[realfood]

This year I tried tomatillos in the greenhouse and they have grown very vigorously, now well over 2 m tall and climbing out of the windows as well.
They have carried thousands of flowers with copious pollen since June. I have regularly shaken the flowers to pollinate them, left the windows open to allow insects in, but it has only been in the last month that the flowers have been successfully pollinated. The question is why?
I know that others have had similar problems but no answers. I am now wondering if it is something to do with sensitivity to the daylight length, as in Glasgow we have long Summer days which are only now rapidly shortening.
In their natural habitat in Central America, they grow much, much closer to the equator and the hours of light and darkness will be quite similar.
Is it possible that they are daylight sensitive? Has anyone else in Scotland been growing tomatillos and what was their experience?

[Chuffy]

I grew mine in a block outdoors and had lots of fruit. I'd have had more if I'd staked them properly (they all blew over in the wind). The few that I planted on their own elsewhere in the garden have grown well but produced virtually no fruit. Maybe they are like sweetcorn and need to be grown en-block to help pollination?

[zazen999]

Did you have 2 plants?

I only got fruits quite late in the season, that was 2 summers ago.

[realfood]

I had three plants growing together.

[Ivah]

I find they do better outside. Green ones are easier than purple ones. Make a great chutney.

[Lardman]

I've had a few set even on the single plant isolated away from the patio where the rest are, but by no means an impressive haul. I've noticed the bumbles really going nuts for them.

I did lose a lot in the high winds and read recently that you should pinch the plants out early to reduce height and increase branching (and therefore fruiting).

The Pineapple one I have on the patio has given 20-30 very small marble sized fruit, too small to do anything with but they're rather nice just to eat like while pottering.

[corynsboy]

Last year we grew tomatillos outside on the plot.  One purple variety & one green variety. I got the seeds on E bay.  We grew a dozen in a block on the same bed as our tomatoes and sweet corn.  (Two rows of 6 plants 3 feet apart two feet between rows)  We lost a couple of plants to wind but other than that they seemed to tolerate the UK climate.  We treated them exactly the same way as out tomato crop last year.  They do love a good dose of tomato feed we gave the soil general purpose fertiliser two weeks before planting and planted out plants in late May from seed raised in an unheated greenhouse

We had about 20 or 30 fruits per plant.  The fruit were golf ball sized and smaller, largely firm and a bit dry and not that great to eat.(IMHO)  It tasted like a sour fleshy tomato but with the flesh texture of an overripe floury apple. It was a nice experiment bit I will give it a miss for a few years before trying again.

[Chuffy]

It tasted like a sour fleshy tomato but with the flesh texture of an overripe floury apple. It was a nice experiment bit I will give it a miss for a few years before trying again.

I'm pretty sure that they are supposed to be eaten cooked rather than raw. I've cooked mine down (along with some other ordinary tomatoes) to make a basic sauce. I'm planning to add it to stews, chillis and anything else that would normally have a tin of tomatoes added.