Tomatillo Pollination The Facts?
 

Ok here is the deal.
I have never grown these critters ever in my life.
I purchased some the last time I was home and they just said (tomatillo)
I have possibly narrowed the variety down to Cisinaros due to the large size they said it would get.
The store in Austin (The Natural Gardener) didn't even tell people you needed at least 2 of them.
They are covered in blooms and for all I can read here and other places I get conflicting information.

I am looking for an expert such as Craig L (nctomatoman) or anyone else that has experience to tell me something.

Will a tomatillo plant pollinate another tomatillo plant, if they are the same variety?
They are all bunched together in one area and I have some I think pollinated, the husk is closed and they are not yellow and falling off.
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

PS Fried green Tomatillos are to die for. :yes:
Worth

I cant believe this thing corrected tomatillo to tomato in the title sorry.:(
If there is any way to fix this please do.

Worth

I've grown tomatillos before that were all the same variety, and they pollinated each other and set fruit just fine, but you do need more than 1 plant to set fruit.

The husk grows first, and then the fruit grows to fill in the husk, eventually splitting it open.

It sounds like yours are doing fine so far.

[QUOTE=Neohippie;268970]I've grown tomatillos before that were all the same variety, and they pollinated each other and set fruit just fine, but you do need more than 1 plant to set fruit.

The husk grows first, and then the fruit grows to fill in the husk, eventually splitting it open.

It sounds like yours are doing fine so far.[/QUOTE]

Thank you very much Neohippie:)

Worth

Worth, I've grown that exact tomatillo the last 4 years. I usually put two of more plants into a bucket and let nature take its course.

You can harvest them anytime you feel the husk is filled up. I usually wait til the husk splits. Anyhow, at the end of the growing season, I harvest anything left regardless of size and put them into a ziplock freezer bag and save them for fresh recipes during the winter.

You can also save the seeds from really ripe ones. The seeds are a bit of a fuss to get separated from the "meat", but you don't need many to be able to grow some next season. Some folks put tomatillos into their own little area and let them reseed themselves. This can be an "in-exact" thing that may or may not happen. I prefer the more deliberate method of sewing new seed every year.

I put them in my salsa which is really more like a picante sauce. They add some "chunky-ness" to the whole thing. The flavor is kinda neutral. Some say you must cook them, but I've eaten them "raw" without any problems.

[URL]http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=362[/URL]

The facts about tomatillo pollination are given in this thread, a few posts down, by Grub, link from Purdue.

Best info there is about tomatillos and I've posted the same link to Purdue many times here but didn't go searching for it today.

Hope that helps.

I read this thread, and the other references. Sorry, but lost in cultivars etc. If I have one regular tomatillo, and one purple one, planted next to each other - will that work for pollination?

[QUOTE=tam91;269002]I read this thread, and the other references. Sorry, but lost in cultivars etc. If I have one regular tomatillo, and one purple one, planted next to each other - will that work for pollination?[/QUOTE]

Yes, but you are at a very high risk of cross pollination. The initial fruit will be okay, but subsequent seasons will reveal the crosses. I had Cisneros and Purple in the same area (really only two feet apart) and while they did okay that year, the next year, I had some large fruit with only some streaky purple coloring, pointing to an obvious cross.

Interesting, striped ones sound cool actually. I wasn't planning to save seed, not this year anyway - I bought the plants on a whim and don't know exactly what variety they are. But if I like the purple ones, I might find some good purple tomatillo seed for next year.

Or - is there just one purple? Is it an heirloom or a hybrid?

Speaking of pollination.....if I don't see any bees, which i read the bees will come running with no problems, How would you actually help out pollination?(paint brush?)

Learned my tomatillo lesson the hard way...have to have two or more. I grow Toma Verde and Purple...don't save seed from them myself, so don't know about crossing. As for bees....they usually come in DROVES to my tomatillo plants.

How far apart would you say the green has to be from the purple to make sure they don't cross?

4 purple, 4 green

[QUOTE=CarolynPhillips;269706]How far apart would you say the green has to be from the purple to make sure they don't cross?

4 purple, 4 green[/QUOTE]

I dont know anything but my guess would be a mile or so with bees around.

After my rosemary stopped blooming I dont have any bees.:evil:
I do know that when the squash and cucumbers bloom they will be back.
Worth

[QUOTE=huntoften;269703]Learned my tomatillo lesson the hard way...have to have two or more. I grow Toma Verde and Purple...don't save seed from them myself, so don't know about crossing. As for bees....they usually come in DROVES to my tomatillo plants.[/QUOTE]

I felt sorry for all of those folks I saw buying just one tomatillo plant.:(

I couldn't hang around and tell everyone but I could have spoken to the people that run the place so they could have put up a sign.

I wish I would have now but what the devil, people need to do their research.
With computers and smart phones everywhere there just isn't hardly an excuse.
I use my phone all of the time at the nursery, one of the few good things I like about it.

Worth

Great topic, Worth.

My single tomatillo got gigantic last year, didn't bear a single fruit. I learned late about the self-infertility thing, so I tried propagating a second plant from a cutting. As soon as the cutting became large enough to bloom, the season ended. Looking back, I wish I would have researched rather than buying on impulse.

Aphids loved the plants, I think it fed a whole colony of ants the entire summer. This year, I'm staying on top of the aphids.

I have two green tomatillo plants from the nursery (unsure of the variety) and several purple ones I started from seed. I noticed the nursery topped the plants they had, so that two lower chutes would grow up. I'm curious if there was any particular reason they did that and if I should do the same with the purple variety.

--
Mark

Mark they may have topped the plants because they were really tall.
Mine are like 2 feet tall and are just now starting to show new growth from the sides.
I do know from reading that even though they look leggy now they will be a big bush later on.
From my feeble experience I wouldn't prune or top them.
I have 5 of them and they are all in tomato cages.

A most strange plant, I am so excited about them.
I cant figure out why it has taken me so long to grow them.
One of critters is swelling in its husk right now, I cant wait.:wait:

Worth

I planted four purples. Two in each hole. Plus, four ground cherries. The tomatillos are really growing, the ground cherries are much slower. I've got some flowers on the tomatillos and a couple on one of the ground cherries.
I'm so excited to try purple tomatillo salsa!
Plus, I've never had ground cherries and have heard such good things about them.

Grew the medium sized green ones for the first time last year. I had two of the same kind and placed them two feet apart, like my tomatoes.

While both flowered, one filled up with little husks and one didn't. (We joked that it was a hot air balloon plant, because that's what all the little husks looked like.) It was almost like one plant became the female and one became male. The "male" only set three fruits the entire season. I have no idea if that is normal or not.

The plants ended up a lot larger than I thought. Mine were over five feet wide and about 3 1/2 feet tall. I personally didn't care for the taste by themselves, but they were fantastic in a salsa. they need to be pulled off when the husk splits, but before they fall off. Once they fell off, they were too mealy for me.

This year I'm growing them again from seeds I saved last year. They were a very useful, fun, pretty and tasty plant.

As some folks have noted above, you need more than one plant. I tend to have my plants now in 3's. I let a few seeds germinate and then thin them out to three seedlings of approx. the same size. Last year, as an example, I got about two gallons of fruit from each of two five gallon buckets.

The real benefit from having more than one in the container or garden spot is that the stems of the tomatillo plants are usually somewhat fragil and will break with little effort. The multiple stems tend to help support each other. I get some fierce wind here from the mountain ridge to the northwest of me. Like right now, a small cell of rain is passing thru and my gauge is showing 42 MPH wind gusts with 28 MPH or so steady. Don't forget to provide plenty of support for those delicate stems.

Hog Wash
 

I have read that the plants get about 5 feet across.

((NOT)) The things are almost 10 feet across.:shock:

No bees this year till now so only 2 fruit.
Maybe with the bees showing up I will get fruit.8-)

Worth

Well I probably will not be having tomatillos this year.

In two locations I put one regular tomatillo and 1 purple tomatillo.

Except, the purple tomatillos appear to be tomato plants. I thought they looked like tomato plants. The nursery said they got the seed from Tomato Growers Supply, and all of them are the same. Looks like a giant batch of wrong seed. Great (not).

I'm a new grower, and picked up a tomatillo plant spur-of-the moment about 7 weeks ago. Had *no* idea I needed two...after doing some reading I was pretty bummed out.

Fortunately, my brother-in-law's girlfriend had also picked up a single tomatillo plant spur-of-the moment. So we moved hers up a few weeks ago, and I'm finally starting to see lanterns forming, yay! Does anyone know how long it takes for the fruit to "fill" the lanterns from this point?

Fingers crossed!

[QUOTE=tam91;289979]Well I probably will not be having tomatillos this year.

In two locations I put one regular tomatillo and 1 purple tomatillo.

Except, the purple tomatillos appear to be tomato plants. I thought they looked like tomato plants. The nursery said they got the seed from Tomato Growers Supply, and all of them are the same. Looks like a giant batch of wrong seed. Great (not).[/QUOTE]

I know you aren't but some people may read it that way.
The seeds may have gotten mixed up by the help at the nursery by some part time help.
Maybe not.
You just never know.:?!?:

A tomatillo looks very different from a tomato plant.;)

Worth

[QUOTE=GoGayleGo;289981]I'm a new grower, and picked up a tomatillo plant spur-of-the moment about 7 weeks ago. Had *no* idea I needed two...after doing some reading I was pretty bummed out.

Fortunately, my brother-in-law's girlfriend had also picked up a single tomatillo plant spur-of-the moment. So we moved hers up a few weeks ago, and I'm finally starting to see lanterns forming, yay! Does anyone know how long it takes for the fruit to "fill" the lanterns from this point?

Fingers crossed![/QUOTE]

From my observations about a month or so.
I didn't really check the date.:(

Worth

I realize they look different. I told the nursery early on they looked like tomato plants. They said they all looked like that, they had planted two batches of them weeks apart, and they were all the same. They have never ordered them before.

I think I may have unofficially given up on tomatillos. I have two plants that make a pretty large bush together (I have them trained up off the ground) -- no fruits as far as I can see.. I have untrained purple tomatillos in two different locations and gave away several seedlings to friends -- no fruits. It's either temperature or lack of pollination causing this, but in either case, they're taking up too much space and not producing... They're shading out the squash too, causing it not to produce! grr..

Interestingly, the two topped plants I got from the nursery each look different. One has small, pale green leaves and is bushier, while the other has larger, dark green leaves and is viney-ier. I'm fairly certain they're of the same seed stock..

One be tell another bee and then the word starts spreading.

I now have bees everywhere and to tomatillos are starting to set fruit.

Carpenter bees and honey bees.

I dont know why I even bothered with the tomatillos except my wife wanted to grow them.

You can get a gallon of canned tomatilloes here for like $3.00 :roll:

Worth

I really wanted the purple ones. I even grew purple jalapenos to go with them. Darn.

[QUOTE=tam91;290807]I really wanted the purple ones. I even grew purple jalapenos to go with them. Darn.[/QUOTE]


That stinks, you cant buy purple ones here.:(

I think I will go with them next year.

Worth

I can't buy the purple tomatillo fruits here. Next year I'll get some seeds and start them myself. I really wanted to make purple salsa. Interesting, the purple jalapenos are really early - they're ready to pick, far ahead of my other peppers.