Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

parkeey
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Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:29 am
Location: south east kent

Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by parkeey »

has anyone got these to produce fruit in the uk and of any good size pics would be great please guys

also were can i get myself one....
jonny

Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by jonny »

I grew some from seed this year. I sold two today and they were about three foot in height so they dont half grow quick!! I think chiltern seeds sell them.
GoggleboxUK

Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by GoggleboxUK »

I've had seeds in the prop for about 6 weeks now and nothing, I'm gutted!

:x
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Chad
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Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:33 pm
Location: Inland Cornwall UK

Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by Chad »

They come up quickly if they are gong to at all. Where were your seed from?

It is listed by Chilterns but mine came from a fruit on the ground under the trees at Ventnor in the autumn.

Mind you, it didn't survive last winter outside, so I don't have one now at all!

Chad.
GoggleboxUK

Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by GoggleboxUK »

Chilterns were out of stock when I wanted mine so I bought from a site called Dave's Garden.

Too late for this year now anyway, I'll probably just chuck them in a boder and see if nature does a better job than I did.

:lol:
parkeey
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Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:29 am
Location: south east kent

Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by parkeey »

im sure i managed to grow some of these but they was tiny and didnt do alot....
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Chad
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Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by Chad »

GoggleboxUK wrote: Too late for this year now anyway.
Planted now you'd still get a plant big enough to overwinter under cover, and [with luck and a milder winter] even outside in a sheltered spot.

Chad.
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AndyC
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Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by AndyC »

One of last years plants produced fruit which ripened on the plant before the frosts came. I sowed the seed back in April and must have had about a hundred seedlings. I have a bad habit of re-using the left overs of seed tray compost when potting up plants and now have a new weed :roll:
Andy
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redsquirrel
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Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by redsquirrel »

AndyC wrote:One of last years plants produced fruit which ripened on the plant before the frosts came. I sowed the seed back in April and must have had about a hundred seedlings. I have a bad habit of re-using the left overs of seed tray compost when potting up plants and now have a new weed :roll:
bit like my habit of spreading spent seed trays on the borders Andy,all sorts pop up when i thought they never would. i re-used a big box of Trachycarpus seeds i thought were dud in one of debs planters,its like a mini lawn in there now :lol: :lol: :lol:
mars ROVER broken down. headgasket faillure
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AndyC
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Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by AndyC »

A Trachycarpus lawn ........ you could be starting a new fashion Darren.
Andy
khaskings

Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by khaskings »

parkeey wrote:has anyone got these to produce fruit in the uk and of any good size pics would be great please guys

also were can i get myself one....
A neighbour has one of these which is about 7 feet tall which they let me take seeds from last year so I guess it must have produced fruit. The seed shells are really hard and I wished I'd soaked them for a while before sowing.

Mike.
Blairs

Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by Blairs »

Looking for some tips on Solanum laciniatum. I have a bunch of it in the wrong place and as it is not hardy I need to move them soon. I have a good few fruit to get seeds for next year but would like a larger plant next year. Is it worth overwintering them (if so do you cut them down as they are over 1 metre tall)?

Thanks in advance!
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Kristen

Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by Kristen »

I overwintered several last year, most didn't survive (I just dug them up pretty roughly and plonked them in pots, so they may well survive if you treat them better!). The fruit continued to ripen over winter. Planted out this spring they flowered earlier and were larger sooner, but the others that I grew from seed have been at least as large, so I think the only gain was in getting a decent sized plant earlier in the year.
paulrm71

Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by paulrm71 »

They are not trying to overwinter in my opinion as they grow so quickly from seed. I saved some seed from last year and all my planted out ones are all 6 foot tall and 6 foot wide. They are great for filling out borders.
DaveP

Re: Kangaroo Apple (Solanum laciniatum)

Post by DaveP »

You can prune moderately hard and overwinter frost-free. However as mentioned above, growth rates are extremely fast with pretty good flowering in mid-late summer, so there's little to be gained over sowing fresh seed in late Jan/early Feb. BUT ... If you can give just a very light pruning and overwinter frost free, you can guarantee a spectacular early flowering in May/June (on previous year's growth) followed by good repeat flowering for much of the remainder of the summer.

Prior to that winter I had a very large, 4year old plant that had self-set in the lane outside my garden and was doing its best to populate other areas via seedlings. Here, it was a solid mass of intense blue from mid April through to early June and from then on it would produce flushes of flower right through to October. It wasn't pruned apart from the occasional removal of a wayward branch and had formed a somewhat untidy mound about 2m high and 3m across. Flowering was sufficient to detract from the unruly growth. Don't eat the fruits BTW - they ripen to a pleasant soft yellow and are best allowed to remain as a secondary ornament.
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