Germinating Cyphomandra - tamarillo

[Madahlia]

I'e put in two lots of these but nothing has sprouted - anyone else find them difficult or have I just got a duff batch?

[Gareth Davies]

The first 3 or 4 times I brought seed for this (Chilterns) they all failed, not a single seed germinated. I tried again a couple of years back and ended up with about 10 plants. I had one that grew bigger than the rest as it went in a large pot and was well fed. At the beginning of Winter last year it had several well formed but unripened fruits on it. I cut the top 2 feet off and put this cut piece in a tub of water in my garage next to a fluorescent light. The bottom section was taken into my workshop and kept fairly dry so it's now about time to go outside again.

Back to seeds though, about a month ago one of the fruits ripened fullly and fell off! I scooped all the seeds out, washed and dried them and then sowed them on seed compost a couple off weeks back. I now have a full tray of seedlings so I think it's down to fresh seed rather than any sowing technique.

If you're wondering why I cut the plant in half it was because it wouldn't fit in the car without the fruits trying to fall off. The are fairly big and not on very strong stems.

[Madahlia]

I was afraid that might be the case. I got my seeds from Amazon this spring, have left a rubbish review. I grew them once before from seeds given to me by a friend - no problem.

Would you be interested in swapping a few seeds/seedlings for something else - Solanum laciniata, for example? Or sell me a few spare seeds? I think they are really handsome plants!

[Gareth Davies]

Hi, PM me your address and I'll send you some seeds from the second fruit. It's ripe and fell on the garage floor the other day so I just need to scoop them out and dry them a bit.

[callin]

Hi,
Yes i think it all about freshness of the seeds.
I bought a fresh tamarillo fruit from the market I scooped the seeds, washed them and throw them on the surface of one pot that hold some papirus plant. I didn t expect them to germinate but they did in around 2 weeks.
I did that last summer, now i have 2.1 metre high and a stem of 3.5 centimeters in diameter tamarillo tree in my balcony in 35 litre container. I ll post picture in the afternoon.
Gareth you keep the tree in the garage? I see that you are more experienced then me with this plant can you please tell me haw old is your fruiting tamarillo tree ? You planted it from seed? mine is one year old do you think I should expect some fruits this summer?
Should I keep it in full sun?
Any comment will be well received thanks.

[Gareth Davies]

Callin, my tree (the bottom half) will be three years old this summer. I cut it back like you would a Brugmansia so it is just a trunk. The top came into the garage in an attempt to get the two formed fruits to ripen, which they did. I am going to put the trunk in a larger pot and put it outside in a week or two when the risk of frost has passed and I'll see what it does this year. In the UK it will be doubtful if we have a long enough growing season for it to ripen the fruits.

[Madahlia]

Many thanks to Gareth for the kind offer - pm sent! Good tip also about buying them in the market - not sure if I'd recognise the fruit but I could look it up.
I want them for the large furry leaves, really. My previous efforts never got anywhere near fruiting. I got them through one winter but not the second.

[callin]

Hi,
as i said, I post some picture with my biggest almost a year old tamarillo from seed of a market buy fruit.
It not look so good now, but we have here long, cold, dark winter. I think he suffered mostly from the lack of light.
I put it now on the open balcony and now it has light but it is cold in the night as cold as 2 to 5 celsius, during the day is ok 12-18C. He started to grow and its trunk was burned a little by the sun and turned black on the upper side.
we have hot summer and i hope for some fruit may be this summer end begining of autumn. In right condition grows very fast and leaves grow twice as big as my head and i have a big head

[Arkwarditis]

They are lovely looking plants and though the smell of the leaves is disgusting I can't help having the occasional sniff - weird or what?

Anyway, I really grow them hoping for fruit (I have also used them as a rootstock to grow 'lulo' - solanum quitoense - but I don't recommend it - it's easier to grow pineapples and add home-grown lime juice) .

The tamarillo fruit is also a bit weird - anyone who just eats it out of hand is likely to be disappointed - I find it less rewarding than an ordinary tomato, never mind a good tomato.

However there is a recipe that makes it taste fantastic - it is how they are sold/sampled in fruit markets in Madeira:

They mix tamarillo pulp 25% with 50-60% passionfruit pulp and 15-25% 'banana passion' pulp.

The result is that the tamarillo adds sort of 'bass notes' to the 'top notes' from the passionfruits - the result is twice as nice as the sum of its parts.

Banana passionfruit is difficult to source but it tastes a lot like mandarin, and mandarin juice/pulp works well - you definitely get the experience.

Enjoy...