Still no sprouts. But I did find some some ripe ones in a little carton in our local grocery. I actually ate some for the first time and I liked them. Now I can really look forward to growing my own.

I just got my New Hanover seeds from Baker Creek (Rare Seeds). Lot 21, packed for 2023. Hope it isn't a dud lot. We'll see in June or July.

Dan, I gave up on the ones I put in little pots; they never did germinate in the house. Yesterday I put seeds outside, directly in the soil of a huge pot. Now to see if these germinate. If not I'll really be sad.

I have the New Hanover seeds from Baker Creek, and I'm just waiting for a space to put them. I read that these guys really like warm soil for germination. I presume you're doing that, Kate. That's concerning that you can't get them to germinate. Oh, and the New Hanovers are heirlooms, so they should be easy to propagate. They are Physalis pruinosa, I believe. I should add that Physalis are self-compatible, so proper pollination can be achieved with a single plant.

I have the same as you from Baker Creek. Our days are warm and the nights now in the 50s, so I hope that is warm enough. FIngers crossed for them.

(How does one scream online? ) 😱

Some rascally animal totally stirred up that bed last night - looking for grubs, I guess. I respread the soil and hope that nothing got too disturbed by the shifting of soil.

I now have all those pots of veggies covered with every metal cage-like-thing I have, and I hope no damage has been done, and my efforts will deter whatever critter is looking for a meal.

I have babies! Lots of teeny tiny leaves have suddenly popped up overnight.

After fussing over these growing in one large pot, I now have to prune down to one??? 😳

In a large pot, you might be able to grow 2 plants... but a single plant with adequate moisture & nutrients will spread 2-3 feet, heavily branched. I would recommend just thinning down to 4-5 plants initially, then make the final thinning when the seedlings look strong. Nothing is more demoralizing than thinning to a single seedling - then seeing it die. :-( Spoken from experience.

So CA Kate, how did you finally get germination of your ground cherries? I planted the same Baker Creek seeds that you did two weeks ago, and I see NOTHING coming up. I guess I could replant, but maybe you know a secret? I have mine inside, in my converted garage. Kinda warm. Maybe 85F under lights (which I really didn't need before germination). I don't see any point in trying to start them outside.

Dan, I had GC in a huge pot outside and it finally got warm enough..... I guess. I had to transplant them to another pot because potatoes came up. The GC still aren't very big but do have their first set of true leaves. I have a couple of very new, tiny ones that came up in the original pot. I'm going to either have to pull them or transplant them because they are being crowded out by even more potato plants. (That pot must have been full of very small potatoes that I missed when digging it up. I don't know how the cucumber plants - also in that pot - feel about sharing space with all these potatoes.)

Now I'm wondering about transplanting - again - some of the GCs to other pots so I have even more. I wish I had the ground space for them, but I don't. Oh well.......

I promised I was going to leave more room in the garden this year. Finding pots for baby GCs goes right along with the baby Okra I germinated without thinking about the consequences. And, there goes my promise.

Well,as I said, warmth wasn't an issue for me. I guess I'll just replant and try again. I will admit that the cups were a little close to the lights for the first day or two (which, as I said, I didn't need), and temps may have been briefly above 90F. Maybe they got fried?

What I read said that GC had to have heat to germinate. I know it took what seemed a long time to see anything above the soil. I was watching the calendar and was just about ready to call-it-quits when there they were.

The ones that I tried to start early in pots never did germinate. When I seeded a huge pot outside is when they germinated.

Also, our temps have been in the 90s and that's when those most recent ones popped-up, so I doubt they "got fried". What's the old saying, "Patience Grasshopper."

I just was outside in the gardens and I noticed that the newest GC have caught up with the earlier ones. I guess the high temps we've been having have made the difference.

I understand that you've been getting a lot of rain. How are your temps? Would your's do better moved outside?

Our temps are 65-85F, but it's the same indoors in our converted garage. Putting them outside wouldn't really make any difference. I'm a bit baffled. Boy, these are tiny seeds. Like grains of sand. Maybe a quarter the size of a tomato or pepper seed. Unusual for a Solanaceae.

The wild ground cherries usually do not show up until June. I will keep an eye out and let you know when I see one. Since I am looking for one though I might not find one this year. I am lucky that way.

Here it is June 6th and my promised Report:

Here is a photo of the largest - 10" - that I kept, I have 5 more in various pots. (plus the little guys that seem to be peeking out from under the mysterious potatoes.) One of the 'others' actually has a tiny flower.

I hope you've had some good luck with the germination now that it's warmer.

Well, warmth had nothing to do with my earlier troubles, because I was trying to germinate them under lights inside, where the temperature was about 80F. As I said, I tried two separate plantings with these seeds, and nothing came up. That NEVER happens to me. So, having used all my seeds, I got in touch with Baker Creek and told them their seeds were duds. They very nicely, and very quickly, sent me a replacement package. BUT, it was the same lot # as I had before, which was worrisome. I planted from that new package about ten days ago, and as of today, some itsy bitsy tiny plants are barely coming up. The seeds are itsy bitsy tiny too. Like grains of sand. Small ones, at that. Very much smaller than other Solanaceae (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant) seeds I've planted. These were outside, where the mean temperature is 80F. Tomatoes would have come up faster, so these are slow. So I'm hopeful, but these things are turning out to be different creatures than I'm used to. I have them under lights now, and maybe I'll plant out in July. Yours appear to be growing fast. Maybe mine will decide to do that.

I just returned from a trip to find that the stem has widened considerably, AND I have a few fruit ripening in their paper 'lanterns'. Lots of flowers. They are a pretty plant too.

I hope yours are doing better and are growing bigger with the warmer weather.

I have a slew of VERY SMALL plants, that are growing VERY SLOWLY. Plenty of water, 82F, and lots of light. I've never had this much trouble with seeding vegetables before. Not impressed.

Mine grew very slowly at first and then suddenly gained 'wieght' and got big fast. I was really surprised to see the size of their main stem in just the one week I was gone. There will be hope for yours too.

I allowed some volunteer ground cherries to grow at the end of one of my gardens in 2021, because DD & Grandson love them. Picked enough to make 2 ground cherry coffee cakes too. But now I've expanded the garden on that end... and even after 2 years, ground cherry seedlings are EVERYWHERE. They have surpassed my elm & maple seedlings as the #1 weed. :-( If you grow ground cherries once, you'll never have to plant them again - or get rid of them (lol).

In my rural garden, tomatillos are volunteering. That garden was fallow last year, so those seeds are also from 2 years ago. I'll let a few grow in places where they won't be in the way.

Maybe ground cherries respond best to inverse logic... the best way to get them, is to try to NOT grow them (lol).

Just a few of the HUNDREDS of ground cherry volunteers this year. Would happily part with a few. :-)

What really surprises me is that these grow all wild all over the US and I’d never heard of them before seeing them mentioned here. I’ve lived all over the US, primarily in the Plains States. I found some in the grocery so had to buy and taste. They have a unique flavor and I liked them, so I’m looking forward to having then fresh off the ground.

I found some on the ground and had ideas of a bite of fruit. No fruit, just paper-sack... with a hole in the side. Did some bug eat the fruit inside? or just mess up it's growing?

Wow, I was commenting on this when Norton booted me off for a notification - and lost everything I'd just typed. ]:-(

It was probably eaten by a mouse, they chew a hole through the husk to get the fruit - then leave the husk behind. You will want to check under the plants every day, to get some before the mice do. They store well if left in the husk, so you can just keep picking them off the ground until you have enough to do something. It's not a bad thing to let them sit for awhile anyway, that gives those that fell off green time to ripen.

Haven't decided if I want to let any of my ground cherry volunteers grow, that garden is already pretty crowded. In the rural garden though, I'll be keeping some of the tomatillo volunteers, and moving them to fill some open spots. There are quite a few litchi tomato volunteers there too, I may let a plant or two grow. Both of those are volunteers from plants grown in 2021 (no garden there last year).

Mine, still in cups, are starting to grow somewhat vigorously. I had to split them up because the seeds were so small, you end up with many plants in one cup. But compared to other plants, boy are they slow! I might be able to plant out in a month or so.

Dan I suggest planting 1-2 or a few in the garden or larger pot to give them a chance to take off. Some things "know" how much space they have to spread their wings and will wait for more opportune time to do so. If you buy two goldfish then release one in a pond and put the other in a bowl,within months the pond dweller can swallow the one in bowl. Diversify ,diversify ,diversify,never keep all your eg,, plants in one basket. ^_^

That makes some sense. Not clear to what extent they are root-bound now, but planting out might be the right thing to do. Each cup has several inch-tall plants.

Since it looks like you will risk planting some out now instead of waiting until they are more mature maybe I can lure you a bit farther out onto the ice. How bout a couple in poor to less improved soil with low fertility (unless you have it from a reliable source GCs thrive in fertile ground. What I'm getting at is ( A) they have wild relatives that by all accounts thrive without help from us (B) some plants produce few if any seed during a good year of rain in cultivated soil. (C) there's likly a happy medium between well loved and a neglected fence row.

I'll dig up a bed that was just vacated by other produce, load it up with compost, and put them in. The only risk is that excessive heat will be a strain on them, but they've been growing in 82F already. Just a matter of keeping them well watered. True that there may be wild ground cherries all over the place, but I'd hesitate to presume that they all thrive. Lots probably die. What we see out there are likely just the lucky ones.

Dan, I have my fingers crossed for your 'babies'. Mine are now larger, but have survived our 100+++ week, so maybe yours will too. I think they might do better in the ground than in the cups.

Thanks. I am hopeful. I must say that I grow LOADS of Solanaceae (peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants), but I've never seen anything like this. Seeds the size of motes of dust. Germination takes forever, and seedlings grow very slowly. Now, tomatillos are also Physalis, but I've never grown them. Do they behave the same way?

" Now, tomatillos are also Physalis, but I've never grown them. Do they behave the same way?"

No. They grow much faster, faster than tomatoes. My volunteers have already surpassed the transplants I put there before the tomatillos had even sprouted. Fortunately some of those are in spaces where other things failed... so I've now got a new (and welcome) crop which I hadn't planned for. I'm drooling just thinking about the roasted tomatillo salsa.I'll make from those.

That's very interesting about tomatillos. I've planted out my ground cherries now, and the growth rate now seems to be what I might expect from tomatoes. But boy, were they slow getting started! Many weeks to get even tiny plants. I think part of the issue is that the seeds I planted were almost microscopic, so when they germinate, there isn't an awful lot that shows up. I gather tomatillo seeds are more like tomato seeds in size. Strange that the same genus (Physalis) presents seeds of VERY different size.

I should say that many of the online links for ground cherries say that they can be slow to germinate. So it's not just me!

Now, I looked up seed saving for ground cherries, and the pictures they showed looked to be of somewhat macroscopic seeds. But the seeds I got were smaller than grains of sand. You don't plant ground cherry seeds. You sprinkle them. Not sure what's going on with that.

I have thousands of volunteer ground cherries... my worst 'weed' after purslane.

So are ground cherries invasive? Do they spread if seeded wild?

dan, They spread like weeds...at least mine do.

To lessen volunteers, when the season is over, the old vines can be pulled and collected and the seed pods remaining can be raked up.

I guess that's a good reason to do a good job harvesting the pods. Any you leave on the ground are probably going to show up next year. Of course, that's also true with tomatoes and peppers, but I'm guessing that in this case the wind can move these pods around pretty effectively.

"... I'm guessing that in this case the wind can move these pods around pretty effectively."

Not sure about wind (the paper husks might blow around in open ground) but mice, chipmunks & maybe birds can spread them. I've had odd plants pop up once in awhile, all over my property. Just single plants though, except when a spot had so many sprouts packed close together that there must have been a buried mouse or squirrel larder there.

The tiny seeds seem very adept at clinging to tiller tines too, and hitching a ride to other sites being dug. Same with tomatillos.I have to admit, I'm not as diligent about cleaning my tiller as I am about hand implements.

I agree with Wayne_5, much easier to clean & rake off the area where ground cherries were grown, than to spend years weeding out hundreds of unwanted seedlings. In my gardens, there will still be some volunteers, presumably from seeds pulled under by earthworms.

My ground cherry plants are doing nicely. They're about eight inches across, and growing rapidly. One striking thing is that in our intense (106F) heat, almost EVERYTHING is wilting after a day or two without water. Even my tropical greens. The ground cherries are NOT. They seem perfectly happy. I have to assume they have deep roots, though these are very young plants, and it's the young plants that usually don't have deep roots, and are usually most affected by the heat. These guys seem unusually drought-tolerant.

I will add later that tomatillos and ground cherries ARE reported to be quite drought tolerant. Though they need water to fruit well. Mine are too immature for fruiting, though.

I agree that they seem to like heat. Our 111º didn't seem to faze them - or the Okra - at all. They do get water everyday because they are in pots, but the heat was OK.

I'm glad to hear that your are doing better now that they are in the ground.

The first ground cherry I ever saw was growing naturally in a newly planted pasture. It was north of Abilene in an area that got about 20 inches of rain annually, so they should be pretty drought resistant. They also grow naturally where I am at now, in 55 inch rainfall belt. They seem to like sandy loam soils.

Wow, 111F and doing well in pots. Tough nuts! These plants are surprising in a number of respects.

I went to take a photo of my two biggest and found that the Okra had two unknown pods hiding from me.

This first are my two biggest in their pots.

This is one of the "crowd" in the cucumber pot that somehow also ended up with a squash and potatoes. It has suddenly gotten large and even has a paper lantern growing. (I see that one of the rather large jalepenos in the pot next door is showing-off. )

I went out this afternoon and found these on the ground:

They all have berries inside. Do I remember that I leave them in their papers for awhile?

My understanding is that ground cherries are "ripe" and good to eat, when the berries are orange, yellow or greenish-orange-yellow. Fully green ground cherries are not good to eat, it is said. They don't taste good, and are mildly poisonous. When they fall off the vine, the berries may still be fully green. You might need to set those pods aside for a week or more for the color to change. Allegedly, some never change color. Throw those out, or harvest seeds from them. Here's a nice video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrF2Nd8tQJE.

A little mysterious how the solanine poison in green cherries manages to disappear after a week or so.

Thank you, Dan. The video confirmed what I thought I had read.

OK, major question answered. The question was, as solonaceae, would ground cherries pollinate in heat? I mean intense, vile heat. Tomatoes don't pollinate in even mild heat. The answer is YES! My ground cherry plants are absolutely full of pods. This is after a month of 100+F temps, where the temps never got below 77F. In the south, these are definitely summer veggies.