Tomatillos

Don't you have to pollinate tomatillos?

s1rGr1nG0 wrote:Don't you have to pollinate tomatillos?

do you mean hand pollinate? I'm letting the bees do it, and there are LOTS of them. They love the plants. You DO, however, have to have two plants, they can't pollinate from the same plant.....

A coworker of mine said the little ladies at the market buy small tomatillos or purple tomatillos. They are supposed to have good flavor. I have to research the small tomatillos to see if they are just small regular ones or a special type. 

I planted a few seeds of the purple tomatillos. They sprouted and grew to a decent size, so I gave my coworker a few. Recently I repotted mine into two 5 gallon containers. They are starting to explode in size and I'm getting a couple of flowers. Yippy!!

My regular tomatillos are starting to mature. I thought the fruit matures in the end of summer, but a couple have fallen off the bush and the others are filling their lanterns, so they must be starting to mature now. If I treat them well I hope to have enough to freeze, so we can have some chile verde during the winter. 

As I've read here, I guess you treat them like tomatoes - water, sun, size of container (if you use one), etc.

grownsunshine wrote:
My regular tomatillos are starting to mature. I thought the fruit matures in the end of summer, but a couple have fallen off the bush and the others are filling their lanterns, so they must be starting to mature now. If I treat them well I hope to have enough to freeze, so we can have some chile verde during the winter. 

Last year, mine almost always had flowers, but set fruit mainly in three big waves about a month apart. They are very prolific, but the fruits don't tend to get all that big, so it's good to have a few.

As I've read here, I guess you treat them like tomatoes - water, sun, size of container (if you use one), etc.

Mine stood up like trees, but benefited from a central stake early on. They also formed a canopy something like a tree does. In that regard, they didn't really look like tomatoes. Also, they never got blossom end rot nor sunburned, and in that respect didn't act like tomatoes.

However, they did love the sun like tomatoes. They formed a huge root ball, even bigger than my best tomatoes. Some people say they are incredibly thirsty, and that giant root ball may have something to do with that.

I'm going to grow mine in 5-gallon buckets this year, as crop rotation needs means my space for nightshade family plants is all used up this year. I hope they do as well as they did in raised beds last year. Those beds didn't have MM in them, and the buckets will, so maybe that will make up for the reduced root space of a bucket.

Marc - Canopy, nice! Right now mine are just shooting up branches. I have them in a short tomato cage, which it's already outgrowing. I'm thinking of putting another tomato cage upside down on top of the first one. Won't look nice but it seems to need the support. The tomatillo that's next to it sits on the inside of the first one isn't growing as fast. It has a few toms just sitting on top of the mulch plus a few more higher up.

I'll keep the large root ball in mind when I water and feed (fish fertilizer - weekly, a bit of coffee grounds & maybe a bit of compost - 4 to 6 weeks) my toms, especially the ones in the 5 gallon buckets. Thanks for the heads up about that!

I had the best chili verde sauce at a Mexican restaurant last weekend. I'm anxious to experiment!

OK...so I pinched my lanterns, and I can feel the tomatillos inside!!  They're about the size of a golf ball!! Thanks guys!! you were right

grownsunshine wrote:

I'll keep the large root ball in mind when I water and feed (fish fertilizer - weekly, a bit of coffee grounds & maybe a bit of compost - 4 to 6 weeks) my toms, especially the ones in the 5 gallon buckets. Thanks for the heads up about that!

I had the best chili verde sauce at a Mexican restaurant last weekend. I'm anxious to experiment!

Love that chili verde, especially in January.   

Are you sure you need to be feeding a high nitrogen fertilizer weekly?  I can see doing that the first week or two until the plants settle into their new home but not after that.  You could get more green growth at the expense of fruiting.  
BUT that said, you already have fruit ripening so it is working for you.
 

Agreed. Last year my tomatillos didn't get blossom end rot, but my tomatoes did. I gave them a little too much nitrogen. Made for lush green growth, but I overdid it. Tomatillos may be less subject to it, but even so, at some point you want to get your fruiting plants turning away from green growth and diverting their energy into babies instead. High and/or frequent nitrogen is probably a better fit for non-fruiting plants whose leaf vegetation specifically is what you're after -- lettuce, chard, spinach, cabbage, and such.

Ok, I know I can be a bit impatient. I'll hang tight and wait to see how things unfold before additional feeding. Things seem to be going well right now. Every few days I'm putting a Tom in the fridge and I'm okay with that pace.

Each of my recently planted store-bought tomatillos now has a blossom!  The ones that went to seed last year didn't survive our harsh winter.

Woo-hoo Donna!  Don't forget to send pics...!