Growing Cape Gooseberry, also Golden Berry, Inca Berry

Physalis peruviana : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
    S                  
        T              
        P              

(Best months for growing Cape Gooseberry in USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • S = Plant undercover in seed trays
  • T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings
  • P = Sow seed
  • Easy to grow. Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 50°F and 77°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 39 - 59 inches apart
  • Harvest in 14-16 weeks.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Will happily grow in a flower border but tends to sprawl over other plants.

Your comments and tips

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29 Jul 19, (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I suggest you do some costing and work from there. Do you spend hundreds of dollars to grow a few plants.
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22 Jul 19, Anna Read (Australia - temperate climate)
I have successfully planted a cape gooseberry in my front garden. So far; so good. My questions are - should it be pruned back? Does it need a frame to climb on?
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23 Jul 19, (Australia - tropical climate)
If falling over, provide a frame. Prune one side and see how it goes.
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30 Mar 19, Brad (Australia - temperate climate)
Keep an eye out for the 3 lined potato beetle if you are growing cape gooseberry as they can breed up quickly and ruin the leaves and fruit lanterns. See here for pictures to help identify the beetle, larvae and eggs: http://tomatoenvy.com/2015/06/09/wanted-dead-three-lined-potato-beetle/ My own approach is to keep an eye out for the beetles or chewed up leaves and squashing the beetle / larvae as I find them, and also checking the underside of the leaves for clusters of orange eggs which can be easily removed with a fingertip. More often than not I will find a pair of beetles together on the same plant and have found they are especially active in Nov-Dec but I have found stragglers as late as March even.
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24 Mar 19, Kelly (Australia - temperate climate)
Trying to grow cape gooseberry from seed, in pots, in Perth. Plants are small and struggling, some have dropped all leaves. Any thoughts? How much light and water would they need?
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14 Jan 19, Renee Chettle (Australia - tropical climate)
Available at Daley’s nursery, does online orders
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10 Dec 18, |Lily (Australia - temperate climate)
just wondering if the plants need to be pruned or just let them spread out Thanks
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13 Dec 18, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Maybe stake and support them and a light shaping of the bush.
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01 Nov 18, Nellie (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Each morning I check for small yellow and black striped beetles and then squash them between gloved fingers. This year I did this and have been able to harvest a crop for jam making.
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24 Oct 18, robert brown (Australia - temperate climate)
Boiled Rhubarb leaves are a good insecticide and for the ground invasion use coffee grounds the left over from coffeemakers
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Showing 61 - 70 of 393 comments
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Hi, i live in Ontario. I got a golden berry in the husk from the market. i saved the seeds as folows: open the fruit, squeeze all flesh and fruit in a strainer. Wash it well, the flesh will separate. Pick it up and wash the seeds some more. Then you can put them on a paper towel to dry, they will stick to that but you can plant them with the paper, no problem. Or put them on a plate, let them dry well adn the bag them or plant them. I planted about half the seeds. Cover lightly with soil and i set them under growing lights, covered. I started them in January, they took about 3 weeks to emerge, uncovered and let them grow under lights. Potted them up. They say do not fetilize, but the leaves came yellow with green stripes, so i fed them fish emulsion diluted. They grew beautiful. Fed them about 3 times only. Never since. It is end of May and couple of them have a handfull of flowers. I experimented with pinching the top. Online they say do not pinch, let them grow 9 to 12 nodes and they will split naturally. true. The ones not pinched split and the first flowers grows right there. The pinched ones do not have any flowers yet, they are bushier though. I will plant them out in sandy soil in a week. I will save seeds this year and can send to anyone in Canada wanting to try. They are annuals in zone 5 so you need to start them every year. Very easy to grow, and if they make 150 to 300 fruits per plant it is well worth it. In the husk they store up to 3 months at room temperature. I can let you know how long will take from seed to fruit. Have fun !!!

- Adela

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