Tomatillo

Sun

Full sun, ideally at least 6-8 hours daily; choose a warm, sheltered position in cool climates.

Water

Water deeply when the soil surface begins to dry, keeping moisture reasonably even during flowering and fruit development. Avoid waterlogged soil.

Soil

Fertile, well-drained soil enriched with compost; slightly acidic to neutral soil is ideal.

Height

3-5 ft (0.9-1.5 m)

Spread

3-4 ft (0.9-1.2 m)

Flowers

Summer until frost; small, nodding yellow flowers with dark spots near the centre.

Foliage

Green, broadly oval leaves with irregularly toothed edges on branching, somewhat angular stems.

Growth

Fast in warm weather.

Care needed

Medium

• Pollinators
• Heat tolerant
• Low allergen
• Edible

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Moderate

Toughness

Fairly tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   0.5 ft (0.15 m)

2. After 1 year

   4 ft (1.2 m)

   full size

Full size in one season.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Toxic

Growth rate

Fast

• Plant at least two seed-raised plants; two cuttings from the same plant may not provide compatible pollen.
• Set plants outdoors after frost danger has passed and nights are reliably mild, spacing them about 3 ft (0.9 m) apart.
• Install sturdy cages or stakes at planting and loosely tie in spreading branches.
• Water at soil level and mulch once the soil has warmed to reduce drying and soil splash.
• Work compost into the bed before planting; use a balanced vegetable fertiliser only as needed, avoiding heavy nitrogen feeding.

Pruning. Routine pruning is unnecessary. During summer, remove damaged or diseased growth and tie sprawling stems to supports rather than removing healthy fruiting branches.

Pick firm fruits when they fill their papery husks and the husks begin to dry or split, commonly about 70-100 days after transplanting, depending on variety and weather. Most green varieties are harvested while still green; purple varieties develop purple colouring, especially where exposed to sunlight. Twist or snip fruits from the plant, remove the husks and wash off the sticky coating before use.

Late winter

In short-season areas, sow indoors 6-8 weeks before the expected last frost, using warmth for germination.

Spring

Pot seedlings on, give them strong light and gradually harden them off before planting.

Late spring

Plant out after frost danger, allowing room for at least two plants, and install supports.

Early summer

Mulch warm soil, tie in stems and maintain even moisture as flowering begins.

Summer

Check regularly for leaf-feeding pests and begin picking fruits as their husks fill.

Autumn

Harvest mature fruits before frost, collect fallen fruits to limit volunteers and remove frost-killed plants.

• Grow in a sunny kitchen-garden bed with peppers and basil, allowing room for its broad canopy.
• Use matching cages in a potager to give the sprawling plants an orderly shape.
• Plant along the sunny edge of an edible garden, where the lantern-like husks can be seen and harvested easily.
• Grow in large containers on a sunny patio, providing a separate container for each of two plants and sturdy supports.

Garden styles it suits: Potager (kitchen garden), Edible landscape, Homestead, Cottage garden, Farmhouse and Mexican hacienda.

Plant it with: Basil, Sweet peppers, Chilli peppers, Calendula, Sweet alyssum and Coriander.

Wildlife: Flowers attract bees, including bumblebees, which help pollinate the crop. Fallen fruits may attract rodents and other fruit-eating animals.

• Flowers but little fruit: grow at least two genetically distinct plants, allow bees access and avoid insecticides during bloom; extreme heat or cold can also interrupt fruit set.
• Flea beetles: protect young plants with insect mesh, removing it when flowering begins so pollinators can reach the flowers.
• Chewed or skeletonised leaves from caterpillars or leaf beetles: inspect leaf undersides, hand-pick pests and identify them before choosing a targeted treatment.
• Leaf spots and blights: space plants well, water at soil level, remove affected debris and rotate away from other nightshade crops.

Mature tomatillo fruits are edible, including green fruits harvested when they fill their husks. Do not eat the leaves, stems, husks or very immature fruits: they contain potentially toxic nightshade compounds. Keep these parts away from children, cats, dogs and horses; species-specific poisoning information is limited, but ingestion may cause digestive illness and larger amounts could be serious.

• Ground cherry (Physalis pruinosa)

  Usually a lower, more spreading plant with smaller, sweet yellow-orange fruits that fall to the ground inside tan husks when ripe; tomatillo fruits are generally larger and tart.

• Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana)

  Has noticeably soft, hairy leaves and golden-orange ripe berries that usually remain smaller than their husks; tomatillos typically fill and may split their husks.

• Chinese lantern (Alkekengi officinarum)

  A spreading perennial grown for conspicuous orange-red husks in autumn, unlike the green husks that dry to tan on tomatillos.

Tomatillo is a Spanish diminutive meaning 'little tomato', while Physalis comes from the Greek word for bladder, referring to the inflated husk around the fruit.

Propagation. Sow seed indoors 6-8 weeks before the last expected frost, ideally at 70-80°F (21-27°C), or sow outdoors once the soil is warm in long-season climates. It often produces volunteer seedlings from fallen fruit; remove unwanted seedlings.

Accepted botanical name

Physalis philadelphica

In the US and Canada

Introduced in Canada, Hawaii and the lower 48 states.

Native range

Belize, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast and Mexico Southwest.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.