Toma Verde
 

I am going to grow Tomato Growers Supply Company's Toma Verde Tomatillo this year so that I can make green salsa. Is there anything special that I need to know about growing these or just any suggestions for a better growing experiance with these?

I believe that tomatillos are indeterminates and so must be staked like tomatoes. They are started at the time when you start tomato seeds. This will be my first year growing these in addition to the purple tomatillos. I am growing both to compare and see if there are any differences between the two. Good Luck!

[quote=raspberianred;156111]I believe that tomatillos are indeterminates and so must be staked like tomatoes. They are started at the time when you start tomato seeds. This will be my first year growing these in addition to the purple tomatillos. I am growing both to compare and see if there are any differences between the two. Good Luck![/quote]

Thank You. I was thinking about growing them along a fence line and tying them to it. Have any of you ever tried this?

Raspberianred, I really do apprciate your answer.

I grow about 50 tomatillo plants every year. I love them but they are the sprawlers of the garden and it seems like I am tieing them up every day. You have to use thick twine 'tho because they are not as tough in the stem as tomato plants and thin twine will slice right through a branch. I actually start mine about 4 weeks from setting out. The reason is because these suckers grow like weeds (which, in my new home in Mexico, they are...) If you start them at the same time as tomatoes, I have found they quickly out-grow the container and try to smother everything else. They get really spindly quickly. I might suggest a couple of other varieties..."Grande Maje" and "Cizneros" and also "Burpees Gigante". These varieties get as large as a small orange and are much less work than the little 1" dudes from smaller fruiting varieties. ALthough as of yet, there is no large fruiting purple varieties that I am aware of.

These re-seed RAMPANTLY...I put black plastic under mine and try to keep any fruits that fall picked up. They just spread their weeny little seeds all over the place and nothing seems to phase them. They are not self-fruiting so you need several for pollination. When the husks start to turn brown, these have a tendency to leave the plant so constant picking is a good idea (although they do not bruise as easily as tomatoes) especially if you are in a zone that gets a lot of wind.

I use "Stock Panel" or some call it "Hog Panel" to tie them to. They get branches going in every direction and really, these grow faster than one might imagine. It really is a constant chore to confine them. Growing them along a fence line would be ideal.

If you will visit the Tomatillo Thread on this forum, I have posted many recipes and growing tips. My harvest would never be complete without Salsa Verde...my family eats it on everything.

broken-

50 Tomatotillo plants a year! Wow, that is a stout amount of plants. And I love salsa verde!

We are like the "Salsa Verde" supplier for half the county it seems like. I even send three of those large flat-rate Priority boxes filled with whole tomatillos to my Mother-In-Law in Oregon. I grow mine in their own "special" area because of how they re-seed and try to maul all of the other plants. They really love the spot...I have had some that got nearly 10 feet tall. As an aside...I always leave a few on the ground for the Chiipmunks...they just love them! Mine are growing in a pile of basically nothing but 10 year old horse manure. I run the tomatillos through my tomato mill and everyone comes and gets a 5 gallon bucket of sauce ready to make into Salsa Verde and can (I am not nice enough to do all that for them....) In my area in Mexico, they grow all over the place. The Mexicans use them in many more ways than we do. They even ferment them and make a liquor sauce. I have not gotten the recipe for that yet although I did taste some and WOO WOO...it was potent!

Broke:

Where in Mexico?

[quote=brokenbar;156121]I grow about 50 tomatillo plants every year. I love them but they are the sprawlers of the garden and it seems like I am tieing them up every day. You have to use thick twine 'tho because they are not as tough in the stem as tomato plants and thin twine will slice right through a branch. I actually start mine about 4 weeks from setting out. The reason is because these suckers grow like weeds (which, in my new home in Mexico, they are...) If you start them at the same time as tomatoes, I have found they quickly out-grow the container and try to smother everything else. They get really spindly quickly. I might suggest a couple of other varieties..."Grande Maje" and "Cizneros" and also "Burpees Gigante". These varieties get as large as a small orange and are much less work than the little 1" dudes from smaller fruiting varieties. ALthough as of yet, there is no large fruiting purple varieties that I am aware of.

These re-seed RAMPANTLY...I put black plastic under mine and try to keep any fruits that fall picked up. They just spread their weeny little seeds all over the place and nothing seems to phase them. They are not self-fruiting so you need several for pollination. When the husks start to turn brown, these have a tendency to leave the plant so constant picking is a good idea (although they do not bruise as easily as tomatoes) especially if you are in a zone that gets a lot of wind.

I use "Stock Panel" or some call it "Hog Panel" to tie them to. They get branches going in every direction and really, these grow faster than one might imagine. It really is a constant chore to confine them. Growing them along a fence line would be ideal.

If you will visit the Tomatillo Thread on this forum, I have posted many recipes and growing tips. My harvest would never be complete without Salsa Verde...my family eats it on everything.[/quote]

Thank You

Mike

[QUOTE=mdvpc;156138]Broke:

Where in Mexico?[/QUOTE]
Outside of Merida on the Yucatan Peninsula. I did not want to live on or very near the beach because beach "dirt" sucks! . Bought the house which is about 2,000 sq foot, 2 story , small pool, good well on nearly an acre (there were already several fruit trees and Avocado trees) for 19,000. We remodeled the house from the bottom up for 7,000 because labor is so cheap. And when I say "remodel" I mean it needed MUCHO amounts of work. It had not been lived in for about 15 years. This area is one of the largest "Pasta Tile" producing areas in Mexico so we have tile throughout the entire house. My husband traveled all over Mexico buying furniture, dishes, rugs, etc .

Both he and I grow a garden (I only do tomatoes for my sun-dried business, he grows other tomatoes and everything else.) We are also both avid deep sea fishermen. I also have nearly 200 orchids indoors here so I will be thrilled to be able to grow them outside.

[quote=brokenbar;156159]Outside of Merida on the Yucatan Peninsula. I did not want to live on or very near the beach because beach "dirt" sucks! . Bought the house which is about 2,000 sq foot, 2 story , small pool, good well on nearly an acre (there were already several fruit trees and Avocado trees) for 19,000. We remodeled the house from the bottom up for 7,000 because labor is so cheap. And when I say "remodel" I mean it needed MUCHO amounts of work. It had not been lived in for about 15 years. This area is one of the largest "Pasta Tile" producing areas in Mexico so we have tile throughout the entire house. My husband traveled all over Mexico buying furniture, dishes, rugs, etc .

Both he and I grow a garden (I only do tomatoes for my sun-dried business, he grows other tomatoes and everything else.) We are also both avid deep sea fishermen. I also have nearly 200 orchids indoors here so I will be thrilled to be able to grow them outside.[/quote]You guys must have a 99 year lease on that property or something like that or one of you has citizenship rights in that country.

Your sun-dried business, what is that all about? You sun dry tomatoes? People like that? Sounds very interesting.

[quote=Mjdtexan;156160]You guys must have a 99 year lease on that property or something like that or one of you has citizenship rights in that country.

Your sun-dried business, what is that all about? You sun dry tomatoes? People like that? Sounds very interesting.[/quote]
Mexico changed the rules and you can now buy land/houses/businesses. Actually, in Merida, The government just released nearly 200 houses in the Colonial District for sale. They want Foreign owners to restore them. Most were built in the late 1800's and have the 20 foot beamed ceilings and original pasta tile floors. Because of our economy, Mexico is struggling. They changed the rules to bring in more foreign investors.

Sun-Dried business..."Sun-Dried" is now the term for dehydrated tomatoes. While I do actually "sun-dry" about 1/3, I dry the others with conventional dehydrators. I sell to chefs at upscale restaurants in Billings Montana and Cody, Jackson Hole, Cheyenne Wyoming. I mail deliveries.
I dry anywhere from 1000 to 2000 pounds per year. I soak mine in red wine for 24 hours prior to drying and then dust them with my grown herbs, oregano, basil, parsley and garlic powder and sea salt. I only grow dry, meaty, few seeded and large varieties (because large is faster and easier.) I grow 500+ (and it is ALWAYS "+" it seems!) plants.

Unfortunately...the Chef's are now reading about sun-dried tomatoes and varieties and are starting to ask me to grow particular varieties. They read that Principe Borghese is supposed to be "The Ultimate" drying tomato and harangued me into growing them. I charge nearly triple because they are small, seedy, a pain to keep picked and it takes so many to get a significant amount of finished product. They don't care and will pay whatever I charge. Same with the "Black" varieties...they read about the ALLEGED "smokey-salty-earth" flavor of Blacks (which is a crock if you ask me) and now I grow those for them and charge double...

I took me about 2 years to develop a good client base. I drove "door-to-door" to every upscale restaurant around. I gave away a lot of samples at first. I have also collected hundreds of recipes and I printed up a collection that I gave to Chef's as well. Once they discovered how much flavor sun-dried tomatoes can add to a recipe and the eye-appeal they provide, the tomatoes sold themselves.

As we are leaving for Mexico for good in May, my Son, who is taking over the ranch/cattle operation here will take over that business as well (his girlfriend will actually.) It has been a great little business and I really enjoyed it. Heck...I was going to grow tomatoes anyway!!!!

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]Thats good they've changed the rules for foreign buyers. I have never been around sun dried/dehydrated tomatoes before. I am planning on getting one of those cheap dehydrators this season for hot peppers so I am going to have to see what thats all about. Thank You for the explanation.[/FONT]

[QUOTE=Mjdtexan;156165][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Thats good they've changed the rules for foreign buyers. I have never been around sun dried/dehydrated tomatoes before. I am planning on getting one of those cheap dehydrators this season for hot peppers so I am going to have to see what thats all about. Thank You for the explanation.[/FONT][/QUOTE]
No problem Mjdtexan!

[quote=brokenbar;156164]As we are leaving for Mexico for good in May, my Son, who is taking over the ranch/cattle operation here will take over that business as well (his girlfriend will actually.) It has been a great little business and I really enjoyed it. Heck...I was going to grow tomatoes anyway!!!![/quote]

I hope you'll still be able to participate in the forum, I appreciate your posts!


~DiggingDog

[quote=DiggingDogFarm;156228]I hope you'll still be able to participate in the forum, I appreciate your posts!


~DiggingDog[/quote]
Yeah...I will. I was not able last summer because we were so busy re-modeling the house and traveling all over Mexico. We also made a trip to Ireland and a trip to Egypt. My son did the whole garden here...first year in my life I did not have a garden! I am going to have to completely start from scratch in Mexico...probably will have to grow totally different varieties and figure out best planting times, etc. Where we will be has a year round temp of about 85 and is humid in the summer. They grow GYNORMOUS tomatoes and peppers there. You go to the street market and there is just box after box of incredible produce. I will have to find my "niche" there...I have only ever grown tomatoes for drying... I grew up on a ranch on the California/Mexico/Arizona border and have wanted to go back to Mexico my entire life. I just love the country and as I am a HUGE archeology freak (I am talking reading about 2000 books....) Mexico has so much to see (as did Egypt WOW!) We are also going to do more traveling...Venice in October and next spring, Beijing catching a cruise that goes to other ports in China, Japan, Viet Nam, Thailand, Russia and eventually, back to British Columbia. We have a nice family that lives near our place in Mexico and the Father is taking care of our house, fruit trees and other stuff so we will be able to travel. And I LOVE this forum and will always be back!

paint me pea green with envy :D :roll: :yes: I love Mexico and all their wonders. I have been lucky enough to vacation there several times, but my DH would never live there.

Neva

Husbands...what are you gonna do? I am lucky mine LOVES/LIVES to ocean fish (not a lot of that in Wyoming...:lol: ) He also loves to garden and Wyoming has such a short growing season. He likes to explore like I do...I am a very fortunate woman...35 years... most men would have killed me off by now!

Broken
Do you let your tomatillo's fall to the ground (ripen) or pick green before shipping?

Also has anyone tried the one Mexicans seem to use most the tomatillo "Mexican Strain"
Dennis

I pick the ones I ship before they fall...It takes them about 3 to 4 days to get to Oregon and then they are all the way ripe with a brown paper husk. I ship peppers and tomatoes to her also. She has MS and won't eat anything that is not organic. THANK GOD for flat rate boxes or I would be a pauper! You can really fit a lot in that largest flat rate box which I think is like $10.50?

I have grown the Mexican Strain...It has TONS of flavor but is really small and more "sticky" than others...there is a sticky substance between the husk and the fruit of all tomatillos but the Mexican ones are almost sugary/syrupy feeling, not tasting. I was unsure about just processing them as they were or washing them...I left them as they were. The sticky stuff really has no taste... They tomatillos themselves are tart-er in flavor and I like that. I ordinarily add twice the lime juice called for in Salsa Verde anyway. They were a lot more work and it took a lot more of them to make a big batch of salsa. Also, they practically jumped off the plants...way more of them on the ground than other varieties and because they are small, they bounce and roll all over the place (which probably explains why they are EVERYWHERE in Mexico...) I am lazy...what can I say?

broken
thanks I was wondering if you picked them just before ripe - so they turn ok - I just get really warm water and rub the tomatillo and the sticky comes off pretty easy - the ones we see here are the size of a sald tomato usually and a few smaller and larger - I hand pick the bigger ones if I am going to make chunky salsa verde with small chopped pieces as I am lazy too - but when I make chili verde or blended salsa verde I use any size as I cut them in bigger chungs to cook down with the rest of the ingredients then run through the blender

Dennis

BrokenBar,

It's good to see you posting again. I thought we had lost you for good. Good luck on your Mexican adventures. I've considered moving there myself but.... to many irons in the fire. Rick Bayless talks alot about those Merida markets on his show, Mexico One Plate At A Time. Anyway... good to hear from you.

BR
Oklahoma

Hey BR! We were there most of the summer and I cannot wait to go back. THings are really cheap there now because our economy is so bad there are not as many American's buying houses. The Merida Market is GYNORMOUS....everything fresh every day...I haTE shopping in the supermarket now! I will be here...

I'm growing this plant for the first time as well. Only put one in the garden...can't imagine 50! This thing grows fast (5 foot tall) and blooms like crazy, but I haven't had a single fruit set on it. Any tips?

Sorry to butt in, but brokenbar said this in entry #4, which might explian this issue:

"....phase them. They are not self-fruiting so you need several for pollination. When the...."

Walter

Oh..ok...I see that now. I read on another thread that you didn't need two.

I'm tending to believe brokenbar's advice though. Hmmm...what to do?

I have "lanterns" on one of my tomatillo plants. Do those lanterns form only if the flower pollenated? They seem too heavy to be empty inside but it's hard to tell since they are attached to the plant.

Hunt- I read conflicting information about whether or not you need 2 plants to pollinate. Dr Carolyn posted a link somewhere to a university website with a scholarly paper about tomatillos that indicated that 2 were required so I planted 2 to be on the safe side. I think if there is another physalis in the area you'll get pollination. That might be worth investigating. You could see if a nursery nearby has Chinese Lanterns or ground cherries. I saw some for sale at our local farmer's market yesterday. I'll try to find the link and repost it here.

I found the link:
[URL]http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/1492/tomatillo.html[/URL]

Hunt-what if you take cuttings from one plant, root them and make another plant. I wonder if it would work. Anyone know?

I have grown several types from yellow to pineapple to verde but the best ever is the one that keeps sprouting every year in a garden on an old Forest Service Compound. Supposed to have been growing there for over 20 years as a sprout. I had some sprout this year in my garden as well and they are out doing the plants I bought.

I have three toma verde plants - they're growing and flowering like crazy, but no lanterns yet. Any ideas? I've grown them before - usually just two -- and had better luck getting the fruit than this time out.

i finally have some lanterns but, no fruit. by tne number of flowers i should have a lot, that is, if the heat doesn't do them in. jon