Physalis is a plant that is loved for its decorative “lanterns”, original seed pods are no less than for the taste of its fruits. This vegetable plant is one of the most unusual in every vegetable garden. Physalis is traditionally grown outdoors, but some types of this vegetable crop can successfully settle in containers and decorate interiors and greenhouses. If garden physalis are propagated in the summer, and the plants obtained from cuttings will give birth only the next season, then in potted plants you can cut cuttings in January and enjoy the new harvest by September.
Physalis branch. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Dominique Watbled
This method of cuttings can also be used for garden plants, specially transferring them to pots for the winter to produce offspring. In pots, Peruvian physalis feels most comfortable, one of the best berry species, which grows well in greenhouses and living rooms and gives in a limited area of โโcontainers a bountiful harvest of sweet, grape-flavored berries. But other types of physalis, in particular the vegetable Mexican and decorative Franchet, can also be cultivated in closed soil.
Caring for potted physalis is not at all difficult. He will need an air temperature in the range from 15 to 20 ยฐ C, infrequent watering, maintaining only light soil moisture and good lighting. These plants are not capricious in the pot culture and, thanks to the decorative shells of the fruit, look like an outlandish decoration of rooms.
Physalis seedlings. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com SilkeHH
Greenhouse and indoor physalis, in particular Peruvian, reproduce very easily. In order to get quickly new fruiting plants, it is not at all necessary to collect the seeds of ripe fruits and grow the plants by seedling method. Indeed, in a much shorter time, the crop can be harvested from plants obtained by vegetative propagation, by cuttings.
Apical cuttings from physalis in a pot culture are cut in January. For this propagation method, only lateral shoots that develop in the leaf axils can be used. The length of the cutting should be about 10 cm. It is very important to cut the rooting material with a sharp pruner or knife, trying to minimize trauma to the tissue and making oblique cuts at an angle of approximately 45 ยฐ C.
Sliced โโcuttings do not need any additional processing, although, as with any other cuttings, immersion in a growth stimulant solution will only increase the survival rate. In order to root such cuttings, it is enough to stick them 2-3 cm deep into the nutrient soil. For this method of reproduction of physalis, any substrate with a sufficient humus content is suitable.
Taking care of rooting cuttings actually comes down to maintaining a light soil moisture at all times. It is not necessary to cover the cuttings with caps or foil for physalis (although this can speed up the process of root formation). After rooting, young plants continue to be looked after like seedlings, introducing top dressing only 1 month after the start of active growth. The resulting plants are not only suitable for pots: they can be transferred into the soil in a greenhouse or open soil under a film in mid-May.
Physalis grown in a flowerpot. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Astrid
The traditional fruiting period for physalis obtained by cuttings in January is September of the current year. This method will allow you to get a harvest that is not inferior in abundance to old bushes.
Much earlier, actually a year ahead of the traditional method, fruiting makes the January propagation method promising for garden plants. You can also save garden plants for the winter for the purpose of cuttings, which are enough in the middle of autumn after harvesting to be dug up and transferred to pots, and when cold weather comes, they can be brought into a room with suitable conditions. Just one or two bushes will allow you to get a huge number of young seedlings.
