Ground cherries or Cape gooseberries

Joyfirst · Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:58 am

I am growing these this year, and I am wondering, if you have any advice. How much I understand fruit is encased in husks like tomatillos, but they are sweeter and smaller, and plants are much more compact. They also seed themselves as easily as tomatoes, so how much I understand next year I won't need to sow them at all, just to pull out the ones I do not want. Like I do with calendulas and nasturtiums.

123 · Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:52 pm

hopeful thinking.... maybe...

but time will tell.

like they say..

don't count you chickens before they hatch,

you reep more from what you do sow than what u don't sow.

123

Joyfirst · Sat Mar 21, 2015 1:40 pm

Hmm, so did you try growing them?

JONA · Sun Mar 22, 2015 4:08 am

I grew them many years ago. They cropped very easily but I found that they took up rather a lot of ground for such a poor return really. Mine did not reseed themselves.....but that was probably because we are them all!!!
They do grow easily and the only problem we had was with Red Spider which seemed to love them too.

!potatoes! · Sun Mar 22, 2015 8:13 am

I grow a number of species of ground cherries every year, cape gooseberry/peruvian ground cherry being one of them. you may have a significantly different experience with them, being in southern california, than jonah in england. they don't mind heat, after all, and are known to crop better when treated relatively poorly.

that said, the annual groundcherries, like P. pruinosa tend to yield a lot more than P. peruviana (a tender perennial). the annuals reseed here, mostly from not-quite-ripe fruit that drops when the first fall frosts hit. I think I've only ever gotten one volunteer peruviana, but it may happen more for you.

Joyfirst · Sat Mar 28, 2015 10:47 pm

I am trying two kinds -one cape gooseberry from Baker Creek seeds, and one from ebay, that just said ground cherries (I got that as bonus seeds). I am hoping, that that one is Aunt Molly's variety, since plants are more compact and sweeter from what I read. Maybe that one is annual?
I planted those from ebay close to two weeks ago, and nothing yet. Internet says it takes 2 to 6 weeks for germination, and that they love heat, so I am putting them tonight inside on heating pad on low, and keeping them outside in the day time.
How long it took for you to germinate them?

Joyfirst · Sat Mar 28, 2015 10:49 pm

JONA wrote:I They cropped very easily but I found that they took up rather a lot of ground for such a poor return really.

Maybe in your climate they would be best grown in the greenhouse? I read, that they need long season, and to be started early indoors, since they are slow to germinate and grow slowly at first.

!potatoes! · Mon Mar 30, 2015 5:08 am

Joyfirst wrote: How long it took for you to germinate them?

got a slightly late start my physalis this year. I planted on 3/12. the P. ixocarpa (tomatillos) came up the first week. the P. pruinosa (annual ground cherries/aunt molly types) and crosses where pruinosa was the mother all started coming up by the 23rd. P. peruviana (cape gooseberry) started moving late in the week last week - the 26th or 27th. still waiting on a couple other species. note, my home-saved seed usually germinates faster than seed I get from elsewhere.