What is a fruit in the tomato family that tastes like a cross between a melon and a cucumber? It is the Solanum muricatum, or Pepino - a nifty little plant that originally comes from the Andean area of South America. The fruits are orangy-yellow inside when they are ripe and are quite juicy. It has been for sale in plantlet and seed form here for a few years now, and I had wanted to try them year before last, but ran out of room. Last year I ordered early, for a March delivery and when they came-in I was curious about how well they would do, given the info that I had gleaned from the internet. It didn't look like West-Friesland would be the ideal place to try them...but I was just hard-headed enough to give them a go anyway. Ideally they need a bit warmer and dryer climate, but if I had grown them in a container and taken them inside when the weather began to become rude, things would have turned out a lot better than they did. Ok...having said that, I was very pleased with what I did get and would like to recommend it to anyone that would like a challenge and has the inclination to try something a little different. --I transplanted the little plantlets into a slightly bigger container the same day that they arrived from the mail order place. I set them on the window sill under an air vent and just left them for a few weeks. --When they were larger, I transplanted them again into a larger pot. And set them outside to acclimatize facing the southwest. I left them there until after Mothers' Day, when I planted them out. --I transplanted them in a humus-rich potting soil combined with a slightly sandy seeding soil so they could drain well in their pots...and when it was time to place them in the garden, I dug over-sized holes and filled them with well-rotted compost, mixed it with a bit of bone meal and planted them in their permanent site. I chose a site where they could get full sun exposure. --I watered them copiously and fed them tomato food alternated with horse manure tea throughout the summer, taking care that the soil never was allowed to dry out. Basically I treated them like I did my toms. It was not too long before they began to flower and produce fruits. This is when I began to feed them. The flowers were purple and white and resembled some potato flowers. --There grew between three and five fruits on a truss. I removed all the fruits but one or two on each truss, to let the remaining ones get as large as they could. The fruits became so swollen and heavy, that I had to support them. Keeping them off the ground is important. --At the end of the fall I harvested what I could and let the rest go. A few fruits could be eaten right away, the rest were creamy but did not have the maroon stripes on them yet and were as hard as stones. I put them into a paper bag with two ripe apples and after several weeks; they too were ripe and ready to be eaten. *If you take cuttings of selected twigs of the Pepino and use rooting powder, they root very easily. I tried the same number of twigs in water and didn't get a single one to root. I have heard that one can grow them by germinating seeds as well. These plants are not annuals and if they do not die from the elements, they will continue and produce again the following year. Some seed companies recommend that you replant new plants after the second year. **They can tolerate light frosting the info says...but my plant's foliage wilted and collapsed with the second frosting. The fruits also were ruined. That is why you need to take them inside before the first frost (if you planted them in a container), or live in a place that doesn't freeze until after November. If you give these a try, let me know how it went.
Never heard of them before, but would like to try them after your post...you've certainly peaked my curiosity on this one!
We've got them here, but I'm giving those a miss. I'll need a greenhouse for them, which I haven't got. How did they taste, by the way? Was it worth the trouble?
What a thorough and wonderful account, Sjoerd! You should write gardening books if you are not already doing so. I would love to try them out. I love fruits and veggies . . . and I bet this is a refreshing treat.
I like interesting new fruit but Texas would be really hard on them .I feel the heat would take the moisture out of the ground really fast.Thanks for letting us see how they grow.
DROOPY-- I'm a little surprized that you have them there. I would not have suspected it. I can believe that you would need a greenhouse or at least a poly- tunnel to grow them. SOJ-- you made me smile there. chuckle. They might be worth a try for you, indeed. They were very easy to grow and propagate. FP313-- Yes, they do. Ther mature size and shape of these fruits is that of a large lemon. GLENDANN-- Actually your climate there would be excellent for these fruits, I believe. Just keep them watered well during droughty periods and the use of a mulch to hold it, that's all. Anyway... they were fun to grow and I liked the refreshing flavour of them. My partner did not, though.
