I was given a tamarillo. I live in mid north coast of NSW, AU. I am not sure how to grow them here. Right now we are receiving heaps of rain. :( Tge calendar shows us we are in the middle of spring but to be honest I think we just arrive in to Spring season as of today. I am tempted to cut the growth but it’s raining right now. (Hail storm yesterday without a hot house) Will see what’s going to happen next. 😅 I am so grateful for scientist-gardener. That’s how I plant too. Thank you for your video. 🎉
Luckily for you Kelly, easy to grow tamarillo outside where you live 👍. Even near Melbourne I know people growing tamarillo outside all year round and fruiting them successfully so you should do much better than me 😁
I have a few seeds .. keep forgetting to start the seeds Totally agree with you .. different environments .. will be following updates .. Have a great evening
I started a few from seed, they are about 4-5 feet tall after about 5 months in Southern Ca.and starting to flower now. They sure do stink when you rub against them. And the bugs seem to love them. It is a constant battle keeping the bugs from chewing on them. For such a big plant they sure have tiny little seeds.
Just don’t want to flower here lol, might be our climate. They grow to about 6 or 7 feet tall each summer but don’t flower. Yes the leaves smell like burnt popcorn I’d say
I'm growing 2, in tubs in the greenhouse. They grew quickly indoors, fed with citrus feed and compost, are now about 6 months old, and have reached the apex of the greenhouse roof, so I've recently pinched off the tops, out of necessity! We are in a very cool climate, in the north of England, so I'm not over-hopeful they'll survive until fruiting but I really hope so! I am tending them with loving care...was feeding them with citrus fertiliser until the winter. They are constantly plagued by green blackfly, plus a few tiny but greedy snails, even in the greenhouse; they all love their juicy leaves aarrgghh. I have been worried at their recently drooping leaves but have been encouraged by other stories that this is normal in colder climates. I expect I'll have to keep some heat in the greenhouse for a few hours on the coldest days, I don't want to risk losing them after the effort in growing them from seed, the memories of enjoying their delicious tangy fruit in my youth in New Zealand keeps me going!
If you keep them above zero they should be fine, unfortunately at the time of the big freeze last December I had no heater and my summerhouses went down to -4c and my tamarillos all died. Due to lack of space I haven’t replaced them yet. You might need to cut them back in the Spring to encourage side branches as that’s what they seem to fruit on. Yes they are aphid magnets lol. Good luck 🤞
@lyonheart84 Hi and thanks for your response! That's given me some hope they might survive. If they die, I may try one more time, this time with just one (lack of space) in a small outhouse we have which is more protected. The cost of heating, and the special fertiliser, etc, - I even bought the greenhouse because of them....! -will just about be worth it if they survive to fruit. I can't wait. Sorry to hear about yours last December...I'll definitely prune them in Spring as they have no side shoots, just the main Jack-in-the-Beanstalk stem! Best wishes.
@MultiEllis1 yes they will certainly fruit in a greenhouse or conservatory, I saw loads of ripening fruits at Kew only last week in the temperate greenhouse
Great! I'm looking forward to the progress of your experiment here. Very interesting. I'll soon follow your lead. My bet is on tree 2 (the one on the left) being the best and flowering the soonest.
Do you mean the one in the middle ? I'm not convinced it will be successful as growth rates are so slow here compared to the tropics that it could take a few weeks before it puts on decent new shoots. I think flowering may be triggered by temperatures and day length rather than methods of pruning but hopefully we'll find out.
@@lyonheart84 No, you pointed at the first tree you were going to prune and that was the one in the middle. The second one you pruned was the one on the left.
@@mr.v3061 haha sorry I had to watch the video again to see which order I mentioned them, I should have numbered the plants on the video 😂😂. In fact the middle one is the system they use in commercial growing in South America where they cut the young plant right back. It's probably the right way to do it but I hate cutting my lovely plants so much 🤪🤪
This video is legendary! Oh, how i hope you get them back like this! (mine are struggling too, but a bit less than yours, mine still have the newest top leaves in green colour. The oldest leaves turned brown and fell off)
Haha well the old leaves fall off naturally I guess, I think at least 2 of the 3 are still alive but of course i have others still in the kitchen so i have plenty. If they are ok by April I'll repot them all and see if I can get a growth boost out of them
@@lyonheart84 make sure to cut the top from the ones that still need to branch out. Try to give it 2 main branches. If not the plant most likely will not branch out, just grow straight up and won't flower according to my research. i just cut the top from one of my younger plants too. It looks like the temperature will be milder now. I might put them back outside tomorrow.
@@mr.v3061 well the whole idea of the experiment was to try the 3 different pruning methods to compare what would happen but if course winter will have messed the experiment up as the growing tips will have been killed anyway, so they will automatically develop side shoots 😁
Brett, I sowed some seeds of this some twenty - odd years ago in Bristol (from a fresh fruit salad I was served). Grown on in a large plot in a sheltered sunny position I got fruit in the first year! The growth was amazing, about six feet in the summer. Flowers in the leaf axils and red fruit to maturity. Sounds like this was a happy accident. I haven't tried since : I think I mentioned previously that the foliage had an unpleasant smell :( Anyway I'll be watching to see what happens. Good luck.!
Yes the leaves smell awful as far as I'm concerned. Of course I sowed these at completely the wrong time of the year, in August / September so germination and initial growth was incredibly slow over Autumn and Winter plus I left them heavily potbound to stop them from getting leggy. I think if you sowed them early in the year and gave them enough warmth they would still be this big. Maybe you had the 'perfect storm' that year for growth, most people I know with them growing have waited until the 2nd or 3rd year for flowers. Ironically your lack of effort might have been behind the amazing success 😁😁
I had to stop the experiment for now because its winter of course and the plants are not growing. Due to lack of space I had to leave one of the plants outside, the frost will have probably killed it. If the others are alive in Spring I will continue the experiment 👍
I was given a piece of fruit from a friend he tree only had two pieces of fruit on it I scoop the seeds out I now have 12 plants I put three into each pot I successfully transplanted one out when it was smaller but these are now 2 1/2 foot tall do you think it be alright to transplant into their forever pot. It is now the beginning of summer in Australia three hours south of Sydney be much appreciated to know what you would do. xx
Are you going to leave them in large pots or plant them into the ground ? They grow outside all year round very successfully in Melbourne both in the ground and in pots so you should be fine unless you live a long way inland where it can get much colder
My 3 tamarillos are almost 2 years old (at around 2 meters tall) and are fruiting right now in Romania. I didn't really expect them to overwinter because I had no adequate space for them so they spent the winter in a hallway at about 16 C near a North facing window. To my surprise they started flowering there around March and now I have about 7 nice big fruits on 2 plants (this is what's left after a major aphid attack on the flowers while I put them out in the greenhouse). I still have my doubts they will ripen as we can expect temperatures to drop soon and I will have to move them inside again. I knew about the cutting but I just couldn't do it as I kept them just as an experiment and as ornamental plants. One of my problems is that they keep losing lower leaves and they don't seem to grow any new ones, only at the top. So I fear if I prune them they will just lose all leaves eventually and the plants will die. I'm really curious about your results.
Great to hear how yours have done, mine are just over a year old from seed now. All the ones I have cut back or pruned have developed side shoots but you are right, they are near the top of the plant, perhaps eventually it will get shoots down lower. Mine will be in the kitchen over winter. Your fruits will probably ripen, last year I had some mountain papaya in my kitchen !
@@lyonheart84 I like growing exotic things (at least trying to) but even with a greenhouse in my climate it's tough. Lately winters have been getting much milder but still the occasional -15 degrees make it completely impossible to keep such plants alive and I have no room in the house. A couple years ago I tried growing naranjillas in pots and the plants were beautiful but the fruits didn't develop and they died in the autumn. Now I have a pawpaw in the garden that I planted last autumn, a jujube that was planted in the spring last year and a persimmon that I planted this spring. They are alive but much less developed than I'd like to see. The vendor said they should survive these winters but not even my 2 year old figs in pots and kept protected seem to grow nicely. Aphids and spider mites are also frequently causing trouble. I seem to have more success with growing yacon, oca, mashua and crosnes (in planting bags) which are definitely exotic for us but in your climate they should do quite well.
@@BotondKisKovacs yes as you see from my videos I have probably the largest persimmon collection in the UK but they are quite slow for the first couple of years, i also have Jujube and pawpaw and they are even slower at first 🙄🙄. I don't have space for a greenhouse as my garden is very small. My house is also small BUT I have a very big kitchen as it's my favourite room and I had it built as an extension to the house so I had glass doors across the whole of one wall so that I could overwinter all of my tropical fruit plants. In winter I lose part of my kitchen to the plants but I don't mind lol, that was always my plan 😁😁
@@BotondKisKovacsBen Türkiyede dışarıda yetiştiriyorum 3. Yılı oldukça Evin Duvarına yakım üstümde Balkon var RÜZGARI kesiyor Kışı oldukça başarılı geçirdi Denize yakın bir yerde yani eksi 2 ye kadar sorun yaşamadım çok şükür
Yes you can grow them in large containers, unfortunately mine eventually died when we got extreme cold weather. Mine would gave fruited if I had kept them frost free
Loved your video I bought a small already grown tamarillo last year well about a foot hight it's now about 5ft and living in the conservatory. Yours looks lovely and healthy, please could you tell me how do you keep the green and blackfly off. Thanks Paul
Haha these plants now look dreadful after Winter, in fact I think one died but I have several others. You are right, they are aphid magnets. I just spray mine thoroughly with tepid water mixed with a small amount of fairy liquid washing up liquid. The soap in the water breaks down the protective wax on the aphids so they dry up and die
@lyonheart84 I also spray mine with a soapy solution, but I get so many critters on the leaves that when they die they stick to the leaves, looking horrible. I try to wash them off but many still stick. Ugh.. I know that eventually the leaves will drop and new ones appear..thank goodness!
I have grown one in a 44 gallon drum as a wicking bed and its growing very well. However is there any way I can get it to fruit earlier as the fruit is still on at the beginning of winter.
Mine haven’t even flowered yet but in a recent video I’ve cut them back hard again to see if it might force flowering. From watching videos in warmer countries it appears they flower late summer and fruit in early to mid winter so they need a certain minimum temperature in winter to be successful. I’m not sure there is any way to get flowers earlier unless you live in a warm enough climate for them to flower all year. I’ve read the fruit is surprisingly slow developing for a solanum 🤪🤪
@@lyonheart84Thq for a reply. I might shift in then to the warmest spot on my acre at the top of the hill where its the sunniest and will get reflective heat from the shed and the back fence too. Mind you to do that will be a big job.
I got a bumper crop (by UK standards- not Ecuadorian!) the year before last. I made a delicious tangy salsa from the fruits: www.flickr.com/photos/167319996@N06/45917263664/in/photostream/ Here's my tamarillo in its cold season (very early Spring, as you can tell from the blooming daffs) glory the year before last: www.flickr.com/photos/167319996@N06/45912973894/in/photostream/ It looked tattered due to the strong prevailing southwesterly winds we get in autumn. In summer, though, the leaves are immaculate. I have to haul this 5ft+ mammoth indoors during the frost season!!
Looks impressive. As I have several I may just leave one outside over winter to see what happens. By the way how long do they take on average from flower opening to ripe fruit ?
@@lyonheart84 Brett, I would not leave one outside when frost is forecast! Even a slight frost can kill the leaves. Once thawed they wilt like cooked spinach. Although the stem is a little more frost-resistant than the leaves, once the leaves are gone the plant has been set back, as new leaf buds won't emerge from the main stem until spring comes. If you keep the leaves on the plant during winter, it will have a head start come the next spring. This is a very similar habit to the related brugmansia: you can let the frost kill the leaves, but it will resemble a bare green twig until the next spring. Repeated frost exposure or a hard frost will freeze the stem, and once that happens, the plant is kaput. My tamarillo is flowering right now (they give off a pleasant scent). One or two tiny fruitlets are starting to set. The initially green fruits will grow larger and larger, ripen through the autumn and should be ready to harvest by November or December, depending on how kind our autumn is. As long as you protect from frost, the fruits will fully ripen to their dark orange/red colour. PS: I'd say that there's a good chance of your tamarillos fruiting next year. Just keep them going through the winter; do not allow frost to destroy the leaves.
I've got about 8 or 9 of them, I was only going to try the weediest one outside next winter as a sort of sacrificial experiment, you can see the leaves wouldn't last 2 seconds but I wondered how woody I could get the stem to be and see if that would help hardiness. Thought I might put it in a virtually pure gravel and bark mix to keep the roots dry to see what would happen if the plant was effectively dehydrated. Most frost damage to soft tissued plants ( species without natural antifreeze in the cells) is caused when freezing bursts the plant cells. Maybe if the cells are dehydrated enough they won't burst.... I'll certainly look after the others over winter 👍
@@lyonheart84 In any case the stem will definitely get 'semi-woody' (ligneous) over time but not truly woody like, say, the wood of a coniferous or hardwood tree. Even though the main stem does get ligenous as the tamarillo matures, I'm confident that a hard frost would still cause freezing and subsequent cell rupture and death of the inner cambium layer. If you want to 'experiment' on one then I'd suggest packing the main stem with lots of hay/straw (readily obtainable from pet shops or your friendly local stables/farmers). Doing that may well stop the stem from freezing, but you also have to stop the roots from freezing or getting so cold and constantly damp that root rot sets in. You'll lose the leaves, though. Kew Gardens do similar with their semi-hardy outdoor Palms- they pack the crowns of the palm trees with hay/straw for freeze protection over the winter period. Maybe you could build a large compost pile a plant the tamarillo on top. The warmth generated by the bacteria feeding on the organic matter may keep the roots warm, and because the roots will be above the level of the soil in your garden, excess rainwater will drain away under the influence of gravity as opposed to sitting around the roots and depriving them of oxygen.
No compost pile space but it's very sheltered on the corner of the decking right next to my kitchen doors and a slight overhang of the roof so I might just leave one there to see what happened
@@lyonheart84 interesting!! I am Colombian living in Australia so it was helpful to watch the video in my language. It says that the weight of the fruit could break the weak stems...which makes sense after watching the one that easily broke while you were working in your garden (found your follow up videos). I have had my plant for a few weeks and it is going well. I live in probably the opposite conditions to you, extremely sunny, hot and dry for a lot of the year. Wondering how to best care for it as I like gardening but I'm not skilled at it. Anyway...thanks a lot for finding the video for me :) It was really helpful!
The beauty of it is that in your climate you will probably be able to keep them outside all year whereas I have to trim back and bring indoors to protect from frosts. The stems are brittle although I'm not sure if I'll ever have to worry about my branches breaking from weight of fruit haha, I'd be delighted to get half a dozen fruit lol. Fortunate the video was in your own language 😁
@@lyonheart84 alright!! So now when I get home I will get some tamarillo fruits eat them and save the seeds plant the seeds and boom!!! 😄plus I don’t need a tree that takes 5 years to produce.. tree tomatoes produce in 2 years! And that’s good because I go to college in 3.5 The best part is they are a short lived tree only live for 12 years😲 so I won’t have to worry about having it for ever😂
Exactly. If you can’t buy the fruit you can get seeds easily on eBay USA for under 10 bucks but better if you can find a fruit as they have loads of seeds in.
Hello mate Do you know that there is a variety of tamarillo, more resistant to cold? it even supports -10 degrees, you could have it perfectly in your garden without protection
Hi Jorge I think you are possibly day dreaming 😉. I’ve heard the dwarf tamarillo might take -1 or -2 although I can’t imagine any tropical tamarillo with their huge soft leaves taking -10c. Obviously there are other members of the solanum family more cold resistant but I would love to know which variety this cold tolerant one is ? Do you know where to buy it and it’s correct name ?
@@lyonheart84 No, I'm not dreaming, I'm 110% sure :) What's more, I know someone who grows it in the north of Spain, in an area of -6 minimum and it is not a different solanun variety, it is a tamarillo that produces a greenish fruit with lighter stripes, and it is not a dwarf variety, the size of the bush is equal to that of the red or orange tamarillo, about 2 meters It's called hardy tamarillo, and once I saw that they sold seeds on ebay, any day I'll buy them and grow it, it's on my waiting list :)
North of Spain is still much warmer than the UK Jorge as we’ve discussed before. Your drops to -6 are extremely rare and tend to be very brief. Are you sure they didn’t get their naming slightly confused and it was a tomatillo or some other similar solanum. I’d certainly love to know more when you find out 👍
@@lyonheart84 he is probably talking about the Solanum Corymbiflora, which is commonly called Hardy Tree Tomato. This plant definitely looks very similar to the Tamarillo and also tastes apparently similar and is in the same Genus (Nightshade) but not in the same Species as the Tamarillo. So technically it's not a Tamarillo variety but a close relative nevertheless.
Yes I grew them from seeds taken from a fruit I bought over here. You can easily buy seeds here from eBay but if you want to save time you can buy plants from Victoriana Nursery by mail order, they are in Kent. They probably won’t have them ready until late Spring or early summer but it’s still faster than seed lol
@@ritaalaga1 I would have thought you could easily buy the fruit or seeds in Africa. Yes they'd prefer the climate there. I bought the fruit from myexoticfruit.com they sell mail order online
Your Tamarillo’s look very healthy. Keep up the good work!
Thanks yes so far they are doing ok 🤞
I got given one last summer and now we are coming into Spring here in Aus I am pruning it as it has gone very wide. Great video.
Should be easy to fruit in Oz, I watch plenty of fruiting videos for tamarillo over there 👍
I was given a tamarillo. I live in mid north coast of NSW, AU. I am not sure how to grow them here. Right now we are receiving heaps of rain. :( Tge calendar shows us we are in the middle of spring but to be honest I think we just arrive in to Spring season as of today. I am tempted to cut the growth but it’s raining right now. (Hail storm yesterday without a hot house) Will see what’s going to happen next. 😅 I am so grateful for scientist-gardener. That’s how I plant too. Thank you for your video. 🎉
Luckily for you Kelly, easy to grow tamarillo outside where you live 👍. Even near Melbourne I know people growing tamarillo outside all year round and fruiting them successfully so you should do much better than me 😁
I have a few seeds .. keep forgetting to start the seeds
Totally agree with you .. different environments .. will be following updates ..
Have a great evening
They will grow into giants in a year in your climate Dan 😁
Consider this a reminder to start the seeds ;)
Very interesting experiment. Thanks
Thanks I’m interested to see what happens as well
I started a few from seed, they are about 4-5 feet tall after about 5 months in Southern Ca.and starting to flower now. They sure do stink when you rub against them. And the bugs seem to love them. It is a constant battle keeping the bugs from chewing on them. For such a big plant they sure have tiny little seeds.
Just don’t want to flower here lol, might be our climate. They grow to about 6 or 7 feet tall each summer but don’t flower. Yes the leaves smell like burnt popcorn I’d say
I'm growing 2, in tubs in the greenhouse. They grew quickly indoors, fed with citrus feed and compost, are now about 6 months old, and have reached the apex of the greenhouse roof, so I've recently pinched off the tops, out of necessity! We are in a very cool climate, in the north of England, so I'm not over-hopeful they'll survive until fruiting but I really hope so! I am tending them with loving care...was feeding them with citrus fertiliser until the winter. They are constantly plagued by green blackfly, plus a few tiny but greedy snails, even in the greenhouse; they all love their juicy leaves aarrgghh. I have been worried at their recently drooping leaves but have been encouraged by other stories that this is normal in colder climates. I expect I'll have to keep some heat in the greenhouse for a few hours on the coldest days, I don't want to risk losing them after the effort in growing them from seed, the memories of enjoying their delicious tangy fruit in my youth in New Zealand keeps me going!
If you keep them above zero they should be fine, unfortunately at the time of the big freeze last December I had no heater and my summerhouses went down to -4c and my tamarillos all died. Due to lack of space I haven’t replaced them yet. You might need to cut them back in the Spring to encourage side branches as that’s what they seem to fruit on. Yes they are aphid magnets lol. Good luck 🤞
@lyonheart84 Hi and thanks for your response! That's given me some hope they might survive. If they die, I may try one more time, this time with just one (lack of space) in a small outhouse we have which is more protected. The cost of heating, and the special fertiliser, etc, - I even bought the greenhouse because of them....! -will just about be worth it if they survive to fruit. I can't wait. Sorry to hear about yours last December...I'll definitely prune them in Spring as they have no side shoots, just the main Jack-in-the-Beanstalk stem! Best wishes.
@MultiEllis1 yes they will certainly fruit in a greenhouse or conservatory, I saw loads of ripening fruits at Kew only last week in the temperate greenhouse
Great! I'm looking forward to the progress of your experiment here. Very interesting. I'll soon follow your lead.
My bet is on tree 2 (the one on the left) being the best and flowering the soonest.
Do you mean the one in the middle ? I'm not convinced it will be successful as growth rates are so slow here compared to the tropics that it could take a few weeks before it puts on decent new shoots. I think flowering may be triggered by temperatures and day length rather than methods of pruning but hopefully we'll find out.
@@lyonheart84 No, you pointed at the first tree you were going to prune and that was the one in the middle. The second one you pruned was the one on the left.
@@mr.v3061 haha sorry I had to watch the video again to see which order I mentioned them, I should have numbered the plants on the video 😂😂. In fact the middle one is the system they use in commercial growing in South America where they cut the young plant right back. It's probably the right way to do it but I hate cutting my lovely plants so much 🤪🤪
This video is legendary! Oh, how i hope you get them back like this! (mine are struggling too, but a bit less than yours, mine still have the newest top leaves in green colour. The oldest leaves turned brown and fell off)
Haha well the old leaves fall off naturally I guess, I think at least 2 of the 3 are still alive but of course i have others still in the kitchen so i have plenty. If they are ok by April I'll repot them all and see if I can get a growth boost out of them
@@lyonheart84 make sure to cut the top from the ones that still need to branch out. Try to give it 2 main branches. If not the plant most likely will not branch out, just grow straight up and won't flower according to my research. i just cut the top from one of my younger plants too. It looks like the temperature will be milder now. I might put them back outside tomorrow.
@@mr.v3061 well the whole idea of the experiment was to try the 3 different pruning methods to compare what would happen but if course winter will have messed the experiment up as the growing tips will have been killed anyway, so they will automatically develop side shoots 😁
@@lyonheart84 wow! My Tamarillo just had its first flower. 🥳🥳🥳 What do I do now? Do I have to pollinate it?
Lol to be honest I can’t tell you 😂😂. Mine are looking healthy now but no flower buds. Perhaps they are self fertile ?
Brett, I sowed some seeds of this some twenty - odd years ago in Bristol (from a fresh fruit salad I was served).
Grown on in a large plot in a sheltered sunny position I got fruit in the first year! The growth was amazing, about six feet in the summer. Flowers in the leaf axils and red fruit to maturity.
Sounds like this was a happy accident. I haven't tried since : I think I mentioned previously that the foliage had an unpleasant smell :(
Anyway I'll be watching to see what happens. Good luck.!
Yes the leaves smell awful as far as I'm concerned. Of course I sowed these at completely the wrong time of the year, in August / September so germination and initial growth was incredibly slow over Autumn and Winter plus I left them heavily potbound to stop them from getting leggy. I think if you sowed them early in the year and gave them enough warmth they would still be this big. Maybe you had the 'perfect storm' that year for growth, most people I know with them growing have waited until the 2nd or 3rd year for flowers. Ironically your lack of effort might have been behind the amazing success 😁😁
Cool experiment, let us know the progress.
I had to stop the experiment for now because its winter of course and the plants are not growing. Due to lack of space I had to leave one of the plants outside, the frost will have probably killed it. If the others are alive in Spring I will continue the experiment 👍
I felt your pain when you were cutting into the stems...
Lol wouldn't do it if I only had one or two
עמנואל ברוך אמר שתקפוץ לו הרמה שלך לא מספקת אותו עלק מנהל ברוך אסטרונאוט. אין מה להשוות
Good Vid.
Thanks for watching
I was given a piece of fruit from a friend he tree only had two pieces of fruit on it I scoop the seeds out I now have 12 plants I put three into each pot I successfully transplanted one out when it was smaller but these are now 2 1/2 foot tall do you think it be alright to transplant into their forever pot. It is now the beginning of summer in Australia three hours south of Sydney be much appreciated to know what you would do. xx
Are you going to leave them in large pots or plant them into the ground ? They grow outside all year round very successfully in Melbourne both in the ground and in pots so you should be fine unless you live a long way inland where it can get much colder
My 3 tamarillos are almost 2 years old (at around 2 meters tall) and are fruiting right now in Romania. I didn't really expect them to overwinter because I had no adequate space for them so they spent the winter in a hallway at about 16 C near a North facing window. To my surprise they started flowering there around March and now I have about 7 nice big fruits on 2 plants (this is what's left after a major aphid attack on the flowers while I put them out in the greenhouse). I still have my doubts they will ripen as we can expect temperatures to drop soon and I will have to move them inside again. I knew about the cutting but I just couldn't do it as I kept them just as an experiment and as ornamental plants. One of my problems is that they keep losing lower leaves and they don't seem to grow any new ones, only at the top. So I fear if I prune them they will just lose all leaves eventually and the plants will die. I'm really curious about your results.
Great to hear how yours have done, mine are just over a year old from seed now. All the ones I have cut back or pruned have developed side shoots but you are right, they are near the top of the plant, perhaps eventually it will get shoots down lower. Mine will be in the kitchen over winter. Your fruits will probably ripen, last year I had some mountain papaya in my kitchen !
@@lyonheart84 I like growing exotic things (at least trying to) but even with a greenhouse in my climate it's tough. Lately winters have been getting much milder but still the occasional -15 degrees make it completely impossible to keep such plants alive and I have no room in the house. A couple years ago I tried growing naranjillas in pots and the plants were beautiful but the fruits didn't develop and they died in the autumn. Now I have a pawpaw in the garden that I planted last autumn, a jujube that was planted in the spring last year and a persimmon that I planted this spring. They are alive but much less developed than I'd like to see. The vendor said they should survive these winters but not even my 2 year old figs in pots and kept protected seem to grow nicely. Aphids and spider mites are also frequently causing trouble. I seem to have more success with growing yacon, oca, mashua and crosnes (in planting bags) which are definitely exotic for us but in your climate they should do quite well.
@@BotondKisKovacs yes as you see from my videos I have probably the largest persimmon collection in the UK but they are quite slow for the first couple of years, i also have Jujube and pawpaw and they are even slower at first 🙄🙄. I don't have space for a greenhouse as my garden is very small. My house is also small BUT I have a very big kitchen as it's my favourite room and I had it built as an extension to the house so I had glass doors across the whole of one wall so that I could overwinter all of my tropical fruit plants. In winter I lose part of my kitchen to the plants but I don't mind lol, that was always my plan 😁😁
@@lyonheart84 If I could afford such a home renovation I'd definitely do a South facing glass wall for the plants. One can always dream :)
@@BotondKisKovacsBen Türkiyede dışarıda yetiştiriyorum 3. Yılı oldukça Evin Duvarına yakım üstümde Balkon var RÜZGARI kesiyor Kışı oldukça başarılı geçirdi Denize yakın bir yerde yani eksi 2 ye kadar sorun yaşamadım çok şükür
Hi I'm new, dont own my space can I grow them in pots thanks.
Yes you can grow them in large containers, unfortunately mine eventually died when we got extreme cold weather. Mine would gave fruited if I had kept them frost free
Loved your video I bought a small already grown tamarillo last year well about a foot hight it's now about 5ft and living in the conservatory. Yours looks lovely and healthy, please could you tell me how do you keep the green and blackfly off.
Thanks Paul
Haha these plants now look dreadful after Winter, in fact I think one died but I have several others. You are right, they are aphid magnets. I just spray mine thoroughly with tepid water mixed with a small amount of fairy liquid washing up liquid. The soap in the water breaks down the protective wax on the aphids so they dry up and die
@lyonheart84 I also spray mine with a soapy solution, but I get so many critters on the leaves that when they die they stick to the leaves, looking horrible. I try to wash them off but many still stick. Ugh.. I know that eventually the leaves will drop and new ones appear..thank goodness!
@MultiEllis1 yes I find soapy solution perfect, in fact I wash most of them off with the spray anyway
I have grown one in a 44 gallon drum as a wicking bed and its growing very well. However is there any way I can get it to fruit earlier as the fruit is still on at the beginning of winter.
Mine haven’t even flowered yet but in a recent video I’ve cut them back hard again to see if it might force flowering. From watching videos in warmer countries it appears they flower late summer and fruit in early to mid winter so they need a certain minimum temperature in winter to be successful. I’m not sure there is any way to get flowers earlier unless you live in a warm enough climate for them to flower all year. I’ve read the fruit is surprisingly slow developing for a solanum 🤪🤪
@@lyonheart84Thq for a reply. I might shift in then to the warmest spot on my acre at the top of the hill where its the sunniest and will get reflective heat from the shed and the back fence too. Mind you to do that will be a big job.
I always try and reply even if I don’t know the answer 😁. Wow an acre, sounds like paradise 👍
Where did you get the seeds?
Just collected them from a fresh fruit I bought online from myexoticfruit . But it’s still easy to buy the seeds online 😁
Brasil !!!
Nice 👍
That bloody hurt to watch I did that this year by accident from frost damage...but they came back side shoots and all
Yes indeed sometimes it’s better to have your hand forced by outside influences such as frost or accidental damage
I got a bumper crop (by UK standards- not Ecuadorian!) the year before last. I made a delicious tangy salsa from the fruits:
www.flickr.com/photos/167319996@N06/45917263664/in/photostream/
Here's my tamarillo in its cold season (very early Spring, as you can tell from the blooming daffs) glory the year before last: www.flickr.com/photos/167319996@N06/45912973894/in/photostream/
It looked tattered due to the strong prevailing southwesterly winds we get in autumn. In summer, though, the leaves are immaculate. I have to haul this 5ft+ mammoth indoors during the frost season!!
Looks impressive. As I have several I may just leave one outside over winter to see what happens. By the way how long do they take on average from flower opening to ripe fruit ?
@@lyonheart84 Brett, I would not leave one outside when frost is forecast! Even a slight frost can kill the leaves. Once thawed they wilt like cooked spinach. Although the stem is a little more frost-resistant than the leaves, once the leaves are gone the plant has been set back, as new leaf buds won't emerge from the main stem until spring comes. If you keep the leaves on the plant during winter, it will have a head start come the next spring. This is a very similar habit to the related brugmansia: you can let the frost kill the leaves, but it will resemble a bare green twig until the next spring. Repeated frost exposure or a hard frost will freeze the stem, and once that happens, the plant is kaput. My tamarillo is flowering right now (they give off a pleasant scent). One or two tiny fruitlets are starting to set. The initially green fruits will grow larger and larger, ripen through the autumn and should be ready to harvest by November or December, depending on how kind our autumn is. As long as you protect from frost, the fruits will fully ripen to their dark orange/red colour. PS: I'd say that there's a good chance of your tamarillos fruiting next year. Just keep them going through the winter; do not allow frost to destroy the leaves.
I've got about 8 or 9 of them, I was only going to try the weediest one outside next winter as a sort of sacrificial experiment, you can see the leaves wouldn't last 2 seconds but I wondered how woody I could get the stem to be and see if that would help hardiness. Thought I might put it in a virtually pure gravel and bark mix to keep the roots dry to see what would happen if the plant was effectively dehydrated. Most frost damage to soft tissued plants ( species without natural antifreeze in the cells) is caused when freezing bursts the plant cells. Maybe if the cells are dehydrated enough they won't burst....
I'll certainly look after the others over winter 👍
@@lyonheart84 In any case the stem will definitely get 'semi-woody' (ligneous) over time but not truly woody like, say, the wood of a coniferous or hardwood tree. Even though the main stem does get ligenous as the tamarillo matures, I'm confident that a hard frost would still cause freezing and subsequent cell rupture and death of the inner cambium layer. If you want to 'experiment' on one then I'd suggest packing the main stem with lots of hay/straw (readily obtainable from pet shops or your friendly local stables/farmers). Doing that may well stop the stem from freezing, but you also have to stop the roots from freezing or getting so cold and constantly damp that root rot sets in. You'll lose the leaves, though. Kew Gardens do similar with their semi-hardy outdoor Palms- they pack the crowns of the palm trees with hay/straw for freeze protection over the winter period. Maybe you could build a large compost pile a plant the tamarillo on top. The warmth generated by the bacteria feeding on the organic matter may keep the roots warm, and because the roots will be above the level of the soil in your garden, excess rainwater will drain away under the influence of gravity as opposed to sitting around the roots and depriving them of oxygen.
No compost pile space but it's very sheltered on the corner of the decking right next to my kitchen doors and a slight overhang of the roof so I might just leave one there to see what happened
how did they go please ?
Recently posted a post winter update of the bare stemmed plants lol
Hi! Any chance at all of you sharing the link that was shared to you and triggered the experiment?
Haha I had to look through my previous tamarillo videos to find it, here is the link, hope it works
th-cam.com/video/uuQ48rB9X34/w-d-xo.html
@@lyonheart84 thank you!!
@@lyonheart84 interesting!! I am Colombian living in Australia so it was helpful to watch the video in my language.
It says that the weight of the fruit could break the weak stems...which makes sense after watching the one that easily broke while you were working in your garden (found your follow up videos).
I have had my plant for a few weeks and it is going well. I live in probably the opposite conditions to you, extremely sunny, hot and dry for a lot of the year.
Wondering how to best care for it as I like gardening but I'm not skilled at it. Anyway...thanks a lot for finding the video for me :) It was really helpful!
The beauty of it is that in your climate you will probably be able to keep them outside all year whereas I have to trim back and bring indoors to protect from frosts. The stems are brittle although I'm not sure if I'll ever have to worry about my branches breaking from weight of fruit haha, I'd be delighted to get half a dozen fruit lol. Fortunate the video was in your own language 😁
Yes! I want to grow those from seed!!! How fast do they germinate? How fast do they grow? Are they easy to grow?
Quick germinating, 2 to 3 weeks normally and they are easy to grow because they are in the solanum family like tomatoes and potatoes
@@lyonheart84 alright!! So now when I get home I will get some tamarillo fruits eat them and save the seeds plant the seeds and boom!!! 😄plus I don’t need a tree that takes 5 years to produce.. tree tomatoes produce in 2 years! And that’s good because I go to college in 3.5
The best part is they are a short lived tree only live for 12 years😲 so I won’t have to worry about having it for ever😂
Exactly. If you can’t buy the fruit you can get seeds easily on eBay USA for under 10 bucks but better if you can find a fruit as they have loads of seeds in.
@@lyonheart84 we have a store called central market and they have a lot of rare fruits! So they will definitely have them!
@@blaynesplantvlog7117 yes I'm sure they will 👍
Hello mate
Do you know that there is a variety of tamarillo, more resistant to cold? it even supports -10 degrees, you could have it perfectly in your garden without protection
Hi Jorge I think you are possibly day dreaming 😉. I’ve heard the dwarf tamarillo might take -1 or -2 although I can’t imagine any tropical tamarillo with their huge soft leaves taking -10c. Obviously there are other members of the solanum family more cold resistant but I would love to know which variety this cold tolerant one is ? Do you know where to buy it and it’s correct name ?
@@lyonheart84 No, I'm not dreaming, I'm 110% sure :)
What's more, I know someone who grows it in the north of Spain, in an area of -6 minimum
and it is not a different solanun variety, it is a tamarillo that produces a greenish fruit with lighter stripes, and it is not a dwarf variety, the size of the bush is equal to that of the red or orange tamarillo, about 2 meters
It's called hardy tamarillo, and once I saw that they sold seeds on ebay, any day I'll buy them and grow it, it's on my waiting list :)
North of Spain is still much warmer than the UK Jorge as we’ve discussed before. Your drops to -6 are extremely rare and tend to be very brief. Are you sure they didn’t get their naming slightly confused and it was a tomatillo or some other similar solanum. I’d certainly love to know more when you find out 👍
@@lyonheart84 he is probably talking about the Solanum Corymbiflora, which is commonly called Hardy Tree Tomato. This plant definitely looks very similar to the Tamarillo and also tastes apparently similar and is in the same Genus (Nightshade) but not in the same Species as the Tamarillo. So technically it's not a Tamarillo variety but a close relative nevertheless.
My tomato tree is getting a lot bigger each hour
Every hour, wow !
It's showing me, that you are in Woodford UK 🤔do it's true? I would like to see them
Quite right I do live in Woodford UK, but they don’t look like that now in winter of course, seen my recent video lol
@@lyonheart84 did you plant them from seeds? Where do you get the seeds? I would love to get them
Yes I grew them from seeds taken from a fruit I bought over here. You can easily buy seeds here from eBay but if you want to save time you can buy plants from Victoriana Nursery by mail order, they are in Kent. They probably won’t have them ready until late Spring or early summer but it’s still faster than seed lol
@@lyonheart84 where you get the fruit? I would love them to take to Africa. I believe they will grow better there.
@@ritaalaga1 I would have thought you could easily buy the fruit or seeds in Africa. Yes they'd prefer the climate there. I bought the fruit from myexoticfruit.com they sell mail order online