Solanum Species, Bed of Nails, Golden Fruit of the Andes, Quito Orange

These plants are easy to grow, have had several over the last few years. FYI when picking the fruit I use gloves, as the fuzzy covering i...Read Mores akin to cactus spines. I wash them under the faucet and rub with a cloth to remove the fuzz. The fruit makes an interesting juice, just add some sugar or honey, but it takes several to make a cup. Seeds are easy to dry. They will not germinate until the soil is consistently warm. They do not do well in the hot Texas summer heat, so they need evening shade, but in the Carolinas they did very well.

I am growing Naranjilla about 15 miles south of Ocala, fl. The plant was a bit rough when i purchased it, but has flourished with little...Read More care. We have has a wet summer and i water it when it is dry. It has blooms now, and fruit about the size of a golf ball, green and fuzzy. i am hoping it will produce fruit in the next few weeks. I have planted it next to a concrete building and will cover it in the cold so it may make it through the winter and really take off in the spring

I am successfully growing this strange fruit in Sydney, Australia. I was advised to hand pollinate for fruit in the first year and this h...Read Moreas worked well with the plant flourishing and probably a dozen fruit formed. Plants are available from the Diggers Club (just Google) in Australia. The only problem I have is when to pick the fruit. Does anyone know how to tell the fruit has matured?

One of the greatest - but weirdest - things I think I've ever tried to grow.

I have 4 of them - 2 with spines, 2 without...Read More - and I haven't gotten them to fruit yet - they are a short day plant, so this far north (North Carolina) fruit might not happen. However, they also make extraordinary foliage plants.

Some notes on culture:

Once established, they can handle a light frost with no problem. 30F would be a good cutoff for keeping them outdoors, though mine have handled a degree or two below that. In the summer, mine needed to be kept in shade - direct strong sunlight or temps over 95F even in shade caused leaf wilt. These are the thirstiest plants I've ever seen - they need PERFECT drainage, but they also love love love lots of water. Fairly heavy feeders.

Very sensitive to root nematodes in the ground. Otherwise they are sensitive to the usual nightshade-type pests.

They generally like a lot of daily attention. That noted, if well-cared for, they will get big fast - mine hit 5 feet from seed in about 7 months. At several months of age, the main stem may slowly begin to decline, as new suckers and branches sprout from the ground, essentially transforming a large herbaceous plant into a sprawlier, shrubbier one.

With or without spines, the entire plant is very densely covered in peachfuzz - almost fur. The purple-tinted leaves are awesome, and some degree of *protected* sun exposure will deepen the leaf coloring.

Should you get them to bloom or fruit, they will readily hybridize with coconas (solanum sessiliflorum), pseudolulo (solanum pseudolulo), and a few others of the edible shrubby solanums.