Tamarillo - Tree Tomato

**adamhartree** · 02-02-2011, 08:18 PM

giant tomato tree

hi all,
i have just brought some giant tomato tree seeds, i have never seen these before but thought they look good. has anyone else seen or grown them themselves. if so do you have any tips of growing ideas. any advice would be good. i got the seeds from ebay and the plant is ment to get really big and th fruit is ment to get to over 1lb each.

ebay link to this is :-

Giant Tree Tomato (10) Seeds on eBay (end time 14-Feb-11 13:46:59 GMT)

**zazen999** · 02-02-2011, 08:40 PM

They do look good.

Too good?

Have you found out the botanical name for these seeds; are they tamarillos?

As these might produce fruit here in a couple of years......3 months for apple sized fruits - who are they kidding?

**adamhartree** · 02-02-2011, 08:54 PM

hiya, yes they are tamarillos. that was my feelings too, no way are you going to get a tree to that size in 3 months. looks like they were exsagirating just a ittle too much lol

**King Carrot** · 02-02-2011, 10:20 PM

Cut and pasted reply from Dr Carolyn Male (Tomato Guru) in answer to the same question on a Tomato forum in the U S, confirms what you already know I'm afraid!

"The words tree tomato can refer to several different possibilities. There's an actual real tomato variety called Giant Tree, which isn't a tree, I've grown it, just a typical large pink fruited variety.

Then there's the ads in the Sunday Supplements and elsewhere that usually show a picture of a tree with red roma looking fruits on it. It's really Cyphomandra betaceae and is not a tomato at all, and is a tender shrub that takes a couple of years to give fruit. It's also known as Tamarillo.

The original so called tree tomato was found in France in the late 1800's, called Tomato de Laye and it has a very thick main stem as well as rugose foliage( beautiful puckered deep green) and we call them Dwarf varieties now and there are many that are commercially avaialable."

**gojiberry** · 02-02-2011, 11:17 PM

There is another tree tomato thread going at the moment you may want to read. They may grow in cooler climates but I am almost certain they are not frost tolerant. Seeds available on E Bay till 14 Feb

Ian

**Two_Sheds** · 03-02-2011, 07:51 AM

Originally posted by adamhartree View Post

i got the seeds from ebay ...

how did I know you were going to say that?

**Florence Fennel** · 03-02-2011, 07:55 AM

Looks like it'll be fun finding out Adam! Good luck anyway.

**Crosby** · 03-02-2011, 08:22 AM

Originally posted by Two_Sheds

here it is: http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ree_55001.html

merger, anyone?

Thanks, I did do a search but missed this thread.

**Crosby** · 03-02-2011, 08:27 AM

I saw these in Kew Gardens on Sunday and have also decided to give them a go.

I did some on-line research and found some web sites selling the seeds Tamarillo Tree Tomato Seed (Solaneum betaceum) as well some info on wiki Tamarillo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**poly** · 03-02-2011, 08:41 AM

I've grown them once or twice before, but I'm not keen on the smell the leaves have when touched. I think they need a season or two in our climate to have a chance of fruiting and they need somewhere frost free for the winter.I haven't bothered before now but I have 2 overwintering indoors by a large window. One is about 5'+ the other is 4'+.

Fingers crossed.........

Seeds are fairly easy to germinate and grow on and make an impressive amount of growth in the first year. Mine are now in large pots with general multi-purpose compost.

**zazen999** · 03-02-2011, 09:16 AM

Originally posted by Crosby View Post

Thanks, I did do a search but missed this thread.

you didn't miss it - it was created after yours....

Merged!

**veggiechicken** · 13-06-2015, 12:38 PM

Any updates on the Tamarillos please?
Wondering whether to grow some https://www.victoriananursery.co.uk/Tree_Tomatoes/

**BertieFox** · 13-06-2015, 02:17 PM

I've grown these twice too, but I should have learnt from my mistake the first time! It does make a showy house plant with its enormous leaves and rate of growth, but as poly says, the leaves smell absolutely disgusting (rubbery).

You won't get any flowers or fruit until the second year, so you have to keep it in a conservatory or warm greenhouse. It can die back with a bit of a chill and then branches out into a less attractive plant. It suffers terribly from white fly and greenfly in my experience as they seem to love it.

When you finally get the fruit, they take ages to ripen, more like a tropical fruit than a tomato. And if you can eat the fruit and enjoy it, you will be a better man than me! One of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten!

But don't let me put you off! More seriously, anything unusual is fun to grow and it is an unusual and striking plant, and very easy from seed.

**veggiechicken** · 11-04-2016, 01:44 PM

Despite all the negatives, I have seeds - and I'm going to sow

Its not that I doubt you, Poly and Bertie but I have to smell these pongy leaves for myself

Just to be clear, these are Cyphomandra betacea seeds
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?...mandra+betacea

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