Topic: pepino again

[lottie lou]

I have heard that growing pepino is like growing tomatoes and I would like to know whether you take out the sideshoots or not as with tomatoes.  Also what size pots did people grow theirs in?

[Jayb]

Leave the side shoots to grow, think of it as a floppy bush type. I've had good sucess with 10 litre pots, I find it helps when the fruit weighs down the branches to raise the pot up on something to keep the fruit off the ground.

[lottie lou]

Thanks.  I have just potted up some of my cuttings from last year.  Hoping they will work.

[tricia]

I managed to overwinter my plant from last year and it is now growing well - about 70 cm tall and quite bushy. Only problem is white-fly but am persevering with soapy water and removing infected leaves as soon as I find them.

When do they flower? I seem to remember they were quite late last year and I know I only got one fruit around November time.

I keep it indoors, but am wondering if it would be okay outside on the south-facing patio steps.

Tricia

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[lottie lou]

I only got one fruit last year and that was about lateish September but it suddenly dropped off.  I kept mine in the greenhouse with the toms but perhaps there weren't enough insects to pollinate it.  The other one suffered a horrible death when I sat on it by accident.

[Jayb]

They sound more than big enough to be flowering now Trica, yes  I'd put them outside as I find they enjoy the fresh air and the slightly lower summer temperatures when outside. Might help with the white fly too. They can set fruit all summer but seems mostly early summer or late. Which again may indicate not too high a temperatures needed for fruiting.

Try it ouside lottie see if you get better results.

I dug out an old thread which may be of help http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,58768.0.html

[tricia]

Okay - plant now outside in full sun. I'll wait to see if it decides to
set flowers. I feed it every 5 days with tomato feed as with the toms, cucs., peppers etc.

Here's hoping  :).

Tricia

[realfood]

Have you seen this page with the comments on temperature? :- http://www.growyourown.info/page145a.html

[Vinlander]

I managed to overwinter my plant from last year and it is now growing well

I would recommend taking cuttings from non flowering shoots in summer-late summer and overwintering those too.

I know of few plants that root as enthusiastically from cuttings - even better than its cousin the tomato!

Belt and braces basically, but experience with other plants shows that cuttings do sometimes overwinter better than the parent (producing fruit encourages senescence).

Cheers.

[tricia]

Thanks for the tip Vinlander - I'll try to get some cuttings to root in water end of August. I can keep them on the kitchen window sill over the winter, although the current plant survived the cold greenhouse last winter.

Tricia