Bananas.org - View Single Post - pepino, yacon, solanum, artichoke& tobacco

lorax · 02-05-2009, 05:33 PM

Paula, did you start from seed or with a small plant? If you started from seed, it will be about 6-8 months until you see flowers, and another 4 months or so after that for mature fruit. If it was a small plant, it will depend on how old it was when you got it.

If you don't have bees you'll have to hand-pollinate. Just use a soft paintbrush to transfer pollen between flowers - Naranjilla are self-fertile, thankfully.

Sandy - I've seen every variation between completely spike-free and fuzzy like bunny ears through to wicked vicious 2" thorns. I have no idea what causes the variation, but it really sucks harvesting when most of your plants are the bunny-ears or vestigially spiky ones, and you've got two with the grabber-stabbers. When there are more than 15 Naranjilla plants in my yard this happens to me more often than I'd like to admit.

02-05-2009, 05:33 PM	#13 (permalink)
lorax Banned lorax's Photo Gallery Location: Ecuador, South America Find me on the map! Zone: USDA 13 / Köppen-Geiger BSh Name: Lorax Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 2,532 BananaBucks : 409,294 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 742 Times Was Thanked 3,040 Times in 1,188 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 464 Times	Re: pepino, yacon, solanum, artichoke& tobacco Paula, did you start from seed or with a small plant? If you started from seed, it will be about 6-8 months until you see flowers, and another 4 months or so after that for mature fruit. If it was a small plant, it will depend on how old it was when you got it. If you don't have bees you'll have to hand-pollinate. Just use a soft paintbrush to transfer pollen between flowers - Naranjilla are self-fertile, thankfully. Sandy - I've seen every variation between completely spike-free and fuzzy like bunny ears through to wicked vicious 2" thorns. I have no idea what causes the variation, but it really sucks harvesting when most of your plants are the bunny-ears or vestigially spiky ones, and you've got two with the grabber-stabbers. When there are more than 15 Naranjilla plants in my yard this happens to me more often than I'd like to admit.