echinosum said:

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. They
do look like melons.

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.

This year's experiment was to attempt growing Pepino 'melons' but
had a lot of trouble with germination. I only had about six seeds, not
all of them germinated, and the seeds that did seemed to have a
problem getting the seed leaves out of the seed coat. I managed to
raise only one plant to set out in the garden (I had aimed for two).

It grew into a large, healthy plant but none of the flowers set fruit.
So, I'm thinking this might be one of those members of the Solanum
family that aren't self-fertile.

I'm willing to try at least one more time, and see if I can get two
plants to transplant size next year. This year's plant seemed even
more robust than my eggplants and had a number of flower trusses,
It just never set fruit..

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Vegetables are like bombs packed tight with all kinds of important
nutrients..." --Largo Potter, Valkyria Chronicles

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