The bushy, about one meter high Andean berry with the bright orange-red, tasty fruits also grows excellently in Germany. However, so that you can hope for a bountiful harvest in early autumn, you should not sow too late.
Prefer Physalis if possible
The heat-loving physalis takes quite a long time to grow, flower and set small, cherry-like fruits. In addition, the seeds should not be spread outdoors before mid to late May due to the risk of frost. Both reasons mean that the German summer is too short to harvest ripe Physalis in good time before the end of the growing season. For this reason, it is advisable to bring the plants up on the windowsill as early as February if possible and to place the young plants in the open air from May. Alternatively, it is also possible to keep the bucket on the balcony or terrace.
prefer physalis
Proceed as follows when preferring the seedlings:
- Take small plant pots and fill them with commercial potting soil.
- Using a finger, make a hole about 5mm deep in the middle of the substrate.
- Drop in three to four seeds and cover them loosely with soil.
- Spray the seeds with water. Keep them evenly moist - Physalis needs quite a lot of water.
- Alternatively, you can also take a balcony box and put a whole row of seeds in the substrate.
- Place the pot/box in a light and warm place (e.g. windowsill in the living room).
- As soon as the seedlings have developed between three or four leaves, you can prick them out, i. H. place individually in a larger pot with a diameter of approx. 10 to 12 centimeters.
Sow physalis directly outdoors
Sowing directly outdoors is of course also possible, but not before the end of May, at least for the Andean berry (or other non-frost hardy physalis species such as the pineapple cherry). But then it is probably too late for a harvest in the same year, since the fruits that ripen in August / September with sufficient sun and warmth can no longer ripen due to the autumnal coolness. Contrary to a lot of information on the net, at least the Andean berry is a perennial plant, i. H. You can safely overwinter it and it will bear fruit next year. However, it is best to cultivate the physalis in a pot because it is not hardy. Physalis planted outdoors, on the other hand, are in fact only annuals, as they do not survive the German winter. An exception is the lantern flower.
tips and tricks
If you already have a physalis in the garden, then you no longer need to buy seeds. You can dry the seeds and save them for sowing the following spring, or you can easily crush some fruits and bury them under a thin layer of soil in the garden. The compost is also very suitable for sowing.
IJA