Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimgentracer
does anyone know anything about growing these?have watered it and its had a lot of son,, keeps producing yellow flowers with a small acorn sized fruit appearing behind them Days later the fruit turns yellow and falls off How big is the fruit?
|
Pepino "melons", Solanum muricatum (so actually a member of the tomato/potato/chilli family) that I have bought in shops in Chile are about 6-8"/15-20cm long, and oval in end-to-end cross-section. So a bit bigger than an aubergine, but rather smaller than most melons. But there is a picture of one on the Wikipedia page, described as ripe, not much larger than a hen's egg, so they can be rather smaller than that.
Their origin is, like many of the cultivated solanums, in the Andes. The original wild plant has not been found. They are cultivated at around 2000m to 3000m in the tropical Andes, and in the mediterranean climate area of Chile. I came across them being grown at around 1500m in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia, but they weren't very good, perhaps too warm. I believe they are also grown in the northern parts of New Zealand.
They are known to be trickier than chillis to grow. But in general, I would say that if you have the conditions right to grow aubergines without any trouble, or tamarillos (tree tomatoes), then you should have the conditions about right for these.