Tamarillo (tree tomato)

[Strawberrygirl]

Hi everyone, Happy New Year ! (my first post for the year lol)

Has anyone had any experience of growing Tamarillo's in the UK?  I bought a bare root stick from an online nursery and within 5 weeks it has flourished in my kitchen and now has about 5 pairs of leaves.  I am going to re pot it and put in my new "plastic" greenhouse as i know i cannot plant it outdoors, although i am concerned that it may get a little bit too hot as no ventilation unless i unzip the door each morning.

Morrison's now sell the fruit at 99p each, so they are rather expensive. I grew up eating them in NZ and would now like to try to grow them myself.  So if anyone can give any advice or share their experiences, i would be most grateful.

Here's to a long, warm summer (with a little rain). :)

[Strawberrygirl]

[Vinlander]

I have grown these from seed many times but they always get too big for my greenhouse without flowering, and starving them doesn't seem to help.

I hope yours is a dwarf fruitful clone.

I used to use them as a rootstock for growing Solanum quitoense (lulo) but I decided it would be easier to get that pineapple/lime taste by growing pineapples and limes.

To get back to tomatillo - if you can get hold of some passionfruit next time you buy them then the mixture is the most incredible taste - the best example of 'greater than the sum of its parts' that I have ever tasted - and even better mixed with a little mandarin. It's Madeiran speciality.

I have a dwarf relative of the tamarillo and every intention of grafting to it (for the last 10 years).

Cheers.