let's Discuss Tomatillos

grownsunshine wrote:Can't wait to make salsa verde con chiles arboles....yummm!!!

Please please, would you post the recipe in the recipe section of the forum? I really have no idea what I'm supposed to do with them once I get some. Actually, I don't know that I've ever eaten one before. I got the seeds free during Ray Praxxus free seed giveaway so I planted them.

CC

Learn something every day. A separate recipe section! Yippee!

Ok, the truth is I've never made Chile Verde myself, but I've eaten plenty of it, as I live in So Cal...so I'm not an expert, however I am an eating expert...like us all. Here are two recipes to try.

Rick Bayless (famous chef - Mexico One Plate At A Time) - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/my-country-my-kitchen/salsa-verde-green-tomatillo-salsa-recipe/index.html

The recipe I want to try is from the TV show "Pati's Mexican Table". I have it on my VCR and will post her name when I get home. The recipe is very simple. Remove the husk and wash the tomatillos. Roast tomatillos, garlic & chile pepper in a pot of water. She boils hers but I'm going to broil mine. I like the smokey flavor. Turn them over so all sides get roasted. Put them in a blender & add a table spoon of EVO. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Tomatillo Chile Verde: http://www.patismexicantable.com/2011/05/enchiladas_in_a_green_tomatillo_sauce/
Tomatillo & Lime Jam: are we adventurous enough? http://www.patismexicantable.com/blog/recipes/page/3/

Not so sure about the recipes with the Mexican creama, but she does have healthy recipes or her other recipes can be modified.

...and here is a bunch of chile verde recipies: http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/delegate.do?fnSearchString=chile+verde&fnSearchType=site

Oh, thanks for these! I love watching Rick Bayless! He's such an odd duck and he's the reason I chose tomatillo seeds in the first place. I'll use his recipe.

CC

CapeCoddess wrote: A lot of us have never grown them before this year.

How cold were your cold nights ?

CC

Since they've been planted out, we've had 3-4 nights in the 40s and 1 night down to 34.2F with frost, but they were safe under blankets. I think tomatillos grow like weeds. I did have some three lined potato beetles on my plants last year that I would squish (and their eggs)--from what I've read they actually like tomatillos more than potatoes.

RoOsTeR wrote:I'm getting suckers too. Are you supposed to remove them on tomatillos?

I remove them early on so they don't bush out so much near the ground. I'll let the suckers start growing out and let the plant bush out when the plant is a little larger. I find tomatillos need good staking (I use tomato cages and stakes) and benefit from pruning when they get too unruly.

CapeCoddess wrote:Oh, thanks for these! I love watching Rick Bayless! He's such an odd duck and he's the reason I chose tomatillo seeds in the first place. I'll use his recipe.

CC

Once you try his recipe, let us know how it is. I'll so the same with the other recipe. If tomatillos grow like everyone says (like crazy weeds), then we can make a big batch of our fav salsa verde recipe and use it later.

js

...I meant, we can make a big batch, freeze what we don't use and use it later.

I am planning my fall gardens and I am considering reserving some space to try growing ground cherries. I can remember finding a patch of these when I was young and munching on them (they were delicious, but I had no idea what they were! What was I thinking?)...anyways...Has anyone grown these? I hear they can spread and take up a lot of space...Would I be able to grow them up a trellis? Would I just be better off growing them in a container? Opinions greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Brian

So I have two tomatillo plants planted next to each other.  They've both had many blossoms, but so far no fruit.  The blossoms just fall off after they bloom and die.  Should I be hand pollinating them?  How do I do it with these plants?  Should I just try spraying the flowers with apple juice, like someone suggested doing for tomatoes?  (I've been using my sonic toothbrush to help pollinate my tomatoes, even though I was getting a lot of tomatoes without it.  There were still a lot of blossoms dying off at the stem and not forming fruit.  Since you have to cross pollinate tomatillos, this probably won't work though, will it?)

I also accidentally broke one of the tops off one of the branches when I was tying it to a trellis.   I went out one morning, and one of them had fallen over on the ground.  Will it grow more stems from that, or is that branch lost?  (They're about 3 feet tall, maybe, each with about four branches/stems.)  I'm going to try to weave them in and out of the trellis, which is actually an arbor they're sharing with cucumber plants.  They are a lot more delicate than tomato plants, however.

I'm also wondering about hand pollinating cucumbers and melons.  Do you use the same method as you would zucchini and squash?  I'm asking, because the flowers are much smaller, and I tried tearing the petals off a male flower so I could rub the stamen around inside the female flower, but it didn't work.  So... paintbrush?  

Thanks bunches!!!

The flowers on my 3 plants fall off also. I'm keeping the faith that this is normal and that they will be just fine under my TLN. (tender loving neglect)  

CC

jazzycat wrote:I'm also wondering about hand pollinating cucumbers and melons.  Do you use the same method as you would zucchini and squash?  I'm asking, because the flowers are much smaller, and I tried tearing the petals off a male flower so I could rub the stamen around inside the female flower, but it didn't work.  So... paintbrush?

Let's keep this on topic for Tomatillos please.  There are many, many topics here on the forum that cover what you're looking for.

RoOsTeR wrote:

jazzycat wrote:I'm also wondering about hand pollinating cucumbers and melons.  Do you use the same method as you would zucchini and squash?  I'm asking, because the flowers are much smaller, and I tried tearing the petals off a male flower so I could rub the stamen around inside the female flower, but it didn't work.  So... paintbrush?

Let's keep this on topic for Tomatillos please.  There are many, many topics here on the forum that cover what you're looking for.

 No problem, but can you answer the question I asked about tomatillos?

Thanks bunches!

To be honest jazzy, I don't. This is my first experience with Tomatillos as well. My first guess would be heat, but take that with a grain of salt  Did you read back through some of these pages? Might be something there. I think llama and Turan both have grown them, so maybe they'll speak up. Post up some pics of yours. I'll try and get mine updated here soon. I'm actually not growing Tomatillos but ground cherries.

RoOsTeR wrote:To be honest jazzy, I don't. This is my first experience with Tomatillos as well. My first guess would be heat, but take that with a grain of salt  Did you read back through some of these pages? Might be something there. I think llama and Turan both have grown them, so maybe they'll speak up.  Post up some pics of yours. I'll try and get mine updated here soon. I'm actually not growing Tomatillos but ground cherries.

 I've read everything I could find, here and on the net.  Didn't really see anything about hand pollinating though, or if it's necessary (possible I missed it, sometimes I just skim through if the threads are really long).  I'm in love with salsa verde though, and I'm really hoping to get enough tomatillos to make a bunch of it for canning.  It's expensive buying it at the store!  And I've been saving jars to put it in.  

Thanks anyway.  I'll keep looking.

I am no expert on tomatillos, though I have grown them for the last 4 years.   My startegy is to stick them in the ground somewhere and forget about them until late summer when they will miraculously be covered with fruit.  I suspect they love the hot days in August.  This year so far they are sulking.  I transplanted them too late without up potting them.  They do have lots of flowers but no little lanterns yet.  So I am continuing with the neglect and hoping they get over the late transplanting and get around to doing their thing. 

Jazzycat, They need bees and bees love them.  Gardeners learning to adapt to the bee shortage is new territory.  Try out your paintbrush idea and other hand pollinating ideas and then report back to us.  We will all learn from you.

jazzycat wrote:

RoOsTeR wrote:To be honest jazzy, I don't. This is my first experience with Tomatillos as well. My first guess would be heat, but take that with a grain of salt  Did you read back through some of these pages? Might be something there. I think llama and Turan both have grown them, so maybe they'll speak up.  Post up some pics of yours. I'll try and get mine updated here soon. I'm actually not growing Tomatillos but ground cherries.

 I've read everything I could find, here and on the net.  Didn't really see anything about hand pollinating though, or if it's necessary (possible I missed it, sometimes I just skim through if the threads are really long).  I'm in love with salsa verde though, and I'm really hoping to get enough tomatillos to make a bunch of it for canning.  It's expensive buying it at the store!  And I've been saving jars to put it in.  

Thanks anyway.  I'll keep looking.

http://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-tomatillos/

Hey Jazzy, if you are not seeing bees, just use a nice sable paint brush and stick it in every flower you have on all plants. It doesn't need to be complicated.

I read that a single tomatillo will not produce fruit.  So far it looks like it's true.  Lots of flower but no fruit.  Yesterday I bought a nice size plant to give two a try.  Will plant second one next to first one.  I always have to experiment!

Jazzy
This is my second yr. growing ground cherries, which are similar to tomatillos.  Never grew tomatillos.  The tomatillo picture posted does look a little different than ground cherries. Sorry no help here with your questions, I piped-up since my name was mentioned.  Ground cherries though certainly did very well for me in Mel's mix with lots of sunshine and heat.

camprn wrote:

jazzycat wrote:

RoOsTeR wrote:To be honest jazzy, I don't. This is my first experience with Tomatillos as well. My first guess would be heat, but take that with a grain of salt  Did you read back through some of these pages? Might be something there. I think llama and Turan both have grown them, so maybe they'll speak up.  Post up some pics of yours. I'll try and get mine updated here soon. I'm actually not growing Tomatillos but ground cherries.

 I've read everything I could find, here and on the net.  Didn't really see anything about hand pollinating though, or if it's necessary (possible I missed it, sometimes I just skim through if the threads are really long).  I'm in love with salsa verde though, and I'm really hoping to get enough tomatillos to make a bunch of it for canning.  It's expensive buying it at the store!  And I've been saving jars to put it in.  

Thanks anyway.  I'll keep looking.

http://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-tomatillos/

Hey Jazzy, if you are not seeing bees, just use a nice sable paint brush and stick it in every flower you have on all plants. It doesn't need to be complicated.

 You know it's funny you mention bees, because I was going to hand pollinate a baby melon in addition to doing the paintbrush thing on my tomatillos.  Well, right when I was getting ready to do the melon, a small bee showed up, went to two male flowers, then the little female.    so YAY!  I went ahead and did the paintbrush on the tomatillos though.  Can't hurt, right?  And I didn't see the bee head over to them.

I did plant some flowers called Bee's Friend to help attract bees, but so far, no blooms, and the plants remain small.  I'm hoping they catch up.  

I haven't seen nearly as many bees this year as I have in the past, and in the past I wasn't looking for them (wasn't gardening) and this year I am (looking).  There are literally TONS of dragonflies though.  Dragonflies EVERYWHERE.  And I love those guys.  It's interesting though, because they ALL blue.  Usually there are many different colored ones.  What's going on?

 I will keep you all updated on my attempt at hand pollinating the tomatillo plants.  How long does it take for the lanterns to show up once the flower dies?

Re the blue dragonflies, I think you may be looking at a similarly carnivorous species that goes by another name -- I forget the name. We have a lot of them where I live.

Now on to my tomatillo question. I am finding plenty of empty lanterns, and sometimes a normal sized lantern with a tiny fruit inside. Anyone know why that happens?

I'm wondering if it might have something to do with poor pollination? Kinda like the false starts you can get with zucchini that is only partially pollinated? (fruit starts up, but usually stays quite small and eventually shrivels up -- not exactly what's happening to my tomato, but ... maybe same cause?) I have been seeing a lot fewer bees these last few weeks. I've been wondering if some random neighbor somewhere went crazy on the insecticides. Almost everyone has a garden around here, and almost everyone uses Round-Up and similar chemicals too.

I'm finding that my tomatillos are really heavy feeders and drinkers.  I didn't put them in the SFG to save space & am I glad I put them in their own, LAAAARGE pots, because one of them has easily exceeded the 4' wide by 4' tall estimate on the seed packet and is nearing 6' x 6'. 

They are LOADED with little lanterns but like yours, the fruit inside isn't filling in very quickly, so I've taken to watering them every time I walk by and give them a little extra nutrition once a week or so.  It seems to be working in that my lanterns are getting bigger, and starting to feel plumper inside.  It must take a LOT of water to keep up with the greenery let alone fill in the fruit. 

With first frost about 3 weeks away, I figure I'd better do what I can if I want to at least taste one of the fruit.

OH!  And the bees around my 'hood just LOOOOoooove their flowers.  Even if I don't suceed in getting any ripe tomatillos, next year I'm going to find a spot to plant them in anyway just for the bees.

I don't really know how much water tomatillos need, I have never watered them special.  It does seem to take for ever for the lanterns to fill.  I have loads of lanterns now and some I can feel fruit starting to grow in.  I expect in a couple weeks I will have loads of ripe fruits to pick.  Hopefully I have some more cilantro started to go with them.

I give mine a darn good soaking when I water, but I only water two or three times a week usually. Earlier in the season -- even though it was much hotter -- all my lanterns filled out, pretty much as fast as they grew. So I guess I figured business would continue approximately as usual.

Lots of things seem to have gone a little weird in my garden after we had weeks of forest fires filling the air with ash and blocking out the sun. Maybe this is just more of the same.

Mine receive a fair amount of water from my new drip irrigation system, are blooming, but haven't yet produced any lanterns. And yes, I planted two or three, although they were pretty wimpy at the time.