Plants of the genus Physalis are very decorative, such as the Chinese lantern flower, which is also native to us, or they provide delicious, vitamin-rich fruits such as the Andean berry (also known as the Cape gooseberry) or the pineapple cherry. The lush growing shrubs can be grown quite easily from self-gathered seeds.
drying seeds
You can get the seeds for the desired physalis species (note: the fruits of the lantern flower are not edible!) in any well-stocked seed shop, in garden centers or on the Internet. But instead of spending a lot of money, you can also harvest the seeds yourself. You can use the fruits from your own garden (or the garden of your neighbour) as well as the berries you have bought from the supermarket. It is only important that the fruits are completely ripe. You can tell when they are ripe by the strong orange-red colour.
Extract and dry seeds from Physalis fruits
And this is how you get the desired physalis seed from the fruit:
- Cut the ripe physalis in half once.
- Carefully peel out the seeds from inside the fruit.
- Use a toothpick or something similar to do this.
- Remove the pulp from the seeds, lukewarm water is best for this.
- Spread the seeds out on a kitchen towel and drain.
- Then take a new kitchen towel and spread the dried seeds out on it.
- Leave the seeds to dry for several days.
- Pack the dried seeds in a small bag and keep in a dark and cool place.
You can use the physalis seeds obtained in this way in the following year either for pre-growing from February / March or for direct sowing outdoors.
Alternate sowing
However, the seed extraction described above is actually not necessary. In principle, it is sufficient in autumn to drop a few ripe (previously a little crushed) fruits on the desired planting spot or to cover them with a little soil. The Physalis sown in autumn will germinate quite reliably. But be careful: This method is only suitable for hardy varieties such as B. the lantern flower. The heat-loving Andean berry, on the other hand, does not tolerate frost, which is why its seeds survive the winter better dried. Another option is to simply put some fruit on top of the compost - this gives a lot of heat through the fermentation process and is therefore good for the seeds to germinate.
tips and tricks
Try the pineapple cherry (Physalis pruinosa), which is little known in this country. This Physalis species, which comes from North America, does not grow quite as tall as the Andean berry and convinces with small, pineapple-like tasting fruits.
IJA