[WendysLot]

I would like to have a go at getting some new plants from an annual (Cape Gooseberry, Chinese lantern type) as I love the fruit and want to try and avoid having to buy seeds every year.

Monty Don always makes it look so simple!

Is it just a case of taking a cutting from a new leaf stem and planting it at the edge of a small pot filled with potting compost/perlite or is it more complicated than that?

Has anyone had any success at this.

I have never taken cuttings before and would love to have a go later this year when my Cape Gooseberry plants get going.

Any tips/help would be great.

[Kleftiwallah]

You need a VERY sharp knife, if you can get hold of a scalpel so much the better.   Select a non fruiting twig about 4 " long and make a sloping cut just below a leaf joint (where the leaf grows from the twig).  DO NOT TOUCH the cut area but remove any leaves except the two or three at the top of the twig. 

Dip the cut end in water then in horemone rooting powder then carefully push into the compost.    Put the pot inside a big plastic bag and secure the top with a peg after blowing into the bag to make sure the plastic isn't touching the cutting(s).

Easy Peasy.        Cheers,     Tony.

[savbo]

i never use rooting powder and still have a good success rate with cuttings... you want the compost moist but not wet - getting the balance between enough water to support rooting while not being so wet that rot starts...

it's always worth trying some cuttings straight into jars of water - I guess the lack of soil stops the rot being an immediate problem...

sav

edit - I should have been clear I'm talking about cuttings in general rather than Physalis in particular...

[mumofstig]

according to this site they do strike from stem cuttings
.http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/cape_gooseberry.html

Sometimes propagation is done by means of 1-year-old stem cuttings treated with hormones to promote rooting, and 37.7% success has been achieved.

Next year just save some of your own seed 

[viettaclark]

They are actually perennial and will re-grow the next Spring if kept sheltered.
This is what I WOULD have done with mine if blight (yes.....they're the tomato family!) hadn't struck them......

[Rangerkris]

I was given/took some cuttings last year of a pile that was going into the compost, i looked at them the other day in the greenhouse and they got lots of tiny roots on them so tiny they are like hair but they are growing.  Did not use any rooting powder as i didn't have any i have since picked up a pot and will try again later in the season.

[WendysLot]

Thanks for the info.  Didn't realise they are perennial, fab.

May seem a daft question but, when you say use the seed, do you mean the seeds inside the fruit?  I guess I would just open the fruit and pick out the seeds then let them dry and store them?  I have done this with some scotch bonnet peppers that I love and am hoping that they will grow when I plant them later in the year!

[mumofstig]

treat them just the same as the scotch bonnets 

[WendysLot]

Great, can't wait until Spring.