some pictures of Tomatillo blooms that are exactly the same shape as the flowers on my plants but the pictures all show yellow flowers.

Is this a different variety of the Tomatillo? If so, are they safe to eat?
Never mind, I seem to have finally been able to find information on this plant and it seems to be a Carolina Horsenettle. The fruit looks so much like a Tomatillo when it's growing, husk and all.
CatSJB is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:55 PM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★