Tomatillos

chillidoggy

During lockdown, I bought a vegetable trug to grow some stuff in. Nothing big, herbs, radishes lettuce, that kind of thing. While at the garden centre I noticed some plants called tomatillos that I'd heard of but never seen before. They were about 10" tall and I bought two for a quid each. We named them Pote and Teresita in homage to the characters from 'Queen of the South'.

Two months on, and just like their namesakes, the bastard things have taken over the trug, shoving everything thing else either out of the way, or in the shade. They're so big, maybe over a metre tall and bushy as fuck, I can't shut the poxy trug lid.

Anyone else grown them before, or had any experience with them? If they're going to produce a shitload of fruit, fine. Green tomatillos salsa it is. If not, I'm getting the pruning shears out before they get any bigger.

stonevibe

I thought this was a thread about overpriced hand-wound pickups from some Mexican lady in her '50s or '60s

ThePrettyDamned

They're fantastic fruits.

I have grown them before and they fruited loads. Treat them like tomatoes - I think I sideshooted them to control bushiness and increase flower production, and fed weekly with an organic seaweed food.

Don't worry about having a lid over everything, most stuff doesn't need that level of heat and humidity to produce. I grew tomatillo outside on a balcony.

You may find that the shade from them benefits lettuces and herbs, by keeping them cooler and reducing the chances of them bolting it's also a good idea to have some pollinator friendly wild flowers nearby to bring in bees, wasps, hover flies etc to help manage pests and pollinate the flowers. 

EricTheWeary

just looking online and a meter tall sounds about right. Sounds fine.

PolarityMan

Never heard of them..are you sure theyre not triffids?

Emp_Fab

Are they some sort of cross between tomatoes and armadillos ?

hollywoodrox

I’ve not heard of them either ,very interesting 

cj73

Emp_Fab said:

Are they some sort of cross between tomatoes and armadillos ?

Crunchy on the outside...

scrumhalf

If there's a meteor shower just run like hell.

chillidoggy

No, I’m not sure whether they’re triffids, but as they haven’t managed to escape the confines of the trug, it’s looking unlikely.

As it happens, the coriander is doing well in the dappled light, and the rocket lettuce appears to be, errrrr, rocketing up, too. On the downside, the basil has withered in their shade, and the spring onions are pitiful, about the size of a drinking straw.

I only bought two of them because the woman in the garden centre said a single plant wouldn’t produce fruit. Not sure how that works, but at £2 she can’t have been profiteering, so maybe it’s true. But I can’t determine whether the small buds on them are the precursor to fruit, or whether they’re a new flower. Time will tell.

I’ve seen the fruits in US supermarkets. They look like a green tomato in a husk. The salsa they make from them is very nice, great with Mexican grub, or fish tacos.

pigface

My wife grew them here in Germany a few years ago. They did very well and produced a large amount of fruit, which went to good use in salsas, chutney etc.

EricTheWeary

chillidoggy said:

No, I’m not sure whether they’re triffids, but as they haven’t managed to escape the confines of the trug, it’s looking unlikely.

As it happens, the coriander is doing well in the dappled light, and the rocket lettuce appears to be, errrrr, rocketing up, too. On the downside, the basil has withered in their shade, and the spring onions are pitiful, about the size of a drinking straw.

I only bought two of them because the woman in the garden centre said a single plant wouldn’t produce fruit. Not sure how that works, but at £2 she can’t have been profiteering, so maybe it’s true. But I can’t determine whether the small buds on them are the precursor to fruit, or whether they’re a new flower. Time will tell.

I’ve seen the fruits in US supermarkets. They look like a green tomato in a husk. The salsa they make from them is very nice, great with Mexican grub, or fish tacos.

Tomatillos aren't self pollinating so if you don't have at least two you don't get any fruit. It's also why you need bees to get at them.  

Kittyfrisk

^ Or a small paintbrush. 

EricTheWeary

Kittyfrisk said:

^ Or a small paintbrush. 

Although Chillidoggy has to understand that only works if he uses the paintbrush whilst dressed as a bee and wiggling his bottom. It's the only way to fool the tomatillos, they are a relatively smart plant. And that video evidence of him doing this shared online would also help. In some way. It's science. 

chillidoggy

So, presumably tomatillos are male and female? Or are they trans, or still questioning? We get plenty of bees here, so they should be well pollinated.

EricTheWeary

chillidoggy said:

So, presumably tomatillos are male and female? Or are they trans, or still questioning? We get plenty of bees here, so they should be well pollinated.

I don't think you have to pair a male tomatillo plant with a female tomatillo plant so all the plants must have both bits but also developed a way to stop themselves self pollinating. Inasmuch as I understand it ( which is obviously not very much at all) this is to help the species develop stronger fruits ( a bit like avoiding incest) although plenty of plants can self pollinate including tomatoes (although tomatillos not being a type of tomato despite the name).   
I'm not sure we covered this in my biology O level  .

Dominic

It's Salsa Verde time

Jetsam1

Sounds interesting. Going to ask the wife who has a degree in plants if we can see if we can source them.

Bellycaster

They're so good that Fender named one of their colours after them.

Benm39

Tomatillos are great. Yes,  straggly as hell but should crop heavily and fresh tomatillos are a bugger to find so enjoy them.  Lotta salsa verde loveliness:)

Kittyfrisk

EricTheWeary said:

Kittyfrisk said:

^ Or a small paintbrush. 

Although Chillidoggy has to understand that only works if he uses the paintbrush whilst dressed as a bee and wiggling his bottom. It's the only way to fool the tomatillos, they are a relatively smart plant. And that video evidence of him doing this shared online would also help. In some way. It's science. 

Works a treat for Robert & Toyah...