Physalis vegetable and berry - what does it taste like

Physalis is known to many as an ornamental plant; it is grown both in gardens and at home in pots. However, there is a vegetable physalis, which is used for food. Its fruits are very similar to tomatoes, growing in an unusual, lantern-like, whole wrapper.

Physalis vegetable: description

Growing vegetable physalis at home as a vegetable is not yet as popular as planting for decorative purposes. Therefore, you should figure out how to grow physalis in your country house, properly care for it and harvest on time.

Physalis edible in Russia began to grow at home in the 19th century. This practice was transferred from European countries, where the plant came from its natural habitat - Central and South America.

Physalis vegetable

Physalis, depending on the variety, can reach a height of 1 meter. It is a perennial plant belonging to the Solanaceae family. The closest cousins ​​are potatoes and tomatoes.

On one bush, about 200 fruits can ripen per season, which at first grow in an orange or red cup-cover similar to a flashlight or a closed bell.

Large fruits of the plant weigh about 50 grams, there are vegetable varieties, the fruits of which reach 80 grams in weight. Unlike tomatoes, physalis fruits have a different color palette. Ripe fruits can be green, yellow, orange, red and purple.

What does physalis taste like?

You can't tell right away what kind of vegetable the physalis tastes like, because the varieties are different. Some fruits taste like a few berries and fruits: strawberries, grapefruit and a little - grapes. Some species have a pineapple flavor.

Several vegetable species are more like an unripe tomato, some varieties are similar to gooseberries. Sometimes the taste is pungent or bitter, but when preparing preparations from physalis for the winter, all the bitterness and sourness disappears.

The color of the fruit is different

Varieties of vegetable physalis

One of the most famous Mexican varieties is Tomatillo. Has a violet-yellow fruit.

The most popular varieties:

• Korolek is a vegetable variety that is most often used to prepare vegetable caviar for the winter.
• Vegetable Physalis Confectioner has a slightly flattened large yellow fruit. It is consumed fresh.
• Ground Gribovsky is a cold-resistant variety with light green berries, sweet with a slight sourness.
• Early Moscow ripens early. Fruits are large, yellow.
• Plum Jam is completely purple in color. You can distinguish it from another purple Tomatillo by the pulp inside: unlike the purple Tomatillo pulp, Plum Jam has a green core.
• Physalis Gourmand.The early variety Lakomka has beneficial properties that cleanse the body. The bush reaches a height of about 70 centimeters. He has large bright orange fruits weighing 60 to 80 grams. Used for making pickles, preserves for the winter. Fresh consumption is widespread.

Physalis berry: varieties

Unlike vegetable varieties, physalis berry varieties have no sticky substance on the surface of the fruit rind. The group of berry varieties includes strawberry and Peruvian varieties. Notable representatives are:

• Kudesnik is one of the largest varieties. Very productive and characterized by a long keeping quality of berries.
• The dessert variety was developed in Russia. Small fruits are yellow-orange in color.
• Columbus is a cultivar with small orange fruits that taste like strawberries.
• Raisin is a young but very popular variety. The yellow berries of the plant are small and have the taste of pineapple.

Physalis in the open field

Physalis: planting and care in the open field

To obtain a high-quality and rich harvest, it is necessary to make the correct planting and provide careful care for the bushes throughout the season.

Physalis can be planted in open ground in several ways: by seeds, through rhizomes and seedlings. At home in the garden, the planting method is mainly used with the help of seeds, seedlings are rarely grown. It is necessary to plant seeds in the spring after the onset of warm days and the warming up of the earth.

Preparing seeds for planting

To plant seeds in open ground, you first need to prepare a special saline solution, in which you need to soak them for a short time.

Hollow and spoiled seeds that are not suitable for planting will float up, but high-quality ones will remain at the bottom. After the saline solution, the seeds must be rinsed in clean water using a sieve.

Site selection and preparation for sowing

It is not recommended to plant physalis in areas where nightshade crops were previously grown. The landing site should be in an open, sunny area with good air ventilation.

The soil should be fertile and loose. When preparing the land for sowing, it is necessary to apply fertilizers in the form of compost or humus, peat and turf soil and a little river sand.

The distance between rows in the beds should be at least 50-70 centimeters apart (depending on the variety). Each seed is planted to a depth of no more than 2 centimeters. Gently sprinkle with earth, lightly tamp with the palm of your hand. At the end, watering is carried out with soft, settled water.

The harvest depends on proper care

Planting vegetable physalis

To learn how to properly grow an unusual vegetable, you need to remember the rules for the care of other nightshades, such as tomatoes.

All gardeners think about whether it is necessary to pinch physalis, since tomatoes require this procedure. However, this culture does not require pinching. It is possible only in the autumn to make the formation of the top of the plant by pinching, so that the strength of the plant goes not to growth, but to ripening of the fruit.

The culture is not demanding for watering, the main thing is to water the bush when the topsoil dries up. In no case should the earth dry out and moisture stagnation in it. Irrigation water should not be cold and hard; rain or river water will work well.

Fertilizers for vegetable physalis

Bushes need to be fed every 2 weeks. It is recommended to alternate mineral and organic feedings.

You can make organic fertilizer yourself. His recipe is simple: dissolve 200 grams of mullein in a bucket of ordinary water.

Mineral fertilizers can be purchased in specialized stores as a complex preparation for nightshade crops.

The harvest

Harvesting

The ripe fruit itself falls to the ground and under good climatic conditions can lie in this position for more than a week without spoiling at all.

Harvesting should be done when the first fruits begin to fall. After the first collection, it is recommended to repeat the procedure every week. It is necessary to ripen and remove all the fruits before the onset of frost, since the fruits that have had time to freeze will deteriorate and will not be stored for a long time.

Physalis: growing and care in the Urals

Agricultural technology differs little from cultivation in other regions, since the plant is quite resistant to frost and diseases.

The main difference is growing a crop using seedlings, by analogy with tomatoes. Seeds are sown in pots in early April. Before planting in the ground, seedlings must be fed with fertilizers and watered regularly.

Before planting in the garden, within a week, a box with seedlings is taken out into the street for several hours, so that the seedlings get used to the street climate.

Planting and caring for physalis in a greenhouse

Physalis is planted in a greenhouse made of polycarbonate, glass or polyethylene with seedlings grown in advance at home.

When 5-7 leaves grow on each seedling, the seedlings can be planted in a greenhouse.

The seedling holes should be no deeper than 8 centimeters, each of them must be watered before planting the seedlings. The soil, mixed with humus and river sand, should always be loose.

Top dressing is carried out every 2 weeks, alternating mineral and organic fertilizers.

How to form physalis in a greenhouse

The plant will tell you how to form physalis in a greenhouse itself. As soon as extra non-fruiting shoots appear, they are removed.

To increase yields, in the second half of summer, the upper parts of the shoots are pinched.

Physalis diseases

Physalis is very resistant to various diseases and pests. It can only get sick with improper care and unfavorable climatic and environmental conditions. The main diseases of physalis, causing great harm to the health of the bush, up to its destruction, are: mosaic, black leg and streak.

Physalis diseases in the greenhouse

When a crop is grown in a greenhouse, it can develop a fungal disease called black leg.

The reason for its appearance is too humid air and lack of air ventilation.

To understand whether a shrub is sick with a black leg, you need to look at the base of the main shoot right at the roots. With the disease, dark spots and blackening appear there.

Leaf diseases

The emerging disease, most often, affects the leaf plates of the culture. They may turn yellow and then start to fall off. Sometimes incomprehensible spots and pimples appear on their surface.

Mosaic disease

Like tomatoes, physalis can get sick with late blight and fusarium. With late blight, leaf plates are painted in places in dark brown blurred spots, then dry up and instantly die off. The disease is dangerous because during watering and rain, viruses that cause disease can penetrate into the base of the stems and into the roots of the culture and develop there.

Another fungal disease, fusarium, also manifests itself on the leaves of the bush. Damaging the roots, the infection penetrates the stems and reaches the leaf plates, which begin to turn yellow, turn brown, curl and dry out.

Yellow bumps on the leaves

The appearance of yellow pimples on the leaves of physalis indicates the appearance of the mosaic disease. Light, sometimes almost white, spots begin to appear on the leaves and fruits. They can be of different shapes and sizes.

The surface of the leaf plates begins to become covered with pimpled spots, which deforms the leaves and changes their contour. The growth of the culture slows down, the leaves begin to wilt and turn yellow, the fruits cannot ripen.

Recommendations and tips for protecting physalis from diseases and pests

A timely treatment can save shrubs and crops. To combat diseases, you can purchase special fungicide preparations in stores or prepare them using the folk method.

Physalis blanks

But it is best to take care of the health of the culture in advance, regularly carrying out preventive measures:

• before planting seeds, it is imperative to disinfect them with fungicides;
• plant a crop away from nightshades and not on a site where plants of this family used to grow;
• after working in the garden and vegetable garden, disinfect garden tools so as not to introduce an infection;
• pay attention, provide proper care for the bushes throughout the season.

An unusual nightshade crop can act as an ornamental plant, as well as a fruit, berry and vegetable. Delicious fruits of berry varieties of physalis are well suited for making jams and preserves, vegetable varieties - for pickles and other winter preparations. In addition, they can be consumed fresh.