growing tomatillo near tomato

[Alison]

Have always grown tomatillos outside and got a good crop off them. If you grow them under cover then you'll need to fertilise them yourself and I'm almost 100% sure that they can't cross pollinate.

[jimbojetset]

just because an organism isn't of the same species doesn't mean they can't interbreed; as an example a tiger and a lion are able to breed it's just that they are different species because they are separated by the indian ocean!

but i do highly doubt that they will cross, the tomato and the tomatillo that is, as the tomatillo is from the physalis genus, and the tomato is from the solanum genus.

genus is the one above species by the way, ie they are related but not all that related!

[selfraising]

Hi jimbojetset, you may be right in which case I stand corrected. I got the information I provided from the internet as I didn't know myself, this is what it said:

'While you generally can't cross-pollinate vegetables from different species, you can create a hybrid of vegetables from the same botanical species. The process is fairly simple. Many vegetables have male and female flowers. Male flowers can be cut off to pollinate female flowers.'

[jimbojetset]

hey selfraising,
wasn't arguing with you!
and the more eagle eyed among you will notice that there is a wee difference between large felines and plants from the deadly nightshade family!
erm just breaking down the quotation; it's saying that you can make a hybrid from members of the same species
and i'm saying that tomatillo's and tomato's aren't the same species
and so back to the quote 'you can't generally cross pollinate vegetables from different species'
yep 'generally' being the key phrase here, it's unlikely, but is possible
and in the case of plants from a different genus, very very unlikely
hope that's clearer!

[selfraising]

It's okay jimbojetset I wasn't arguing either. If I came across as such I'm sorry, things haven't been to great lately and I'm not thinking straight!

[jimbojetset]

hey selfraising,
i think we were agreeing is the point i was trying to make!?
hope things get better? and if they aren't PM me if you need someone to erm... PM to?!
at least on the plus side it's time to start growing soon!
x

[selfraising]

Yeah thanks jimbojet! Already getting short of space on windowsills!!

[maytreefrannie]

Sometime I'm going to start a thread about all the things I didn't know about until I joined the Vine.

One of them is the tomatillo. I have no idea what it is, and have only ever heard of it on here - any of our garden centres in quite a wide radius haven't got them either.

Goes off to google...

[poly]

Nothing like a good google! I've not seen any plants for sale but seeds should not be too hard too find, Real seeds usually have them. They are easy to grow, as previously said you need to grow more than one (not self fertile) and they get quite big!

[maytreefrannie]

Nothing like a good google! D

Yes, I've googled and now I know a little bit about them - I've learned so many new words on the Vine I'm almost ready to go on Countdown.

[BrideXIII]

i have just received my tomatillo seeds, so this has been very helpful for me, i am just looking forward to seeing them grow, i don't think i have ever actually seen a tomatillo, well not outside of a salsa anyway

[zazen999]

Be prepared for monster plants - all you tomatillo lovers...They are magnificent but need a good 6 foot wide berth.

[poly]

I've learned so many new words on the Vine I'm almost ready to go on Countdown.

Ive got a few spare seeds if you would like some to try. pm me your address

[Alison]

I'd never heard of them until I got a Mexican cook book and couldn't find anywhere to buy them so decided to grow. Make really lovely salsas and the like out of them.